Review of Body Heat (1981) by Aaron N — 28 May 2008

Matty: You aren't too smart. I like that in a man.

Here's a line that starts off the relationship between a seductive femme fatal and an unwitting lawyer in this well made neo-noir. Its a good enough movie, which works mainly because of its well written dialog, the only problem lies in the fact that its very predictable for anyone familiar with this type of story. However, originality and execution are two different things.

William Hurt stars as Ned Racine, a Florida lawyer and bachelor making good use of the women around town. One hot night he attempts to pick up a blonde dressed in white, played by Kathleen Turner. Later on, he's in her house, attempting to get into her red dress, which could stand for either love or danger (guess).

Despite being married, Turner's sexy Matty begins a passionate affair with Ned, eventually resulting in a plot to have the rich husband murdered. Of course, even if the plan goes off, things are never as simple as they seem.

This movie essentially follows the plot of Double Indemnity, among other noir films, with some obvious changes. Its not much of a spoiler to say that Ned may be in over his head, but the story does have some better twists towards the end.

Peter: I think I've underestimated you Ned. I don't know why it took me so long. You've started using your incompetence as a weapon.

What also helps is some of the supporting players, which includes Ted Danson as a friend of Ned's who also enjoys imitating Fred Astaire and Mickey Rourke as a low-level bomb maker.

The film was written and directed by Lawrence Kasden, who previously made a name for himself for serving as a writer for Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Arc. Here, he directs a movie that uses the humidity of Florida to literally fill the scenes with atmosphere. He has also written a script where all of the characters bounce dialog off each other, which both evokes the noir films it was inspired by and works almost in terms of being self referential.

As a whole, this is a good movie with a familiar story and great dialog,.

Ned: Maybe you shouldn't dress like that.

Matty: This is a blouse and a skirt. I don't know what you're talking about.

Ned: You shouldn't wear that body.