Thursday, February 12, 2009

"What we've got here is failure to communicate"

That's a famous line spoken by Strother Martin in the movie Cool Hand Luke, in which Paul Newman starred.

Out of the blue, I have a strong desire to have a character say, "What we've got here is failure to excommunicate." I even know the alternate history novel I could use that in, but I don't know if I'll ever get around to writing that novel.

Given that line, how can I not write it?

7 comments:

TGirsch said...

I believe the actual line is "What we have here is ..."

But I like your twist on it.

David said...

Wikipedia and IMDB both give it as "What we've got ... "

TGirsch said...

Weird. It's been a long time since I've seen the clip. Must be one of those folksy "Play it again, Sam" / "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn" things.

TGirsch said...

I stand corrected. D'oh!

There's a spot later in the film, right before Newman gets shot, when he spoofs the line. I wonder if he says it differently then.

TGirsch said...

I just checked, and Newman says it as "What we got here..." So yeah, I was totally, utterly wrong.

David said...

But you publicly* admitted your error, which immediately puts you head and shoulders above Little Georgie and on a par with the current, a.k.a. the actually elected, president!


*Albeit a small public, given the readership of this blog. Most of the visits here come via Google searches on Benjamin Button, eye blisters, or Jews and the Federal Reserve.

TGirsch said...

Man, if I had a nickel for every time I publicly admitted making an error, I'd have at least $1.15.