The Last Days of Disco (1998)

Kate Beckinsale: Charlotte

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Josh describes Lady and the Tramp] 

  Josh Neff : [referring to Lady and the Tramp]  There is something depressing about it, and it's not really about dogs. Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start, the dogs all represent human types, which is where it gets into real trouble. Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond Cocker Spaniel with absolutely nothing on her brain. She's great-looking, but - let's be honest - incredibly insipid. Tramp, the love interest, is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind - an oily jailbird out for a piece of tail, or... whatever he can get.

  Charlotte Pingress : Oh, come on.

  Josh Neff : No, he's a self-confessed chicken thief, and all-around sleazeball. What's the function of a film of this kind? Essentially as a primer on love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches the idea that smooth-talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls from sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house, their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks.

• Charlotte Pingress : It's really important there be more group social life. Not just all this ferocious pairing off.

• Alice Kinnon : I think it's much better to wait until things happen naturally. Forcing things never works.

  Charlotte Pingress : That's not true. Forcing things usually works beautifully.

• Charlotte Pingress : [to Dan]  What if in a few years we don't marry some corporate lawyer? What if we marry some meatball, like you? Or not you, personally, but someone with similarly low socioeconomic prospects.

• Charlotte Pingress : Anything I did that was wrong, I apologize for. But anything I did that was not wrong, I don't apologize for.

• Charlotte Pingress : I'm sorry, its just that you're so terrific, it makes me sick to think you might get in that terrible situation again where everyone hated you.

  Alice Kinnon : Hated me?

  Charlotte Pingress : You're wonderful. Maybe in physical terms I'm a little cuter than you, but you should be much more popular than I am. It would be such a shame if what happened in college should repeat itself.

• Alice Kinnon : That's odd he knew I drank vodka tonics. I never told him.

  Des McGrath : It's uncanny.

  Alice Kinnon : You mean it's a complete cliché? All women recent college graduates drink vodka tonics, or something like that?

  Des McGrath : Well, maybe.

  Alice Kinnon : [to Charlotte]  So, Jimmy thinks I'm a total cliche?

  Charlotte Pingress : I ordered a Vodka tonic too. So what? You're plenty original without having to order something weird to drink.

  Des McGrath : Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. Can I get you another?

  Alice Kinnon : Thanks. Actually, if you don't mind, I think I'd prefer - um - a whiskey sour.

• Jimmy : You know this is the way people used to dance in bars in the old days.

  Charlotte Pingress : Did people ever really dance in bars? I thought that was a myth.

  Jimmy : People my older brothers age, they did.

  Charlotte Pingress : Your brother must be a lot older. Before disco, this country was a dancing wasteland. You know the Woodstock generation of the 1960s that were so full of themselves and conceited? None of those people could dance.

• [last lines] 

  Des McGrath : One of the things that makes me happy in life is knowing I don't envy anyone. I don't want to be anyone else or do anything that I want to do... which of course right now is nothing now that I'm unemployed, but I have good projects for the future. Can I speak honestly?

  Charlotte Pingress : Yeah.

  Des McGrath : You and I are similar. We both got big personalities. That's good. What the world really needs is more big personalities. Perhaps ours burn too brightly, or are too big for people with normal healthy sized personalities like Alice. Or people with abnormal sized personalities like Josh. Or the itsy bitsy teeny wienie little polka dot bikini sized personalities like Jimmy Steinway.

  Charlotte Pingress : That's why I'm confident that I will ultimately be successful in television.

  Des McGrath : Absolutely. You see, one of the problems of finding the right person and settling down is that it takes all the fun and interest out of going to nightclubs. I mean if you are already living with somebody, why bother going out? Getting seriously involved with someone really just means ruining your nightlife. What I mean to say is... Jimmy, Alice, Josh... so what? That's what I say.

  Charlotte Pingress : I think I agree with you.

• Charlotte Pingress : This is going to sound dumb, but, it really works. Whenever you can, throw the word sexy - into a conversation. Its a kind of a signal. Like, um, there's something really sexy about strobe lights. Or, eh, this fabric is so sexy.

• Des McGrath : Its women like you whose attitudes towards men are so dehumanizing.

  Charlotte Pingress : Like what?

  Des McGrath : That men are swine, obsessed with large breasts and the sex act, devoid of any idealistic romantic sensibility. When, in fact, we have that idealistic sensibility, in spades. For instance, you have no idea what men really think about women's breasts.

  Alice Kinnon : What do men think about women's breasts?

  Des McGrath : Well, its not just something you blurt out. Its far more complicated and nuanced.

• Charlotte Pingress : You're not fit to lick the boots of my real gay friends.

  Des McGrath : Well, I don't *want* to lick the boots of your real gay friends.

• Alice Kinnon : Do you really think we know each other well enough to move in together?

  Charlotte Pingress : Well, maybe that's good.

  Alice Kinnon : Its not just that we don't know each other well. I'm not even sure we really like each other.

  Charlotte Pingress : That's okay. You know, Alice, I'm not so much of a bitch as I seem.

• Dan Powers : Disco sucks!

  Charlotte Pingress : [to Alice]  What a dope.

• Dan Powers : Actually, I was thinking I'd go home.

  Holly : What?

  Alice Kinnon : You should come.

  Dan Powers : I don' t know. I'm not really a disco type.

  Charlotte Pingress : Well, who is?

  Dan Powers : I probably wouldn't get in, anyway.

  Charlotte Pingress : Of course you'll get in. Holly's gorgeous!

• Charlotte Pingress : God, Alice is such a Scorpio.

• Charlotte Pingress : Alice is not having a cocktail? I can't believe it.

  Alice Kinnon : Well, I'm not.

  Charlotte Pingress : What is it? Do you have strep throat or something you are taking antibiotics for? Oh my God, you have the clap! Don't you?

• Charlotte Pingress : Did people ever really dance in bars? I thought that was a myth.

• [first lines] 

  Alice Kinnon : I hear you have a much better chance of getting in if you come by cab.

  Charlotte Pingress : You're really worried about getting in?

  Alice Kinnon : Yes.

  Charlotte Pingress : I thought you've been here several times before.

  Alice Kinnon : Not the front way. They were private parties. We came in through the back.

  Charlotte Pingress : We look real good tonight. I'm sure we're gonna get in.

  [Alice and Charlotte round the corner and see a large crowd waiting outside the Disco Club] 

  Alice Kinnon : [beat]  Let's get a cab.

  Charlotte Pingress : Yeah.

• Alice Kinnon : There's Jimmy Steinway. I can't believe it. He's already leaving?

  Charlotte Pingress : You like him? I could never be interested in anyone who worked in advertising.

• Alice Kinnon : We don't even have an apartment. How can we have a dinner party?

  Charlotte Pingress : Well, its another incentive to get one.

• Charlotte Pingress : So, I wouldn't develop any illusions about Harvard guys. They can be amazing creeps too.

• Charlotte Pingress : I am hardly a militant feminist.

  Des McGrath : No, you're not. A militant feminist would be a lot fairer.

• Charlotte Pingress : I just think its so important to be in control of your own destiny. Not to fall into that 50s cliche of waiting by the phone for guys to call. The right ones never do. Those who do you have to make the most ridiculous excuses to. The nice ones get hurt feelings. The jerks will corner you into going out anyway. You might find yourself with some awful guy, with disgusting breath, thrusting his belly up against you, trying to stick his slobbering tongue in your mouth. Yeech!

• Jimmy : Hey, how you been?

  Alice Kinnon : Fine. How are you?

  Josh Neff : [Jimmy doesn't answer]  He's really depressed.

  Charlotte Pingress : Oh, isn't this place great!

  Josh Neff : Its fantastic! I love it.

• Charlotte Pingress : Oh God, you were right. This place has gotten really hard to get into.

• Charlotte Pingress : Its too bad we weren't closer friends in college. I think I could have really have helped you there. For most guys, sexual repression is a turn off.

  Alice Kinnon : You're saying this for my benefit?

  Charlotte Pingress : You're a good conversationalist; but, there's something of the kindergarten teacher about you. Which is really nice; but, the guys you like also tend to be on the ethereal side and get pretty far away from any physicality.

• Charlotte Pingress : Its very aggressive. You don't clomp around banging pans for no reason.

  Alice Kinnon : Like what reason?

  Charlotte Pingress : You know perfectly well.

  Alice Kinnon : Because I only bang pans?

  Charlotte Pingress : Well, frankly, that's not what I heard.

• Van : The new owners couldn't make it work. They had to hire people to stand outside and pretend that they couldn't get in. Anyway, disco's over, it's dead.

  Josh Neff : What do you mean?

  Van : Well, people just don't go out like they used to. They're tired. Some are sick, strung out. Its not just the prosecutions and all the owners that Bernie squealed on.

  Charlotte Pingress : Could part of it be related to the herpes epidemic?

  Van : Maybe. I've got a friend at Casablanca Records and Tapes and she said that like two months ago the bottom dropped out of all disco record sales. Suddenly, it's - dead. Over.

  Josh Neff : God, it's sad.

  Des McGrath : We're getting older. We've lived through a period that's ended. It's like dying a little bit.

• Charlotte Pingress : I don't envy her, though. Stuck in book publishing.

• Charlotte : Do you like nightmares?

  Alice : No.

  Charlotte : Well, I do. It's not obviously connected, but... I think that's what made me a little bit more tolerant of the guys at Hampshire.

  Alice : What do you mean?

  Charlotte : You were a bit critical. The guys there preferred women more laid-back.

  Alice : I'm laid-back.

  Charlotte : [scoffs]  Well, for whatever reason, you didn't have much of a social life there.

  Alice : I had a social life. Just not one of those terrible pretend marriages. The Hampshire guys were jerks. Hippie-dippie suburbanites with all this hair. And extremely dim intellectual interests. I'm sorry, I don't consider the guy who wrote the Spider-Man comics a serious writer.

  Charlotte : Alice, one thing I've noticed is that people hate being criticized. Everyone hates that. It's one of the great truths of human nature. I think It's why my parents got divorced. I'm sorry, It's just that you're so terrific, it makes me sick to think you might get in that terrible situation again where everyone hated you.

  Alice : Hated me?

  Charlotte : You're wonderful. Maybe, in physical terms, I'm a little cuter than you, but you should be much more popular than I am. It'd be such a shame if what happened in college repeated itself.

  Alice : Why would it repeat itself?

  Charlotte : You're right. I just think it's so important to be in control of your own destiny. Not to fall into that 50's cliche of waiting by the phone for guys to call. The right ones never do. Those who do, you have to make the most ridiculous excuses to. The nice ones get hurt feelings and hate you. The jerks eventually corner you into going out anyway. And one night you find yourself with some awful guy with disgusting breath thrusting his belly up against you, trying to put his slobbering tongue in your mouth. Ugh! Thank God this is a whole new era in music and social models.

  [looking out over the dance floor from the balcony:] 

  Charlotte : We're in complete control. There are a lot of choice out there.

• Alice : We don't even have an apartment. How can we have a dinner party?

  Charlotte : Well, it's another incentive to get one.