Daily Dialogue — January 14, 2019

March is seating in the toilet, smoking while reading a magazine. He sees a pair of feet stop in front of his stall.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

HEALY: March. Jack Healy. Don’t get upset. I’m not here to hurt you. I just wanna ask you a question.

March opens the door pointing his gun at Healy.

HEALY: Hey, no. 
MARCH: How stupid do you think I am? I got a license to carry, motherfucker. Ever since your little visit the other day, this little baby’s gonna stay right here.

The stall door closes. As March opens it again, his cigarette falls between his legs into the toilet.

MARCH: Fuck, fuck.

The door continues to close despite March’s attempts. March decides to get up and put on his pants and make it easier — struggling to juggle gun and magazine as he does so.

MARCH — Look away. Look…

Healy turns around.

HEALY: You know there’s a mirror here, right? 
MARCH: Close your eyes.

March gives up on pulling his pants.

MARCH: Fucking damn it. Forget it. You know what? Turn around.
HEALY: Can I open my eyes?
MARCH: Yeah, open your eyes.

March covering his junk with the magazine — an issue of Hours with Richard Nixon on the cover — while pointing the gun at Healy.

MARCH: What do you want?
HEALY: I want you to find Amelia.

— The Nice Guys (2016), written by Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Bathroom.

Trivia: One of the film’s nods to The Rockford Files (1974) is the yellow pages ad for Holland March’s detective agency. It is almost a complete copy of the ad used for Jim Rockford. Like Jim Rockford, March keeps his gun in a cookie jar.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Here the dialogue serves the physical humor as Ryan Gosling chews the scenery with his slapstick antics. Great bathroom scene.