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1
The Thomas Crown Affair
Screenplay by Alan Trustman
1
New York, late winter. Some snow on the ground.Dusk outside the New York Hilton.Crowds in the lobby at check-in time.Erwin notes the time. He pushes through the stacked baggage, and takes the elevator toa room on an upper floor.The room number direction sign, the silent corridor, the red corridor carpet, the numberon the room door.Erwin checks the corridor; it is empty. Softly he knocks.CROWN’S VOICE: Yes?The inflection is odd, somewhat southern.ERWIN: Erwin. Like you said.CROWN’S VOICE: Come in.Erwin turns the knob, and steps in. The room is dark, without lights.CROWN’S VOICE:Don’t touch the lights, lock the door, hook the chain.The voice is harsh, imperious; there is an unmistakable southern accent, but it is slightlywrong.Erwin obeys.The silence is uncomfortable. Erwin peers at the black shapes before him. The city lightsglow outside the window. Erwin blinks.Suddenly overwhelming light strikes Erwin’s face. His forearm shields his eyes. Just in front of him is a small chair, facing him. Beyond it is a coffee table, on it a highball,a brown envelope, and a Smith and Wesson five shot .38, pointing toward the door.Crown looms on the couch beyond the coffee table, a silhouette, his face unseen. The 300watt lamp behind him shines full on Erwin’s face, blotting out everything else in the room.CROWN:Sit there.
(the chair)
Erwin obeys again. He speaks carefully.ERWIN:Why the gun?He is ignored.CROWN:Listen carefully. This is your last chance to get out. If you don’t want it, you know nothing now. Now I’d letyou go.ERWIN:Can you tell me more?CROWN:You work an hour. You drive a car. You do an errand. You drive away.ERWIN:Any passengers?
 
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CROWN:No passengers.Relief shows on Erwin’s face.CROWN:No passengers and no gun.Erwin is pleased.ERWIN:Illegal?Crown snickers.ERWIN:Dangerous?CROWN:Possible. It shouldn’t be. If anyone shoots, you’re onyour own; do what you want to, quit or run.Erwin nods agreement.ERWIN:The money—what’s in it? What’s in it for me?CROWN:50,000, maybe more if I like your work, but 50,000anyhow. Slowly, in installments, so no Cadillacs, nosplash.Erwin is wary.ERWIN:How do I know I’ll get—CROWN:You don’t. In a hurry? Going to worry? Drop it. Getout now.Silence from Erwin.CROWN:Are you in or out?ERWIN:I’m in.Crown chuckles.CROWN:Go celebrate and buy a car.Erwin is puzzled.ERWIN:I don’t—He flinches, ducks. The envelope hits his shoulder, the floor. He fumbles, money spills.He collects it awkwardly, on his knees.CROWN:A black Ford wagon, the biggest one, the one withwood on the sides.ERWIN:Gee. Gee, thanks.CROWN:Goodbye.Erwin rises uncertainly.CROWN:I’ll call you when. It’ll be a while. But stay home till youhear from me. No vacations, no trips but your selling.I’ll come back and give you the drill.Erwin turns at the door—CROWN:Goodbye, no questions. What you don’t know can’thurt you, you or me, Erwin, boy.
 
3
Erwin exits. As he closes the door, the room light is turned off. Erwin frowns, but then hethinks of the money. He is pleased. He walks down the red-carpeted corridor.Inside the door, Crown is listening to Erwin’s footsteps. Crown grins in the dim light fromthe street.He switches on a single table lamp. Carefully he puts the Smith & Wesson in a small, flat,black attache case. He closes it, and puts it on the floor beside a chair by the window.He takes the highball glass into the bathroom, empties it into the sink, rinses it lightly withsoap, dries it lightly with a towel, brings it back to the table, wipes the two lamp switchesand doorknob with the towel, returns to the bathroom, wipes the light switch and sinkknobs, and drops the towel into the basket.He returns to the bedroom, puts on a dark overcoat and gloves, and sits in the chair by thewindow. He pulls a United Airlines ticket to Chicago and Salt Lake City from his insidebreast pocket and rechecks the evening departure time. He looks at his watch, a small, flat,gold Patek Phillipe. He is in no hurry. He is still grinning.
2
Titles and Credits.These are shown over the first part of #3.
3
Boston, seen from the Prudential tower.Springtime, a sunny May afternoon.Crews are rowing on the Charles.Girls in bikinis are sunning on the banks, disturbing the drivers on Storrow Drive nearby.The flowers are bright against the green shrubs on Beacon Hill.Swanboats and children are on the Common.Happy people are shopping.High heels click on the cobblestones.
4
The Crown building is modern concrete in the bright sunlight; the flat off white of theupper floors stand out sharply against the blue sky. The building name plate is bronze.Thomas Crown’s personal offices are on the top floor. An alert, attractive Irish girl, andtwo other secretaries share the outer office. Inside, Crown’s own room is spacious,tastefully furnished with mellow oak panels, orientals and antiques.On the wall are Harvard and Harvard Business School diplomas, a few of the moregrotesque Goya Sketches of War, the Daumier Rue Transnonain, and two large, gloomy,red and black oils suggesting destruction and death.His desk is a long table, on it an electric number clock. In a corner are two photographsof attractive children in their teens, inscribed “To Father”; these are turned slightly towardthe wall. The ivory telephone contrasts with the deep brown of the wood.
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