Movie Quote of the Day (‘Tin Men,’ With a Couple’s Disagreement About Picnics)

Nora Tilley [played by Barbara Hershey]: “If we went on a picnic, it would be fun.”
 
Ernest Tilley [played by Danny DeVito]: “I don't understand a picnic. We go someplace, we put a thing on the ground and eat.”
 
Nora: “Yeah, it's nice to do that.”
 
Ernest: “Why? I don't get it. It's better sittin' in front of the TV.”
 
Nora: “I happen to think there's somethin' nice about a picnic. It's fun.”
 
Ernest: “What's fun about it? Ants get in the food—there's bees. I don't get it. You have to drive—it takes you maybe an hour to get there. And then whataya do? You sit on the grass and eat. Why is that fun?”— Tin Men (1987), written and directed by Barry Levinson
 
This section of Barry Levinson’s screenplay is not as famous—and certainly not as raunchy—as the priceless dialogue on how Ben Cartwright came to be a father (through three different wives) on Bonanza.
 
But I think it’s just as uproarious while setting up a crucial element of the story: Nora’s sense of isolation from her husband, which makes her unexpectedly easy prey for Ernest’s nemesis, rival aluminum-siding salesman Bill "B.B." Babowsky (played by Richard Dreyfuss).