MovieChat Forums > Body Heat (1981) Discussion > Confronting Heather at the police statio...

Confronting Heather at the police station

posted 2 years ago by ExTechOp (2770)
3 replies | jump to latest

To this day I'm confused about why Ned did this

Was it to scare Heather into silence? Because he didn't seem very intimidating or confrontational.

Was he hoping that Heather seeing him in this context would either convince her he's NOT the naked man, or convince Oscar that Heather's just misremembering based on having just seen Ned? Seems like a HUGE risk.

Or was Ned genuinely curious to see whether Heather would recognize him at all? That seems like an ever HUGER risk.

[–] MCguy (1294) 2 years ago

My opinion is Ned did it to show his friends he wasn't scared to face Heather and the mom. They were baiting him to take the back exit, most likely to see what he would do. It was a huge risk, but one he felt he had to do.

If you have the inclination, time and opportunity watch the interaction between the three before and after he makes the decision.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 2 years ago

35 years since seeing this and I never picked that up

I think you're 100% right ... I'd always focused on Ned's interaction with Heather & her mom, but it was Oscar and Peter he was actually concerned with

They may or may not have been baiting him deliberately, but it's now clear to me that Ned was performing for them. Peter's expression changes to disbelief when Ned agrees to go out the front. Oscar literally tosses his notebook onto the desk, suggesting he's convinced Ned's in the clear.

And of course Ned knows what to do, he's known them both for years

thanks!

[–] bobbydallas (8632) 9 months ago

Ned knew that it was a trick to show guilt if he used the back exit.
also.. being a lawyer he knew that witnesses are not great at ID'ing perps.. so it was actually not a massive gamble to go see the girl face-to-face