Daily Dialogue — September 29, 2014

“There’s been abroad in this land in recent months a whisper that we have somehow lost our greatness, that we do not have the strength to win without war the struggles for liberty throughout the world. This is slander, because our country is strong, strong enough to be a peacemaker. It is proud, proud enough to be patient. The whisperers and the detractors, the violent men are wrong. We will remain strong and proud, peaceful and patient, and we will see a day when on this earth all men will walk out of the long tunnels of tyranny into the bright sunshine of freedom.”

— Seven Days in May (1964), screenplay by Rod Serling, novel by Fletcher Knebel & Charles W. Bailey II

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Politics.

Trivia: An important plot point in the film involves the attempted coup taking place on the same day as the Preakness Stakes horse race. However, the seven-day timeline for the film would have had the coup taking place on Sunday while the Preakness is always run on a Saturday. John Frankenheimer said that the problem was solved by a scriptwriting acquaintance of his. This man worked as a script doctor and liked to gamble but wagered his professional services instead of money. Frankenheimer had won some work from the man and gave him the problem. The solution? In one scene a character walks by a poster which says “First Ever Sunday Running of the Preakness”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: A terrific political thriller penned by Rod Serling.

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

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