want to be there with one score

"Rehearse and play;
rehearse and play;
rehearse and play."  That's how the stars of the film Body Heat described director Lawrence Kasdan's way of working:  instead of rigging a scene to showcase, or emphasize, a certain emotion, speech, or word, it was done more, Kathleen Turner said, like a stage play:  rehearse and play, rehearse and play.

When I heard her say that in a Feature-interview (DVD) I thought -- maybe that is one reason I like the style of this film -- it comes across as natural, like life -- you can "buy" it, as a viewer.

INT.  RESTAURANT - NIGHT

                                                               WIPE TO:

LATER

They have finished their salad at a table toward the back.  A Waiter comes and takes away their dishes.  Walker has taken off his glasses and is cleaning the lenses with a lovely handkerchief.  He does this cleaning with enormous care and inordinate relish.  His manner is a mix of gruff charm and hinted menace.  There's something dangerous about the man and it's perfectly distilled in his smile, which is quick, frequent and vaguely threatening.

("He's never introduced me to anyone.  I don't know if they're all legitimate.")

WALKER
I was a lawyer.  Still am, I guess.  But I don't practice.  Went to Columbia.  You?

RACINE
F. S. U.

WALKER
(nods)
Good school.  I got bored with it quick.  I guess I didn't have the temperament for it.  I wanted to make the money faster.  Is there a living in it here?

RACINE
I can afford to send out my shirts. 
(he says this with vastly understated humor, darting his eyes from one side to the other, like he's mentally calculating how much things cost...)
And to eat here once a month, if I don't -- order an appetizer.

He laughs -- a relaxed, low-key chuckle, at his own statement, and Matty Walker and her husband laugh gently, along with him.  Walker re-folds his handkerchief carefully and puts it back in the cheat pocket of his jacket.

WALKER
I figured honest lawyers didn't make very much, and the other kind were too slimy for me. 
(there's that close-lipped smile)
I'd -- rather be up-front about shafting somebody.

MATTY
(getting out a cigarette)
Edmund, really.  It's Mr. Racine's profession.

RACINE
That's all right.  I don't like it much.

Ned lights Matty's cigarette for her.

RACINE
(to Matty)
Call me Ned, will you?

WALKER
What's to like?  That's the way of the world.  Most people despise their jobs.

RACINE
Do you?

WALKER
No.  I love it.  But -- it's not a job.

RACINE
What is it, exactly?

WALKER
Oh -- various things.  This and that.  Here and there.

RACINE
(with a small smile)
You don't have to be specific.

WALKER
Finance, basically.  Venture capital, investments, real estate.  We're into a few things.

RACINE
Around here?

WALKER
Some.  We own some things here.

MATTY
Edmund's company owns The Breakers.

RACINE
Is that right?

WALKER
It's not that simple, really; we have an interest in a few places along the shore.  For the land, you know.  Someday. 
(then, tiredly, with a smile)
But don't try explaining that to her.

He tilts his head in Matty's direction, like it's a family joke -- a teasing-thing between them as a couple...'My wife doesn't Understand Business, yadda-yadda...'

Matty smiles, flicks a glance toward Ned, then toward her husband, and back again.

MATTY
(smiling, eyebrows arched)
I'm too dumb.  A woman, you know.

She puts out her cigarette,  picks up her purse and stands up with a good-humored smile.  The men rise.

MATTY
Well!  I'll be right back.  Then maybe we can talk about pan - ty - hose or something interesting.

She walks away from the table.  The two men chuckle in appreciation of her joke and her spirit -- Walker watches her go with a satisfied, possessive smile.  They sit.

WALKER
She's something, isn't she?

RACINE
She is a lovely lady.

WALKER
Yes, she is.  And I'm crazy about her.  If I ever thought she was seeing another guy . . . I don't know.
(takes a sip of wine)
Oh I could understand how it could happen.  Her being the way she is.  I'd understand it.  But I think I'd kill the guy with my bare hands.

RACINE
That's understanding.

Walker looks at Racine and laughs, as he picks up the wine bottle, pours for himself, and gestures if Ned wants some -- yes -- Walker empties the bottle and, with a swift, up-down gesture of a finger, orders another bottle.  As he begins to speak he focuses intently on Racine.  He seems to be trying to communicate something other than what he's saying.

WALKER
You wouldn't believe the dorkus she was with when I met her.  The guy came to us with a business proposition.  We're always looking for opportunities.  If the conditions are right.  We're willing to take an occasional risk, if the downside isn't too steep.  But this guy hadn't done his homework.  He didn't know the bottom line.  That's how I knew he was full of shit.  You've gotta know the bottom line.  That's all that counts.

Again Walker takes off his glasses.  He holds them up to the light and then rubs them again with his handkerchief.

WALKER
But he didn't have the goods, this guy.  He was like a lot of guys you run into -- they want to get rich, they want to do it quick, they want to be there with one score.

He puts his glasses back on, stares at Racine.

WALKER
But they're not willing to do what's necessary.  Do you know what I mean?

RACINE
I'm not sure.  You mean, lay the groundwork?  Earn it?

WALKER
(with a laugh)
No.  I mean do what's necessary.  Whatever's necessary.

The two men stare at each other a few beats.

RACINE
Yeah.  I know that kind of guy.  I can't stand that, it makes me sick...

WALKER
Me too.

RACINE
I'm a lot like that!

Walker ROARS with laughter, at this.  Racine laughs with him, but stops laughing while Mr. Walker's still laughing.

-------------------------------------
===================

In that dinner scene, Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) wears a filmy, silky dress, with a "boat-neck" and a long single strand of pearls.  Early in the conversation in this scene, there's a momentary close-up of her left hand -- wedding ring and big diamond on the ring-finger, and the gold cigarette lighter lying in a neat, shiny rectangle on the tablecloth.  Her fingers pick up the lighter and turn it over.  Then turn it over, again, moving subtly, nervously. 

Someone else who's studied this movie Commented in, 'Has anyone ever noticed the symbolism used to introduce different "acts" of the story?  1) When Maddy (sic) is having dinner with both her husband & Ned she is playing with her lighter or "playing with fire" by balancing both men.'

---------------------- When I read a Comment like that, I feel like I'm not observant or smart compared to that person, not that I wanted to compare myself to them.  But -- you know, how many times have I seen / studied / wallowed in this film, and I never came up with the idea that her nervous fingers with that lighter "symbolized" Playing-With-Fire....!  Man!  Other people come up with this stuff, and -- it's like with music, other people comment on the nuances of the rhythm and notes and the layered meanings in the lyrics, and I'm just more like, "Turn It Up!!"  And this person comes up with the "symbolism" in Body Heat, and at my level, I'm just sort of, "Symbolism, schmymbolism!  It's a Really Really Really GOOD movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

(What I lack in intellectual discernment I make up for in enthusiasm....)

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{Body Heat screenplay, written-Lawrence Kasdan, 1981}

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