“She's probably down there with her radar picking up your blips.”
Why it's great
A radar and blips turn a psychic into a machine, making the supernatural oddly concrete.
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Informal
Use it yourself
My boss is upstairs picking up my every blip.
00:00 / 02:47
00:00 / 02:47
Myra Urges Sidney to Call Anderson, Explained
Deathtrap · 1982
Chapter 4 of 30 · 2'47"
Myra keeps pushing Sidney to phone his former student Clifford Anderson, and the talk drifts from a favor to a fortune: a hit play like this could earn millions. "You actually would kill to have another hit play," she says, half joking. Sidney does the math out loud and lands on a motive.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 1:15–1:58
❝ Monologue · 7 lines Myra's God-Sent Opportunity Pitch
43s - 2:23–2:45
❝ Monologue · 6 lines A Thinking Man's Motive for Murder
23s
Myra Urges Sidney to Call Anderson, explained
What happens
Sidney and Myra are still reeling from his failed opening night. Myra suggests he call Clifford Anderson, a young writer from his seminar, and collaborate with him to get his own work moving again. Sidney resists, then works out what Anderson's thriller could earn — between three and five million dollars.
What's really going on
The scene is a courtship, and not a romantic one. Myra keeps returning to the phone call, dressing up a practical suggestion as encouragement: 'All you need is a change of pace.' What she does not say, Sidney does — he prices the manuscript, then names the thing plainly: 'Now, if that isn't a thinking man's motive for murder.' The joke is the plot. A young writer is offered help by a man whose own talent has run out, and the play's value is spoken of like real estate. Myra's line, 'You actually would kill to have another hit play,' sounds like a tease, but the film files it away as a possibility.
Key lines & what they mean
- “She's probably down there with her radar picking up your blips.”
- A joke about the visiting psychic, imagined as a radar operator downstairs picking up Sidney's signal; it sets the scene's tone of playful suspicion.
- “No, darling, it's not the money. I'm okay, which means you're okay, dopey.”
- Myra denies money is the issue and frames their fortunes as shared, with an affectionate 'dopey' that softens the point.
- “You actually would kill to have another hit play.”
- Myra says aloud what Sidney has been avoiding: that a hit means more to him than anything, and she says it like a joke that might not be one.
- “Now, if that isn't a thinking man's motive for murder...”
- Sidney caps off the money talk by naming it exactly: a motive rational enough to be real. The line is a joke and a confession at once.
Theme
- Ambition — Sidney's stalled career makes a young writer's success look less like a gift than a temptation.
- Money — The scene turns a manuscript into a price tag, between three and five million dollars, and calls that a motive.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level2/6
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“No, darling, it's not the money. I'm okay, which means you're okay, dopey.”
Why it's great
The pet name dopey turns a money argument into tenderness and closes the subject.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
Relax, I am okay, which means you are okay too.
“You actually would kill to have another hit play.”
Why it's great
The everyday phrase would kill to have sounds like longing while meaning something far darker here.
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Informal
Use it yourself
I would kill to have a quiet weekend.
“Now, if that isn't a thinking man's motive for murder...”
Why it's great
It frames cold profit as a thinking man's motive, welding reason to murder.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
If that is not a motive for quitting, I do not know what is.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ Myra's sales pitch
Darling, you're a writer. All writers go through periods like this. All you need is a change of pace. Anything. A collaboration. To work with someone young. Younger. Don't you see? By teaching Mr. Anderson, you'll get yourself started again. Darling, really, I think it is a god-sent opportunity. I really do. Call him.
She builds a staircase of reasons, each step making the call seem inevitable.
❝ Myra's million-dollar motive
I think that you're thinking that after last night... You actually would kill to have another hit play. Do you know what this play would net it's author in today's market? Between $3 and $5 million. And that is without the Deathtrap T-shirts. Now, if that isn't a thinking man's motive for murder...
A joke slides into hard numbers until murder sounds like simple arithmetic.
Up next · 05all the makingsThe scene: Sidney Calls Clifford About His PlayTakeaways
What you walk away with- Comfort and temptation are the same speech here.
- Turning a slump into a number makes murder sound reasonable.
- Give one pause admits doubt the speaker will not voice.
- The pet name dopey quietly ends the money argument.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does Myra want Sidney to call Clifford Anderson?
She thinks a collaboration with a younger writer would shake Sidney out of his slump. As she puts it, teaching Anderson could help Sidney get started again.
Is Myra joking when she says Sidney would kill for a hit play?
She says it half seriously. She has watched his career collapse, and the line is both a tease and a warning about how much a hit means to him.
How much does Sidney say the play could earn?
He estimates between three and five million dollars in today's market, and jokes that doesn't even count the Deathtrap T-shirts.
What does Sidney mean by a 'thinking man's motive for murder'?
He is talking about money: a jackpot of a play gives even a rational person a reason to kill. He is dressing up the temptation as an intellectual joke.