Can Great Dialogue Make Any Film Into Art?
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Movies can be good. Movies can be bad. Cutting insight, eh? There are dozens of things that can impact a person's opinion of a movie. Since around 1927, one of the primary influencing factors of a film is its dialogue.
We have classic examples of this, like Casablanca, where Rick Blaine's world-weary musings would go on to be culturally relevant and quoted for over 50 years after the film's release. Using concise, simple sentences – in line with the character's personality – that sum up years of emotional turmoil. "We'll always have Paris" tugs the heartstrings of any viewer and shows the progressive character development undergone throughout the film. The dialogue in this film is so well crafted that it is one of the original instigators of the Mandela effect. If you can find where he say's, "Play it again Sam," I owe you a tea.
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This goes the other way as well, where an absolute travesty of a film can be elevated and remembered positively from one character absolutely chewing the scenery with their dialogue and making it the diamond in the rough. For this, look no further than Raul Julia's magnificent portrayal of series baddie M. Bison in Street Fighter. Despite being quite seriously ill at the time, Julia manages to steal every scene and be the single best thing in the entire film. Just look up his "Tuesday" speech to see a theatrical masterclass in delivery.
A line of dialogue can be free of Orwellian wit to be memorable. Often the most straightforward turn of phrase – delivered and timed impeccably – can literally bookend a Universe. Robert Downy Jr's "I am Iron Man" started 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even the most cynical of moviegoers felt a lump in their throat when he ended it by uttering the exact 4 words a decade later.
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Of course, no conversation around dialogue can leave out one of the best-written TV shows of all time - Deadwood. Ian McShane's Al Swearengin could have easily become a jokey one-note character, but in actual fact has cemented himself in televisual history as a late 19th Century philosopher.
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Star Wars has taken some pounding of late over its dialogue. Arguably, the dialogue was never top-tier in Star Wars – but that was part of its charm. Slightly cheesy, a bit clunky, and enough to make Alec Guinness want to cry. However, look no further than Andor to see good dialogue delivered stunningly by actors in their prime. Stellan Skarsgård and Andy Serkis deliver monologues that would make Lawrence Olivier stand up and cheer. Genre is not enough to exclude quality.
Finally, watch Goodfellas to see how interplaying, "real" dialogue is played out and what phenomenal actors can do when translating words from the page to the screen.
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