darling I know you're right

^^ Ned and Matty lying together at night, reviewing the plan.
NED:  And?
MATTY:  2:30, I send him down.
NED:  And?
...and the end of that scene she whispers, "I'm frightened."

And now the murder.  [in Body Heat] a sequence of scenes, brief, one after the other.  The action scenes of Ned Racine driving to Miami and taking care of business; and quiet, languorous scenes of Matty Walker at her home.

Strident, dramatic, orchestral music accompanies the Miami- and driving-to-Miami scenes.

Languid, seductive music oozes over the quiet, almost motionless scenes of Matty at the impressive Walker mansion.

^^ Ned Racine's red car driving south to Miami, fast on the highway, DAY.
^^ In Miami, DAY:  Ned Racine shaking hands and speaking with man at Rent-a-Car place.
^^ [dramatic music, interrupted by odd, quirky music]  Something catches Ned's attention:  he stares.  A car is going by, driven by someone in a clown suit and mask.

^^ [languid music] Matty Walker at home, bathing in the black bathtub with gold legs.
^^ MIAMI - DAY  Ned tips the valet who's taking his rented car to park it.  They speak a moment.
^^ EXT. - WALKER HOUSE - NIGHT.  In fog on the porch-of-chimes, a Medium Close shot of a spider web suspended in the darkness.  Chimes ding-ding, very softly.

^^ [no music] a digital clok in the bedroom.  Matty's face on her pillow, in bed, watching that clock.
^^ [dramatic music]  NIGHT - the highway.  Ned driving back up to Pine Haven, from Miami.  Intent.  Terse; tense; focus.

=====================
The murder happens.  It's dramatic and tense, building up to it; it's over quickly.  No explicit violence on-screen.
====================

In the dark and the quiet, outside, after, with the body in the trunk of Edmund Walker's white Cadillac, Ned commands Matty, "Spend fifteen minutes inside cleaning up, then come.  You have to be careful, driving in this fog."

He pauses, & looks at her.
(urgently) - "You all right?"
She nods her head yes, after a second.

When he drives away he's so tense and unnerved, he almost wrecks, twice.  A big tree branch in the darkness in front of the car -- (was it in the road?  Or did he drive off the road?)...then, pulling out onto the highway in the darkness and fog, the elephantine "WONK" of a semi-truck's horn.  Ned just barely misses getting hit, and drives off down the road, ahead of the big truck.

Despite these moments, there is an overall sense, in this sequence of scenes, of everything going "According To Plan".  The Miami alibi...people saw him there...

^^  at "The Breakers" -- old run-down hotel ruins down on the beach, Ned deposits the body and takes Mickey Rourke's home-built bomb out of a hiding place in the old crumbling wall.

^^  Matty meets him; he drives her back to her house, wordless.  When he stops the car in the driveway, he looks straight ahead out the windshield and says to her, "We won't talk for a long time."

He drives away, alone.  Looks up into his rear-view mirror, his eyes looking at his eyes.

^^ INT.  THE BREAKERS - NIGHT.
Drip, drip.  Creak.  The silent, soundless hiss of night-quiet.  Then the explosion WHHOOMM-POW!  And the fire's everyplace in there.


The relentless flames give way to a view of Matty Walker standing, leaning against a column, on the porch, in the dark and fog.  She hears, faintly, sirens.  We see the flames and her face superimposed over them, in this shot.

DISSOLVE.

INT.  NED RACINE'S OFFICE.  DAY

At his desk with a pad of paper before him and pencil in hand, he's having trouble concentrating.  He looks miserable and tired.  Phone rings.

The pencil drops onto the pad of paper, like a tear.

Secretary in the outer office:  "Miles Hardin; says he's a lawyer in Miami."
Mr. Hardin's voice over the phone:  "As you know, Mr. Racine, we represented Edmund Walker."
[Ned did not know that.  He's silent.]

"Mrs. Walker has submitted the new will you wrote up there."

wwwwwwwwwww
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

?????????????????

(Forget it.  Listen to me Matty.  Nothing strange can happen in his life right now.  You'll get half of everything he owns.  We're not going to get greedy.
-- You're right.  I'm sorry darling--I know you're right. ...)

--------------
{Body Heat, written-Lawrence Kasdan}
-30-