Daily Dialogue — September 21, 2013
JACK: Wendy?
GRADY: lt’s Grady, Mr. Torrance. Delbert Grady.
JACK: Grady? Grady. Grady, uh…Hello, Grady.
GRADY: Mr. Torrance. l see you can hardly have taken care of the — business we discussed.
JACK: No need to rub it in, Mr. Grady. l’ll deal with that situation as soon as l get out of here.
GRADY: Will you indeed, Mr. Torrance? l wonder. l have my doubts. l, and others, have come to believe that your heart is not in this. That you haven’t the belly for it.
JACK: Just give me one more chance to prove it, Mr. Grady. That’s all l ask.
GRADY: Your wife appears to be stronger than we imagined, Mr. Torrance. Somewhat more. . .resourceful. She seems to have got the better of you.
JACK: For the moment, Mr. Grady. Only for the moment.
GRADY:l fear you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr. Torrance. l fear… that is the only thing to do.
JACK: There’s nothing l look forward to with greater pleasure, Mr. Grady.
GRADY: You give your word on that, do you, Mr. Torrance?
JACK: l give you my word.
— The Shining (1980), screenplay by Kubrick and Diane Johnson, novel by Stephen King
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is asking a favor, suggested by rdlln. Today’s suggestion by JasperLamarCrab.
Trivia: The throwing around of the tennis ball inside the overlook hotel was Jack Nicholson’s idea. The script originally only specified that, “Jack is not working”.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Jasper: “The genteel quality of the dialogue works in exquisite counterpoint to the horrific content — a man asking for a second chance to murder his wife and child. Grady’s borderline servile tone mocks Jack, Grady having the upper hand, in a way that recalls our old friend from 2001, Hal.”