What was the dialogue between Martin and his old English teacher about?
I just didn't get that at all. Had they gotten on back in the day, had they hated each other? And what was that Mary Tyler Moore reference about?
Please explain, thanks.
It seems to me that they probably did get along, pretty well I'd imagine. The teacher wasn't particularly old so ten years earlier, she was probably a cooler, younger teacher. Martin is a smart guy and was probably well-regarded among the teaching staff. She mentions that they thought he'd go to Harvard but disappeared. I think the Mary Tyler Moore comment was just a joke on Martin's part. She kind of rolls with the joke like it was no big deal, sort of demonstrating that they may have had that kind of easygoing relationship when he was a student.
shareRemember when Martin tells her that he is going home? She replies with "are you?" but possibly says it in a way that denotes that she knows that his old house is now a convenience store and that he's in for a surprise when he gets there. Maybe it's just me that thinks that she knows. I'm not 100% on that. I just think its a possibility.
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
JR541.....you are correct. She says "are you?" specifically that way because she realizes he has no idea the house is an Ulti-Mart now.
shareI have to believe that the only reason that whole scene exists is for her to deliver that final line. The scene, to me, seems forced and out of place (not to mention pointless). GPB is my favorite movie, but that scene just really doesn't work for me.
"She's, like, a biscuit older than me..."
No, the scene is not pointless, nor is it so Mrs. K
can deliver a throw away line. The purpose of the scene
is to show background--that is, that Martin Blank was
pretty smart--brilliant even, that he suddenly disappeared
(we don't know that yet), and she liked him as a student,
which means that he was a pretty good guy in high school.
Which set a counter point as to how a good, friendly guy
can become a hardened killer. That's pulled out when he
tells his friend Paul and he freaked out and joined the
army. Later, we learn that his freak out was that he wanted
to kill some--and he didn't want that someone to be Debbie.
Hmmm. Ok. Good points. Maybe it was just that I didn't like the actress who played her. She seemed phony to me.
"She's, like, a biscuit older than me..."
Right on target JPorter. The scene showed that Martin wasn't burning cats as a teenager and that one of his teachers (actually I think she says "we" as in the faculty) thought that he was a Harvard-type guy. Sets the point that any of us could have ended up a contract killer, which builds empathy for him.
shareFunny, the scene comes off as humorously prickly to me with it devolving into subtle insults. This kind of happens throughout the whole movie, very funny stuff.
shareI took it as a continuation of the playful-type of banter that they had when Martin was in high school, which shows that they were fond of each other.
shareEveryone here remarking about the positive student-teacher relationship is absolutely correct. It's very obvious he was a nice guy in HS and very smart. It's obvious there is no veiled insults because when he walks away he remarks to himself 'Mrs. K...' in a fond sort of way. The Mary Tyler Moore remark was a reference to her shirt or rather her sweater (I dont know what you'd call it Im a blue jeans and white t-shirts kinda guy. Scoop-necks FTW) as it is very reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore's.
The short one's gawking at me and the tall one's being very droll.
Yes, I agree with Porter and Stang. Viewer gets a lot of information in this scene. And I agree with other posters referring to "you can't go home again". Haven't we all had the feeling of bumping into someone from our past, initially being interested, curious, happy about it? And after a minute or two of conversation you realize, "Okay, that's enough contact to last me another ten years! See ya!" I think we're given a slice of that in this scene.
shareMust be millenials.
Actually it's supposed to sound "forced". She seemed phony because after the first few sentences she was being phony in a way.
At first Martin is somewhat happy to see his old teacher but after a minute they really don't want to continue talking. That was the point of that scene. The "You can't go home again" theory.
All of us have been in that type of situation with an old acquaintance before.
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
^^exactly
And...he's a hit man now, and wouldn't be able to relate well to people who don't know that, from his past.
"Did you make coffee? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
I loved that whole scene. It's reminisce of teachers I had who I liked, but we were sardonic and sarcastic to one another. Their back and forth of light jabs was very funny and sets up the next scene in a great way.
shareI thought it was one of the most naturally acted scenes in the entire movie. She's a teacher. The fact that she even remembers Martin after ten years is remarkable considering all the kids that she's taught in that time. He clearly made an impression on her.
I agree that they both wanted to keep it short but there was nothing unfriendly about that fact. In the end, they were never "friends" in the first place. It'd be like running into an old boss or the parent of a high school sweetheart.