Daily Dialogue — November 11, 2016

BULL: Mornin’ Joey.
JOEY: Mornin’ Bull. I brought some…good morning, Sheriff.
JP: Joey, I’m takin’ a bath.
JOEY: Oh, don’t mind me, Sheriff. I was raised with four brothers.
JP: Well, I’m not your brother.
JOEY: Doc Miller sent you over these crutches and some clean clothes. He also sent you a bar of soap and I brought along an extra one just in ca — Well, I see you already have some.
JP: I’ve got a lot of friends, Joey.
JOEY: Yeah, well I guess I’ll be goin’. (To Mississippi) Morning.
MISSISSIPPI: Josephine.
COLE: Joey, what are you doin’ still in town?
JOEY: Well, we came to take my brother Jared home this morning. He’s a lot better.
COLE: Well, when you get back to the ranch, you do what I sa — 
JOEY: I remember what you said: stay close and watch out.
COLE: Right.
JOEY: You look a lot better without that hat.
MISSISSIPPI: Well, thank you, ma’am.
MAUDIE: Wait a minute. Don’t close that door. Morning, Joey.
BULL: Morning, Maudie.
MAUDIE: Hi, Mississippi. Bull. Morning Cole.
JP: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I’d have more privacy in the middle of the El Paso railroad station.
MAUDIE: (Laughs) Hello JP. How are you?
JP: I’m thinking of selling tickets, Maudie. I’d get rich.
MAUDIE: Got here just in time. Here’s a bar of soap for ya.
JP: Just what I need.
MAUDIE: Hey, what happened to your leg?
JP: MAUDIE! Maudie, will you get out of here?
MAUDIE: All right, JP. (To Cole) What happened to him?
COLE: Oh, he’ll be all right.
MAUDIE: Good.
COLE: Got nicked in the leg last night.
MAUDIE: I thought you all might be hungry, so I — 
COLE: Maudie, I think you ought to have better sense than to come around here after what happened last night.
MAUDIE: I ought to have better sense to come here? I brought you some food. I think I’ll take it back.
MISSISSIPPI: No. No, now just a minute, ma’am…
MAUDIE: Cole, sometimes you make me so mad — 
JP: Maudie. Maudie.
MAUDIE: What?
JP: What he’s trying to tell you in his own sweet way is that it’s not safe for you to come here any more.
COLE: Somebody sees you come in here, they tell McCloud and then McCloud tries to use you to get to us.
MAUDIE: Oh, well, I never thought of it that way.
COLE: Well, that’s — 
BULL: Something else. She oughtn’t to go out the front door. With McCloud and his…
COLE: Well…
JP: All right, let her come through this way. I’ll close my eyes.
COLE: C’mon.
MISSISSIPPI: Uh, ma’am, you might just as well leave that basket.
MAUDIE: Sure, Mississippi. (Laughs)
COLE: C’mon, Maudie.

— El Dorado (1967), written by Leigh Brackett, based on the novel by Harry Brown

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Embarrassment. Today’s suggestion by Will King.

Trivia: The bathtub scene was largely Robert Mitchum’s invention. Members of the crew were laughing while it was being filmed at the idea of Mitchum being embarrassed in front of a woman.

Dialogue on Dialogue: A moment of levity to provide a break in the tension of the plot. The sheriff of the western town trope is often a gritty character, one who usually commands respect from the townspeople, but here sheriff J.P. Harrah is made a little more human by the situation he finds himself in.