Answers to Sterling Silver Dialogue #8
Sterling Silver Dialogue #8: (Answers)
"You know, once, off the hump of Brazil I saw the ocean so darkened with blood it was black and the sun faintin' away over the lip of the sky. We'd put in at Fortaleza, and a few of us had lines out for a bit of idle fishing. It was me had the first strike. A shark it was. Then there was another, and another shark again, 'till all about, the sea was made of sharks and more sharks still, and no water at all. My shark had torn himself from the hook, and the scent, or maybe the stain it was, and him bleeding his life away, drove the rest of them mad. Then the beasts took to eating each other. In their frenzy... they ate at themselves. You could feel the lust of murder like a wind stinging your eyes, and you could smell the death, reeking up out of the sea. I never saw anything worse... until this little picnic tonight. And you know, there wasn't one of them sharks in the whole crazy pack that survived."
(and)
"The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I'll concentrate on that."
Orson Welles as Michael O'Hara
in
"'Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."
(and)
"You see Mr. Gitts, most people never have to face the fact... the right time and the right place, they're capable of... ANYTHING."
John Huston as Noah Cross (in both scenes speaks to Jack Nicholson as J.J. Gittes)
in
"Well, I was curious. So many important people in one place..."
Robert De Niro as David 'Noodles' Aaronson
(reply) "The rats usually desert a sinking ship. In my case, they appear to be flocking on board."
James Woods as Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz / Senator Bailey
in
"Have you no human consideration?"
Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson
(reply) "Show me a human, and I might have."
Bette Davis as Margo Channing
"And there's a message from the bartender. Does Miss Channing know she ordered domestic gin by mistake?"
Thelma Ritter as Birdie Coonan
(reply) "The only thing I ordered by mistake is the guests. They're domestic, too, and they don't care what they drink as long as it burns!"
Bette Davis as Margo Channing
"I'm afraid Mr. DeWitt would find me boring before too long."
Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington (on far left)
(reply) "You won't bore him honey, you won't even get a chance to talk."
Marilyn Monroe as Miss Casswell (third from left)
"How about calling it a night?"
Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards (on far right)
(reply) "And you, pose as a playwright? A situation pregnant with possibilities and all you can think of is everybody go to sleep."
Bette Davis as Margo Channing
"I'll admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut."
Bette Davis as Margo Channing
"Why not read my column to pass the time? The minutes will fly like hours."
George Sanders as Addison DeWitt
(All of the above are)
Sterling Silver Dialogue #9 is here.