Review of Body Heat (1981) by Michael C — 11 Sep 2009

An 80's attempt at film noir that sometimes is effective and sometimes falls flat. William Hurt was decent as the male lead and Kathleen Turner was really good as the sultry vamp of the film. Some of the films problems came in its attempts to simultaneously evoke 40's style noir with a modern twist, rather than trying to commit to one or the other.

This made the film feel a little uneven for me, as it never seemed to decide if it was classic Billy Wilder noir (as it obviously was heavily inspired by Double Indemnity) or a neonoir effort. Plus, the famous scene where William Hurt finds Turner so alluring he throws a chair through a glass window to get to her quicker.

.....utterly ridiculous on every level. In fact that one addition may have weighed the film down more than anything else. It's a fun little exercise in a long admired genre with some fun moments, but loses steam sporadically throughout.