You're not so beautiful?

A couple of times it was mentioned that one of the neighbors, Betty or Linda, had talked about what Larry did for a living to Maggie and to Larry's wife about Maggie being very pretty, so my take on that odd line was that it was said to Maggie in a kidding/flirtatious way; stating the opposite of what is obvious. And did anyone notice that when Larry's little boy saw Maggie as she exited his mom's and dad's bedroom with her coat, she was sweet to the little boy until he said, "you're pretty," and then she said nothing and went downstairs?

" I saw it as a slip of the tongue because he was amazed by her beauty, and without much thought, verbalized what he was thinking."


How could it be a "slip of the tongue" and be verbalizing what he was thinking if "he was amazed by her beauty"? In that case, I would have thought he would have said, drop-jawed, "You are VERY pretty."

It was already pretty obvious that he had already been struck by her beauty the first time he saw her at the morning bus stop when they were both dropping off their sons. Note that he kept looking for her on subsequent days at the bus stop and trying to find ways to strike up a conversation.

Like others, I too was kind of taken aback when he said that to her in the grocery store because I think we were all expecting a "typical" complimentary pick-up line.

I wish I had the tape to review that scene to double-check more closely the look on Kirk Douglas' face, but I seem to recall it kind of had a self-confident smirk on it. That kind of slightly arrogant swaggering confidence that some guys like to use to attract a girl by NOT pandering to her - you know, get her to get interested in YOU by not showing any overt interest in her, or indifference at best; especially if she has all these guys falling all over themselves around her.

Although I think that was the intent of the line in the script (the unexpected pick-up line that is sure to get Maggie's attention because it is SO different), I find it hard to reconcile with Kirk's character. He didn't seem to be the philandering womanizer type who would be so practiced with such a line to use it on the spot - note that he didn't ogle the waitress in the breakfast diner scene the way the author Altar reveled in (although I don't recall if that scene took place before or after this grocery store scene).

My other immediate thought when I first saw that scene and heard that line was that Kirk Douglas' character Larry was just saying or thinking it to himself to try to convince himself that Maggie wasn't pretty enough to take a chance and throw away everything he had. But he didn't say it under his breath but to her directly and there also was something about the leering (?) look on his face that made it seem more the calculated pick-up line than an innocent attempt to convince and restrain himself.

It seemed to me at that point in the grocery store he had already crossed the line in his mind and was venturing into the dangerous, yet exciting, uncharted territory of his libidinous fantasies.

He had thrown out his sounding line there, and was just waiting to see if he would get an encouraging response in return.