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Good Remake of a Better Movie

Body Heat is the remake of Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944) which I would recommend viewing before Body Heat. Both Films deal with a classic Femme Fatale and the passion in love and murder. Body Heat is a fabulous thrill to view and will keep you guessing until the end. I would also suggest Double Indemnity as it is a wonderful classic.

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

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.

Justice for " BODY HEAT

I was disappointed when seeing that the average mark for "Body Heat" was only 7.4, not qualifying it among the 250 best films ; then I remarked that the IMDb staff had given it a 8.9, which places it among the very topnotch, where ( in my opinion ) it belongs ; also that all but two of IMDb reviewers gave it rave notices.
The film indeed has all trumps:
- superbly intricate and intelligent script and perfect direction by Lawrence Kasdan, together with a beautiful photography which adequately renders the necessary sultry atmosphere; - haunting musical score by John Barry;
- perfect cast: one of his best performances by talented William Hurt, together with the astonishing debut of Kathleen Turner, who never again had such a vehicle for her talents; strong supporting actors, including notably Richard Crenna, Mickey Rourke ( then a newcomer ), and last but not least a quite remarkable Ted Danson. There are not many films which I enjoy rerunning, and "Body Heat" is definitely one of them... so you will understand why I ask ' Justice for BODY HEAT ', an outstanding Film Noir but also an outstanding film, period.

A sultry, sweaty update of Double Indemnity

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.

the gold standard for snappy dialogue, matched by music, direction and acting

Has there ever been a better screenplay? Hard to think of one. The dialogue is, in Ned Racine's lingo, perfect. The musical thrust is relentless, the camera work and acting are special gifts. Not a film frame wasted -- each one meticulously crafted to advance the movie in the best example of top-notch filmmaking. The gold standard against which others should be judged.

A Steamy Film Noir

Ned Racine (William Hurt) is a Florida lawyer (apparently not a very good one) who meets Matty Walker, (Kathleen Turner) the sexy, beautiful wife of a rich husband she wants eliminate for obvious reasons-- she wants his money. Racine falls into Matty's bed and her clutches in this little gem of a movie. In the beginning, this couple mostly just takes their clothes off as they are embroiled in passion; but the plot "heats" up" quickly. I don't want to give the byzantine story away to first-time viewers, but there's not a dull frame in this film.

What makes this movie so successful is two first class performances by Hurt (I think one of our best actors) and Turner in what was her first major film role. Additionally the atmosphere is stunning. You can literally feel the heat, both from the sex and the termperature as read on the thermometer in this movie. The bedroom scenes are as hot as I have seen and not at all gratuitous here. The characters are drenched in sweat most of the time and there are fans and air conditioners everywhere running overtime. This would be a great movie to watch in the dead of winter.

This movie co-stars Richard Crenna, Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke. Danson is a vision in a dark wig and Sammy Davis Junior glasses as a local district attorney. I could never decide if he was miscast or not, but everyone else is quite spendid.

A dreadful transfer of a great movie

I've seen a few Blu-Ray discs that aren't much of an improvement over the DVD, but this is a rarity, a Blu-Ray that actually looks bad. I already traded in my DVD and it's been a few years, so I can't see if it looks any better, but this is no improvement. The colors are faded and washed out, the picture is generally blurry and limp, and it's really not much different than watching an old VHS tape.

Some interior scenes, particularly those that take place in the diner, are completely washed out by bright sunlight coming in through the windows. These scenes look downright terrible. The rest of the movie is barely adequate.

If you already have this film on DVD, I'd recommend saving your money and avoiding this purchase. I have about sixty Blu-Ray discs and this is the first one I genuinely regret buying.

Body Heat delivers just that -- heat, passion and murder

William Hurt portrays a rather dumb slug attorney who thinks through the wrong part of his anatomy. Kathleen Turner, on the other hand, gives a portrayal or sensuality that makes his reactions seem understandable. She is simply hot as a temptress on a mission, and that mission is murder. Wonderfully directed by Lawrence Kasdan, you can feel yourself sweat as he spreads out his story amid the sultry Florida summer. Purposely convoluted and full of plot lines that will keep you on edge. Famous for its scene of Hurt watching Turner through her glass doorway like a lion stalking its prey. His breaking through that door is just what Turner wants, and just what the viewer needs to find themselves entranced by this script. Ted Danson is good as the sympathetic friend, and Richard Crenna, always fun to watch, is his old pro self. If Kathleen Turner's legs and bedroom eyes fail to stir up urges you thought long lost, then you simply haven't got a pulse.

The Temperature is Rising

I can watch BODY HEAT over and over again, and still be enthralled by it.Great acting, striking direction, sultry music, beautiful cinematography,and a wonderful film noir plot. This is one of my favorite movies. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are great together.I would love to see a sequel.Highest rating-- be sure to see it.

Evil under the Florida sun

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.

9 on a scale of 10

This movie was brilliant in almost every way possible. I almost gave it a 10, but just couldn't quite do it. 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!

excellent film!!!!.

This film is one of the greatest films I have to seen in my life. It has everything a great film has. There are so many twists and turns, you don't know who to trust!!!!.

Is It Hot In Here?

The one thing I took away from this movie: sweat. I think at least one person is sweating in every scene. This movie made headlines when it came out because of its steamy sex scenes. By today's standards it isn't anything to write home about, though they are still really good. This movie is a Classic on some levels and is at the very least a must see. Definately worth a chance.

They got their just desserts

I'd like to comment on the ending of the film. First of all, it became inevitable, to me, early on, that the William Hurt character, Ned, was going down. He kept getting in deeper and deeper, and as much as I sympathized with him, he really did get his just desserts. Maddie did, too. She got what she always wanted, alright: to be rich and to travel to exotic places - but at what price? The ending, showing her relaxing with a drink on a sunny beach under blue skies, has just the right amount of ambiguity. She reacts, momentarily, to an offscreen male companion, but it's clear that she's indifferent to him. Is she unhappy? Just what is she thinking about, underneath the cool exterior and the sunglasses? Did she, after all, love Ned? Superb drama! 8 out of 10.

The movie is hot. The DVD is not.

The movie is extremely enjoyable. Kathleen Turner and William Hurt give very good performances. Things are indeed hot in this movie.
Whilst some elements are derivative of Hitchcock and some are predictable, it is enjoyable to see how they play out.

The DVD is a disappointment. The casing is cardboard, not the hard plastic that better withstands time and usage. The widescreen version is a matted version that crops content off the top and bottom and does not appear to offer any more on the sides than the full screen version. The added content is OK.

A great Film!!

Laurence Kasdan's amazing Neo-Noir film is, in my opinion, a wonderfully-crafted psychological Thriller. Although the film has some witty elements, it is also a deeply somber film of the consequences from ignoring Intuition and Conscience, as well as the insufferable damages of a relentlessly greedy woman. The ending of the film is brilliant, leaving a feeling of dread, and an atmosphere of stark psychological anxiety, while still maintaining it's smooth trademark style and photographic beauty. I found myself very disappointed in many of the viewer's comments on the film; people only seeming to remember the Sexual scenes and the scenes of witty dialog. Yes, I understand that a film like this may resemble many of the qualities of the classic Noirs, but in no way is it meant to be a spoof or a remake, it simply pays Homage to them, not mimic them. Yes, many of the elements of the film are similar to the classic Noir's of the 1950's we all may know, but it was obviously not the intention of the director to imitate those films, he was simply using the necessary conventions of the genre to give the film perspective/genre. In other words, all of the obviously desensitized and cynical reviewers can get your feet out of your mouth, and stop depreciating a truly good film as a fascicle. In looking at the film in and of itself, it stands for it's own, carrying it's own weight with grace and true style. How about appreciating the film as a whole!! As has been said, "A film is not necessarily the sum of it's parts, but of a whole."

This Will Heat You Up On A Cold Winter Night!

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!

CLASSIC 1981 FILM NOIR

This movie remains one of my all time favorites. Yes, it's corny at times, yes, it's over the top in spots, but what a great film. The script burns into your memory -- you can speak one line in an elevator and someone behind you will recognize it and finish it for you. A must see -- haunting score, perfect casting, clever writing, flawless direction, passionate acting. For my money, this film remains the high water mark for Kasdan, William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. A film for the ages, we even studied it in law school (for its memorable illustration of the legal doctrine "Rule Against Perpetuities"). If nothing else, watch this movie and see how two minutes of screen time made a star of Mickey Rourke. Kasdan somehow made even Ted Danson seem compelling in this one. It rocks!

Near perfect movie of love, lust and deception

One of my all time favorites with great screenwriting and excellent performances by William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Along with Turner, then newcomers Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke give strong performances.


The DVD is a revelation compared to the VHS version I own. The details in darkly lit scenes really jump out in the DVD, they were mostly lost on the VHS version. Also the colors were much better on the DVD. It was suprising to see how much of a gray tone was present in colors in the VHS version. The DVD version had much stronger colors in the sunlit scenes, and in the darker scenes colors that had been almost non-existent on VHS showed up nicely on the DVD. Movies with a lot of special effects seem to get the attention of people reviewing DVDs but this film really shows the potential of DVDs. If you like this movie buy the DVD version, even if you have the video tape, you won't regret it.

I Beg to Differ....the DVD is Groovy

Just to set the record straight, the video quality on this DVD is very good. All of us video-philes would prefer the letterbox over the anamorphic--but hey, it's a bargain, and the quality is quite good.