"Body Heat" (1981)

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Please note: This review sucks. I wrote it in high school. It will be updated within the next six months.

BODY HEAT

Reviewed by Heather Picker

Written and Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, with Richard Crenna and Ted Danson. 1981, 113 minutes, Rated R (for sex, nudity, violence and profanity).

Body Heat opens with sweat and sirens, and that basically sums up the movie. First time filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan uses heat: fire, a sweltering summer, and sexuality, body heat, like few directors have. It is an important character in the film, one that defines it more than its plot and performances.

Hurt is seedy lawyer Ned Racine and Turner Matty Walker, the wife of a frequently absent businessman played by Richard Crenna. They meet one night on the boardwalk. She tells him she is married but their banter continues. She disappears into the night, leaving Ned wanting more, but not before delivering a perfect noir come-on: "You're not too smart. I like that in a man."

They meet again, in a bar, and go back to her place. She shows him around and then asks him to leave. He does, but John Barry's jazzy score swells and, overcome with passion, Ned breaks down her door, shattering glass, to embrace her. It is dramatic and ridiculous, but romantic, too; it fits with the sweat and smoke and wind chimes outside her window, and the glint in Hurt's eyes.

So begins a torrid affair that leads to Double Indemnity-like murderous scheming and double-crossing. Body Heat isn't flawless; the thrills are cheap and some of Matty's machinations are see-through, but that's part of the fun. Many film noirs were just glossy B-movies with hardboiled dialogue and between Bill Kenney’s production design, Richard H. Kline's cinematography and his own snappy noir-speak, Kasdan has all the bases covered.

The cast is great, too. Hurt doesn't make the character bigger than he was written. If he had, it would have exposed Ned's limitations. He isn't troubled or obsessed like many noir characters; he's barely interesting, a horny guy who's not too smart. Mickey Rourke shows up briefly as a convict Ned helped get off and Ted Danson, complete with hair and nifty thick-rimmed glasses, is funny as Hurt's lawyer friend Peter; the actors have an easy rapport that lends credibility to their relationship. Turner, though, is the star; she's almost hotter than the sizzling Florida locale. Body Heat was her first film but you wouldn't know it watching her. She's unfailingly confident in the grand tradition of femme fatales; she is smart and formidable, and her husky voice does things to the dialogue that would make Barbara Stanwyck blush.

DVD Details: The Warner Brothers DVD includes widescreen and full screen versions of the film, scene selections, cast and crew filmographies, production notes, a theatrical trailer, English and French language tracks, English, French, and Spanish subtitles, and lame-ass "recommendations" (the titles of other WB DVDs).

Availability: Body Heat is available to buy on video and DVD.

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