movie poster:
Six Degrees of Separation, the play:
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movie poster:
Six Degrees of Separation, the play:
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John Guare wrote the original play Six Degrees of Separation, first staged in 1990 at the Lincoln Center Theater. Guare also wrote the screenplay for this movie, which starred Will Smith. in the lead role as "Paul." The movie adheres closely to the plot and dialogue from the play.
Paul is a young, exceptionally intelligent African-American man who insinuates himself into the lives of a number of New York families, using a combination of charm, flattery and outright lies. Much of the story focuses on the time during which Paul cons a wealthy couple, Ouisa and Flan, by telling them that he is the son of Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier.
When Ouisa and Flan learn a number of disturbing things about Paul, they kick him out of their apartment, where they had let him stay for one night. Immediatly after that, Paul is in Central Park where he meets a young couple from Utah: Rick and Elizabeth.
Rick and Elizabeth are not explicitly identified as Latter-day Saints by the dialogue, but it is clear that they are intended to be Mormon characters. Many reviewers of the play and the film referred to Elizabeth and Rick as Mormons.
The play's one overt reference to Latter-day Saints by name comes when Paul asks Rick and Elizabeth if there are any black people in Utah. Rick responds, "Maybe two. Yes, the Mormons brought in two." This happens 1 hour, 12 minutes, 58 seconds after the start of the film.
Later, when Rick is telling Elizabeth about how he danced with Paul at the Rainbow Room, he tells her, "I swear, nothing like this ever happened in Utah." This line is spoken 1 hour, 20 minutes, 56 minutes after the start of the film.
In the film actress Heather Graham has the 6th-billed role in the opening credits as "Elizabeth." Eric Thal has the 8th-billed role as "Rick. In the closing credits Heather Graham is listed 9th, and Eric Thal is listed 10th. "Rick" and "Elizabeth" are important characters and they are central to a major turning point in the story, but they are not the main characters. Elizabeth and Rick were originally played on stage by Paul McCrane and Mari Nelson.
Rounding out the other top roles in the movie (in order of billing) are Stockard Channing as "Ouisa", Will Smith as "Paul", Donald Sutherland as "Flan", Mary Beth Hurt as "Kitty", Bruce Davison as "Larkin", Anthony Michael Hall as "Trent", Richard Masur as "Dr. Fine" and Ian McKellen as "Geoffrey."
In the feature film, Rick and Elizabeth were played by Eric Thal and Heather Graham. New York native Eric Thal's other film roles include the 2nd-billed role in Robert A. Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" (1996), co-starring with Donald Sutherland (who plays Flan in the "Six Degrees of Separation" movie). Thal played the title role in the 1996 TV movie "Samson and Delilah" and had a supporting role in "Snow Falling on Cedars" (1999), among other film roles.
Heather Graham ("Elizabeth" in "Six Degrees of Separation") is a better known actor than Thal. Before playing the young Mormon woman "Elizabeth," Graham appeared regularly on the acclaimed TV series "Twin Peaks" (1991) as "Annie Blackburn" (1991), and reprised that role for the David Lynch movie "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" (1992). After appearing in "Six Degrees of Separation," Graham went on to star in many feature films, including "Lost in Space" (1998), "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999, produced by Eric McLeod), "Bowfinger" (1999), "Say It Isn't So" (2001), "Sidewalks of New York" (2001), "From Hell" (2001), "Killing Me Softly" (2002), and "The Guru" (2002). She was also the lea voice actress for "EverQuest II" game (2004).
In Central Park, Rick and Elizabeth are charmed by the charismatic Paul. Paul tells Rick and Elizabeth that his father lives in a luxurious apartment overlooking Central Park, but he (Paul) has to live in the Park because as the son of a woman his father had an affair with, his father's legal wife wants nothing to do with him. Paul claims that his real father is Flan. All of this is a complete fabrication. Rick and Elizabeth feel sorry for Paul, and they let him stay in their apartment, repeating the pattern shown previously when Paul stayed with Ouisa and Flan.
Rick and Elizabeth have come to New York from Utah with the hopes of becoming famous actors. They study and survive by waiting tables. After staying briefly with Rick and Elizabeth, Paul tells them that he has received a letter from his father. He tells them that his father (an art dealer) has sold an expensive Cezanne painting for millions of dollars, and wants to give him a large sum of money. Paul convinces them that with his connections and his father's wealth, he will give them their big break and launch their acting careers. But first, Paul claims, he needs two hundred and fifty dollars so he can buy tickets to go to Maine, where he will meet up with his father and grandparents.
Rick suggests that he and Elizabeth can loan Paul the money. Elizabeth apologetically explains that they can't do this, as it would wipe out all of their savings. But after she goes to work, Rick withdraws all of they money in their joint account and gives it to Paul. Paul then takes Rick to rent tuxedos and go to the famous Rainbow Room restaurant where they eat, dance and are kicked out. Rick points out in a line of dialogue, "Nothing like this ever happened in Utah." After leaving the Rainbow Room, Paul asks to have sex with Rick, which they do in the park.
Rick had never before had sex with a man. He feels terrible about his sexual encounter with Paul and about giving all of his and Elizabeth's money to Paul, whom he realizes has no money of his own and was scamming them. Rick commits suicide by jumping out of his apartment window. Elizabeth is distraught upon discovering what has happened. She goes to the police with this story, and she also goes to Flan's apartment building to beg for her money back, because she has nothing left. Upon learning some of what has happened, Flan takes the story to the New York Times, which publishes a story about Paul's activities.
The scenes with Rick and Elizabeth, the young Mormon couple from Utah, occupy 11 pages (82 to 93) in the printed Six Degrees of Separation play. The total length of the play is 120 pages in this book, meaning that Rick and Elizabeth's scenes occupy 9.2% of the length of the play. This does not include later references to Rick and Elizabeth, and Paul's crimes relating to them.
In the movie, the total length of the section featuring Elizabeth and Rick is 15 minutes, 30 seconds. The total running time of the film is 1 hour, 48 minutes, 8 seconds. The section with Rick and Elizabeth occupies 14.3% of the film's running time.
In the movie version, we first meet Elizabeth (Heather Graham) when she comes to the apartment building of Flan and Ouisa. This meeting took place off-stage in the play. Not long after the night Paul visited them, Flan and Ouisa arrive at their apartment building only to have the doorman spit on the ground in front of them. The doorman tells Flan that he knows all about Flan's "black son," who lives in Central Park. The doorman tells them about the girl (Elizabeth) who came to the building, asking for her money. She is still there at the apartment building. The doorman takes Flan and Ouisa to a storage room, where they meet Elizabeth. She tells them her story, recounting her and Rick's meeting with Paul, and the subsequent events relating to Paul.
Elizabeth (Heather Graham) is first seen on screen in the movie version of "Six Degrees of Separation" 1 hour, 11 minutes, 49 seconds after the start of the film. The section that follows is transcribed below:
OUISA (Stockard Channing): The next chapter. [Ouisa and Flan are telling friends about these events, recounting how the doorman ushered them into the storage room to meet Elizabeth. Most of the following section is thus a flashback within a flashback.]
[CUT TO: INT. STORAGE ROOM. Ouisa and Flan pull up a crate to sit next to Elizabeth.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): My boyfriend and I took a picnic in the park.
[CUT TO: EXT. CENTRAL PRRK. Paul is reclining on some large rocks, next to where Rick and Elizabeth sit. Rick is holding a guitar.]
PAUL (Will Smith): So... do they have any black people in Utah?
RICK (Eric Thal): Maybe two.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Ah! I saw them once. Two black people.
RICK: Yeah. The Mormons brought in two.
PAUL (Will Smith): [Laughs]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Do you think it will hurt me?
RICK: What'll hurt you?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): My resemblance to Liv Ullmann.
RICK: [Pointing to Elizabeth, speaking to Paul.] She won the all-state competition for comedy and drama.
[Laughs modestly.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Really? My gosh.
[Stands up. Walks a few paces in front of the reclining Paul and Rick, posing as if on stage.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): "The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven."
[Rick and Paul clap appreciatively. Elizabeth bows and sits back down in between them.]
RICK: Yeah! [To Paul.] And we study. And we wait tables.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): 'Cuz you have to have technique.
PAUL (Will Smith): Like the painters. Cezanne looked for the rules behind the spontaneity of Impressionism.
RICK: Cezu-- That's a painter?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): We don't know anything about painters.
PAUL (Will Smith): My dad loves painting. He has a Kandinsky but he loves Cezanne the most. Oh! He lives up there. [Stands up to point up at Flan and Ouisa's apartment, which overlooks Central Park.]
RICK: What?
PAUL (Will Smith): Yeah. Count six windows down. In the corner. John Flanders Kittredge. His chums call him Flan. I was the child of Flan's hippie days. His radical days. He went down South as a freedom marcher, to register black voters--
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM, where Flan and Ouisa are recounting this story, as it was told to them by Elizabeth. The Japanese art investor is surprised to hear that Flan was a hippie freedom marcher, which he really wasn't.]
JEANNIE THE FEMALE JAPANESE ART INVESTOR (actress Kazuko): You did?
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): [Bemused] Noooo! Can't you just see me marching down south for freedom now!
OUISA (Stockard Channing): Yes. Yes I can.
[CUT TO: EXT. CENTRAL PARK]
PAUL (Will Smith): His friends were killed. He met my mother. Registered her. Married her in a fit of sentimental righteousness and knocked her up with me and came back here and abandoned her.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
FEMALE LOFT PARTY GUEST: [Amused, smiling] You didn't! Flan! Shame!
[CUT TO: EXT. CENTRAL PARK]
PAUL (Will Smith): He's now a fancy art dealer. Lives up there. Won't see me. The new wife--the white wife--The Louisa Kittredge Call Me Ouisa Wife--the mother of the new children wife--
RICK: Your brothers and sisters?
PAUL (Will Smith): They go to Andover and Exeter and Harvard and Yale. The awful thing is my father started out good. My mother says there's a good man inside J. Flanders Kittredge.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
OUISA (Stockard Channing): [To Flan] There is, darling, there is. [Addressing the small crowd of 6 art patrons and investors] Flan thinks he's part of some sinister plot.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): Oh, it's all too creepy. I don't even like to talk about it.
[CUT TO: EXT. CENTRAL PARK]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): He would see you if he's that good. He can't forget you entirely.
PAUL (Will Smith): I call him, he hangs up.
Rick: Go to his office.
PAUL (Will Smith): He doesn't have an office. He works out of there. [Pointing toward the apartment.] They won't even let me in the elevator.
RICK: Dress up as a messenger.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Say you have a masterpiece for him.
"I got the Mona Lisa waitin' out in the truck."
PAUL (Will Smith): [Laughs] I don't want to embarrass him. Ohh! This is so f---ing tacky! [Pause. Then addresses Rick and Elizabeth.] You two love each other?
[Elizabeth takes Rick by the hand.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): A lot.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
OUISA (Stockard Channing): These are nice kids.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): Yeah. They work for a living.
[CUT TO: EXT. CENTRAL PARK]
PAUL (Will Smith): I hope we can meet again.
RICK: Yeah.
[Rick and Elizabeth are walking along a path. Elizabeth tosses a bag of garbage -- the remains of her picnic with Rick -- into a gargabe can. Paul starts walking in a different direction.]
RICK: Hey, where do you live?
PAUL (Will Smith): Live? I'm home.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): You don't live in the streets?!
PAUL (Will Smith): You guys are such a--holes! I mean-- Where would I live?!
RICK: You can stay with us.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): We just have a railroad flat in a tenement--
RICK: It's over a roller disco. The last of the roller discos but it's quiet by five AM and a great narrow space--
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): [Voiceover] We could give you the couch. The tub is in the kitchen, but there's light in the morning.
[Paul is giving Elizabeth allocution lessons.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Hall-lo.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Hello.
PAUL (Will Smith): Hall-lo.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Hello.
[CUT TO: INT. STORAGE ROOM AT FLAN AND OUISA'S APARTMENT BUILDING. Flan and Ouisa are listening to Elizabeth recount what happened next after she and Rick met Paul.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): He opened up a whole new world to us. That's all anybody wants, isn't it? A new world...
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT]
PAUL (Will Smith): You say, "We're going riding."
RICK: "Riding"?
PAUL (Will Smith): And never say "couch." It's "sofa."
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): "Sofa."
RICK: "Sofa."
PAUL (Will Smith): [Tapping Rick on the chest.] And you say "bodd-ill." It's bottle. Bottle of beer.
RICK: Bodd-ill of bee-ya.
PAUL (Will Smith): No. Bottle of beer.
RICK: Bodd-ill of bee-ya.
[Elizabeth hands a bottle of beer to both Paul and Rick.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Oh, see! Bottle of beer. Oh, and never be afraid of rich people. You know what they love? A fancy pot of jam. Really. That's all. Get yourself a patron. That's what you need! You shouldn't be waiting tables. You're going to wake up one day and the temporary job you picked up just to stay alive is going to be your full-time life.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): He stayed with them for...
OUISA (Stockard Channing): --two or three weeks.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): He sunk his heels in.
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT]
[Paul opens a door, enters the kitchen, where Rick and Elizabeth are sleeping in their bed.]
PAUL (Will Smith): I'm moving out of here!
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): You can't!
PAUL (Will Smith): My father answered my letter. He's going to give me a thousand dollars, and that's just for starters! He sold a Cezanne to the Japanese and made millions and he can give me money without her knowing it.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): I knew it.
PAUL (Will Smith): I'm going to give you the money to put on any play you want. And agents will come and see you and you'll be discovered. And when you win your Oscars--both of you--you'll look in the camera and thank me--
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): I want to thank Paul Kittredge.
RICK: Thanks, Paul.
PAUL (Will Smith): One hitch. I'm going to meet him in Maine. He's visiting his parents in Dark Harbor. My grandparents whom I've never met. He's finally going to tell my grandparents about me.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): Can you just see the look on my parents' face if a black kid showed up? "Hi, Grandma."
OUISA (Stockard Channing): Flan, your parents are dead.
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT]
[Paul is hurridly packing, putting his meager possesions into a black plastic bag.]
PAUL (Will Smith): He's going to give me money. I can go back home. Get my momma that beauty parlor she's wanted all her life. One problem. How am I going to get to Maine? The wife checks all the bills. Where the hell am I going to get two hundred and fifty dollars to get to Maine?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): How long would you need it for?
PAUL (Will Smith): I'll be gone a week. Oh! But I could wire it back to you.
RICK: [Quiet, to Elizabeth.] We could lend it to him for a week.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): We can't. If something happens--
RICK: You're like his stepmother. These women holding on to all the purse strings.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): No. We worked too hard to save that. [To Paul.] I'm sorry, Paul. We just can't.
PAUL (Will Smith): No problem. I understand.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): I'll meet you both after work.
PAUL (Will Smith): Sure.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): [Hugs Paul] If your father loves you, he'll get you the ticket up there.
PAUL (Will Smith): He does. It'll work out.
[Paul takes notice of the fact that Rick is slumping, looking away. Rick is obviously upset that Elizabeth has rejected his offer to loan Paul money. Paul pretends not to know this.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Hey! Posture! Stand up straight! Don't slump. Attitudes of defeat. [Tapping Rick's chest and stomach, trying to getting him to stand up straight.]
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): The girl worked just to stay alive.
OUISA (Stockard Channing): She was one of those armies of young people--
[CUT TO: INT. CROWDED COCKTAIL PARTY OR OTHER GATHERING AT A NICE RESTAURANT.
Elizabeth is wearing a uniform, carrying a tray above her head balanced on one palm. She is working as a waitress.]
OUISA (Stockard Channing): [Voiceover] --who come to New York filled with dreams, and end up on a treadmill, working and working, forgetting what they wanted and why they came here.
[CUT TO: EXT. AN ATM MACHINE ON A NEW YORK CITY STREET]
[Elizabeth has attempted unsuccessfully to withdraw money from an ATM machine. Elizabeth is talking on the emergency phone next to the ATM machine. She is very upset. The digital readout on the ATM screen reads: "YOUR TRANSACTION CANNOT BE COMPLETED/ PLEASE SEE TRANSACTION RECORD FOR DETAILS"]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): There must be some mistake! It says my joint account-- Can you see the numbers on the screen? Yeah, that's right. It's my name and his name. My joint account. [Desperately pressing buttons on the ATM machine.] Well who closed this account?
[CUT TO: INT. STORAGE ROOM AT FLAN AND OUISA'S APARTMENT BUILDING.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): I was furious! I can't tell you how furious I was. Then I went home to my luxurious penthouse, and I waited for hours.
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
[Rick enters the apartment quietly, sheepishly. Elizabeth is lying on the bed, watching the front door. She turns on a light and stands up to confront Rick.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Where's the money?
RICK: Just lemme explain. Paul found some extra money of his own.
[CUT TO: INT. THE RAINBOW ROOM, AN EXCLUSIVE NEW YORK CITY RESTAURANT. The night time New York City skyline can be seen out the windows.]
RICK: [Voiceover.] So he took me to the Rainbow Room. He would have treated you, only you had to work. We rented these tuxedos.
[Rick and Paul are sitting at a table, wearing tuxedos. A waiter hands them a menu.]
RICK: How did we get this table?
PAUL (Will Smith): Stick with me, babe. I know the right names to drop.
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: He's gonna give us the money back. Then I'm taking you to the Rainbow Room. I brought you matches.
[Smiling, Rick reaches into the pocket of his rented tuxedo jacket, and pulls out a book of matches from the Rainbow Room. He holds them up for Elizabeth to see. Elizabeth slaps them out of his hand, an angry look on her face. Rick pauses before saying anything. He knows she is mad.]
RICK: It's not that expensive for what you get. It's not a bargain, but it's worth it.
[CUT TO: INT. THE RAINBOW ROOM]
PAUL (Will Smith): [Sipping wine.] Hmm. Wonderful bouquet.
RICK: Bouquet?
PAUL (Will Smith): The taste of wine. Always remember, the wine from the even-numbered years is superior to the wine from the odd-numbered years. [Holds up his glass, indicating a toast.] Cheers. Skol. Prozzit.
RICK: Mud in your eye. [Clicks his glass to Paul's.] You're just about the greatest.
PAUL (Will Smith): You wanna dance?
RICK: Elizabeth has never seen anything like here. I wish she was... Who do we dance with?
[Stands up. Spreads his arms, indicating himself.]
RICK: We're guys.
PAUL (Will Smith): Every moment in life is a learning experience... or what good is it? Right?
[Paul nods his head.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Right?
RICK: Yes.
PAUL (Will Smith): Then let this bunch of jerks see class.
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: I swear, nothing like this ever happened in Utah.
[Elizabeth continues to stare at Rick in shock and amazement as he relates the evening's events to her.]
[CUT TO: INT. THE RAINBOW ROOM]
[Paul dances with Rick.]
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: And I tell you nothing like that must have ever happened at the Rainbow Room because they asked us to leave.
[CUT TO: INT. THE RAINBOW ROOM]
[Paul dances and laughs with Rick. Older ladies and gentlemen look at them with measured disdain.]
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: And I tell you nothing like that must have ever happened at the Rainbow Room because they asked us to leave.
RICK: It was so funny.
[CUT TO: EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET. NIGHT.]
[Paul, laughing, runs to a horse-drawn carriage, followed closely by Rick.]
PAUL (Will Smith): Around the park, sir!
RICK: We don't have any money.
PAUL (Will Smith): Amigo, when will you learn? Money is the one commodity you can always get! Whooo!! Yaahh!
[The carriage begins its trip around the park.]
RICK: I'm gonna have to explain to Elizabeth about the money and calm her because she gets so nervous-- [Paul caresses Rick's hair.] Hey, Paul! C'mon. Stop it.
PAUL (Will Smith): I was wondering if I could f--- you?
[Rick smiles and tries to chuckle slightly, as if Paul was telling a joke, although he doesn't really find it funny. Then Rick looks at Paul's face and sees that Paul was serious.]
RICK: Man, I don't do things like that.
PAUL (Will Smith): That's what makes it so nice. You don't.
[Paul pulls down the cover of the carriage so that the cab is private.]
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: And he did. It was fantastic.
[Elizabeth stands up from the kitchen table at which she has been sitting, silently listening to Rick's story. Tears are in her eyes. She picks up some pots and slams them down, angry but uncertain what to say.]
RICK: We came here for experience, right? We can use this, right?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): You're a fool! Your father is right. You are a fool.
RICK: We came here for experience. My father is not right. I can't have him be right.
[Rick tries to hug Elizabeth, but she fights him off.]
[CUT TO: CAB OF HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE.]
[Paul kisses Rick. Rick has a blank, distant look on his face, as if he has put his mind elsewhere, out of his body, in order to endure what has just happened. Paul then jumps out of the carriage and runs away. Rick jumps out of the carriage and runs, although much more slowly. The carriage driver yells, "Hey! Hey!" at them, but he is an older man and after running a few steps after them he trips and falls.]
RICK: Paul! Paul! [Rick runs, looking for Paul. He stops next to a bronze statue of an husky dog that saved an Alaskan village. After looking around and realizing that he won't be able find Paul, Rick sits on the rock underneath the statue and buries his face in his hands.]
[CUT TO: INT. RICK AND ELIZABETH'S LOW-RENT APARTMENT. NIGHT.]
RICK: Look at me. Look at me. Elizabeth, I-- I didn't come here to do this or to lose that or to be this or to do this to you. Not to you. Look at me.
[Elizabeth is lying on the bed, looking away from Rick.]
[CUT TO: INT. STORAGE ROOM AT FLAN AND OUISA'S APARTMENT BUILDING.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): I couldn't look at him. Spend the night thinking about having no money. About Paul and his father. So this morning...
[CUT TO: EXT. OUTSIDE FLAN AND OUISA'S APARTMENT BUILDING.]
[Elizabeth walks up to the building, addresses the doorman.]
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): Sir? Sir? I need to get up to see some people named Kittredge.
FRANK THE DOORMAN (Vasek Simek): Kittredge? Are they expecting you?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): This Kittredge guy has a black son he makes live in the park who took money from me.
FRANK THE DOORMAN: Mr. Kittredge has what?
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): His son owes me money!
FRANK THE DOORMAN: [unintelligible; something like:] Then you have to call and make him let him...
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): "The quality of mercy is not strained." Well, f--- you, quality of mercy!
[An older couple who lives in the apartment building is walking through the doorway and hears Elizabeth's outburst. Frank addresses them with a brief explanation.]
FRANK THE DOORMAN: It's trouble with Mr. Kittredge's negro son. [Addressing Elizabeth, grabbing her arm to pull her away from there.] Come on. I take care of it. [Addresses the resident couple again.] Don't worry.
[CUT TO: INT. ART MUSEUM]
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): --all over the building that I had abandoned some mistake of my past in Central Park.
FEMALE LOFT PARTY GUEST: But it's too fantastic.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): It was so embarrassing. It was horrible.
OUISA (Stockard Channing): It wasn't so embarrassing.
FEMALE LOFT PARTY GUEST: Flan loves to be outraged.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): I do not!
MALE, WHEELCHAIR-BOUND LOFT PARTY GUEST: You do to. Flan loves getting into high Duchy [?]
JEANNIE THE FEMALE JAPANESE ART INVESTOR: And look at his cheeks turn all rosy.
FEMALE LOFT PARTY GUEST: Duchy [?] becomes him.
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): To high Duchy. [?] Now... Can we get down to business?
[CUT TO: INT. COCKTAIL PARTY.]
LARKIN (Bruce Davison): Do we have a story for you? Kitty and I were at a roller disco two clients opened.
KITTY (Mary Beth Hurt): I hadn't skated in I hate to tell you how many years!
[CUT TO: INT. ROLLER DISCO.]
[Kitty and Larkin are skating haltingly.]
[CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREET OUTSIDE THE BUILDING THAT HOUSES THE ROLLER DISCO AND THE APARTMENT OF ELIZABETH AND RICK.]
[Kitty and Larkin exit the building, arm in arm.]
LARKIN (Bruce Davison): [Voiceover] We came outside giddy and reeling. And you wouldn't believe what we saw.
[Closeup on a pool of blood. Camera pans to reveal the face of Rick. His head is on the pavement. He is dead.]
LARKIN (Bruce Davison): [Voiceover] The blood, seeping out, hadn't yet reached the gutter.
KITTY: [Voiceover] It was oozing slowly out towards the curb.
[ALTERNATING CUTS BETWEEN COCKTAIL PARTY AND EXTERIOR OF ROLLER DISCO, between shots showing what Kitty and Larkin saw, and shots showing them tell the story to friends.]
KITTY: The body must have just landed there in a clump.
LARKIN (Bruce Davison): The boy had just jumped from above. He could have landed on us.
KITTY: We just missed it by minutes.
[CUT TO: EXT. CITY STREET OUTSIDE THE ROLLER DISCO]
[Kitty and Larkin look down at the body, then look up a few floors to a fire escape from which they year a woman screaming. Elizabeth is looking down at Rick on the pavement, screaming Rick's name in great distress.]
[CUT TO: INT. POLICE STATION]
[Elizabeth, Flan and Ouisa are sitting in chairs in front of a police detective's desk.]
DETECTIVES (Daniel von Bargen): She'll press charges.
ELIZABETH (Heather Graham): [In tears.] I want Paul dead. Rick's dead. You bet your life I'll press charges.
OUISA (Stockard Channing): We're very sorry. Is there anything we can do to help?
FLAN (Donald Sutherland): Paul's a menace. We could have been killed. Throat slashed.
OUISA (Stockard Channing): He wasn't going to kill us. We haven't seem him since that night.
DETECTIVE: Find him. We might have a case.
This scene, with Elizabeth, Flan and Ouisa in the police station, ends 1 hour, 26 minutes, 17 seconds after the start of the film. There are no further scenes with Rick or Elizabeth, although there are a few other references to them.
Page. 96-97:
(The other line rings.)
OUISA
Wait--I'm putting you on hold--
TESS
No one ever calls on that number.
OUISA
Wait. Hold on.
TESS
Mother!
OUISA
Hello?
(PAUL appears, frightened.)
PAUL
Hello.
OUISA
Paul?
PAUL
I saw the story in the paper. I didn't know the boy killed himself. He gave me the money. [Referring to Rick, the young Mormon man from Utah.]
OUISA
Let me put you on hold. I'm talking to my child--
PAUL
If you put me on hold, I'll be gone and you'll never hear from me again.
(OUISA pauses. TESS fades into black.)
OUISA
You have to turn yourself in. The boy committed suicide. You stole the money. The girl is pressing charges. They're going to get you. Why not turn yourself in and you can get off easier. You can strike a bargain. Learn when you're trapped. You're so brilliant. You have such promise. You need help.
[The phone conversation between Paul and Ouisa continues. Paul gets Ouisa talking about the Sistine Chapel, and about how she saw it up close while it was being cleaned. 4 more pages, before the following, page 101:]
OUISA
Clean away the years of grime and soot and paintovers. Q-tips and water changing the history of Western Art. Vivid colors.
PAUL
Take me to see it? [the Cistine Chapel]
PAUL
If you put me on hold, I'll be gone and you'll never hear from me again.
OUISA
Take you to see it? Paul, they think you might have murdered someone! You stole money!
[Flan enters the room where Ouisa is. He joins in on the phone conversation. He is angry at Paul, but Paul has a way of getting him talking about other subjects. 4 more pages of conversation before the following, page 106:]
PAUL
I'm fast. I could do it. Do your kids want to--
FLAN
No, it's not really a profession you hand down from generation to gen--what the hell am I talking career counselling to you! You embarassed me in my building! You stole money. There is a warrant out for your arrest!