mousepod |
12-13-2006 11:53 AM |
Sad. Heather and I just watched Hammett this weekend. It's a great Wim Wenders flick that puts Dashiell Hammett into a noir-esque fictional adventure. Boyle plays his ex-partner, and does a great job. At least he left such a great body of work behind him.
Here's my favorite Boyle scene from Taxi Driver - with Peter Boyle as "Wizard":
Quote:
TRAVIS
(hesitant)
Wiz?
WIZARD
Yeah?
TRAVIS
Look, ah, we never talked much, you
and me...
WIZARD
Yeah?
TRAVIS
I wanted to ask you something, on
account you've been around so long.
WIZARD
Shoot. They don't call me the
Wizard for nothing.
TRAVIS
Well, I just, you know...
WIZARD
Things got ya down?
TRAVIS
Real down.
WIZARD
It happens.
TRAVIS
Sometimes it gets so I just don't
know what I'm gonna do. I get some
real crazy ideas, you know? Just
go out and do somethin.
WIZARD
The taxi life, you mean.
TRAVIS
Yeah.
WIZARD
(nods)
I know.
TRAVIS
Like do anything, you know.
WIZARD
Travis, look, I dig it. Let me
explain. You choose a certain way
of life. You live it. It becomes
what you are. I've been a hack 27
years, the last ten at night.
Still don't own my own cab. I
guess that's the way I want it.
You see, that must be what I am.
A police car stops across the street. TWO PATROLMEN get out
and roust the JUNKIE from his doorway.
WIZARD
(continuing)
Look, a person does a certain thing
and that's all there is to it. It
becomes what he is. Why fight it?
What do you know? How long you
been a hack, a couple months?
You're like a peg and you get
dropped into a slot and you got to
squirm and wiggle around a while
until you fit in.
TRAVIS
(pause)
That's just about the dumbest thing
I ever heard, Wizard.
WIZARD
What do you expect, Bertrand
Russell? I've been a cabbie all my
life, what do I know?
(a beat)
I don't even know what you're
talking about.
TRAVIS
Neither do I, I guess.
WIZARD
You fit in. It's lonely, it's
rough at first. But you fit in.
You got no choice.
WIZARD
Yeah. Sorry, Wizard.
WIZARD
Don't worry, Killer. You'll be all
right.
(a beat)
I seen enough to know.
TRAVIS
Thanks.
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