How about Pity Parties / Characters feeling sorry for themselves? Marty (1955) http://movieclips.com/WrhtM-marty-movie-a-night-of-heartache/ THE DINING ROOM. ...and sets it down before her son. Without a word, he picks up his fork and spoon and plunges into the mountain of spaghetti, adds cheese, eats away. Mrs. Pilletti takes her seat, folds her hands on the table, and sits watching Marty eat. MRS. PILLETTI So what are you gonna do tonight, Marty? MARTY I don't know, Ma. I'm all knocked out. I may just hang arounna house. Mrs. Pilletti nods a couple of times. A moment of silence. MRS. PILLETTI Why don't you go to the Stardust Ballroom? This gives Marty pause. He looks up. MARTY What? MRS. PILLETTI I say, why don't you go to the Stardust Ballroom? It's loaded with tomatoes. Marty regards his mother for a moment. MARTY It's loaded with what? MRS. PILLETTI Tomatoes. MARTY Ha! Who told you about the Stardust Ballroom? MRS. PILLETTI Thomas. He told me it was a very nice place. MARTY Oh, Thomas. Ma, it's just a big dance hall, and that's all it is. I been there a hundred times. Loaded with tomatoes. Boy, you're funny, Ma. MRS. PILLETTI Marty, I don't want you hang arounna house tonight. I want you to go take a shave and go out and dance. MARTY Ma, when are you gonna give up? You gotta bachelor on your hands. I ain't never gonna get married. MRS. PILLETTI You gonna get married. MARTY Sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he gotta face some facts, and one fact I gotta face is that whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it. I chased enough girls in my life. I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough. I don't wanna get hurt no more. I just called a girl just now, and I got a real brush-off, boy. I figured I was past the point of being hurt, but that hurt. Some stupid woman who I didn't even wanna call up. She gave me the brush. I don't wanna go to the Stardust Ballroom because all that ever happened to me there was girls made me feel like I was a bug. I got feelings, you know. I had enough pain. No, thank you. MRS. PILLETTI Marty... MARTY Ma, I'm gonna stay home and watch Jackie Gleason. MRS. PILLETTI You gonna die without a son. MARTY So I'll die without a son. MRS. PILLETTI Put on your blue suit... MARTY Blue suit, gray suit, I'm still a fat man. A fat ugly man. MRS. PILLETTI You not ugly. MARTY (his voice rising) I'm ugly... I'm ugly! I'm UGLY! MRS. PILLETTI Marty... MARTY Ma! Leave me alone! He stands abruptly, his face pained and drawn. He makes half- formed gestures to his mother, but he can't find words at the moment. He turns and marches a few paces away, turns to his mother again. MARTY Ma, waddaya want from me?! Waddaya want from me?! I'm miserable enough as it is! Leave me alone! I'll go to the Stardust Ballroom! I'll put onna blue suit and I'll go! And you know what I'm gonna get for my trouble? Heartache! A big night of heartache! Sullenly, he marches back to his seat, sits down, picks up his fork, plunges it into the spaghetti, stuffs a mouthful into his mouth, and chews vigorously for a moment. It is impossible for him to remain angry long. After a while, he is shaking his head. MARTY Loaded with tomatoes...boy, that's rich. - Moonstruck (1988) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7yK8cuP1Bw INT. THE BASEMENT OVEN ROOM - DAY There are two coal-fired ovens, one at either end of the room. There is a large wooden table roughly center. And various pieces of baking equipment, dough-mixers, etc., scattered willy-nilly. And everywhere there is bread. PIETRO, a baker, is working at one of the ovens with a long wooden spatula. RONNY is working at the other oven. Actually, he is just staring in the open door at the baking bread and burning coals. He's dressed in black jeans streaked with flour, a white restaurant shirt, white cotton gloves, and around his neck, a red handkerchief. He is black-haired, handsome and intense. ROCCO Ronny! RONNY What! ROCCO Somebody here to see you. Ronny turns and takes in Loretta. RONNY Have you come from my brother? LORETTA Yes. RONNY Why? LORETTA I'm going to marry him. RONNY You are going to marry my brother? LORETTA Yes. Do you want... RONNY I have no life. LORETTA Excuse me. RONNY I have no life. My brother Johnny took my life from me. LORETTA I don't understand. Everything in the oven room has stopped and everyone is watching. RONNY And now he's getting married. He has his, he's getting his. And he wants me to come? What is life? He picks up the wooden spatula and slides it into the oven. LORETTA I didn't come here to upset you. Ronny slides a bunch of loaves out of the oven on the spatula, turns them around, and slides them back in. RONNY They say bread is life. So I bake bread, bread, bread. (He's picking up loaves of bread from one of the boxes on the floor, and casually tossing them across the room.) And the years go by! By! By! And I sweat and shovel this stinking dough in and outta this hot hole in the wall and I should be so happy, huh, sweetheart? You want me to come to the wedding of my brother Johnny?!! Where is my wedding? Chrissy! Over by the wall! Gimme the big knife! CHRISSY No, Ronny! Barbara appears in the doorway and comes down the stairs into the room. RONNY Gimme the big knife! I'm gonna cut my throat! LORETTA Maybe I should come back another time. RONNY No, I want you to see this! I want you to watch me kill myself so you can tell my brother on his wedding day! Chrissy, gimme the big knife! CHRISSY I tell you I won't do it! RONNY (to Loretta) Do you know about me? BARBARA Oh, Mr. Cammareri! RONNY Nothing is anybody's fault, but things happen. (holds up his left hand to Loretta) Look. He pulls off the glove. The hand is made of wood. RONNY It's wood. It's fake. Five years ago I was engaged to be married. Johnny came in here, he ordered bread from me. I put it in the slicer and I talked with him and my hand got caught cause I wasn't paying attention. The slicer chewed off my hand. It's funny 'cause - when my fiancé saw that I was maimed, she left me for another man. LORETTA That's the bad blood between you and Johnny? RONNY That's it. LORETTA But that wasn't Johnny's fault. RONNY I don't care! I ain't no freakin monument to justice! I lost my hand, I lost my bride! Johnny has his hand, Johnny has his bride! You come in here and you want me to put away my heartbreak and forget? He goes to the big table, which is floured and covered with bread. He sweeps everything off the tabletop during the next. RONNY Is it just a matter of time till a man opens his eyes and gives up his one dream of happiness? Maybe. Maybe. - Notting Hill (1999) http://youtu.be/PTjIRQU_HdM INT. MAX AND BELLA'S CONSERVATORY - NIGHT Coffee time. MAX Having you here, Anna, firmly establishes what I've long suspected, that we really are the most desperate hot of under-achievers. BERNIE Shame! MAX I'm not saying it's a bad thing, in fact, I think it's something we should take pride in. I'm going to give the last brownie as a prize to the saddest act here. A little pause. Then William turns to Bernie. WILLIAM Bernie. BERNIE Well, obviously it's me, isn't it -- I work in the City in a job I don't understand and everyone keeps getting promoted above me. I haven't had a girlfriends since... puberty and, well, the long and short of it is, nobody fancies me, and if these cheeks get any chubbier, they never will. HONEY Nonsense. I fancy you. Or I did before you got so far. MAX You see -- and unless I'm much mistaken, your job still pays you rather a lot of money, while Honey here, she earns nothing flogging her guts out at London's seediest record store. HONEY Yes. And I don't have hair -- I've got feathers, and I've got funny goggly eyes, and I'm attracted to cruel men and ... no one'll ever marry me because my boosies have actually started shrinking. MAX You see -- incredibly sad. BELLA On the other hand, her best friend is Anna Scott. HONEY That's true, I can't deny it. She needs me, what can I say? BELLA And most of her limbs work. Whereas I'm stuck in its thing day and night, in a house full of ramps. And to add insult to serious injury -- I've totally given up smoking, my favourite thing, and the truth is... we can't have a baby. Dead silence. WILLIAM Bella. Bella shrugs her shoulders. Bernie is totally grief-struck. BERNIE No. Not true... BELLA C'est la vie... We're lucky in lots of ways, but... Surely it's worth a brownie. William reaches for her hand. Max breaks the sombre mood. MAX Well, I don't know. Look at William. Very unsuccessful professionally. Divorced. Used to be handsome, now kind of squidgy around the edges -- and absolutely certain never to hear from Anna again after she's heard that his nickname at school was Floppy. They all laugh. Anna smiles across at William. WILLIAM So I get the brownie? MAX I think you do, yes. ANNA Wait a minute. What about me? MAX I'm sorry? You think you deserve the brownie? ANNA Well... a shot at it. WILLIAM You'll have to prove it. This is a great brownie and I'm going to fight for it. State your claim. ANNA Well, I've been on a diet since I was nineteen, which means basically I've been hungry for a decade. I've had a sequence of not nice boyfriends -- one of whom hit me: and every time my heart gets broken it gets splashed across the newspapers as entertainment. Meantime, it cost millions to get me looking like this... HONEY Really? ANNA Really -- and one day, not long from now... While she says this, quiet settles around the table. The thing is -- she sort of means it and is opening up to them. ANNA ... my looks will go, they'll find out I can't act and I'll become a sad middle-aged woman who looks a bit like someone who was famous for a while. Silence... they all look at her... then. MAX Nah!!! Nice try, gorgeous -- but you don't fool anyone. The mood is instantly broken. They all laugh. WILLIAM Pathetic effort to hog the brownie.

And maybe throw in Self-deprecation as well. This scene contains my favorite line of the film. American Beauty (1999) http://youtu.be/bLi8lVu4aDY Inside the ballroom, well-dressed real estate professionals stand in clumps, chatting. Catering waiters serve hors d'eouvres. CAROLYN Now listen to me. This is an important business function. As you know, my business is selling an image. And part of my job is to live that image-- LESTER Just say whatever you want to say and spare me the propaganda. CAROLYN (spots someone) Hi, Shirley! (to Lester) Listen, just do me a favor. Act happy tonight? LESTER (grins stupidly) I am happy, honey. Carolyn's jaw tightens, then: CAROLYN (spots someone) Oh! Buddy! She drags Lester toward a silver-haired MAN and his much younger WIFE. We recognize the Man as BUDDY KANE, The Real Estate King. CAROLYN (CONT'D) (shakes Buddy's hand) Buddy! Buddy. Hi! Good to see you again. BUDDY It's so good to see you too, Catherine. CAROLYN Carolyn. BUDDY Carolyn! Of course. How are you? CAROLYN Very well, thank you. (to his wife) Hello, Christy. CHRISTY Hello. CAROLYN My husband, Lester-- BUDDY (shakes Lester's hand) It's a pleasure. LESTER Oh, we've met before, actually. This thing last year. Or the Christmas thing at the Sheraton. BUDDY Oh, yes. LESTER It's okay. I wouldn't remember me either. He LAUGHS. A little too loudly. Carolyn quickly joins in. CAROLYN (forced gaiety) Honey. Don't be weird. She smiles her most winning smile at him. He knows this persona well, only it's never pissed him off as much as it does right now. LESTER All right, honey. I won't be weird. (his face close to hers) I'll be whatever you want me to be. And he kisses her--a soft, warm kiss that speaks unmistakably of sex--then turns to the others and grins. LESTER (CONT'D) We have a very healthy relationship. BUDDY I see. Carolyn's smile is frozen on her face.

Court scenes. Rejection. Comic Relief. Lies. Kids.

What about dialog from a specific actor, writer, or director? I think it would be helpful to see the influence one person has on dialog. Directors: Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott, Nora Ephron, Frank Capra Actors: Christopher Walken, Jodie Foster, Katharine Hepburn, Bill Murray Writer: John August, Woody Allen, Lawrence Kasdan, Billy Wilder Also, even though it's ambitious -- I'd love to see a week of daily dialog featuring the originals and their remakes/reboots. It would be interesting to see how dialog has changed over time with movies like Willy Wonka, Ocean's 11, Father of the Bride, The Italian Job, The Thomas Crown Affair. And how it changes with the tone/genre of a film Robin Hood: Prince of Theives & Robin Hood Men in Tights & Robin Hood. Or maybe Oscar Winning. For either best picture or best original screenplay.

How about hyperbole or braggadocio? From One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: McMurphy: [about shock treatments] They was giving me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I'm hot to trot! The next woman takes me on's gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars!

I'm a new-ish reader, so stop me if you've heard this one, but how about a theme of "Brothers." ...Then, of course, you could do Sisters. Meaning siblings, not people in a religious order.

Ha! I don't know there are some good movies featuring monks and nuns.

Or that could be mashed together to become merely "Siblings" if there aren't enough quality examples.

True, true -- "Religious folk" ...

Just for fun: http://cli.ps/Dp5U

The Herald's Call or Challenge - in the Joseph Campbell scheme of things, the Herald's call alerts the hero to a crisis or possible crisis. It can be a person or an event, and the Hero frequently refuses the call initially. Here are a few examples: From A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Kubrick based on the novel by Anthony Burgess Alex: Hi, hi, hi, Mr. Deltoid. Funny surprise seeing you here. Mr. Deltoid: Well Alex boy awake at last yes? I met your mother on the way to work, yes? She gave me the key. She said something about a pain somewhere, hence not at school , yes? Alex: A rather intolerable pain in the head, Brother sir. I think it should be clear by this after-lunch. Mr. Deltoid: Or certainly by this evening, yes? The evening is the great time, isn't it Alex boy? Alex: Cup of the old chai, Sir? Mr. Deltoid: No time, no time yes? Sit, sit, sit. Alex: To what do I owe this extreme pleasure, Sir Anything wrong, Sir? Mr. Deltoid: Wrong? Why should you think of anything being wrong? Have you been doing something you shouldn't, yes? Alex: Just a manner of speech, sir. Mr. Deltoid: Yes, well it's just a manner of speech from your post corrective advisor to you, that you watch out little Alex. Because next time it's not going to be the corrective school any more. Next time it's going to be the barry place with all my work ruined. If you've no respect for your horrible self, you at least might have some for me, who sweated over you. A big black mark I tell you for every one we don't reclaim. A confession of failure for every one of you who ends up in the stripee hole. Alex: I've been doing nothing I shouldn't, Sir. The millicents have nothing on me, Brother. Sir, I mean. Mr. Deltoid: Cut out all this clever talk about milicents. Just because the police haven't picked you up lately doesn't as you very well know mean that you haven't been up to some nastiness. There was a bit of a nastiness last night, yes? Some very extreme nastiness, yes? A few of a certain Billy-Boy's friends were ambulenced off late last night, yes? Your name was mentioned the words got through to me by the usual channels, certain friends of yours were named also. Oh, nobody can prove anything about anybody as usual but I'm warning you, Little Alex, being a good friend to you as always, the one man in this sore and sick community who wants to save you from yourself. What gets into you all? We studied the problem, we've been studying it for damn well near a century, yes. But we get no farther with all our studies. You've got a good home here, good loving parents, you've got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside of you? Alex:Nobody's got anything on me, Brother , Sir. I've been out of the rookers of the milicents for a long time now. Mr. Deltoid: That's just worries me, a bit too long to be safe. You're about due now by my reckoning, that's why I'm warning you, Little Alex, to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt. Do I make myself clear? Alex: As an unmuddied lake sir. As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer. You can rely on me sir. From JAWS (1976) screenplay by Carl Gottlieb and Peter Benchley, based on the novel by Benchley Hooper is examining the remains of the first victim - describes the post-mortem into his tape recorder] Hooper: The height and weight of the victim can only be estimated from the partial remains. The torso has been severed in mid-thorax; there are no major organs remaining... Hooper: Right arm has been severed above the elbow with massive tissue loss in the upper musculature... partially denuded bone remaining... Hooper: [to the m.e. and Brody] This was no boat accident! Hooper: [to Brody] Did you notify the Coast Guard about this? Brody: No. It was only local jurisdiction. Hooper: [continues post-mortem] The left arm, head, shoulders, sternum and portions of the rib cage are intact... Hooper: [to Brody] Do not smoke in here, thank you very much. Hooper: [lifts up the severed arm] This is what happens. It indicates the non-frenzied feeding of a large squalus - possibly Longimanus or Isurus glauca. Now... the enormous amount of tissue loss prevents any detailed analysis; however the attacking squalus must be considerably larger than any normal squalus found in these waters. Didn't you get on a boat and check out these waters? Brody: No. Hooper: Well, this is not a boat accident! And it wasn't any propeller; and it wasn't any coral reef; and it wasn't Jack the Ripper! It was a shark. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) directed by Francis Coppola, screenplay by John Milius and Coppola, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad Colonel Lucas: Your mission is to proceed up the Nung River in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up Colonel Kurtz's path at Nu Mung Ba, follow it and learn what you can along the way. When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel's command. Willard: Terminate the Colonel? General Corman: He's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops. Civilian: Terminate with extreme prejudice. Colonel Lucas: You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist...

How about the best use of sub-text in a movie. I hope this subject will help my fellow writers - I am focusing in on this subject - so the input will be invaluable for me. I found this clip from CHINATOWN. http://youtu.be/kh0exWqvxeI CROSS It disturbs me, Mr. Gittes. It makes me think you're taking my daughter for a ride – financially speaking, of course. How much are you charging her? GITTES (carefully) My usual fee -- plus a bonus if I come up with any results. CROSS Are you sleeping with her? Come, come, Mr. Gittes -- you don't have to think about that to remember, do you? Gittes laughs. GITTES If you want an answer to that question I can always put one of my men on the job. Good afternoon, Mr. Cross. CROSS Mr. Gittes! You're dealing with a disturbed woman who's lost her husband. I don't want her taken advantage of. Sit down. GITTES What for? CROSS -- You may think you know what you're dealing with – but believe me, you don't. http://youtu.be/kh0exWqvxeI

Insults! And here's 100 of the best! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PSEYXWmEse8#!

Slightly off topic but I just received this tweet. "This is my first[script]. I can write about humans w/ no problem, but I'm not sure where the writer stops & the CGI guy starts." I was astounded that one would think the CGI people write the CGI parts. Maybe do a script to screen on CGI.

Good stuff, folks. I'll sift through the ideas and come up with a schedule. Thanks!