Klute Page #4

BREE VOICE:

Marta, thanks, and I'd love to

party with you hon, but --

Klute sets down the headset (we drop the VOICES far

under, INDISTINGUISHABLE), makes a note, and thumbs

open the box of a fresh reel; the present reel is

near the end. We establish a pile of ALREADY

RECORDED TAPES. We CUT BACK TO --

INT. BREE APARTMENT: BREE ON PHONE - NIGHT

BREE:

Well try to get someone else Marty

and if I change my mind -- sure

hon, bye.

She hangs up, starts away. The PHONE RINGS AGAIN.

She tries to ignore it. It persists. She finally

turns back to answer it, and we CUT TO --

INT. CASTING OFFICE - AD AGENCY - DAY

CAMERA STARTS on huge photo montage of the Family

of Man and pans down to a group of beautiful girls

sitting on a bench below. They are dwarfed by the

enormous picture. Each one clutches an almost

identical portfolio of pictures in her lap. Camera

pans down row of portfolios until it stops at BREE

- impatiently waiting her turn. WE CONTINUE THE

TELEPHONE VOICES OVER, WILD TRACK STYLE. The MAN'S

VOICE is thick with drink, and emotion. First the

click, then --

BREE VOICE:

Bree Daniel --

MAN'S VOICE

Oh God baby, oh God I really love

you.

BREE VOICE:

That's nice; who is this?

MAN'S VOICE

I really love you baby, you know

that?

A CLICK, and the MAN'S VOICE CONTINUING, trailing

into helpless sobs --

MAN'S VOICE (CONT'D)

Hello? Hello? Oh my God, hello?

EXT. STREET:
BREE

Bree comes out from the building (note possible

costume change; not necessarily consecutive

action), checks off on her list continues on her

way -- as we CONTINUE WILD TRACK STYLE VOICES.

Starting with a CLICK and --

BREE VOICE:

Bree Daniel.

2ND MAN'S VOICE

(nicely)

Bree -- Frank Hanley, you remember,

Fayetterville?

BREE VOICE:

Oh yeah, hi Frank, sure.

2ND MAN'S VOICE

Well I'm in town, like to see you.

BREE VOICE:

Well Frank that's awful nice but

I'm out of action, sort of, you

know --

We FADE THIS CONVERSATION UNDER BUT HOLD,

CONTINUING, as --

BREE PASSES CAMERA -- and we PAN TO SHOT OF KLUTE,

at corner, unseen by her and apparently in

surveillance of her. Then he too turns out of

frame, and we CUT TO --

INT. PENN STATION - DAY

CAMERA is looking down at an enormous gift package

on a platform. There is a sound of a recorded

fanfare and with the pull of a string the package

is opened revealing a brand new LINCOLN CONTINENTAL

CONVERTIBLE. People applaud and the car starts to

revolve. At the wheel of the car sits BREE. We CUT

to a shot through the windshield of car --

BREE'S POV

A sea of staring faces revolves around her. We

cross fade with SPANGLER VOICE OVER (as if

recalling a case record).

SPANGLER (V.O.)

Bree Daniel, Caucasian, twenty

eight, good physical health, no

narcotics record, presenting an

unusually strong personality some

ways, high intelligence, a high

bracket call girl.

EXT. WOMEN'S PRISON ROOF - CAGED IN RECREATION AREA

SPANGLER, a prison psychiatrist, sits on a bench

eating a sandwich partially wrapped in wax paper

and sipping from a carton of milk. He is obviously

a man pressed for time. KLUTE sits beside him.

Across from them some prisoners are taking their

exercise. Through the metallic netting that

surrounds them, we see the skyline of New York

City. It only dramatizes more the sense of being

caged.

SPANGLER:

-- Usual case history -- this isn't

a medical confidence, it's all of

them -- broken family, lonely,

confused, crummy childhood, early

promiscuity, formal prostitution

beginning in her teens, income

twenty-five to thirty thousand a

year.

(notes Klute's reaction)

Oh they don't keep the money: they

get rid of it, they get pimps. Why?

(stabs at record)

Why do you want to know all this?

KLUTE:

I want to know how Tom Grunemann

got mixed up in it.

SPANGLER:

Not unusual.

KLUTE:

Did she talk about him to you?

SPANGLER:

About his letters -- that's all she

remembered. Quite violent material,

I'd say, obsessive, a quite sick

man. But that's not unusual either.

KLUTE:

Has she talked with you since

prison?

SPANGLER:

No. She had every good intention of

it -- coming to me as a private

patient, getting out of the life,

devoting herself to an acting

career.

KLUTE:

I think she's trying that.

SPANGLER:

Oh sure they try. The idea of a

better life. But they don't really

know much about life: They get

confused -- or scared or frustrated

or bored -- they pop back to the

one thing they can handle.

The trick. The trick. Men in bed.

Not men in general, not life, not

love, not even real sex -- it

avoids all that. Just the trick,

the transaction.

INT. PENN STATION - DAY

POV world revolving around BREE through windshield

of car. The circular motion slows down and then

stops. Cut to BREE getting out of car and walking

off platform. She looks a bit shaky. She is stopped

by one of the spectators.

MAN:

(tapping her)

We had a bet on - if you were real

or not. I won.

She looks at him in disgust and crosses to phone

booth.

INT. PHONE BOOTH - DAY

BREE:

(on phone)

Marta --

INT. CHURCH DISCOTHEQUE - NIGHT

We are in the interior of what was once a church

and is now a discotheque. Interior is painted

purple; the record player stands on the altar over

the crowd. Pews are massed around the dance floor.

Stained glass windows are lighted from behind and

are circled with light bulbs that flash on and off.

For all of its obviously bizarre visual quality,

there is a sense of relaxation. It is a late night

gathering place of many who belong to the sexual

underworld of the city.

BREE and the OTHER GIRL advance to a pew. A MAN

sitting there (the other girl's pimp) with a THIRD

GIRL. BREE's companion greet him shyly, tenderly:

she and BREE sit down, join in conversation.

PULL BACK SLOWLY -- other pews, other girls and a

few men, the sisterhood -- To --

BAR AREA IN BACK (WHAT ONCE MUST HAVE BEEN THE

VESTIBULE OF THE CRURCH)

Among the people around the bar, pimps, whores, and

a sprinkling of hopeful Johns and curiosity

seekers. The camera picks a familiar face: CABLE.

He watches BREE with a mixture of amusement and

contempt. A GIRL comes over to him and tries to

proposition him. They appear to be discussing

price. Just as she thinks it is set, he walks away.

INT. KLUTE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

CLOSEUP photograph of TOM GRUNEMANN pinned to a

large piece of beaverboard KLUTE has placed on a

wall. CAMERA PANS over various pictures and pieces

of evidence KLUTE has pinned up in an attempt to

make some sense from the puzzle of TOM GRUNMIANN's

disappearance. CAMERA PANS over to KLUTE sitting on

cot looking up at the pieces of the puzzle. There

is a heated TV dinner in front of him.

The TAPE RECORDER reels start turning (sound

powered), the recording light starts winding (as

BREE, above, dials). KLUTE pays it scant attention

- he can catch up with the news anytime. He sits

manfully in front of the TV dinner, starts peeling

back the foil --

INT. BREE'S APARTMENT: BREE - NIGHT

She holds the phone, is answered. Her voice more

natural, a little shy, a little covert.

BREE:

Hi. Bree.

(is greeted)

Hi. Well I could come over tonight

- if you'd like -- if there's no

one else.

(laughs diffidently)

I really want to just talk to you.

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