Body Heat (1981) User Reviews (222)

A sultry, sweaty update of Double Indemnity

[bmacv · 8/10 · 11 December 2004]

The coastal Florida town in Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat brings to mind remote colonial outposts in movies like The Letter (nearby Miami, here, seems as far away as London). A sweltering spell of weather settles down for a long roost, and the distant glow of an old hotel – a relic of the peninsula's past as an exotic getaway for northerners with money – lights the opening scene; it's been torched for the insurance, an occurrence so common as to warrant little comment.

It's a town where William Hurt, a lawyer who's neither very bright nor very scrupulous, ekes out a modest existence that seems to suit him; he can dine at the best restaurant in town once a month so long as he doesn't order an appetizer. The rest of his time he spends lazily with bourbon or beer or in bed with whoever obliges him.

Then he meets up with Kathleen Turner, who hangs around cocktail lounges when her wheeler-dealer husband (Richard Crenna) is out of town, which is a lot. After the ritual game of cat-and-mouse, Turner and Hurt kindle a torrid romance, despite the enervating heat that keeps everything else limp as dishrags. Soon, the pillow talk works around to murder....

Of course, Body Heat is a latter-day version of the story for which Double Indemnity serves as archetype: Duplicitous woman seduces lust-addled stud into killing rich older husband, then leaves him to twist slowly, slowly in the wind. There's not even enough wind to stir the chimes that festoon the porch off Turner's bedroom -- can't the rich old cuckold spring for air conditioning? Hurt and Turner are reduced to emptying the refrigerator's ice tray into the post-coital bath they share -- but Hurt's left twisting nonetheless, in one of the better updates of this ageless tale.

In her movie debut, Turner makes her deepest impression with her best asset, that dimple-Haig voice of hers, all silk and smoke (but neither she nor Kasdan, who also wrote the script, quite justify her character's long and intricate back-story of ruthless scheming). With his long, lithe college-boy's build and wife-swapper's mustache left over from the '70s, Hurt embodies the self-satisfied patsy whose zipper leads him through life. Crenna (who played this Walter Neff role in the 1973 TV remake of Double Indemnity) now takes on the role of the disposable husband, the victim (or rather, the first victim).

But it's two smaller parts that give the movie a special shine. Mickey Rourke, as the local arsonist whom Hurt once helped out of a jam, ups the voltage in his two scenes, warning the heedless Hurt, then warning him again when it's all but too late. And, as Hurt's amiable adversary in the town's tiny legal circle, Ted Danson proves surprisingly spry and intuitive an actor (and he contributes a lovely little idyll, doing a soft-shoe routine under a street lamp on a pier). There's a twist or two too many in Body Heat -- it's a bit gimmicky -- but, after watching it, you feel as though you, too, should be stripping off your clothes, if only to wring them out.

Ultra Cool

[refinedsugar · 8/10 · 2 August 2001]

Usually I find movies date really badly. For instance, John Carpenter's Halloween from 1978 is my favorite horror movie. Although I like it a lot, it's dated now due to the literally graphic changes in the horror genre. I was thinking the same thing of Body Heat before I stepped into it. I was aware of such blessings it had been given, but kept in mind it was a product of the early 80's. Surely I thought this must be dated by today's standard of erotic dramas & thrillers. This was not the case.

This movie has managed to bypass the aging mechanism that movies succumb to. Twenty years after it's debut it still packs it's erotic punch and twisted bag of lies. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are still the premiere duo of 'hot legs and ultra cool sleaze bags'. I won't say much about the story - this is one you should walk into completely blind to better you viewing experience. If you need more, check out the plot summary or read the back of the movie box.

What I will talk about is the sex scenes. Erotic without being crude. In today's age of softcore flicks on the video shelves and hardcore pornography conquering new territory - it's a refreshing to look back at a movie made in the early 80's and witness such steaminess and tasteful erotica. Not to misdirect your thoughts. This movie isn't solely about sex, but it's a big part in a story of manipulation, money and deceit.

The story, the direction and the cast are fit for a picture frame with Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke standing out amongst the supporting cast. A highly recommended view.

Kathleen Turner is quite astonishing in this her first film.

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 11 November 2017]

Writer/director Kasden got just about everything right in this his first feature. The dialogue crackles as befits a neo noir and John Barry's score is always there to to support or promote some wondrous visuals. Kathleen Turner is quite astonishing in this her first film. Her boldness and bravery in the sex scenes ensure that this sizzles from the off and I guess helps to draw attention away from what is really going on. William Hurt hasn't made many films before this and he too seems very relaxed and easy with regard to the nude and non nude sequences. His banter with his colleagues is as believable as his smouldering tete-a-tetes with his co-star. Mickey Rourke is effective in a key small role and the whole thing moves very well. Having seen this upon its original theatrical release, I have always held it in high regard, feeling upon this Blu-ray viewing that it didn't quite race throughout as I had 'remembered' and there seemed to be a slight imbalance on the sound. But hey - excellent film with fine performances.

Double Indemnity? No, Triple.

[peterzullman · 10/10 · 18 September 2017]

This is one of those movies that fell though the cracks. I couldn't find it ever on a big screen, retrospectives you know. I refused to see it on TV for the first time. Sunday night, finally, I saw it in a huge plasma screen. Wow! I can immediately tell why people consider it a remake of Double Indemnity but unlike Gus Van Sant who remade Psycho shot by shot and casts Vince Vaugh as Norman Bates in a massive piece of miscalculation, or Jonathan Demme who remade Charade as The Trouble With Charlie and casts Mark Whalberg in the Cary Grant role, Mark Whalberg! In "Body Heat" Lawrence Kasdan casts William Hurt in the Fred Mac Murray part of the insurance salesman falling into the trap, body and soul. William Hurt's phenomenal performance reinventing the character makes "Body Heat" unique and without precedent. The power of Kathleen Turner - bursting into the film scene with a bang! - it's a masterpiece of characterization. She's way ahead of William Hurt. "You're not very intelligent, are you? I like that in a man" Superb.

The heat is on.

[juliankennedy23 · 9/10 · 5 November 2006]

Body Heat: 9 out of 10: Many successful movies lose their ability to shock over the years. After hundreds of copy cats Alien isn't as effective as when it first came out. Kramer vs. Kramer certainly isn't the shocking eye opener it once was.

Body Heat should suffer the same fate. It doesn't. Despite a hundred direct to video takes on the same story (six of them with the exact same title) the movie still works. In fact it works very well indeed.

Writer Lawrence Kasdan had just penned Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back so it is a surprise he chooses noir for his first directing outing. (His next film was The Big Chill so this is one guy hard to pigeonhole) He both updates and in many ways upgrades the noir of the past.

By setting the movie in a Podunk Florida town he invokes John D Macdonald the way no Macdonald movie treatment has successfully done. His then unknown actors William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are pitch perfect.

This is a movie that really brings some new things to the table as it does some old things very well indeed. Like the best noir you are too involved to even begin to try to guess the next twist and turn.

Like Scorsese in Goodfellas or Huston in the Maltese Falcon Kasdan's directing is obviously very good yet his tricks remain hidden from view. Not a wasted shot and your television will sweat from all the heat generated.

Highly recommended to all fans of noir or simply fans of movies.

One of Those Films That Is So Hot and Humid That It Makes All the Glass Fog Up.

[tfrizzell · 3 November 2003]

A lightning fast affair develops between the ultra-hot and erotic Kathleen Turner and small-time Florida attorney William Hurt in the middle of an unprecedented heatwave in "Body Heat", arguably the most under-rated and most under-appreciated movie of the 1980s. Turner is the wife of a ridiculously rich businessman (Richard Crenna) and soon an elaborate plan hatches to kill him so the duo can be together forever. Naturally there is a lot more to Turner than meets the eye (Boy that is an understatement!) and Hurt becomes trapped in a super-steamy, but also highly dangerous relationship. Will the heat be too much for him in the end and are Turner's motives as clear as they appear? "Body Heat" could best be described as "Double Indemnity" for the sexed-up 1980s crowd. The sex is excessive and intense. By the end of the picture you feel like you had known Turner and Hurt for years (even though both were relative newcomers). Writer/director Lawrence Kasdan hit a major grand-slam with his first film-making venture. He had done work writing for the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" group of films, but this was the first project where he went exclusively out on his own. No one knew really what to make of the movie in 1981 and thus it did fair business at the box office and was indifferent with the critics (it failed any Oscar consideration). As the years pass it becomes monumentally important to modern film-making and a classic homage to film noir-styled over-excesses. Brilliantly made in every way, well-acted, superbly written and directed, "Body Heat" is one of those films that forces you to look, let your hair down and eventually loosen your collar. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Superior Neo-noir.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 27 August 2004]

SPOILERS.

This initiated a string of imitations and for good reason. It's worth imitating.

It owes a lot, obviously, to "Double Indemnity," things both important and inconsequential. If Barbara Stanwyck wears a white dress as the femme fatale in "Double Indemnity," so does Kathleen Turner here. If a goofy character from Medford, Oregon, happens to glimpse the hero in a position of compromise in "Double Indemnity," here it is an eleven-year-old girl. Although the witness and the criminal meet later, in both films the witness doesn't remember the criminal well enough to identify him. I think some of the dialog may be copped verbatim too. "I don't care about the money. I'm worried about us." But, no matter if the plot isn't woven out of original cloth. It's a tightly wound story and well executed in every respect.

There's never a moment in "Double Indemnity" when we can doubt we're watching a 1940s movie. It's black and white, the acting is full of the usual conventions, has a sardonic narrative, and Wilder's direction is functional. Here, in magnificent color, we have more naturalistic -- and superior -- performances, and direction that has the camera linger on unanticipated objects like a lamp post at night on the end of a pier, luminescent in the slight fog.

The performances are all good but William Hurt's is exceptionally so. I'll just give one example of what I mean. He, Turner, and Richard Crenna are having dinner together (a marvelous scene) and Crenna tells Hurt that in order to be a success a man has to do whatever is necessary. Too many men hesitate. Hurt smiles and says, "I know guys like that. I hate them. I'm that kind of guy." Both men begin laughing and Hurt suddenly stops, his head jerks slightly, and he stares quizzically across the table at Crenna -- because he has just realized he's going to murder Crenna. It's as if Hurt had just had a raw nerve touched without realizing which mental organ it was connected to.

Crenna is pretty good in a not very prominent but complex role. Turner mainly projects her body heat by breathing through her open mouth. She has the face of Cleopatra and the heart of Brutus. Mickey Rourke appears only in two brief scenes but is unforgettable. Every word he utters, every movement he makes, commands attention without seeming to do so. Watch his response when he warns Hurt that the device that will cause a fire will be easy to spot, and Hurt distractedly replies, "That doesn't matter." Rourke's face twists a little and his lips open in a slight smile and the impression we get is understated amazement.

The sound crew too should be congratulated. If a scene is taking place on or near the beach we can hear the hushed rumble of the breakers. If the scene is in Turner's mansion we occasionally hear the slight tinkle of the wind chimes that Turner has used to draw Hurt to her, the way a fisherman uses a colorful fly on trout. The score is slow, moody, and sensuous like the film itself. (There is only one gunshot and no blood.) Excellent use is made of the Florida locations. Boy, is it hot. And nobody goes water skiing or visits Disneyworld or scuba dives. Florida is just a place they happen to live in. It's positively refreshing to not see the Everglades and the air boats.

I first saw this because I was curious about the relatively explicit sex scenes that TV commercials assured us would be there. Turner: "My body temperature is always a little higher than normal. The engine runs fast or something." Hurt: "Maybe you need a tune up." I've watched it a few times since its release and now relish the smaller moments, like the one when Hurt and Turner first meet. It's a hot night and he's walking along the boardwalk past a band stand where a glutinous trumpet lead is playing "That Old Feeling," and while Hurt stands watching, his jacket slung over his shoulder, a slender woman with long dark hair, wearing a slinky white dress, stands up in the front row and strolls up the aisle past him while he gawks. Or the scene in which Hurt, just putting his murder plan into action, parks his car on a Miami street then watches puzzled as a clown in a toy car drives by, not realizing that he is the clown.

An unsettling thought: Would this crime have been prevented if everyone had bothered to buy air conditioners?

This Will Heat You Up On A Cold Winter Night!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 26 November 2005]

A modern remake of the 1940s film, "Double Indemnity," this movie has a solid, large fan base of its own. That's justifiable, too, because this is well done.

It sports a 1940s-type film noir soundtrack but the rest is purely 1980s. By that, I mainly mean nudity and profanity, although the language isn't that offensive.

Kathleen Turner plays a femme fatale, similar to Barbara Stanwyck's role with Fred MacMurray in "Double Indemnity," except with a different ending. Actually, the entire story is quite different from the classic film noir. William Hurt has MacMurray's male lead role. I liked the classic actors better but Turner and Hurt shine with their performances, too.

This is steamy movie to say the least. Set on hot, humid Florida summer nights, you can almost feel the heat coming out from the TV screen and the heat from the two leads going at it several times. Turner is excellent as a woman who will go to great lengths for money, as they sometimes do. (Hey, my 87-year-old father is dating a 24-year bimbo in Florida, so I know of where I speak.)

The story is divided into three segments: (1) the setup; (2) the romance and plotting of the crime and (3) the crime and unraveling of Hurt as things begin to go very wrong.

An intriguing film, this loses nothing with multiple viewings. It's always interesting. The more I watched this, the more I found - as the case frequently is - myself fascinated with some of the lesser characters such as Hurt's two friends, played by Ted Danson and J.A. Preston. Danson, by the way, gives us a preview of the amoral character he played later in the hit TV series, "Cheers."

This is the kind of film you snuggle up with someone on a cold winter night. It will warm you up as much as your partner!

One of the best noir films since 1960

[MBunge · 7/10 · 1 September 2010]

Body Heat is a rarity in film. It's both a loving and faithful homage and an outstanding story in its own right.

The movie is the story of Ned Racine (William Hurt), a small-time lawyer in a Florida small town who's coasting through life providing mediocre representation to his bottom-of-the-barrel clients. Ned's the sort of guy who'll bed any available woman but lights up a cigarette after he's finished jogging. Then, one night down on the beach front, Ned notices the stunning and sultry Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) and runs after her like a starving dog chasing a cat covered in steak sauce. They fall in lust and after some tremendous nude scenes, decide that the best thing for them is to do away with Matty's older, wealthy and legally shady husband Edmund (Richard Crenna). But like most "boy-meets-girl, boy-kills-girl's husband" stories, things don't work out all that well for the boy in the end.

Body Heat is clearly Lawrence Kasdan's attempt at making a modern (for the 1980s) film noir. But he's not trying to reimagine or reinterpret the genre. He's not trying to put some new twist on the classic noir story or use it as a forum for postmodern meta-commentary on something or other. You could call it formulaic, but that's only a bad thing if you don't happen to like the original formula.

What Kasdan does do is take noir and successfully bring it from the black-and-white era of its origins into the less restricted movie world of the 1980s. Body Heat has all the elements and tone of the classic noirs, but doesn't have the same limitations on what it can say or show on screen. Ned and Matty's first meetings at the beach and in a bar are dominated by the same clever, back-and-forth, sexually charged banter, but it's slower and more realistic than the contrived, rat-a-tat-tat verbal jousting of classic noir. And the language they use, while smart and funny, is cruder and more raw than the Sunday School vocabulary all movies used to be hemmed in by. The sex that had to simmer and seethe beneath the surface in the 1940s is boldly splashed and sloshed all through Body Heat.

William Hurt gives a great performance as a somewhat charming loser who finds himself drawing on reserves of strength and smarts he's never been motivated enough to use. And while Kathleen Turner's role as the femme fatale is a bit more limited, as those roles tend to be, she makes the audience seen what Ned sees in Matty – a tough and beautiful front covering up the weak and desperate for love woman inside. Ned sees Matty as his chance, not to be a hero, but to be the main character and not a bit player in the story of his life. Ted Danson also does a nice job as Ned's friend Lowenstein, the assistant county attorney who figures out what Ned and Matty have done but doesn't really care.

Though it debuted in 1981, Body Heat only looks and feels marginally dated. Camera work has gotten a bit more sophisticated since the early 80s and there are a couple of times when it looks more like a TV movie than a big screen experience and it was made in the era before everything in a film had to be hyper-pretty or hyper ugly. William Hurt doesn't have a phenomenal physique and the characters all wear the sort of clothes normal people would wear, not the overly stylized outfits of today's films that either look a lot better or a lot worse than what people really wear. And Kasdan manages to weave a lot of clever foreshadowing through the story, where a scene becomes more meaningful as you recall it later in the film.

About the only real weakness of Body Heat is that to get the ending they wanted, Ned has to give a little speech and made a bunch of rather extreme assumptions in order to set it up. But if you can only make a minor complaint about the last 3 minutes of a movie, you've just watched something really good.

Great advert for film noir

[mahen1 · 9/10 · 8 March 2005]

Undoubtedly one of the great film noir thrillers in history. Derivative but superbly stylised by director Kasdan and wonderfully realised by Hurt and Turner.

Hurt is a very great actor. He had a string of well played roles in the '80s (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a lesser god, Gorky Park) but his movie career lost momentum after that. Perhaps it's difficult for a cerebral actor like him to find challenging parts. Turner is super sexy, proving that a voluptuous figure or great facial features are not essentials to be a turn on. I hear that Body Heat was her first film. She plays her role with understated confidence.

The underrated theme music too is very good. Supporting cast is effective. Really no faults with this movie. Kasdan did an accomplished job. One can't help but be disappointed that he did not make many more good movies.

Some leading critics complain that the ending was over elaborate. I disagree. I think the ending touch works well with the atmosphere and momentum of the movie towards the end. This being a genre film noir movie, the plot is typical and familiar to almost anyone, but it still has great power and the movie irresistibly sucks the viewer in. You can't but help but admire the skills of the actors and Kasdan's sophisticated direction. The music is marvelously complimentary all the way through.

Great stuff.

Film Noir in Hot Colour

[barryrd · 7/10 · 3 April 2007]

This movie is a clever throwback to the film noir classics of the 1940's. I picked up the DVD for $6.99. It was well worth it. The cinematography captures the heat and humidity of a Florida heat wave. (Not all of it from the bodies of the two main characters - Matty and Ned.) The dialogue cleverly works the metaphor of the heat into the steamy affair that Matty (Kathleen Turner) is having with the small-town lawyer (William Hurt). This is one of the earliest films for both Turner and Hurt.

Not surprisingly, the plot involves a murder and the contrived entanglements along the way. Not in the same league as Chinatown as a latter-day film noir, it nevertheless holds the viewer's attention through the expected and not-so expected twists and turns. Ted Danson gives a great supporting performance as Ned's drinking buddy. It is hard to shake the image of Sam Malone behind the bar in Cheers but he comes close in this role. Mickey Rourke, one of the brat pack actors from the 80's, also pops up in the film. The film is largely forgotten more than 25 years on (were the eighties that long ago?)but it is still well worthwhile. As with the film noir genre, happy endings are not the norm, only survivors and victims.

The soundtrack/ scoring steals the show?

[splaticus · 9/10 · 8 April 2005]

I stumbled across 'Body Heat' recently during a late night channel surf, and I would have to say that I was also pleasantly surprised at the high quality of this movie.

Though the acting and direction are top notch, I felt the music really pushed the movie over the top. The hauntingly melancholic string work serves not only as ambiance, but also acts as narrative. The sweet yet cautionary score mirrors the plot theme of 'moth to the flame'- obvious danger yet unavoidably seductive beauty. To this day, it sends chills down my spine!

p.s. Ted Danson's 'happy go lucky, dancing fool' role is sublime. Reminds me of his 'Creepshow' role around this same time period, which is also great.

The Heat of Passion

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 11 May 2007]

Like Polanski's "Chinatown" from a few years earlier, or the more recent "L.A. Confidential", "Body Heat" can be regarded as an example of neo-noir, a film which uses modern cinema techniques while trying to capture the spirit of the classic films noirs from the forties and fifties. The plot- an unfaithful wife conspiring with her lover to murder her husband- was a noir staple, being used in "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice". Indeed, "Body Heat" is sometimes described as a remake of "Double Indemnity"- in my view inaccurately, as there are major differences between the plots of the two films. Although films noirs such as "Double Indemnity" frequently had plots which revolved around sexual passion, the moral climate of the forties and the Production Code meant that this had to be implied rather than shown explicitly on the screen. By the eighties the moral climate had become more liberal, which meant that neo-noir films could be far more explicit than their predecessors.

Matty Walker, the unhappily-married younger wife of a wealthy and successful but unsympathetic Florida businessman, becomes involved with Ned Racine, a local lawyer, and they begin a passionate affair. (There are several love scenes between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner). They plot together to murder Matty's husband Edmund in order to inherit his money. Racine, as played by William Hurt, is arrogant, swaggering and cocky. He is ambitious but lazy, a man of both dubious competence and dubious ethical standards, who keeps equally dubious company. (His associates include Mickey Rourke's arsonist). He likes to think that he is always in control of the situation, but in reality he can be easily manipulated by Matty, a classic noir femme fatale. This was Kathleen Turner's first film, but she gives a remarkably assured performance as the glamorous and seductive Matty. (To be fair, Barbara Stanwyck was equally seductive in "Double Indemnity"- an even more remarkable performance when one considers that Stanwyck, unlike Turner, did not have the assistance of nudity or sex scenes).

In the second half of the film, the plot becomes increasingly complex and difficult to follow; there is a particularly implausible final twist (which I will not reveal). Nevertheless, film noir is a genre in which atmosphere is often more important than plot ("The Big Sleep" is a good example). The same holds true for neo-noir, and "Body Heat" is a highly atmospheric film. The adjective "steamy" is often used metaphorically to mean "sexually explicit", but this film can also be described as steamy in the literal sense. The title refers to the fact that Matty is said to have a natural body temperature of 100 Fahrenheit rather than the normal 98.4 (something which doubtless explains her sexual insatiability). It also refers to the fact that the action takes place during a heatwave. The atmosphere is one of extreme heat, of sweat, of physical lassitude, of moral decay and of sexual tension, an atmosphere heightened by John Barry's mournful and highly evocative jazz score. Many scenes take place at night, and director Lawrence Kasdan succeeds in giving these a look equivalent to the classic noir look. Instead of the moody black-and-white photography characteristic of noir, Kasdan uses in these scenes a colour scheme dominated by blacks, reds and oranges, something which emphasises the feelings of heat and passion.

"Body Heat" was made in the same year as the Jack Nicholson/Jessica Lange remake of "The Postman Always Rings Twice", and the two films were often regarded as evidence of a trend in Hollywood towards a franker treatment of erotic subjects during this period. It seemed that the eighties were going to be the decade of the erotic thriller. That was not quite how things worked out in reality; the arrival of AIDS in the middle of the decade led to a revived moralism in the film industry so far as sex was concerned (although not necessarily so far as violence was concerned), and the levels of eroticism seen in "Body Heat" became the exception rather than the rule in the mainstream cinema. (There were a number of so-called "erotic thrillers" in the early nineties, most of which seemed to star either Tanya Roberts or Shannon Tweed, but these were films which concentrated much more upon erotica than they did on thrills, little more than softcore porn with a plot). The result is that "Body Heat" today seems as much of a period piece as "Double Indemnity" or "The Big Sleep". It remains, nevertheless, an effective piece of cinema. 7/10

Oversteamed pudding

[paul2001sw-1 · 5/10 · 15 January 2005]

'Body Heat' is a thriller assembled out of three standard plot elements, each common ways that story-tellers can allow their characters to lose everything, and be complicit in the process. There's the con-trick (in which a character is presented a scenario in which someone else is the loser, and doesn't realise that they are actually intended as the real fall-guy); the honey-trap, where a character is lured into stupidity by sex; and the rabbit-in-the-hat, where a last minute revelation changes everything. Going on this, it's clear that the film is not especially original; but some movies, like 'The Sting', or the works of David Mamet, are similarly composed and are highly entertaining. But 'Body Heat', in spite of some pretensions, never really pulls it off. The film's first phase, in which Kathleen Turner's super-bitch (sadly one of Hollwood's least endearing but most enduring stereotypes) seduces William Hurt's shifty lawyer, is ludicrously over-steamy and also a stagey, slow-moving affair. Most crucially, it fails to make you care about either character, so that the rest of the film feels merely like an extended exercise in plot exposition, the broad thrust of the movie is far too clearly telegraphed so the viewer is left watching simply to see which possible twists have actually been chosen to achieve the necessary overall effect. And the final surprise is actually quite irrelevant, an-after-the fact discovery that makes little actual difference given that, by this time, the villain of the piece has already got away. Which is a shame, as had Hurt's character been partly sympathetic, and with a less contrived plot, this could have been a strong tale of hope, disillusion and betrayal. What's left is a film that thinks its sexy and smart, but is actually just distasteful and dull. Incidentally, the film also reminds one quite how ghastly early 1980s ideas of style actually were.

Breaking the Code

[Minofed · 13 November 2000]

I remember watching the John Garfield and Lana Turner film noir classic `The Postman Always Rings Twice' with my mother when I was little. After the couple murdered Turner's husband, mom turned to me and said, `Watch. The two killers will be punished in the end.' `Why?' I asked. `It's the movie code,' she explained: Evil-doers must be punished."

While I'm not a fan of the sex and language direction that films have taken since the movie code died, part of the fun in watching `Body Heat' is knowing that there is a chance that either or both William Hurt and Kathleen Turner will get by with killing Turner's husband, played by Richard Crenna.

`Body Heat' is almost as good as `Double Indemnity,' which is considered by many to be best of the man-teams-with-woman-to-kill-her-husband genre. In `Indemnity' part of the fun is watching the Fred MacMurray character trying to outsmart his friend and mentor, played by Edward G. Robinson. In "Heat" Hurt has two friends he must deceive, cop J.A. Preston and a pre-`Cheers' assistant prosecutor Ted Danson. Try to figure out at what point they know Hurt is guilty.

The performances in `Body Heat' are excellent. In addition to Hurt, Turner, Crenna, Danson and Preston, this was Mickey Roarke's break-through role. Lawrence Kasden, who doesn't waste a shot, expertly directs the film. A great musical score by John Barry of James Bond composing fame expertly aids the steamy mood.

humid suspense

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 8 February 2012]

Wow! You've NEVER seen anything like "Body Heat"! Seriously, this is one move that's bound to grow on you. William Hurt plays an incompetent lawyer who befriends sultry Kathleen Turner, and the two of them scheme to get rid of her rich husband (Richard Crenna). The movie's setting is absolutely perfect. It's in Florida amid a heat wave, and everyone is constantly sweating. Of course, this steaminess (in multiple senses) only adds to the chemistry between Hurt and Turner. To be certain, Kathleen Turner looks like a cross between Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Montgomery (could there be a sexier combo?).

Obviously, the movie is intended as a tribute to film noir, and it certainly succeeds. Of course, cinema from the old days wasn't allowed to show what "Body Heat" does. I dare you not to feel sexually aroused while watching it. Lawrence Kasdan made a fine directorial debut here, and went on to cast Hurt in "The Big Chill" and "I Love You to Death". It's a perfect movie in every way.

Also starring Ted Danson, Kim Zimmer and A.J. Preston.

10 on a scale of 10

[len-21 · 10/10 · 8 April 2005]

This movie was brilliant in almost every way possible. After seeing it the fourth time, I finally bumped it from a nine to a ten. The chemistry between Hurt and Turner was sensational. The story was very clever. The twist was surprising.

If you want a suspense thriller where you think you know what is going on, but don't know as much as you thought, this is it.

I had seen it before a couple times, but I hadn't seen it in years. Rarely does a movie interest me as much the second or third time around, but this one did. I started thinking about how the writer was leading us along with little bits of information and how the characters were seeing the same. I know Kasden got the the idea from Double Indemnity, but he did a great job with it. The writing was excellent and I don't compliment the writing very often.

The pacing was precisely what you would expect from a 1940's style movie as this was. The dim lighting, the lack of cool air in the summer, the sound track - especially the sax - all just right.

I can't imagine anyone not liking this movie unless it was just too hot!

Exudes sensuality through all pores.

[filipemanuelneto · 7/10 · 6 August 2020]

In this film everything revolves around sensuality and the influence of noir is truly clear. Set in a hot Florida summer, the film tells how an unscrupulous and womanizing lawyer gets involved in a torrid case with a blonde beauty on her husband's back. It turns out that the husband is very rich, thanks to speculative and dubious business, and the idea of killing him comes almost naturally. From there ... it's better to see the film.

The film is not perfect but it works well. Directed and written by Lawrence Kasdan, who is better known for his work as a screenwriter than for his directorial streak, the film has a very engaging story, built upon an environment of latent sensuality. Heat is an omnipresent element, being almost naturally transmitted from the summer environment to the characters' passionate relationship. As a consequence, the film has several sexually clear scenes and dialogues and some female nudes, which should be taken into account by those who have children at home.

Being a film very influenced by noir, the last thing we should expect is one-dimensional characters. In fact, the characters in this film are not what they seem, and this required additional work from the actors that was very well done. This was Kathleen Turner's film debut and she showed that, in addition to being beautiful and sexy, she is a talented actress. William Hurt was also a novice and he work perfectly as a cynical, womanizing and unscrupulous lawyer. The two actors created excellent chemistry. More discreet but decent, the supporting cast has talented names like Richard Crenna, Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke.

Technically, it is a regular film, but has an excellent cinematography, which articulates very well night and medium light scenes, loaded with sensuality and malice, with day scenes where heat is almost palpable in its intense light and strong colours. Sets and costumes are excellent, the choice of cars for the two main characters also suggests a lot of their personality (especially Ned Racine's car, perfect for an inveterate womanizer). Inescapable, the initial credits exude sensuality in the way they were conceived and serve very well to introduce us to the film environment, something that would be much more difficult otherwise or without the indispensable help of the impeccable soundtrack, signed by John Barry.

truly Noir

[pswanson00 · 9/10 · 27 March 2005]

I was fortunate to see this film for the first time during a hot spell in a hot climate. Tropical heat plays such a big part in the development of this story that I think it would be a real impairment to enjoyment to see it in a chilly theater.

I was hardly familiar with the term "Film Noir" in 1981, but this film made clear to me what it meant. The darkness of the story, both psychologically and physically, adds to the suspense and sexual tension of the story, and good direction of great performances finishes the job. Seeing the young, smoldering Kathleen Turner naked is also nice. What can I say? I'm a man. I imagine that women aren't exactly repelled by the youthful William Hurt.

I get a huge kick out of the then-unknown Ted Danson in this film, and, of course, Richard Crenna is wonderfully slimy. I like this film a lot, and watch it about once a year. You should, too.

Evil under the Florida sun

[kennethwright45 · 6/10 · 22 September 2003]

Body Heat is a watchable but inferior neo-noir homage to the "darling, let's kill your husband" adultery classics Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice - mainly Double Indemnity. Although the premise is the same in all three films, the plot details are too diverse for Body Heat to be called a remake of either of the older features; however, almost every significant character in Double Indemnity has his or her parallel in Body Heat, which one can't say of The Postman Always Rings Twice.

The 1981 film's biggest problem is a structural one: the first act, setting up the motive of sexual obsession, goes on far too long. The reason it goes on so long is its second problem: too much explicit sex. This isn't a prudish complaint, but a dramatic one. Explicit sex is dramatically null because it practically never advances the story and it seldom even illuminates character; usually it just stops a film dead, and the longer it goes on, the deader it stops it. (It also alienates those viewers, such as myself, who don't care to be invited to be voyeurs.)

Consequently, Body Heat - a densely plotted film even by noir standards - is left with an awful lot of plot to pack into its second act, and the second half's dialogue and structure suffer from the need to make every line and scene contribute to the explication. A complicated story isn't a bad thing in itself. If it's clearly told - as in David Mamet's labyrinthine House of Games - we can follow it first time around. To say that the plot of Body Heat needs several viewings to be understood, as some reviewers on this site have quite rightly said, is not really a compliment.

To look on the positive side, which involves overlooking the blandness of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner's performances (compare them with the guilt-fired sexual derangement of Lana Turner, Fred MacMurray and John Garfield in the older films), there are good things about Body Heat. Ted Danson plays the film's most amiable role, that of Hurt's best friend, almost as touchingly as Edward G Robinson in the corresponding part in Double Indemnity. Mickey Rourke reminds us poignantly of the years when he was a very good actor. The Florida-summer setting is effectively employed as a perverse, ironic reversal of the traditional noir backdrop of darkness and rain. And it has aged gracefully: nothing about it screams 1980s! at you.

The film as a whole is a professional, intelligently manufactured piece of work that sets out to entertain a grown-up audience. That it looks like a classic to so many film fans today, however, is mainly a comment on how limited and juvenile are the ambitions of mainstream Hollywood cinema less than one generation later.

Knowledge Is Power

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 25 April 2009]

In the hot Pinehaven, Florida, the smalltime wolf lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) flirts with the sexy but married Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) and they begin a torrid love affair. After a short period together, she convinces him that her husband and mobster Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna) is an obstacle for their passion and they have a prenuptial agreement; therefore he should be eliminated. Ned carefully plots a perfect scheme for killing Edmund; however things go wrong when successive evidences are disclosed conspiring against him.

"Body Heat" is the greatest homage to film-noir ever! The debut of the writer and director Lawrence Kasdan is an unforgettable masterpiece, and I do not know how many times I have watched this classy feature since 1981 (last time was on 04 February 2001) that is among my favorites. The astonishing Kathleen Turner in her debut in cinema is sexy, hot, and gorgeous performing one of the most Machiavellian female fatales of the cinema history. The novice William Hurt is perfect in the role of the shabby and cynical lawyer Ned Racine. The music score of John Barry is perfect supporting the bleak atmosphere of the story. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Corpos Ardentes" ("Heat Bodies")

An air of deja vu hangs over the plot line of "Body Heat"...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 13 October 2006]

There's plenty of heat generated in BODY HEAT and most of it comes from the steamy situations set up by director Lawrence Kasdan and, in her debut film role, KATHLEEN TURNER, who turns up the heat even more with a dynamic performance as "the femme fatale".

But all of the material will seem familiar if you've ever seen THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE or DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Still, there are some fresh new twists that will have you wondering just how this whole story will play out once WILLIAM HURT (in a role similar to Fred MacMurray's in DOUBLE INDEMNITY) learns that he's been played for a fall guy by Turner, who wants him to kill her wealthy husband so they can share the wealth.

Not only is there a clever twist at the end, but the whole story has been modernized for '80s audiences by including some graphic depictions of soft core sex. Hurt and Turner are frequently seen writhing about in simulated sexual embraces, thus making the title a plausible one.

It's the kind of story James M. Cain might have written in the '30s or '40s, and when done as effectively as it is here, with John Barry's intriguing score adding some extra dimension to the film noir atmosphere of the tale, it can hold the audience in its grip until that final moment.

Well worth seeing for Hurt's very persuasive performance as the weak-minded lawyer dazzled by sex and Turner's debut as a screen siren.

Pushing Noirs to New Heights

[SnoopyStyle · 9/10 · 19 February 2014]

Ned Racine (William Hurt) is a small seedy lawyer in Florida. It's a searing heatwave. He picks up Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). She's married to wealthy businessman Edmund (Richard Crenna), and a passionate affair ensues. She wants to leave Edmund but there's a prenup. So they hatch a plot to kill him.

The is one sweaty movie. It is one of the best modern noir. It has all the styles of noir from first time director Lawrence Kasdan who also wrote the screenplay. It takes all the components of the old noir genre and adds the explicit sexuality of newcomer Kathleen Turner. It is very effective. It pushes the genre to new heights.

Nothing more than a soap opera

[neil_mc · 6/10 · 14 May 2003]

I find it quite hard to get as excited as other users on this page about this film, it really is nothing that has already been seen before. Even in 1981, murdering your husband for the inheritance wasn't an original storyline and even more so now with all the American trash that is produced. Whoever thought it would be different by sticking Kathleen Turner's shapely figure into the equation was wrong. The acting, as with all soap operas, is poor. William Hurt's capabilities were shown up at the end, as he just couldn't handle the final moments of the film. His only motivation for this project seemed to be the constant clinches with Turner(but who can blame him).

Overall, this is just another episode of Diagnosis Murder with a bit more flesh. Grossly overrated at 7.4/10. I give it a 6 - 5 for Kasdan's direction, 1 for Turner.

Overheated

[hall895 · 4/10 · 7 November 2011]

I've seen this movie before. Except the first time I saw the movie it was called Double Indemnity. And it was a lot better. Writer/director Lawrence Kasdan makes no attempt to hide the fact that he's basically just doing Double Indemnity all over again. He took that movie, sexed it up a bit, added a few twists and ended up with a movie not nearly as good as the one that inspired him. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but Body Heat flatters to deceive. It's an imitation alright but a rather pale one.

If you've seen Double Indemnity you already know the plot of Body Heat. There's a woman who wants to kill her husband for his money and there's the poor sap who falls under the woman's seductive spell and finds himself up to his neck in a murder plot. Whereas Double Indemnity made it very clear that it was the woman who hatched the murderous plot Body Heat is a little more vague. Maybe this time it's the woman's new lover who first gets the idea for murder and she's just willing to go along for the ride. This opens up some different possibilities, allowing the movie to retain an air of mystery and to set up some twists and turns at the end. But by the time all is finally revealed it's too late to save this movie. With it having been such a plodding, monotonous journey, and the main characters having so little personality, by the end you probably won't care how it ends. You'll just be glad that it's finally ending.

Kathleen Turner plays our mysterious seductress, Matty Walker, and she certainly brings plenty of heat to the role, steaming up the screen in a way her Double Indemnity counterpart Barbara Stanwyck never would have been allowed to back in 1944. But steaminess aside Turner otherwise pales in comparison to Stanwyck. For whatever mystery there may be around her Matty Walker the character has very little life to her. Turner is dry and bland, delivering her lines in snooze-inducing monotone. Her co-star William Hurt comes across no better with his portrayal of sleazy lawyer Ned Racine, Matty's new lover and would-be murder accomplice. Hurt has about as much charisma as a doorknob and the movie never even attempts to justify why Ned is willing to murder for this woman he just met. She can't be THAT good in bed. The plot meanders about with the sense that the movie's just killing time until it finally gets around to killing the husband. Another problem is the movie's score which is loud, obtrusive and obnoxious. Never a quiet moment to let the movie breathe. Then again if your ears weren't constantly being assaulted by the music you might notice that nothing is going on and the director wouldn't want that. In the end there are some rather contrived twists as the movie tries to piece its plot together. There's also Ted Danson, playing a prosecutor, doing a little tap-dance before he tells his friend he suspects him of murder. At that point it becomes rather impossible to take the movie seriously. Kasdan took a classic movie and tried to heat it up. But he overcooked it.