Daily Dialogue — March 20, 2015
DANNY: Hey, Sawyer, dance with me? I hear you’re a natural.
SAWYER: Who told you that?
Woolie Mammoth trumpets.
SAWYER: Listen, Danny, it’s a waste of time. You’re never gonna get to dance in the movies.
DANNY: Movies? Did I say movies? No, we’re just having fun.
SAWYER: (Turning away) Yeah, sure. Forget it.
As Sawyer leaves, Tillie bumps her back into the alley, into the spotlight.
DARLA: Just look at those fools. Laughable, isn’t it, Max? Max?
She notices Max moving to the music.
DARLA: MAX!
Caught unprepared, Sawyer goes with the moment and begins to dance. Danny floats past.
DANNY: Not bad. A little rusty, but, hey, who’s perfect?
SAWYER: Rusty?
She knocks Danny from a ladder into a pile of old clothes.
SAWYER: I’ll give you “rusty.”
Danny and Sawyer go through a dance competition. At the end, Sawyer realizes she’s been suckered in and walks away.
SAWYER: Like I said, dancing’s a waste of time.
DANNY: What if I could get you an audition with L. B. Mammoth?
SAWYER: L. B. Mammoth? Head of Mammoth Studios?
DARLA: What?
DANNY: I know he’d appreciate real talent.
CRANSTON: After nothing but Darla, he’s got to be starving for it.
SAWYER: You’re dreaming, Danny.
DANNY: Maybe I am. But so were you, just a few minutes ago.
— Cats Don’t Dance (1997), screenplay by Roberts Gannaway, Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser, Theresa Cullen, story by Mark Dindal, Robert Lence, Brian McEntee, Rick Calabash, David Womersley, Kelvin Yasuda
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Competition. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: Director Mark Dindal uses an interesting stylistic nuance in this sequence. Staged in a dingy alley, all the characters begin in shadow with dull colors. As their attitudes improve, their character colors brighten. Note particularly how Sawyer brightens and then dims while she’s typing in her office, and again at the end after Danny points out how much she enjoyed dancing.
If the dance style in this scene looks familiar, it should. Gene Kelly was choreography consultant for this movie. This was his final film work before his death.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “The competition here is used to rebuild the relationship between Sawyer and Danny. Danny tries to use a friendly competition to draw Sawyer out of her cynicism. When even dancing doesn’t seem to break Sawyer’s shell, Danny drops a bombshell in his final line.”
If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments.