be damn sure

"Feel Like A Number," a great rock song by Bob Seger, backgrounds a scene in the movie, Body Heat:

I take my card and I stand in line
To make a buck, I work overtime
Dear Sir letters keep coming in the mail
I work my back till it's racked with pain
The boss can't even recall my name
I show up late and I'm docked
It never fails
I feel like just another
Spoke in a great big wheel
Like a tiny blade of grass
In a great big field
To workers I'm just another drone
to Ma Bell I'm just another phone
I'm just another statistic on a sheet
To teachers I'm just another child
To IRS I'm just another file
I'm just another consensus on the street
Gonna cruise out of this city
Head down to the sea
Gonna shout out at the ocean
Hey it's me
And I feel like a number
Feel like a number
Feel like a stranger
A stranger in this land
I feel like a number
I'm not a number
I'm not a number
Dammit I'm a man
I said I'm a man

---------------------------------------
Before the song, Ned Racine and Matty Walker are at a construction site at night. There are blinking, or flashing lights -- welding or some other process, and men carrying building materials. Ned has got directions to Teddy Lewis's shop; Matty's going to wait in the car.

And the first hammering notes of the song come in loud and suddenly you see a close-up of some kind of incendiary device; in Teddy's shop, Ned is working on it, tightening something. Teddy watches him operate, then can't stand to look anymore, comes over and turns down the music and takes over.

Teddy: "Whatsa matter, you can't think with a little music?"
(demonstrating)
"Like this, I said."

[this paragraph is a quote from Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay]:
Racine nods then duplicates the clipping. Teddy goes back to his stool, slapping the beat of the music on his thigh. Racine pulls out the alarm lever on the clock attached to the device and stands up. He throws a look to Teddy and Teddy nods that, yes, the device is now set.
Ned: "That's it?"

Teddy: (nods) "It's fast. It's hot. It's simple. You can use the clock or rig it to something that moves. It starts big and it'll go with just the mag chips. If you want more, splash a little accelerator around."
"Just regular gasoline?"

Teddy starts climbing up a ladder that leads to a high bunk-bed; he talks as he climbs:
"Regular, unleaded, supreme -- whatever you like, counselor. I got to tell you, though, this mama has a big drawback."
"What?"
"It's easy to spot. Even after the meltdown, they'll know it's arson."
"I don't care about that."

Teddy's face registers a surprised sort of "Are you stoned or stupid?" look.

Ned: "That's all there is to it?"
"No. No -- that ain't all there is to it. You gotta get in, you gotta get out. You gotta pick the right spot and the right time. And you gotta try not to get famous while you're in the act. If that was all there was to it, any idiot could do it."
"Sorry."
Teddy (Mickey Rourke) is now sitting on the edge of the loft bed, his feet dangling.
"Hey, now I want to ask you something."
(Ned idly punches a thing hanging from a rope and waits for it to swing back, watching it...
Teddy: "Are you listening, asshole? - because I like you.
(he's got Ned's attention)
I got a serious question for you.
What the fuck are you doing? This is not shit for you to be messing with. Are you ready to hear something? See if this sounds familiar.

Anytime you try a decent crime, you got fifty ways you can fuck up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then you're a genius.

And you ain't no genius.
(a small smile)
You remember who told me that?"

(The lawyer nods, small.)

Teddy: "Listen man, let me do it for you. Gratis. I'll do it. I wouldn't even be on the street if it wasn't for you.."

(Ned shakes his head slightly -- no.)
"Thanks."
Teddy: "Well I sure hope you know what you're doin' -- you better be damn sure. Cause if you ain't sure, don't do it. Of course, that's my recommendation anyway -- don't do it.
------------------ Music comes back UP again -- "...a stranger in this land, I feel like a num-BER --"

-30-