Movie plots advanced soley by dialog, or lack of dialog

[Trigonal Planar]

I find "dialgue-propelled" movies very interesting and many of them end up on my favourite movie list. In this thread I am talking about movies that are entirely dialog based - however, I want to include both movies that are purely dialog, and movies that contain little to no dialog.

Some of my favourite exmaples include:

2001: A Space Odyssey (minimal dialog)

Being There (entirely dialog)

Castaway (minimal dialog)

What I'm looking for, of course, is other movie suggestions with these themes in mind.

[Metacom]

Alfred Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" is a bunch of people sitting in a boat and talking.

[Don Draper]

For a movie entirely advanced by dialogue, see "My Dinner With Andre" - which is literally what the title states, two men having dinner & conversing with each other.

A great movie w/ little to no dialogue is "the Triplets of Belleville." Simply amazing, IMO.

[kellner]

Twelve Angry Men (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/) is almost entirely dialog-based, too.

[Superdude]

The Big Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito, is pretty dialogue-driven.

[pepperlandgirl]

The Big Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito, is pretty dialogue-driven.

In a similiar vein, Glengarry Glen Ross

[HPL]

For a movie entirely advanced by dialogue, see "My Dinner With Andre" - which is literally what the title states, two men having dinner & conversing with each other.

A great movie w/ little to no dialogue is "the Triplets of Belleville." Simply amazing, IMO.

Well, there goes my suggestions.

[Sundog]

Before Sunset, the sequel to Before Sunrise. Great movie, out in theaters now. As a bonus, the entire conversation takes place in real time.

[Arch Trout]

American Buffalo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115530/)

Written by the same guy that wrote Glengarry Glenross.

If you want plot driven/heavy movies then go for movies that are based on plays.

Plays are always talk heavy.

[kevja]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is pretty much all dialog driven.

[Agrippina]

The Lion in Winter is a dialog-heavy film.

Eraserhead is not. Long periods of nothing but surreal background noise.

[Slithy Tove]

The Thief with Ray Milland as an atomic-bomb spy has no dialog, although otherwise a full soundtrack

http://imdb.com/title/tt0045230/

[Jurph]

Waking Life is almost entirely dialogue, and although it isn't a movie, the infamous Buffy Episode Hush (from Season 4) was Joss Whedon's retort to the critics who said the only good thing about Buffy was its dialogue. A few years ago a film called [utl="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275719/"]Tape[/url] with Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Robert Sean Leonard was also a very minimalist piece. One set, a few small props, and dialogue dialogue dialogue!

The playwright mentioned above is David Mamet, and Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo are two of his best. His dialogue is always awesome, if occasionally profanity-laced.

[Arch Trout]

The playwright mentioned above is David Mamet, and Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo are two of his best. His dialogue is always awesome, if occasionally profanity-laced.

I once had the pleasure of seeing both those movies in a double header at my local art house cinema for £5 (US $8.50).

What a night :D :D

[JoeSki]

Phone booth was driven by almost nothing but dialoge.

[KarlGauss]

Well, Quest for Fire (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0082484/) (which you either hate or like, and I liked) had no dialogue.

Another great dialogue-free film is Koyaanisqatsi (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/). Many more recent films borrow heavily from it in terms of technique, effects (IMHO).

[Trigonal Planar]

Ah yes, I've seen both Quest for Fire and Eraserhead. Both excellent examples. Although I'd have to say I'm in the "hate it" camp when it comes to Q4F - likely due to the fact that the french channel shows it every other weekend.

I'd be tempted to list The Cube but that might be pushing it a little.

[blowero]

What about Duel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/), directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Dennis Weaver? I'm remembering that it had very little dialogue.

[yosemite]

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope is pretty dialog-heavy. Takes place in this guy's apartment, the whole time.

[Wendell Wagner]

Basically all of David Mamet's films are:

_House of Games_
_The Spanish Prisoner_
_Glengarry Glen Ross_
etc.

So are basically all of Richard Linklater's:

_Slacker_
_Waking Life_
_Before Sunrise_
_Before Sunset_
_SubUrbia_ (which is also an Eric Bogosian film, since Linklater directed it and Bogosian wrote it)
etc.

And films made from Bogosian's scripts are also dialogue-driven, like:

_Talk Radio_

So are basically all of Whit Stillman's:

_Metropolitan_
_Barcelona_
_The Last Days of Disco_

So, although not quite as much, are all of Kevin Smith's:

_Clerks_
_Mallrats_
_Chasing Amy_
_Dogma_
etc.

Quentin Tarantino's films are more dialogue-driven than you might expect, given that they're action films:

_Pulp Fiction_
_Reservoir Dogs_
_True Romance_
etc.

Spike Lee's are rather dialogue-driven:

_She's Got to Have It_
_Get on the Bus_
_Do the Right Thing_
_School Daze_
etc.

So are the films of Noah Baumbach like:

_Kicking and Screaming_
etc.

But then look at the films of Woody Allen:

_Annie Hall_
_Play It Again, Sam_
_Husbands and Wives_
_Shadows and Fog_
_Broadway Danny Rose_
and on and on and on . . .

They're also sometimes driven by narration, but mostly they consist of talk. I consider directors like Stillman, Baumbach, Smith, Linklater, and maybe even Lee and Tarantino to be "the children of Woody Allen." They're all about a generation younger than Allen and presumably grew up seeing Allen's films. Allen is the reigning master of the film where everyone talks their problems to death.

[Reepicheep]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned a film that has no dialog: The Red Balloon

[Annie-Xmas]

Hitchcock's Rear Window qualifies in both catagories. The Jimmy Stewart scenes are almost entirely dialog, and what he sees is lack of dialog.

Any others like that?

[Nonsuch]

The Breakfast Club is very word-heavy. It's one of the few movies that feels like it was based on a play when it actually wasn't.

Of course, an easy route to finding films with minimal dialogue is to look for silent movies. You've got an array of artists to choose from: Chaplin, Keaton, Griffith, Murnau, Pickford, Fairbanks ...

[Trigonal Planar]

Rear Window is a good example up until the end.

I'm not sure I agree with some of the films listed by Wendell Wagner. Sure, Pulp Fiction may depend heavily on the dialog, but its pretty action packed. And for the sake of my OP, yes, I am excluding films with much action; I'm more interested in films where nothing else happens. Being There is a prime example, IMO. Really, we just see the daily goings on in the house while he talks about his life. Nothing much happens.

[Zebra]

Films based on plays will be driven by dialog.

The Odd Couple springs to mind.

People frequently critize Stallone or Arnold for having no dialog in their films.

[Wendell Wagner]

Trigonal Planar writes:

> Sure, Pulp Fiction may depend heavily on the dialog, but its pretty action
> packed.

Which is why I wrote:

> Quentin Tarantino's films are more dialogue-driven than you might expect,
> given that they're action films:

The interesting thing about Tarantino's films is that they are both action films and dialogue-driven films. In a film review I wrote (well before _Kill Bill_) where I talked about all of the "children of Woody Allen" group, I said the following:

> Quentin Tarantino is the weirdest case among this group. He's the most
> talented one, with his brilliant dialogue and his clever plotting, but he's also
> the most unrealistic. He's applied his skills to standard action genres, so unlike
> the rest of this group he's gotten big budgets for his films. His characters
> chatter away like typical Generation X intellectual types deconstructing popular
> culture in their discussions of songs, movies, TV shows, and hamburgers, but
> these people are supposed to be criminals, who are not generally known for
> their conversational skills. This is why Tarantino's characters are really just
> fantasy images of himself and the people he knows. He's still basically a video
> store clerk who's watched too many action movies and dreamed himself and
> his friends into their plots.

[flight]

Solaris

[ianzin]

Three references to David Mamet so far, and yet no-one has mentioned Oleanna. Just two characters and a desk, more or less entirely dialogue. But it's Mamet, so the dialogue is stunning, sizzling and brilliant.

I have never seen Derek Jarman's Blue, but apparently it has no characters, plot or even images! It's just a blue screen with a dialogue soundtrack.

Disney once released a wildlife doc called The Living Desert as a full-length feature film. No dialogue, just various wildlife sequences and some cheesy commentary. Fantasia has hardly any dialogue. Mel Brooks's Silent Movie has only one spoken word, and the joke is that it's spoken by Marcel Marceau.

[burundi]

Jan Svankmajer, a Czech filmmaker, tends to use little dialogue. (He also tends to use puppets, which makes things extra-interesting.) I really liked Faust and Conspirators of Pleasure.

The Big Kahuna, which Superdude recommended, is the first movie that came to my mind. I heartily recommend it. Before seeing it, I had no idea what a good actor Danny DeVito could be.

[Lamar Mundane]

One of my favorites is Vanya on 42nd. Street (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111590/#comment). Basically, it is a film of a rehearsal of a play.

Interestingly, it features Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, of My Dinner with Andre fame, mentioned several times above.

[RealityChuck]

Movies without dialog:

Black Moon by Louis Malle. I don't believe there's a single word said.

Several of Jacques Tati's films: M. Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle, Playtime and Traffic have occasional dialog, but it has little to do with setting the plot.

Silent Movie (well, one word)

Movies that are dialog driven:

Just about any filmed play. Some that come to mind:
The Boys in the Band
Holiday
On Golden Pond
Deathtrap
Sleuth
Any Shakespeare adaptation

Alan Alda-directed films like The Four Seasons (all talk and nothing else)

[mhendo]

What about Duel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/), directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Dennis Weaver? I'm remembering that it had very little dialogue.Damn! Beat me to the punch. Great movie.Basically all of David Mamet's films are:

_House of Games_
_The Spanish Prisoner_
_Glengarry Glen Ross_
etc.I'd have to disagree a little bit about House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner. They are certainly more "event driven" than some of Mamet's other work, like Glengarry Glen Ross, The Big Kahuna, and Oleanna. Although they are also more dialog-driven than the average film.

There's a great Australian film called The Interview that is very heavy on dialog. Hugo Weaving is magnificent in the lead role.

[Annie-Xmas]

Speaking of Alan Alda and plays made into movies, a good example is "Same Time Next Year." Everything is dialog.