Comments on: When do a bunch of characters solve a problem in one long conversation?

Question: When do a bunch of characters solve a problem in one long conversation?

nebulawindphone — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:18:20 -0800

I'm looking for dialog-heavy scenes (in books, movies, TV shows, etc) where a group of people solve a problem or make a plan in the course of one long conversation.

The "one long conversation" criterion is what makes this hard. Most police procedurals, for instance, don't work because the problem-solving is spread out across many short conversations in the course of an episode. The planning in heist movies tends to be the same way — split up, or scattered through some sort of "preparation" montage. I want examples where you get to watch the whole problem-solving process from beginning to end, with one set of participants, no jumps forward or backward in time, and no interruptions.

Bonus points, too, if the problem involves subgoals (e.g. "To get the money we'll need to break into the building, get past the guards, and open the safe. Now let's think about how to break into the building....")

Lest this sound too chatfiltery, there is a practical problem here: I'm doing research on the linguistic structure of conversations, and I'd like some well-known examples of this kind of conversation that I can point to as examples.

By: hammerthyme

hammerthyme — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:25:24 -0800

12 Angry Men

By: bala

bala — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:26:32 -0800

12 Angry Men

By: drea

drea — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:28:04 -0800

Before Sunset and Before Sunrise is not about solving problems or making plans but is about a romance unfolding through conversation.

Conspiracy is a round-table discussion that gives insight into the Holocaust.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:34:44 -0800

You might think this is lame, but for some reason, the first thing that jumped into my head is the series of scenes in Lethal Weapon where Danny Glover and Mel Gibson talk through solving the movie's MacGuffin, which is the death of the girl shown in the movie's first scene. It's just a clever bit of wordplay that's part speculation and part role-play, intercut with development of these two characters. The script is here; the sequence I'm talking about is scenes 71 to 73.

By: Marie Mon Dieu

Marie Mon Dieu — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:35:29 -0800

Waiting for Godot is the first thing that came to mind. The second was The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:46:29 -0800

I'm not certain you will find something that meets your conditions, but the TV series Knights of Prosperity was all about some average Joes trying to complete various criminal capers. Many times the planning was laid out quite explicitly, and the drama was in the ways the plan fell apart on contact with reality.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:47:20 -0800

Waiting for Godot is also what occurred to me. And, err, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead but nothing really gets solved as much as resolved. Ish. Sort of.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:53:43 -0800

Diner.
Rope.
Mad, Mad.... Mad, Mad World.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:02:00 -0800

The Big Kahuna

By: Ms. Saint

Ms. Saint — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:03:05 -0800

Well... It may be an example of a bad conversation, but the first thing I thought of is the scene in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail where they try to figure out how to tell if a woman is a witch, resulting in them testing whether she weighs the same amount as a duck.

By: Weebot

Weebot — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:10:57 -0800

Seconding Rope. Although it's a heist film, Hitchcock was pretty formally experimental here—setting the film in real-time, an insistance on long and unbroken shots, a focus on dialogue—in a way that would play into your requirements.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:26:08 -0800

In Rear Window there is one scene where Jimmy Stewart explains his theory to Grace Kelly. Wherein she comes to the conclusion that a murder has indeed occurred.
In Strangers on a Train The swap murders concept is discussed in one scene, where at least one character believes they have agreed to the murders.

I'm sensing a Hitchcock thread here....

By: pushing paper and bottoming chairs

pushing paper and bottoming chairs — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:45:56 -0800

My Dinner With Andre -- almost the entire movie is one long conversation between 2 men eating dinner at a restaurant, where they philosophize about life, the universe and almost everything else. Beautifully acted.

By: fairytale of los angeles

fairytale of los angeles — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:49:34 -0800

I'm not really sure if the thieves solve Mr. Pink's problem with tipping in the first scene of Reservoir Dogs, but they're certainly trying to work out a societal problem.

In a dick-laden Tarantino way.

By: ncc1701d

ncc1701d — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:02:26 -0800

shaun of the dead?

By: czechmate

czechmate — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:16:28 -0800

Tape is one long conversation between 3 people in a single motel room.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:25:06 -0800

pretty much the whole movie "The Breakfast Club," but specifically the scene where they transition from talking about what they can't do to what they can do.

By: Pater Aletheias

Pater Aletheias — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:27:19 -0800

It's been a while since I've seen it, but I think the scene in Apollo 13 where they are improvising a way to make the air filters fit might work for you.

By: Pater Aletheias

Pater Aletheias — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:31:50 -0800

Here's the start of another Apollo 13 scene that fits.

By: clanger

clanger — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:36:08 -0800

I found The Man from Earth very interesting both on the subject and the attempt to prove or disprove things. Plus it's essentially once long conversation too.

By: Fiasco da Gama

Fiasco da Gama — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:50:55 -0800

A pair of murderers in Shakespeare's Richard III who are sent to kill the Duke of Clarence work out how and why to do it.

By: Class Goat

Class Goat — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:24:02 -0800

How about the "Black capsule" scene in the movie M*A*S*H?
(Not to mention the scene where they're trying to figure out how to determine if Hot Lips is a natural blonde.)

You want dialogue-heavy, you got it.

By: arungoodboy

arungoodboy — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:49:40 -0800

2nding The Man from Earth. Also probably Reservoir Dogs, most of the movie takes place in a warehouse.

By: 5bux

5bux — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:05:39 -0800

The Felowship of the Ring - The Council of Elrond

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:27:48 -0800

The opening scene of Pulp Fiction?

By: jammy

jammy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:11:58 -0800

i'm not sure if this will be the kind of problem solving you're looking for but...

in Ken Loach's Land & Freedom there's an amazing long scene (~ 43:00-56:00) where the militia have liberated a spanish village & the peasants all gather together to discuss how to organize everything, now that it's up to them

there's multiple different viewpoints expressed, arguments made & countered, economic & philosophical systems are debated, macro & micro political issues are addressed - plus it happens in at least a couple different languages & involves folks from several national backgrounds struggling to understand each other

it would be helpful if you knew spanish, though - one of the annoying things about this scene is the amount of discussion that gets missed or ignored by the subtitles

(if you can speak spanish, the whole movie, sans subtitles, is online here)

By: dobbs

dobbs — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:17:45 -0800

How about an almost dialogue-free scene where they do the same thing? Youtube.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:45:32 -0800

You get a lot of this on the newer Star Trek series—I think Voyager in particular had frequent problem-solving dialogs. I can't point you at a particular episode, but you'd see them in the conference room or on the bridge, brainstorming a way to escape from a subspace eddy, or negotiate a trade for dilithium with some new alien. And these were usually pretty self-contained: identify the problem, discuss alternative solutions, choose a plan of action.

By: Detuned Radio

Detuned Radio — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:05:41 -0800

PLEASE watch Woody Allen's "Manhattan Murder Mystery." There is this hilarious, brilliant and genuine scene over dinner where Woody, Diane Keaton, Anjelica Houston, and Alan Alda (not exactly a bunch of light-weights) get together and discuss, well, a murder mystery and how to go about exposing the murderer.

All for actors are so flawlessly smooth and natural in their conversing, it's the most believable film conversation I've ever seen.

By: eduke

eduke — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:51:31 -0800

There's a great movie called Mindwalk, which is essentially one long conversation between a politician, a physicist, and a poet. They debate the validity of systems theory and apply it to the various problems of the world -- and I know that sounds deadly dull, but it's weirdly compelling, and the scenery (Mont Saint-Michel) is stunning.

For some odd reason, this brainy cult film is repeated fairly often on cable movie channels, so you might be able to catch it there.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:17:03 -0800

The Manhattan Project wasn't a great movie, but the ending, where they disarm the bomb, was particularly memorable.

By: Edelweiss

Edelweiss — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:02:52 -0800

Faulner's Absolom, Absolom!

Pretty much the entire last half of the novel takes place within a conversation between two people, who are working out the "hows" and "whys" of a murder.

Fair warning, though: it's not an easy read.

By: Edelweiss

Edelweiss — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:13:46 -0800

Crap. Make that "Faulkner."