Dialogue

Just having read Sean's comment on August 6 regarding film dialogue, I'm compelled to pass along the sum total of NYU film school guidance on the subject: Harold Pinter.

Pinter (who died just last year) wrote those great 20th century plays: The Homecoming, The Birthday Party, and The Caretaker. I think they've all been turned into BBC productions. We studied "Accident", one of those films where the main character(s) die in the first scene (remember 'Lawrence of Arabia"?) and then the rest of the movie is an extended flashback.
For sheer nastiness, his dialogue, and his characters can't be beat. I saw a movie based on a minor screenplay of his, "The Quiller Memorandum" as a kid, and it was a formative experience: it was the first time I was in the movie theatre when (adults) actually yelled at the screen to tell a character to watch out.

As far as more recent efforts are concerned, I'm impressed by "Pulp Fiction" as everyone else is, and by anything David Mamet writes. Regarding any Mamet movie: even when many things are bad, the dialogue is still great.