Daily Dialogue —August 31, 2019

“Profits.”

— Reds (1981), written by Warren Beatty, Trevor Griffiths

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: One Word.

Trivia: With this film, Warren Beatty became the third person to be nominated for Academy Awards in the three categories of Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay in a film which was also nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Earlier people to do this had been Woody Allen for Annie Hall (1977), and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941).

Dialogue On Dialogue: I can’t find a clip, but it’s a great scene and how the character Jack Reed (Warren Beatty) is introduced. A journalist who has just returned from Cuba after witnessing first-hand the Spanish-American War, Jack is attending a meeting of the Liberal Club in Portland, Oregon. The leader of the meeting, whose job it is to introduce Jack, does so arousing patriotic fervor on the part of the largely white male gathering. Here is the interchange:

Leader: Patriotic Americans believe in freedom. And unless we are willing to take arms to defend our heritage, we cannot call ourselves patriotic Americans! I’m proud to be free. I’m proud to be an American. And if the man we elected President decides that our freedoms are being threatened and that the world must be made safe for democracy, then I know I won’t be alone in heeding the call of patriotism! What is this war about? Each man will have his own answer. I have mine. I’m ready to be called! (audience cheers) Now, tonight we have with us the son of Margaret and the late C.J. Reed of Portland, who has witnessed this war first-hand. And I, for one, see no reason why we here at the Liberal Club shouldn’t listen to what Jack Reed has to say. What would you say this war is about, Jack Reed?

Jack stands. Eyes the gathering, then utters one word.

Jack: Profits.

Profits. Sums it all up. A great one-word side of dialogue. Here a trailer for the movie which is strangely relevant to today’s world.