Daily Dialogue — November 3, 2014

Tina: Do you see that, that wheel in there? There’s like a glob of gunk.
Mel: Yeah, I do.
Tina: Tar.
Mel: We need something to wipe it off with. If we could get like a-
Tina: You know what? Let’s just use my skirt.
Mel: Your skirt?
Tina: I don’t care about it. It’s old.
Mel: Really? Okay.
Tina: Hold this, okay?
Mel: Okay. Here.
Tina: Just- If you can…
Mel: Hold still.
Tina: Yeah. Okay.

She hikes up her skirt.

Mel: I’m sorry. Oh. I’m sorry.
Tina: Well-
Mel: Uh, you got it, though. You got it.
Tina: Good.
Mel: Yeah. So how long did you say you were a dancer for?
Tina: Oh, God, don’t remind me. I haven’t been to the gym in months.
Mel:Well, you don’t seem like you need to go to the gym. — I mean- You seem…
Tina: Well, you’re very generous. But when I was dancing, you know, my calves did not look like this.
Mel: Those look like very strong calves to me.
Tina: Well, strong, yeah. They’ve always been strong. When I was a kid, you know… I used to beat my brothers at Indian wrestling all the time.

They’re Indian wrestling.

Tina: You feel it in your legs? 
Mel: It’s really more about upper-body strength, isn’t it?
Tina: No, it’s all in the legs.
Mel: How?
Tina: You’ll see when you lose your balance.

— Flirting With Disaster (1996), written by David O. Russell

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Seduction. Today’s suggestion by Jon.

Trivia: According to Lily Tomlin, Ben Stiller and David O. Russell did not get along and had many heated arguments.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Jon: “I always liked this scene. It’s a memorable classic seduction. There’s a lot of subtext here. But for me, Mel wasn’t too overtly interested in Tina until this scene where she not so subtly directs him to her hiked up skirt. At that point it’s obvious she’s interested in him. The question becomes, will he go for it, at the risk of hurting his wife.

This marks a turning point where Mel and Tina go down that road. It also encapsulates the implied title theme “flirting” and the inevitable potential disastrous effects.

It is a very short and to the point scene, with minimal wordiness, and lots of subtext based simply on throwing the characters into a situation. I love it.”

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please head to comments. It’s good karma!