Kramer vs. Kramer

FADE IN:

1INT. OFFICE, ADVERTISING AGENCY, MIDTOWN - EVENING

WIDE SHOT--A large and very comfortable office over-

looking St. Patrick's Cathedral. At the moment the

office is filled to bursting with men and women, slumped

in chairs, sitting on desks, all of them very tense.

Among the crowd of people we note: MURRAY FISHER, a

young and very ambitious junior executive and PHYLLIS

BERNARD, an attractive woman in her early thirties.

She is a lawyer with the agency.

At the moment, TED KRAMER, nice-looking without being

what you would call a matinee idol, paces back and

forth. His tie is loosened, he checks his watch every

fifteen seconds. Clearly he is very distraught.

TED:

(predicting the worst)

They're not gonna call...I tell

you they're not gonna call. I

blew it. I don't know what I

did wrong, but I--

REVERSE ON JIM O'CONNOR--Ted's boss and good friend.

He is in his middle fifties, nattily dressed with the

slightly bleary look of a heavy drinker. He sits back

in his chair with his feet propped on the desk and a

drink in one hand.

O'CONNOR

(not unfriendly)

Ted, will you take it easy?

Revlon's not about to drop an

account that represents more

than two million in gross

billing receipts in a small

agency like this, without making

us sweat. Now just relax, okay?

Everything's gonna be fine.

TED:

(at this stage,

nothing will help)

I don't think so, Jim. Maybe I

shouldn't have--

Sound-effect:
the phone rings.

Everyone freezes. As O'Connor reaches for the phone,

CUT TO:

2A INT. CHILD'S ROOM, KRAMER APT. - EVENING

The room is dark, the only light coming from a small

night light. We SEE a beautiful five year old boy

(BILLY KRAMER). He lies in bed, half asleep. HOLD

FOR A BEAT as a beautiful woman (JOANNA KRAMER) leans

over, kisses the child and hugs him tightly to her.

JOANNA:

(intense)

I love you, Billy...

BILLY:

(drowsy)

I love you too, mommy...Good-

night...

ON JOANNA--She gets up from the bed and starts toward

the door of the child's room.

JOANNA:

Sleep tight...

BILLY:

Don't let the bedbugs bite...

Joanna stops in the doorway, silhouetted against the

light. She turns, takes a last look at her son, then

steps outside.

CUT TO:

3INT. HALLWAY - EVENING

ON JOANNA--Now that the light is brighter, we can SEE

her more clearly. In her mid-thirties, she is beauti-

ful, dressed in a style that can best be described as

Bloomingdale's. HOLD FOR A BEAT as she leans against

the door. It is clear from her expression that she

is terribly upset. Then, making up her mind, she

crosses to a closet and takes out a suitcase.

4THE CAMERA TRACKS WITH HER as she carries it into the

bedroom, lays it out on the bed and opens it. PAN WITH

HER as she crosses to a closet, grabs an armload of

clothes and dumps them helter-skelter into the

suitcase.

CUT TO:

5INT. O'CONNOR'S OFFICE - EVENING

It is a few minutes later, the news has obviously been

good because there is a general celebration in progress.

Jim O'Connor, now standing, raises one hand for

silence, then making a toast.

O'CONNOR

Here's to Ted Kramer.

Cheers and good-natured jokes.

O'CONNOR

(putting an arm around

Ted squeezing him tight)

I wanna tell you something about

this little runt. He went out

there and sold the sh*t out of

Revlon and that's why we got

the account. It was his idea,

it was his concept, right down

the line...

More hoots and cheers. People start to yell "Speech."

TED:

(embarrassed, but

cannot stop grinning)

All I can say...All I can say

is this is maybe one of the five

best days of my whole life...

CUT TO:

6INT. BATHROOM, KRAMER APT. - EVENING

Joanna stands at the medicine cabinet, going through

it, packing things in a travel kit: rollers,

deodorant, makeup, birth control pills. She starts

to take a small bottle of perfume that has only an

eighth of an inch of fluid left inside, hesitates,

then puts it back.

CUT TO:

7INT. O'CONNOR'S OFFICE - EVENING

Now some time has passed, most of the crowd has gone

and only the regulars are left.

TED:

(in the middle of

a story)

So anyway Jim and I are making

the pitch, right? And all of

a sudden this old guy starts to

cough and I keep on going and

he keeps on coughing and I

keep on going and he keeps on

coughing and--

Murray Fisher leans over, shakes Ted's hand.

MURRAY:

(interrupting)

Congratulations, Ted. That was

a hell of a job.

TED:

(surprised)

Where you goin' Murray, it's

early?

MURRAY:

Got to get home.

TED:

(glancing at his

watch)

Oh, Christ, I'm late...I gotta

get out of here.

(however, instead

of going, he

settles back and

resumes his story)

So anyway, I look over and this

old geezer is starting to turn

blue and I swear to God the only

thing I can think about is that

this poor sonofabitch is gonna

die on me and screw up the pitch.

CUT TO:

8INT. KITCHEN, KRAMER APT. - EVENING

INSERT:
A long and meticulous list that Joanna is making

out of the phone numbers and addresses of doctors and

hospitals, of what the various medicines are for, and

of the foods that Billy is and isn't permitted to eat.

WIDER ANGLE--as Joanna puts the finishing touches on

the list and carefully arranges it on top of the kitchen

counter next to a box of unsweetened, whole grain cereal

and a jar of honey.

Note:
It is this same set of notes that Ted will later

unthinkingly throw away.

CUT TO:

9EXT. OFFICE BUILDING, MIDTOWN - NIGHT

WIDE SHOT--as the doors to the outer lobby open and

Ted and O'Connor appear. Ted starts to hail a cab,

O'Connor stops him.

O'CONNOR

Hey, what's the rush? C'mon,

walk me a couple of blocks.

TED:

Jim, I've got to go. I'm

already late--

O'CONNOR

Listen, Ted...I just want to tell

you, when old man Schmidt retires

next year, I've got a pretty

good feeling they'll kick me

upstairs...

He turns and starts to walk off down the street, Ted,

of course, follows.

O'CONNOR

...and when they do, I just want

you to know I'm takin' you along

with me.

CUT TO:

10 INT. BEDROOM, KRAMER APT. - NIGHT

CLOSE ON JOANNA--as she goes through her jewelry case,

taking some things, leaving others. In the B.G. we

SEE a framed photograph of Billy, smiling, looking

into the camera.

CUT TO:

11 EXT. STREET - NIGHT

ON TED AND O'CONNOR--tracking with them as they walk.

O'CONNOR

(feeling no pain)

Y'know, Ted, I mean what I said

back there. You did a hell of a

job on this and I want you to

know I'm turning the whole

show over to you.

TED:

(thrilled)

Wow!

O'CONNOR

I mean it Ted, you're running

this one.

CUT TO:

12 INT. BEDROOM, KRAMER APT. - NIGHT

WIDE SHOT--The suitcase is now full. Joanna zips it

shut and looks around to make sure that she hasn't

forgotten anything.

Then, she hefts her suitcase and starts out of the room.

CUT TO:

13 INT. FOYER - NIGHT

WIDE SHOT--Joanna carries in the suitcase, sets it by

the front door, then she crosses to the living room and

sits down at the dining table.

CLOSER IN ON HER--She takes out a list made on the back

of an old envelope. As she begins to review it, check-

ing off some items:

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