Body Heat

1981 "As the temperature rises, the suspense begins."
7.4| 1h53m| R| en| More Info
Released: 28 August 1981 Released
Producted By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

Genre

Crime, Romance

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Body Heat (1981) is now streaming with subscription on Max

Director

Lawrence Kasdan

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

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Body Heat Audience Reviews

Micitype Pretty Good
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Ben Parker Its hot, temperature-wise. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are passing the time by having an affair, when Bill gets a very bad idea: why not do away with her husband?Had I known there was a neo-noir element in this movie, I might have watched it sooner. I pretty much expected a non-stop smut-fest. Well, there was hardly any of that, actually. This is not your explicit sex-drama like Last Tango in Paris; there's a lot of sweating, hot breath, horniness, but enough of a thriller element to keep all that from getting too awkward.Speaking of awkward, I kept getting swept up by Body Heat, when suddenly William Hurt's moustache would creep up and spoil it. Bill just didn't do it for me, and I never really got why he would do it for Kathleen, but I just ignored that personal reaction and found an enjoyable thriller, of the hot-breathed variety.
geenam I actually saw this movie when it first came out and a few times during the years and then recently on Sundance. What a great movie, I had forgotten. When it first came out, I thought, boy how daring, but it really has withstood the test of time.You have a steamy love affair between Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. You have the unsuspecting husband (or is he) Richard Crenna and then the policemen. People will recognize "pre Cheers", Ted Danson in a major role. Do the police suspect WIlliam Hurt is involved all along? Is he that stupid to be involved in such a scheme or is Kathleen Turner that alluring that William Hurt trusts her so implicitly. When does he realize he has been scammed, and what a great ending! The movie was a great thriller and kept you guessing all along. This was a remake of Double Imdemnity, but with a modern twist. Don't miss this movie - it will keep you interested the whole time.
blazesnakes9 Now, I have to admit something. I do enjoy watching movies that consists on film-noir style. I really do. Like anyone else, I do have my own favorite batch of genres that I like to watch on my own. My favorite genres are action, crime/gangster, science-fiction and western. But, film-noir or neo-noir pictures are essentially one of my personal and favorite one of all. Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, written and directed a movie of his own. The name of it? Body Heat. The movie takes place in Florida during an endless, steamy heat wave. Ned Racine (William Hurt), is a seedy lawyer, who can't seem to get his hands off of his female clients. He's the kind of guy that someone would call a sleazeball, yet you know, Ned is a sleazy man, who can't seem to stop doing what he does best. One night, he runs across an beautiful brunette, Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner, in her first movie role) during a outdoor concert. At first, Walker doesn't buy Ned's womanizing tactics and even after her refusal, Ned continues to see her, even though her husband is away. Soon enough, Ned and Matty began to start a steamy and somewhat erotic affair between the both of them. Then, Matty tells Ned that she is planning to kill her rich husband so that she can collect all of the money. Walker's husband, Edmund, (Richard Crenna) soon comes home and doesn't seem to notice the ongoing relationship between Matty and Ned. But, the movie does get interesting when Ned finds himself getting in way over his head about falling in love with Matty. The plot leads to a series of corruption, betrayal and even suspicion when a private investigator suspects that someone kills Edmund. The surprising interest that ignites this movie is the relationship between Ned and Matty, between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Their sex scenes are truly well-shot and also very erotic in its own right. Another criticism that I have about the movie is Kathleen Turner. She definitely stole the movie away from all of the other supporting actors. During the whole time when I was watching Body Heat, I was reminded of other femme-fatales that were erected straight out from other 1940's film-noir classics like Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle and Out of the Past. Turner does resembled a lot like a modern femme-fatale of the 80's. The one thing that all femme-fatales have in common that I certainly did see in Kathleen Turner is the lips. Her lips have a red-hot flare to them. Every time a light shimmers over her lips, I was reminded of those 1940's femme-fatales. In fact, Double Indemnity and Out of the Past, the two movies that I mentioned above, were the two movies that were inspired to make Body Heat. But, getting back on Kathleen Turner's performance. She's beautiful to look at and she is also smart in the way that her character can easily manipulate Ned by convincing him to go along with her murder plot. As for the eroticism of this movie, I have to say that it really is convincing and it is sexy. One of the high points in this movie is when Ned looks through the window at Matty and he can't control his lust about her. So, he takes a chair and throws it through the glass window and walks up to her and start kissing her. That is just about as sexy as a movie can go. If you think about it, it isn't played for dirtiness. It isn't trash. It's a neo-noir picture of the 80's. For its time, Body Heat was shocking when it first came out and even today, it is ranked as being one of the best erotic thrillers ever made. In fact, I think that Body Heat helped inspired other neo-noir films of its kind like Blood Simple or The Last Seduction, which was film-noir for the 90's. Furthermore, Kasdan himself feared that he would never make another picture in his career. Lucky for him, his career did expanded with other pictures like The Big Chill and the western Sliverado. His screenplay crackles with high-voltage energy and with star-making performances by Turner and Hurt. Hurt himself is also very convincing as the seedy lawyer who doesn't know what he is getting himself into. Kasdan's direction is also great. He knows how a scene works by letting the characters and the actors talk and communicate through dialogue that literally breaks through like glass. Body Heat proves to be, once again one of the best erotic thrillers ever made. It is well-paced, well-directed with excellent performances by Hurt and Turner and it is one of the films of 1981. Suspenseful and sexy. ★★★★ 4 stars.
Tom Robertson johnnyaction80, I don't agree that Matty was necessarily pining for Ned at the end. She didn't seem very happy, but it was never clear that she wasn't just acting when she was with him. If the movie was trying to show her as regretting her choice for money over him, I think it should have been more explicit. Maybe it could have shown her as treating her new man differently.If Lawrence Kasdan accounted for the difference between "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," I like him.Nimbo, I read either on this site or Wikipedia that he said "it's very hot" in Portuguese, suggesting they were in Brazil.