At the beginning of the film Skip is working as a store detective, as he can't make any money as a playwright. He accuses a woman of shoplifting and then says she's wearing nothing under her coat. (I think the woman replies by saying "up your kazoo").
I've never understood this scene. Is it trying to make out Skip is a bit mentally unstable, or is this his clumsy way of chatting up the woman? Or soemthing different altogether?
i never did understand this... i love lee purcell though and love seeing her in anything, she's a hottie...
but i think theyre showing that he's blaming her so he can talk to her... she's supposedly a known broadway actress and he's a lowly-lowly playwrite, and the only way he feels he can "get in" and talk to her is to be above her, and the only way he could be above her is to blame her for stealing since he's the lowly store detective, or something... yet we still dont know if she's stealing the stuff or not, do we? i mean after all, wynonna ryder...
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... and also, the scene serves as a plot device in that both he and Harry (Richard Pryor) get fired from their jobs on the same day, which is why they decide to get out of town and start a new life somewhere else.
They could have got fired for some easy reason of course, but it is in-keeping with the zanyness of the movie that they have to get fired in crazy ways - Harry inadvertently drugs members of New York's high society and Skip accuses a famous actress of nudity and shoplifting!
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"Maybe I should go alone"
- Quint, Jaws.
I've long had a suspicion that this scene culminated in an actual nudie bit for Ms. Purcell that, for whatever reason, wound up on the cutting room floor.
If that is indeed the case, it's a real pity.
I've long had a suspicion that this scene culminated in an actual nudie bit for Ms. Purcell that, for whatever reason, wound up on the cutting room floor.
She DID steal the dress and threw it away. As we have learned in the last few years, some poeple get thrills out of the act of stealing, not necessarily because they can't afford stuff. The way Skip described it, she stole the dress and then threw it away, even giving a guilty look. so she probably had some guilt complex or other sexual drives.
Anyway, an actress can get an out-of-work playwright fired much easier than he can get her arrested.
Never be complete.
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