This thread was inspired by a recent one in which a number of people said they didn’t like fight scenes in movies. Okay, what about arguments that are strictly verbal, with no violence occurring between the disputants? Movies, TV, literature, whatever you want. Here are some I enjoy:
The argument between Professor Reisfeld and the head of MIT in Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, by Robert Heinlein. Fun, even though we only hear one side.
The argument between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.
The shouting match between Mal and Wash while they’re being tortured on Firefly. (Yes, violence is involved, but it’s not between the people who are arguing.)
The lion’s share of 1776, except of course for when Adams and Dickinson start physically fighting each other with their canes, because that counts as a fight scene.
OK, then. Replace it with the argument at the beginning of the film between King Arthur and the inhabitants of the nameless castle, regarding coconuts, sparrows, and such…
The argument between Mr. Waturi (Dan Hedaya) and Harry (on the other end of the phone line) in Joe Versus the Volcano. You only hear the one side:
"But can he do the job. I know he can get the job but can he DO the job?
I’m NOT arguing that with you. I’m not arguing that with YOU. I’m not ARGUING that with you. I’m not ARGUING that with you Harry!
Harry… Harry… Yeah Harry… but can he DO the job. I know he can GET the job but can he do the job?"
Issue # 4 of James Robinson’s Starman series. A man with a gun breaks into the shop of Jack Knight (the new Starman) with the intent of stealing something, and Jack talks him down, and ends up selling him the item in question. That was one of the moments that hooked me on Starman.
Just about any argument between Sherlock and John from the series Sherlock, but in particular one in which John’s angry that Sherlock seems to care only about the problem and not the crime victims:
(after some shouting back and forth)
S: I’ve disappointed you, haven’t I?
J: That’s a good deduction, yeah.
S: Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist.
In the manga version of Those Who Hunt Elves, there’s a scientist who believes that 1-meter hyo (balls of hail) can and do fall from the sky, and predicts just such an occurrence coming up. No one in town believes her and they continue to argue with her that it’s stupid and can never happen.
However, one of the main characters, Junpei, hears her story and recalls a time when, as a child, he had found such a hail-ball but then ended up being teased about it, since it had melted down to a little pellet by the time he had carried it back to show to people.
So they continue to argue with the townsfolk about the possible existence/non-existence of 1-meter sized hail, when suddenly full-sized leopards (hyo) start to fall from the sky. Upon finding out that they’d misunderstood the scientist’s warning, the townsfolk are completely placated. And of course that makes Junpei angry since everyone seems to think this entirely reasonable while still thinking that 1 meter hail-balls are fictional, and no hope of proof forthcoming.
Oh, definitely. That’s my favorite part of the book. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth is almost an afterthought, compared to that.
Mr. Spock and what appears to be a faerie-like alien argue in a Star Trek fan-written story called “The Enchanted Pool,” by Marcia Ericson. Great romantic tension. At one point she says, pouting, “It is quite possible that I shall cry.” He calmly replies, “I trust not. It would avail you nothing.”
Haviland Tuf, antihero of George R.R. Martin’s wonderful sf/ecology novel Tuf Voyaging, argues with just about everyone and almost invariably comes out on top. He’s one cool customer.
I was a pretty obnoxious teenager, the world was black and white and I was going to sort out all the grey. Early in college I remember reading a great argument in A Canticle for Leibowitz between The Poet and The Abbot about the utility of faith in a world structured around advances in science and it really struck a chord with this young Atheist.
I’ll have to look it up again sometime and see if it still rings true.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Uta Hagen as Martha)
Long Days Journey Into Night the “I love your guts, kid” monologue is a heartbreaker.
For cinema arguments effectively made without speech, there’s The Passion of Joan of Arc from 1923, and all of the tit for tat fights between Laurel & Hardy and James Finlayson.