Daily Dialogue — October 10, 2014

“A man becomes preeminent, he’s expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms… What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork… Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don’t field… what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I’m goin’ out there for myself. But… I get nowhere unless the team wins.”

— The Untouchables (1987), written by David Mamet

Daily Dialogue theme for this week: Punishment.

Trivia: The scene where Al Capone (Robert De Niro) pulls out a baseball bat at a dinner party and suddenly beats to death one of his men is based on a true incident which happened on May 7, 1929. Two of Capone’s most feared hit men, Albert Anselmi and John Scalise, had hatched a plot to kill Capone and take over his gang. Capone got wind of it and invited all his associates to a dinner party, including Anselmi and Scalise. In the middle of the party, Capone pulled out a baseball bat and battered both men to death, then shot them both in the head. A conflicting version of the story has Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo, one of Capone’s hit men, as the man who bludgeoned the traitors to death.

Dialogue On Dialogue: An object lesson in maintaining discipline… through violence and terror.

If you have any suggestions for this week’s theme, please post in comments… and thanks!