AS GOOD AS IT GETS - James J. Brooks In this scene, there are MULTIPLE requests for favors going on. Melvin's called Frank, Simon's art rep, ostensibly to talk about the dog, but really this is part of his breakthrough in trying to help Simon, by asking Frank the favor to clue him in on Simon's situation. Meanwhile, Carol wants Melvin to read her thank-you letter, which he doesn't want to do. Frank wants Melvin to take Simon to visit his parents and ask for money, which Melvin doesn't want to do. And Melvin relents on taking Simon and wants (demands) that Carol return the favor and go on the trip with him. Multiple characters are experiencing multiple arcs all in this one scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slGOEjM2Pyk ON MELVIN & FRANK MELVIN It's not my dog and this Simon seems to have enough on his mind -- but he did throw up twice and his spark is off. FRANK Sure -- take him to the vet. MELVIN I did. And his stomach is out of whack. So they need him for a couple of days. FRANK Do it. CAROL Melvin. She self-consciously hands him with the thick envelope. MELVIN What's this? CAROL (sotto) A thank-you note for what you did for me. He hands it back to her deliberately. She takes it and walks back to the service area where, embarrassed, confused, and messed with -- she tosses the note. After Carol leaves... FRANK She's nice. MELVIN (to Frank) Really nice. Shouldn't that be a good thing... telling someone, 'no thanks required.' FRANK It looks like it really went over. You're sure making the rounds. Simon says you brought him soup last night. I hope he doesn't write you a note. ... FRANK It's not only financial assistance. What he's got to do is go to Baltimore tomorrow and ask his parents for money. It's not going to happen on the phone. MELVIN Yeah. If his parents are alive they've got to help -- those are the rules. Good. FRANK Yes. And tomorrow? I have a high maintenance selling painter coming through... So I'm out. Can you take him? MELVIN Think white and get serious. Carol enters scene. FRANK Take my car -- a convertible. Do you drive? MELVIN (loudly) Like the wind but I'm not doing it. CAROL Getting loud, getting loud. MELVIN He wants me to take his car and his client to Baltimore. CAROL I want your life for a minute where my big problem is someone offers me a free convertible so I can get out of this city. ... And finally Carol notes Melvin's mood and pauses. MELVIN Nice of you... thank you. CAROL Thank you. MELVIN Now I want you to do something for me. She looks at him for a very strange, long beat.

A Sunday afternoon spent watching The Shawshank Redemption for, oh, the 1958th time and this scene is one of many that sticks out to me AND it pertains to this week's "Asking a favor" theme... After the chance at proving his innocence dies (literally and figuratively - his hope for redemption and freedom dies) and having just spent 2 months in solitary, Andy's met his breaking point and decides to escape. This revelation comes after a conversation with Red and momentarily daydreaming about a little town in Mexico called Zihuatanejo (new hope). His desperation in asking Red to go to this particular field to look under the rock carries so much meaning I don't even know where to begin. He's desperate for himself, his own sanity in hoping his friend will get out and that his friend will join him - it's a favor less for Andy than for Red. When Red gets to the stonewall in the Hayfield in Maine, he reads in Andy's letter that hope is a good thing... and he's just given them both hope in freedom and in meeting up again on the outside. Also, in the last lines of the movie as he's taking the bus to Ft. Hancock, TX and walking on the beach Red says: I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. (beat) I hope. just to tie it all in :) Not that this scene is the beginning of either of their hope, it's that catalyst the brings new hope for them both. He's asking Red to have hope, too. That's a favor to them both. http://youtu.be/qQx24pfBj_k ANDY (turns back) Red, if you ever get out of here, do me a favor. There's this big hayfield up near Buxton. You know where Buxton is? RED (nods) Lots of hayfields there. ANDY One in particular. Got a long rock wall with a big oak at the north end. Like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where I asked my wife to marry me. We'd gone for a picnic. We made love under that tree. I asked and she said yes. (beat) Promise me, Red. If you ever get out, find that spot. In the base of that wall you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Maine hayfield. A piece of black volcanic glass. You'll find something buried under it I want you to have. RED What? What's buried there? ANDY You'll just have to pry up that rock and see. Andy turns and walks away.

I slept on this and realized it might be better to include the talk about Zihuatanejo. Andy's already made up his mind and he's desperate for his friend: he doesn't want to leave him and Red's already given up hope of either getting out or making it on the outside. Andy's painted the picture of warm climes and blue waters and the "favor" itself drives it home for both Andy and Red; Andy means what he's saying and he means for his friend to keep hope and actually make it. He asks him for this favor and then makes him promise. Again, this, in my opinion, is a hope for Andy in that he's giving his friend hope and asking him to join him, but it's also for Red himself - to do himself a favor. I'm probably not saying this clearly or as it should be dissected... (here's the additional dialogue that precedes what's listed above should you care to include it all... or at all) new video clip: http://youtu.be/R0G_wyJE3ks (glances to him) Think you'll ever get out of here? RED Sure. When I got a long white beard and about three marbles left rolling around upstairs. ANDY Tell you where I'd go. Zihuatanejo. RED Zihuatanejo? ANDY Mexico. Little place right on the Pacific. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I'd like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no memory. Open a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new. Take my guests out charter fishing. (beat) You know, a place like that, I'd need a man who can get things. Red stares at Andy, laughs. RED Jesus, Andy. I couldn't hack it on the outside. Been in here too long. I'm an institutional man now. Like old Brooks Hatlen was. ANDY You underestimate yourself. RED Bullshit. In here I'm the guy who can get it for you. Out there, all you need are Yellow Pages. I wouldn't know where to begin. (derisive snort) Pacific Ocean? Hell. Like to scare me to death, somethin' that big. ANDY Not me. I didn't shoot my wife and I didn't shoot her lover, and whatever mistakes I made I've paid for and then some. That hotel and that boat...I don't think it's too much to want. To look at the stars just after sunset. Touch the sand. Wade in the water. Feel free. RED Goddamn it, Andy, stop! Don't do that to yourself! Talking shitty pipedreams! Mexico's down there, and you're in here, and that's the way it is! ANDY You're right. It's down there, and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying. Red snaps a look. What the hell does that mean? Andy rises and walks away. Red lunges to his feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcff4P2erwM We don't want anything to do with her She is a 'golden calf'. We all know what'd happen with that. -- Well he's not worshiping her. They're just dating? -- These young people have no willpower. He is sick, alright. He's sick. Yes we were just hoping if we came to you, you could help You know just pave the way a little. If you could just try to understand it... We can try. MRS. GRUNER This is all for Heaven sake, What's the big deal? Sally, your cousin puts the dresses on his cats. Hazel, your nephew gave all his money to a UFO club. and Ernie, everybody knows your first wife was a klepto She wasn't.. MRS. GRUNER -- Then why she buried the pair of my earrings? Now that's enough. MRS. GRUNER These things happen. Lars is a good boy. You can depend on me. Thanks Mrs. Gruner. You're not bring it to the church, Reverend Brock? REVEREND BROCK The question is, as always ...What would Jesus do? I love this movie and I love this scene. It simultaneously subverts and upholds the stereotype of small-minded small-town folk. It also establishes the precedent for what's to follow - the astonishing level of support Lars and Bianca get from the town. His brother and his wife perhaps solicit the help of the most important organization in the town, the church, and that shapes the whole town's behavior.

From "Million Dollar Baby" This is a heartbreaking scene starting with the unthinkable favor, but Maggie's beautifully written monologue is what clinches it. It persuades Frank away from his initial refusal and sets up the terrible choice he has to make in the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4SUU7XoRl8 (this starts with her monologue, couldn't find one that began with her actually asking the favor) Maggie Fitzgerald: I do have one favor to ask of you boss. Frankie Dunn: Anything you want. Maggie Fitzgerald: Remember what my daddy did for Axel? Frankie Dunn: [long pause] Don't even think about that. Maggie Fitzgerald: I can't be like this, Frankie. Not after what I've done. I've seen the world. People chanted my name. Well, not my name... some damn name you gave me. But they were chanting for me. I was in magazines. You think I ever dreamed that'd happen? I was born two pounds, one-and-a-half ounces. Daddy used to tell me I'd fight my way into this world, and I'd fight my way out. That's all I wanna do, Frankie. I just don't wanna fight you to do it. I got what I needed. I got it all. Don't let 'em keep taking it away from me. Don't let me lie here 'till I can't hear those people chanting no more.

This is the Melanie death scene from Gone With The Wind (for which I cannot find a legal clip). It's a great scene because these two women have been bound together since the beginning of the movie because they both love the same man. And it's their friendship that is really the narrative line because Melanie is the symbol of the old south and Scarlett of the new south. But it's also great because Melanie knows Scarlett loves her husband--but that her husband doesn't care about Scarlett the same way. So she gifts her husband to her friend, knowing he'll be cared for by Scarlett. And that she tags it all by telling Scarlett that her own husband loves her. Finally, Scarlett finally understands, in this scene, how much her friendship with Melanie has meant to her. All in about 20 lines. Scarlett: It's me, Melly. Melanie: Promise me? Scarlett: Anything. Melanie: Look after my little son. I gave him to you once before. Remember? The day he was born. Scarlett: Please, Melly, don't talk this way. I know you'll get well. Melanie: Promise me college... Scarlett: Yes and Europe, and a pony, whatever he wants. But Melly, do try... Melanie: Ashley, Ashley and you... Scarlett: What about Ashley, Melly? Melanie quote: Look after him for me. Just as you looked after me for him. Scarlett: I will, Melly. Melanie: Look after him but never let him know. Scarlett: Good night. Melanie: Promise? Scarlett: What else, Melly? Melanie: Capt. Butler be kind to him. Scarlett: Rhett? Melanie: He loves you so. Scarlett: Yes, Melly. Melanie: Good bye. Scarlett: Good bye.

THE SHINING (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick, screenplay by Kubrick and Diane Johnson based on the novel by Stephen King 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. Dialogue take-away: 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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNaddvSPWj0