The elimination of one line in the script (page 86) made a huge difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roiYqPCUP5o In the script, when they open the hatch in the elevator, the body falls out and Sgt. Tate says “That's Pembry!” In the movie, that line is cut and we go directly to the ambulance where Lecter reveals himself. This whole sequence is pretty much without dialogue. Very effective and a great way of revealing what happened. The audience puts two and two together and it is awesome. Show don't tell, baby.

I think the best dialogue in the movie is this exchange: Hannibal Lecter: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek? Clarice Starling: He kills women... Hannibal Lecter: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing? Clarice Starling: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir... Hannibal Lecter: No! He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now. Clarice Starling: No. We just... Hannibal Lecter: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want? Though she doesn't realize it at the time, Lecter is basically just telling Clarice the key to catching Buffalo Bill in this exchange. The later callback to this dialogue, when Clarice realizes that Bill knew his first victim, is a key moment in both the mystery and her development as a profiler.

Oops, don't know why that ran together. Here it is again... Hannibal Lecter: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek? Clarice Starling: He kills women... Hannibal Lecter: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing? Clarice Starling: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir... Hannibal Lecter: No! He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now. Clarice Starling: No. We just... Hannibal Lecter: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?

Let me offer a tiny line of dialogue that completely transforms the plot: "Quid pro quo." That serves as the key transition in the story where Clarice agrees to Lecter's deal: You tell me personal things about yourself and I'll tell you stuff about Buffalo Bill. That leads Lecter to getting way inside Clarice's head -- specifically going against Crawford's admonition -- and leads to Clarice confronting her darkest shadow: the spring slaughter of the lambs on her uncle's ranch. I have been slammed this week, but over the weekend, I will follow up with comments on character, theme and more dialogue.

"Quid pro quo," that was a memorable line. Functional, distilled, and so damn well delivered. Two other lines stood out to me in movie that I was happy to see in script: Clarice clarifying things to Crawford, p 39: "It matters, Mr Crawford... Other cops know who you are. They look at you to see how to act... It matters." Clarice just provided a template for all folks, her handling of moment, and it further reveals Clarice to us. Lecter being sociable with Clarice, p 119: "I really wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner." I don't think I've had friends over for dinner since without thinking of this (that's impressive dialogue). Also, Pitcher was adorable, whole beetle scene fun, a light fun moment between bloody bits, p 41: "No fair! You lured him with produce." and "No, no, not at all. Yes."

Here's another short but sweet line of dialogue that has a lot of meaning for the story [P. 6]: "Believe me you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head." That is, of course, a line from Crawford to Clarice. And what happens later on? LECTER TOTALLY GETS INSIDE HER HEAD!!! So the line is both prescriptive and descriptive!

I'm having an old friend for dinner is all time classic.