# Best talking movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862 "2010-06-29T00:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/1 "2010-06-29T00:04:30Z")
What are the best movies where most of what takes place is talking? I just watched **Before Sunrise** and **Before Sunset** , two excellent movies where it’s just two characters talking throughout the whole movie. Can anyone think of any other movies like that? ETA: Can someone fix the title? It should be “Best talking movies”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/2 "2010-06-29T00:05:58Z")
My Dinner with Andre is very popular, not my style, but it fits your description. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/3 "2010-06-29T00:34:50Z")
There’s a whole group of directors who I have referred to as “the children of Woody Allen.” They are, more or less, a generation younger than Allen. They all write and direct movies that resemble Allen’s in the way that much of the action of the story takes place in the dialogue. The directors in this group are Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Whit Stillman, Nicole Holofcener, and Noah Baumbach. Another director who uses a lot of dialogue, but who is different enough that I don’t think of him as part of this group, is David Mamet. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/4 "2010-06-29T03:09:34Z")
There’s a really great Australian independent film I saw called **The Interview** that is basically just a detective interviewing a suspected killer in an interrogation room, with a few scenes taking place outside. The battle of wits between the two men (Hugo Weaving and Tony Martin) is electrifying to watch. Then of course there’s **12 Angry Men** and **Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?** ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/5 "2010-06-29T03:25:23Z")
nvm ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/6 "2010-06-29T03:47:14Z")
Yeah, Richard Linklater’s pretty much the master of this, with _Slacker, Waking Life_ and the _Sunset_ films. _My Dinner with Andre_ is the closest to his stuff that I’ve seen (and I quite enjoyed it). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/7 "2010-06-29T03:56:27Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > ETA: Can someone fix the title? It should be “Best talking movies”. That “someone” would be a mod – use the “report this post” button to let us know you need help, we may or may not read the thread/post otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/8 "2010-06-29T10:21:39Z")
Mike Leigh is another big name “talking movie” director.\*\* Naked\*\* and \*\*Secrets and Lies \*\* are the obvious choices for his best movies, but I’ve enjoyed every movie of his that I have seen. **Wendell Wagner** already mentioned Woody Allen, but to be more specific, I think \*\* Husbands and Wives\*\* may be one of his most conversation centered movies. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/9 "2010-06-29T10:40:07Z")
**a Man for All Seasons** – There’s lots of movement and pageantry, but it’s really all about the dialogue. And Thomas More gets all the best lines **Sleuth** – Anthony Schaffer tried mightily to give us visuals for the play, and the movie strove to move out of that confining set, but this is also a dialogue-driven film. The remake, with its script by Harold Pinter, even threw out the visual slapstick of the clown suit. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/10 "2010-06-29T10:49:38Z")
\*\*Long Day’s Journey Into Night. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/11 "2010-06-29T11:19:17Z")
[The Man From Earth](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/) ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/12 "2010-06-29T12:55:42Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > There’s a really great Australian independent film I saw called **The Interview** that is basically just a detective interviewing a suspected killer in an interrogation room, with a few scenes taking place outside. The battle of wits between the two men (Hugo Weaving and Tony Martin) is electrifying to watch. > > Then of course there’s **12 Angry Men** and **Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?** Not to be confused with **Interview** which is about a journalist (steve Buscemi) interviewing a soap star. It is an ok movie though, with only talking, based on the dutch version by Theo van Gogh, which is better. Good talking movies I’d like to mention **Clerks** and **Don’s Plum**. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/13 "2010-06-29T13:06:24Z")
The Man from Earth Mindwalk ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/14 "2010-06-29T13:35:01Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > Good talking movies I’d like to mention **Clerks** and **Don’s Plum**. _Clerks_ was the first to come to my mind, as well. Of the follow-up films, _Chasing Amy_ is probably the closest to being as dialogue heavy. A lot of David Mamet films would probably work: _Glengarry GlenRoss_, _“About Last Night…”_, _State and Main_. A lot of plays turned into movies would work… _Wit_, _Night, Mother_. Perhaps not what the OP was requesting, but they certainly fill the request: interview-heavy documentaries (_Harlan County USA_, the _Up_ series, most of Errol Morris’s films, like _The Fog of War_ and _The Thin Blue Line_), monologue films (like _Swimming to Cambodia_), and stand-up comedy films. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/15 "2010-06-29T13:56:36Z")
Barry Levinson’s _Diner_ would fit well here. Not much action or plot, just a group of friends in '59 Baltimore discussing what everyone goes through at some point, all the assorted fears associated with growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/16 "2010-06-29T14:11:33Z")
_The Big Kahuna_, with Kevin Spacey and Danny Devito as veteran salesmen and some young guy who I’ve never heard of & my brain backfilled in Matt Damon in Ocean’s 11 as some kind of young corporate type from the same company - the whole of the action takes place in their hotel room. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/17 "2010-06-29T14:14:26Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > There’s a really great Australian independent film I saw called **The Interview** that is basically just a detective interviewing a suspected killer in an interrogation room, with a few scenes taking place outside. The battle of wits between the two men (Hugo Weaving and Tony Martin) is electrifying to watch. > > Then of course there’s **12 Angry Men** and **Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?** 12 Angry Men!! That movie blew me away with how riviting and dramatic it was while 98% of it took place with 12 men in one room. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/18 "2010-06-29T14:17:54Z")
Just for contrast, I also [liked \*\*the Naked Prey \*\*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060736/) with Cornel Wilde in which after the first segment there is very little dialogue throughout the movie. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/19 "2010-06-29T14:56:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **a Man for All Seasons** – There’s lots of movement and pageantry, but it’s really all about the dialogue. And Thomas More gets all the best lines I see your **A Man For All Seasons** , and raise you **The Lion in Winter**. Eleanor of Aquitaine gets all (well, most of) the best lines. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862/20 "2010-06-29T15:53:41Z")
I’m not sure why, but “Tin Men” with Richard Dreyfus and Danny DeVito jumps to my mind. Another title for this thread might be “Best character-driven movies”, which isn’t exactly the same, but has an a lot of overlap with “talking movies”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-talking-movies/544862.md?page=2)