Review of Body Heat (1981) by Zachary Hugh C — 04 Aug 2011

Great neo-noir with excellent music and dialogue. The only problem is that it's too similar to Double indemnity (one of my all-time favorite's). Had I not seen Double Indemnity though, I would have loved this movie even more however I may not have understood it as well.

The plot wasn't confusing but the fact that it's such an homage to the film noirs of the 40's and 50's would be lost on most people. The dialogue is riddled with sexual subtext and innuendo, which was the only way to get dirty talk through the censors back in the day.

The flirtatious banter is one of the things that Double Indemnity is well known for, hell they could actually have called it Triple indemnity and it would have made sense. But if your into good dark movies but not from the 1940's (Shame on you) than this is the one for you but if you're like me and love golden age stuff, go for Double Indemnity, or both who cares they're both good.

This is definitely geared towards the audience that is familiar with film noir and will understand the template and the allusions, but it's still very enjoyable. The Music by John Barry is what kicks it into awesome territory for me, I have it on my iPod and for awhile I listened to it while I slept, It has about 220 plays.