# Movie plots advanced soley by dialog, or lack of dialog **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567 "2004-07-23T19:53:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/21 "2004-07-24T13:15:48Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned a film that has no dialog: \*\* The Red Balloon \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/22 "2004-07-24T13:31:47Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/23 "2004-07-24T15:45:11Z")
_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 … ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/24 "2004-07-24T15:48:55Z")
**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._ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/25 "2004-07-24T16:47:09Z")
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. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/26 "2004-07-24T19:26:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/27 "2004-07-24T20:27:07Z")
Solaris ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/28 "2004-07-25T00:17:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/29 "2004-07-25T00:20:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/30 "2004-07-25T00:37:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/31 "2004-07-25T02:55:36Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/32 "2004-07-25T04:22:54Z")
> [@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. Damn! Beat me to the punch. Great movie. > [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567/33 "2004-07-25T12:32:52Z")
Speaking of Alan Alda and plays made into movies, a good example is “Same Time Next Year.” Everything is dialog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-plots-advanced-soley-by-dialog-or-lack-of-dialog/256567.md?page=1)