The Last Seduction (1994)

In John Dahl's modern-day dark noir and crime drama with a classic femme fatale character - its modern noir script written by Steve Barancik told about the theft of drug money, greed, revenge, a manipulated and duped male, the adoption of deceptive multiple personas, quick money schemes, murder, and the protagonist's complete lack of a moral compass within a desperate love-triangle.

The lethal, sexy, amoral, self-serving, cold-blooded, tough-talking, manipulative and brainy femme fatale used her sexual wiles on every male she encountered, including her dumb, love-struck 'boyfriend' in a hick upstate NY town, to make him her accomplice in murdering her NYC husband and thus acquiring his illegal drug money. In the final moments of the film, she was able to get off scot-free during a second last-minute improvised plan (after the first one failed) by framing the 'boyfriend' for her own rape and her husband's murder.

On a budget of $2.5 million, the film's total gross revenues were only $5.8 million. Actress Linda Fiorentino (as Bridget Gregory) followed in the footsteps of two other great femme fatales in film noir - Jane Greer (in Out of the Past (1947)) and Barbara Stanwyck (in Double Indemnity (1944)) - plus Kathleen Turner (in the neo-noir Body Heat (1981)); however, her superb performance as a remorseless sociopath wasn't Oscar nominated due to invalidation since it aired first on HBO cable TV; its lesser sequel was director Terry Marcel's The Last Seduction II (1999) with Joan Severance:

• as the film opened, smart and attractive telemarketing manager Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) of a busy call center was supervising and fielding calls in a NYC building, during a promotional sale of commemorative "collectible" coins; the domineering and foul-mouthed Bridget verbally insulted her staff of telemarketers, calling them "maggots," "eunuchs," and "bastards" and the phone-in customers "suckers"
• meanwhile, her medical-student in residency husband Clay Gregory (Bill Pullman) was involved in illegally selling $700,000 dollars worth of stolen "pharmaceutical-cocaine" (medicinal) in a case to two black drug dealers under a NYC bridge; he was unnerved when they refused to give him the money case - but only because they wanted to keep the case; they dumped out the bills onto the ground

Case of "Pharmaceutical-Cocaine" Exchanged for Cash (Dumped on the Ground)

• afterwards, the couple met up in their NYC apartment, where Bridget observed as her frazzled, sloppily-dressed husband Clay pulled the money out of his shirt that he had acquired from "scary people"; she criticized him for his appearance and naivete: "Do you walk the streets like that? You're an idiot!"; already on edge, Clay harshly slapped her and then anxiously apologized: ("Bridget, I didn't mean that"), but it was a fatal mistake; he identified her as the cool-headed "criminal mastermind" who had pressured him to make the risky sale; she made a sexually-tinged comment: "They're soft. I thought they'd be stiff" - and licked a stack of the bills; he mentioned how he would be paying back loan sharks $100,000 dollars (plus interest) the following day
• as he was taking a shower, she wrote a note in response to his earlier question about how they would like to celebrate their windfall (written backwards) and then absconded with the entire haul of money; Clay read her note in a mirror accompanied by two MAXX condoms: ("How are we supposed to celebrate?"); he glanced out the apartment window and saw her racing away with a large bag - and he yelled out to her: "You better run"; Bridget took a taxi to her own vehicle, removed her wedding ring, and fled from the city - headed for Chicago; as she entered Upper State New York, the female schemer noticed her black 1987 Jeep Cherokee Laredo's gas gauge was on empty, and stopped in the small town of Beston near Buffalo, NY
• in the local corner Ray's Bar nearby, Mike Swale (Peter Berg) - one of the local, gullible, pickup bar studs conversed with his buddies Chris (Brien Varady) and Shep (Dean Norris), revealing how he was a perpetual loser or failure anywhere outside of Beston; after quitting his job in town, he had gone to Buffalo but returned when it didn't work out - for private reasons; he was again back in the small "dead-end" town; Mike worried about falling for a woman in Beston and getting stuck there, such as with busty blonde bar-girl Stacy (Donna Wilson): ("These women are anchors...They're planted here. You get too close to one, Beston's got you for life")
• Shep asked about Mike's impulsive marriage in Buffalo: ("Tell me about the wife"), as Mike complained - metaphorically - that his ill-fitting wedding ring was impossible to remove, and that he was working on getting a divorce; he wondered whether he would ever escape the predictable and boring town's clutches: ("I cannot spend the rest of my life here.... How long's it take to grow a new set of balls?")
• Bridget found herself in the bar ordering a Manhattan, but she was rudely ignored by the bartender Ray (Mik Scriba); she crassly muttered: "Who's a girl gotta suck around here to get a drink?"; Mike heard her dare, and responded to what he saw in the "city trash" female: ("Maybe a new set of balls"); he ordered and paid for her $2 dollar drink; initially, Bridget ignored Mike's first inquiry: ("You're not from around here?") and swore at him to "F--k off!"; she moved away to a private booth, where Mike persisted and during a classic sparring conversation, bragged about his manly size:
  
  Bridget: Could you leave? Please.
  Mike: Well, I haven't finished charming you yet.
  Bridget: You haven't started.
  Mike: Give me a chance.
  Bridget: Go find yourself a nice little cow-girl, make nice little cow-babies, and leave me alone.
  Mike: I'm, uh, I'm hung like a horse. Think about it....
  Bridget: Mr. Ed, let's see.
  
  
• she finally invited him to sit down at her private booth, where Mike opened his pants for her to sample his manly goods - she told him: "I believe what we're looking for is a certain horse-like quality?...Never buy anything sight-unseen"; the cunning sexpot - after asking about his past sexual experiences and whether he was medically safe and had indoor plumbing and electricity in his own place - seduced and propositioned him: "No names. Meet me outside"; she had found somewhere to stay for the night
• after the two had a brief late evening bout of sex at his place (off-screen), the next morning, Mike awoke and heard Bridget on the phone as she perused items in his kitchen's refrigerator and selected an apple pie; she was asking for some "friendly advice" from scheming lawyer Frank Griffith (J. T. Walsh) - who called her a "self-serving bitch"; [Note: From their brief conversation, it hinted at an affair between them some time in the past]; she told how she had acquired a large sum of money from a "one-time drug deal" and asked how she could start spending the money immediately without her husband making claims on her purchases; he recommended that if she bought any "legal asset" (such as a house, a bank account, etc.), her husband was entitled to half, so he advised her: "Keep it in cash"; he suggested that she would be wise to follow his advice as he worked for about two years to set up their divorce; Frank also added that she should remain in the small town where she was located, rather than traveling to Chicago where Clay expected to find her

		Bridget's Cigarette Snuffed Out in Mike's Apple Pie - A Gift From His Grandma
Bridget Looking in the Refrigerator in Mike's Place After an Overnight with Him

• after the call, Bridget crassly and disrespectfully snubbed out her cigarette butt in the apple pie that had been lovingly baked by Mike's 'Grandma," before abruptly leaving Mike's place without saying goodbye
• Bridget perused the Want Ads in the local Beston Courier newspaper, and applied for a skilled job at a local company, the Interstate Insurance Company; she was promptly hired as Director of Lead Generation with a 6-month contract; her pleased boss Bob Trotter (Herb Mitchell) assured Bridget that her true identity would be kept confidential; she would be using the alias Wendy Kroy (an acronym for New York) due to her flight from her extremely-abusive husband; as she walked down the hallway, to her surprise, she discovered that Mike also worked for the same company; in the privacy of the ladies' rest room, she demanded that he distance himself from her and keep their sexual relationship quiet: ("Don't f--k with my image!")
• hiding out, she took up temporary residence at the Beston Motor Court; from her office, she again spoke briefly on the phone to her lawyer Frank, and learned that Clay (who had received the divorce paperwork) complained about loan sharks breaking his thumb after non-payment; Frank memorably asked her: "Anyone check you for a heartbeat lately?"; she called the operator to make a person-to-person call to Clay (seen with a bandaged broken thumb), intending to tell him to quit bothering Frank, but then told the operator to disconnect the call to prevent it from being traced
• meanwhile, she frequented Ray's Bar occasionally, where the love-sick Mike located her (he knew her as Wendy Kroy!); she made love to Mike again in the dark alley behind the smoky saloon while hanging on a chain-link fence and straddling him with his pants down to his ankles; when he asked, "Where do I fit in?" she coldy replied: "You're my designated f--k" and only frustrated him; he asked: "What if I wanna be more than your designated f--k?" and was told she would leave him and find someone else if he demanded a true "date"; later, they were also bumping and grinding in the back of her Jeep Cherokee parked next to Ray's Bar, when she laughingly admitted to her frequent sex partner: "I'm a total f--king bitch"
• at his place after more sex, he was frustrated and complained that he was being kept at arm's length like a "sex object"; to keep him at bay and remain independent of him, she stated: "I don't wanna get close to anyone right now...," but then she briefly played to his emotional feelings: ("I feel like maybe I could love you...Will that do?"); before leaving to return to her motor court, she ended their conversation by again bluntly telling him that she would continue to ignore his desires for more than sex: "F--king doesn't have to be anything more than f--king"
• the next morning at work, Bridget/Wendy briefly phoned her betrayed husband Clay and instructed him to find the number for the pay phone booth on their NYC block and call her back - as a way to prevent her call from being traced; after he hung up, the camera panned to the right to reveal Clay's private detective, a black man named Harlan (Bill Nunn) who had recently been hired to locate his duplicitous wife, and help get his funds back so he could pay back $100,000 dollars to loan sharks
• what Bridget didn't know was that Clay provided her with the phone number of a traceable cellphone that was being used by Clay inside the apartment; when she called, Clay faked that he was receiving her call from the pay phone down the street, as Harlan began tracing the call; during the call, Clay told her that he was being physically threatened by the loan sharks for not just $100,000 but $150,000 dollars, and that his private detective also wanted a cut of the money; Bridget agreed to offer to pay off the loan shark and $10,000 to Clay's private detective, if Clay would agree to a quick divorce; but then, when she heard another phone ringing in the apartment, Bridget knew that she had been set up and hung up; the trace provided Harlan with partial information about her location - the area code 716 - the general vicinity around Buffalo, NY
• shortly later, Bridget/Wendy was arranging to move to her own separate, rented 2 BR house, to keep her relationship with Mike more private; to make a show in front of other workers in the company lobby, she slapped him when he groped her from behind and she yelled loudly: "Get your hands off me!"; once she moved in to her new place, she hid her bag of money in an attic crawl space
• although Harlan had little information to go on, he suspected that Bridget was undoubtedly using an alias name; Clay was suddenly tipped off when viewing a New York poster in a mirror in his hallway, and knowing that Bridget often wrote backwards, he intuited that she was using the name "Wen(dy) Kroy" because she was subconsciously thinking of returning to New York: ("She's got this crazy talent where she can write backwards. New York. Backwards. The city. It's all she's thinking about")
• five days later, in Ray's Bar, Bridget/Wendy reconciled with Mike and apologized for "overreacting" (i.e., slapping Mike, and treating him coldly at their workplace); she seductively put her arms around him and warmly entreated him: "You wanna see my new place? On your back"; Mike interpreted her overture as an opportunity to express his goal of a real relationship beyond being just sex partners: "Talking, sharing, clueing me in to whatever it is that makes you run so hot and cold"
• for a rare instance in the film, she sincerely opened up, trusted in him and shared truthful information about her problem with the stolen money: "Someone steals a million bucks but, there's a dilemma - she spends it" - she was admitting that she had spent some of the stolen drug money; but Mike misinterpreted her openness and complained that he wanted her to reveal herself to him more personally and emotionally; when she clammed up, he suggested talking about his job as a claims adjuster that allowed him to learn very "intimate" details about people; he gave a recent example of how it took him only 20 minutes to determine a husband's unfaithfulness to his wife by interpreting his credit report: ("He had three credit cards, authorized to three different women, none of which were his wife"); Bridget/Wendy was intrigued by the idea: "He was cheating on her and you could tell from the credit report"
• to test his theory, after-hours, they visited Mike's desk in the office's Claims Dept., where she used his company's computer to create a "cheating husband list" (filtered to include those with huge insurance policies of $250,000 or more); to test his theory, Bridget/Wendy then randomly cold-called a few of the phone numbers (on the list of 244 names), and found herself talking to the abused wife of one of the cheating and abusive husbands on the list who lived in the Pacific time zone; she pitched the idea of murder as a way to reap the rewards and split the payoff to the widow from her deceased husband's life insurance company; at the end of the call, Bridget/Wendy told the wife that she was only kidding, but then urged: "You channel that anger and give him a nice kick in the balls when he gets home"

Bridget/Wendy Creating a "Cheating Husband List" at Mike's Office Desk

Bridget's 'Cold Call' With an Abused Wife

Her Enticing Offer: "You said you wanted to be more than just sex partners"

• after the call, Bridget/Wendy suggested that this ingenious "fun" money-making scam was the perfect way for them to be "more than just sex partners," but he was reluctant: "No thank you. This is your game...This is fun?"; she relished the challenge and excitement: "Yeah. It's bending the rules, playing with people's brains"; she then gave him the phone to test out the scam for himself, and then to further manipulate him - as part of her devious and diabolical plan to dupe and use him further, she invited him to have sex at her new place
• following sex during a thunder and lightning storm, Bridget fished for information from Mike: ("Tell me about your wife"); he told her about his aborted marriage to someone named Trish when he briefly lived in Buffalo, as an avenue to leave the small town of Beston for good and to seek adventures and excitement elsewhere; he agreed with her assumption: "One of those sudden horny things!" - and confessed that the marriage was a major failure: ("Trish was a mistake. Boy from Beston moves to Buffalo. Gets lonely. Meets girl. Screws up big time. Nothin' to be ashamed of"); then, he fell silent and retreated to take a shower; she entered the bathroom and kept asking him questions, causing him aggravation: "Can I have a little privacy, please?"
• embarrassed, Mike admitted that he was now back in Beston because he had recently met her: "You happened, alright?"; at first, he was thrilled that Bridget had chosen to be with him: ("You've been out there. You came here and you chose me") - it proved to him that he was "bigger" than the town of Beston; but then he became upset that she had started to cruelly treat him like a sex object and upstage him - making him feel small: "You can't stop reminding me that you're bigger than me"; she kissed him under the flowing water
• the next time she entered her workplace, Bridget/Wendy was warned by bigoted company receptionist Alison (Renee Rogers) that a "black man" had been looking for her
• that evening in her house, the opportunistic Bridget/Wendy acted anxiously and told Mike that she was "on the run"; it was a truthful statement, but not for the reason she told him; she deviously explained how she had begun to implement her 'smoke-and-mirrors' murder-plot, to live off the proceeds of a shared payout received by a widowed spouse; she deceitfully told Mike that she had just made a "sale" to a deserving, cheated and abused wife (Mary Beth) in Miami - a potential life insurance beneficiary (for another company) with a cheating husband (Lance Collier), a retired financial consultant; she claimed she had been hired as an assassin to murder the husband, but she had to have Mike's help: ("Yeah but I can't deliver it without you")
• Mike wasn't interested and called her "deranged"; she kept trying to persuade and coerce him: "Mike, the guy deserves it. Think about his poor wife!" - and then she compared it to her situation in NYC with her own abusive husband - and even went further to propose that they work together to kill him: ("I want you to go back with me....We can do it together"); Mike was adamantly against it: "Wendy, maybe it's my quaint small-town morals but I don't do murder"; she kept pressuring him, suggesting that if he loved her, he would gladly help her; he again turned her down and went off on-foot to play hockey
• afterwards as she was entering her car to drive off, PI Harlan confronted her at gunpoint, and sat in the passenger seat; she learned that Harlan was being paid by Clay on a contingency basis: ("Fifty percent of funds recovered"); she joked with him: "Wouldn't it be more pleasant to share it with me?"; she told him that most of the money (hidden at her place) was unspent: ("All but a couple of thou'"), but then told him that she could have easily spent a "hundred grand"
• always scheming, Bridget tricked Harlan into becoming distracted by showing her his large penis: "Is it true what they say?...You know, size?...Now, come on, I was wondering for real. Let me see it...Come on, let me see it. I've never seen one before. I'll show you my ass…Show me!...I'm driving. You go first." After he agreed and asked: "Will you shut the f--k up if I show you?", he unwisely unbuckled his seat belt and unzipped his fly to expose himself; she deliberately sped up and crashed the car into a utility pole, killing him by propelling him through the windshield; she was injured but protected by her driver's side air-bag
• at the hospital, she told a detective (Walter Addison) that the dead black man Harlan was attempting rape ("He was going to impale me with his big..."); during Mike's visit to her in the hospital, they resumed talking about her plot to murder her husband, and she reminded him: "What I suggested I suggested for us. The only loser in the whole deal is a rich, cheating, wife-beating old bastard"; still objecting, he reminded her that she was talking about "murder," and she asked: "Is it the morality of murder that bothers you or the personal risk?"; she threatened to leave town after recuperating: "I really like you, Mike. But I can't live here forever"; she began to pack up, dress, and leave, and he volunteered to drive her back to her house in his 1992 red Ford Mustang
• Bridget made another call to Clay in NYC, who called her "dangerous" after hearing about Harlan's demise; Clay explained how he would 'take her down' if she tried to pin the entire crime (robbery of drugs) on him; she was urged to look out her window and see Harlan's replacement Bert (Mike Lisenco) surveilling her; then, Clay offered her a divorce, but refused to give in to her demand for "half the money"; he told how the loan sharks were charging him an additional $10,000 dollars each week in interest (on the $100K loan), and threatened him with more "fun games" involving his other thumb; he had already promised a 50% commission to his detective, and resolutely threatened to spend all of the rest of the money to stop her
• Bridget bargained for an additional weeks' time, by offering to send him $15,000 while she wrapped things up there; after the week, she promised to return to NY and give him the cash; he asked about her motive for the theft of the money: ("What made you do this?") - she answered: "I don't know. You slapped me"; he called it a weak excuse, and she agreed: "You're probably right, but I get to slap you back...Slap you back hard"

		Bridget's Excuse to Clay For Everything: "You slapped me"
Bridget Bargaining With Husband Clay to Give Her an Additional Week

• at work, Mike overheard Bridget on the phone in her office making travel plans (a pretend trip to visit Florida), when she became frustrated on the phone and refused to give her name; she told Mike that she was going away for the weekend to New York; to evade PI Bert outside her house, she put on an apron and distracted him by bringing him a plate of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies; her plan worked when she dropped a cookie, bent down - and positioned a nail plank under his car tire to prevent pursuit
• in full view of Bert (who was foiled as planned), she was able to depart from her house in a taxi for the 52 mile trip to Buffalo, to the Erie County Municipal Building where she identified Mike's earlier unwitting and mistaken marriage six months earlier to a trans-gendered male named Trish (Serena); she proceeded to visit Mike's wife and conducted an interview (off-screen) with her (while impersonating a County Health official)
• at Ray's Bar, Mike's friend Chris tried to claim to Mike that Bridget had asked him to divulge Mike's secret about his marriage: ("What's the last thing Mike'll want me to know?"); he falsely claimed that Bridget had offered him a 'blow-job'; the distraught Mike thought he was being betrayed and beat up his friend - Chris was forced to admit he was partially lying and that Bridget had actually refused his advances
• shortly later, a drunken Mike called Bridget from a pay-phone; she didn't answer but listened intently as he left an excruciatingly-personal confessional message about his love for her on her answering machine; but then, he paused mid-way and rushed over to her place, fooled into believing she was gone, to delete the embarrassing message; Bridget wrote Mike a lovey-dovey note that she left by the phone for him to find - to get him to believe that she had reciprocal feelings for him; from under the bed, she watched as he entered, erased the message, and took the note
• after her faked weekend trip to New York as part of her overall scheme, she invited Mike over to her house for dinner, and was able to successfully trick Mike into thinking that she had just returned from Miami (with a fake ticket and Florida map); she described how she had murdered cheating and abusive husband Lance Collier (who had deserved death) and claimed half of the widow's insurance pay-off; she claimed to the astonished Mike: "I did it for us, Mike....I expect unconditional support from a lover, for better or worse," and wouldn't listen to his persistent objections: "Spare me your brain with countrified morality. The world's better off without Lance Collier"; she proved she had been paid-off with half of the widow's insurance money, by showing him a case of cash (her own!) as "f--king evidence"; then, she threw Mike out of her house after making a show of leaving her fingerprints on the case: ("And there are my f--king fingerprints! Hey, maybe you'll get a reward and you can open up a f--king feed store. Get the f--k outta here")
• hurt by her rejection, he attempted to prove that she cared for him by presenting her with her note; he received an unexpected slap when she suspected he had snooped around in her house while she was away: "Did you sniff my underwear drawer too, Mike? You think you know everything now, don't you? Well you don't! We all have our Buffalo girls, Mike!"; as she ordered him out, she kept pressuring him to kill for her to show his devotion, and at the same time escape from Beston: "You wanna live bigger but there's nothin' you'd kill for. There's a place for people like that: It's called Beston"; after the dejected Mike left, she snickered to herself
• the next day in the office, as Mike apologized: ("Wendy, I'm trying to accept this, OK. I really want to be able to take you back"), she resisted him: ("You have a way of making a woman feel like a one-way train ticket"); she claimed that he needed to be her equal: ("a relationship of equals") in order to show his commitment and interest in her; he replied: "Murder is commitment?"; she told him that she was leaving him for good if he wasn't man-enough to accept what she had done in Florida, and prove it by committing a similar or duplicate murder in the big city of New York; Mike finally acquiesed to join her as an "equal" - and to duplicate her scheme to show his love - by murdering an unscrupulous tax lawyer in NYC named 'Cahill' who was cheating elderly women out of their homes; it was a clever ploy to actually have him murder her abusive husband Clay; she claimed the 'double-indemnity' payout by the future widow would be a third of a $10 million dollars: ("You, me, three million bucks, New York City, Mike. It's reasonable"); she promised it would be her 'last seduction' or demand of him, but he still remained uncooperative
• the final trick in her scheme to get him to carry out her plan was to further convince Mike to "pull up stakes" to leave Beston; she forged a letter from Trish to Mike, asserting that she was returning to Beston to be with him and work at Interstate Insurance; the threat of Trish coming to Beston pushed Mike to reluctantly agreed: "I'll do it. I'll kill the bastard. There's just one thing. I am never coming back to Beston"; he was hopeful: "We're gonna have a life together Wendy. In New York, the two of us, alone"
• outside her place, PI Bert was staked-out to observe Bridget's movements; she phoned the local police, identified herself as Mrs. Neff (a nod to Double Indemnity (1944)), and reported that the PI was exposing himself to her 4 year-old daughter; as a squad car arrived to investigate him, she was picked up by Mike for their trip to New York
• during the drive, Bridget had Michael rehearse all the "cheat sheet" details of the murder plan (an "unpleasant chore") to take place in 'Cahill's' apartment (near Broadway and 125th St.) after about 11:30 pm; in voice-over, Michael reviewed the sequence of events -- wearing gloves, Michael was to enter the building, note the name-plate on the call-button apartment, approach 'Cahill' (Clay), threaten him with a gun (during a robbery attempt), order him to handcuff himself, gag him, knock him out with a blow to the head, and then stab him to death before shutting out the lights (it would be a signal to Bridget outside that the deed was done)
• things went awry in the apartment during the attempted robbery-murder (as Bridget awaited on the street); Clay swiftly caught on that his assailant was an amateur; he sarcastically asked about how stupid it was to be gagged: "How am I gonna tell you where everything is?...Did you read a book on this?"; as Clay also claimed he had no drugs or money, Mike bashed him over the head, but then turned chicken as he put a knife to Clay's throat - he yelled to himself: "I can't do it, Wendy, I can't do it"

Mike's Robbery-Holdup Attempt	Clay to Intruder: "Did you read a book on this?"	Clay Motioning Toward His Wedding Picture with Bridget
Clay Explaining How Mike Had Been Set Up to Be the Fall Guy	Face-Off Between the Three in the Apartment	After a Passionate Kiss, Bridget Killed Husband Clay With Mace Sprayed Down His Throat

• Clay was immediately tipped off that the 'Wendy' he was referring to was Bridget - and that the robber had been setup and duped by his own wife; the fraudulent plan was confirmed for Mike when Clay motioned toward the Gregory wedding picture; Clay explained that his wife's name was Bridget (with the alias Wendy Kroy) who had 'hired' Mike to do her bidding and kill him after she had robbed him: ("She stole a fortune from me after making me steal it. But she's not willing to give it up"); he convincingly told Mike that he was being made the fall guy - he had been set up to be blamed for the crime, and that Bridget had cleverly switched the label on his mailbox to 'Cahill'; Mike gradually realized that his victim was not 'Cahill' but Bridget/Wendy's husband, and that he had been seduced into committing her husband's murder; Clay suggested that the police would soon be arriving after she was signaled to appear (by the lights being turned off), and Mike would be successfully framed
• once the lights went out, Bridget entered the apartment to check on the killing, where she found both Clay and Mike had teamed up, and that Mike now knew of her deception: ("So you were gonna have me kill your husband!"); in a clever double-cross, after passionately kissing Clay, Bridget killed her own husband by spraying Mace down his throat, and then calmly told her naive boyfriend Mike: "Now we have a future...I did it for us, Mike"
• then to complete the deception, she proposed that they set up the crime-scene as a murder-and-rape incident by role-playing: "It's a role-play. You're the intruder, you kill my husband, you rape me"; at first, Mike held a gun on Bridget and refused, but she kept ordering: "Rape me, Mike!"; then she assured him that Trish wasn't coming to Beston to be with him: ("Trish wasn't really coming to Beston, Mike"); then, she taunted and mocked him about her knowledge that Trish was a trans-gendered male; as she unzipped her pants, she prompted a disturbing flashback for Mike that revealed the truth: "You should have told me you never slept with a man before. It must have been some wild night, you getting married so fast"; she aggravated the 'intruder' Mike and incited him to slap and rape her by removing her pants and displaying old fashioned men's underwear - reinforcing Mike's fears of being homosexual

Flashbacks: Mike Taunted and Shamed About His Impulsive Marriage to a Man - Trish: ("You married a man, you farm faggot!")

• she angered him further over his damaged marriage, and how he must have been shocked on his wedding night: "He couldn't really - had to keep the goods hidden for a whole two days. What did he do? Tell ya that little bobbly thing at the back of your throat was a clitoris!? You married a man, you farm faggot!...I'm Trish. Rape me"
• Mike began to rape her from behind as she was laid out on a table; she reached forward and surreptitiously dialed 911 to record their role-play and conversation and his self-incriminating confession: "I'm gonna rape you. I'm gonna f--king rape you, bitch!"; she also made sure to repeatedly scream out the accusation: "You killed my husband!" with his concurrence: "God-damn right I did!"

The Crime-Scene Set-Up: An Aggravated Mike Raped Bridget From Behind (on a Table) After She Taunted Him: "I'm Trish. Rape me" as She Was Dialing 911

• the call was recorded and traced, and Mike was arrested, jailed and obviously out-maneuvered and set-up for the crime; his public defender (Jack Shearer) had no way to defend Mike's actions and contest the evidence against him, and he was destined for the electric chair; Mike thought of one remaining "piece of hard evidence" - Clay's 6B NYC apartment call-button label reading 'Cahill'; however, rape-victim and black-widowed Bridget had thought of everything
• in the final dialogue-less scene unlike most noirs, Bridget escaped unpunished - she slyly smiled as she was chauffeured away in the back of a black 1991 Lincoln Towncar stretch limousine; she burned the 'Cahill' apartment label; once it was gone, she was now free to escape with the drug-money and Clay's multi-million dollar life insurance policy

Bridget's Escape - Burning the "Cahill" Apartment Call-Button Label