Body HeatWhen temperatures rise, people make questionable choices in judgment, letting their passions take over. Body Heat is the story of a lawyer named Ned Racine (William Hurt), whose caliber of clientele errs on the crooked side. One hot night out on the boardwalk, he catches sight of an attractive young woman named Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), who plays hard to get with a thin veneer of coyness, one that shatters and explodes when the two begin a steamy affair. Their illicit relationship turns criminal when they plot to kill Matty's husband, Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna).
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Body Heat is an erotic thriller in the style of film noir classics, most prominently Double Indemnity; Body Heat draws heavily from it for its plot about an aroused, professional man dragged into the web of seduction and deception by a femme fatale to slay her husband and get rich in the process. (Who knew wind chimes could sound like murder?) Even the music in Body Heat by John Barry evokes that style of film, a hypnotic lure and a lullaby into a style of deep shadows and rising libidos, plush with slender strings and aching brass horns--a portal into that velvety noir glow. Ned and Matty are heightened versions of people, motivated by their mutual attraction to satisfy their cravings, and glide through the familiar steps of those like Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck before them. Matty even offers a vintage fedora to Ned as a gift as if to make the metaphorical trek back in time more authentic. Ned teases Matty while trying to pick her up that he's, among other things, a bit dumb. In truth, he's been known to make some questionable choices in his career work, so perhaps Ned isn't the brightest bulb, willing to let himself get caught up in Matty's scheme. Ned fancies himself the predator in his sexual dealings, and is the one to make the move to attract Matty. But consider how Matty appears from the start, in a distinct white dress amid the sweaty, dim arena of an outdoor concert. She draws the eye, because she wants to draw the eye. Ned underestimates her because he's been accustomed to dealing with a dim caliber of criminal, not like Matty. Matty is the hunter, luring Ned into her world, making him comfortable and connected to her in order to understand her quarry better and look for the weaknesses in his defenses, to predict what he will do. Ned's limited scope of how to engage in criminal activity comes from what he knows about his clients. When he attempts to cover up the killing of Edmund, he creates a scenario designed to look like an arson scam to collect on insurance money gone wrong, implicating the late husband in the process. His accomplice in this is a professional arsonist and crook named Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke), who gives the same advice that Ned gave him about how even a genius couldn't anticipate all the angles and ways the caper can go wrong. Teddy's right about Ned, but he doesn't know Matty.
Matty tells Ned about how her mother told her that "knowledge is power"; that's key to understanding Matty Walker, because even if it isn't knowledge she's really after, she most certainly is after power. She wants more than to just be the comfortable housewife of Edmund, and she wants more than just half of what he leaves her in the will. She's also aware that people like Ned are not her accomplice so much as a means to an end, and ultimately, a liability. That's the thought which becomes clear to Ned as events begin to spiral out of control. She is convincing as the woman who is in love (or at least lust) with the handsome lawyer, but the only glimpses we get of the real Matty comes about through incidental means. Matty never really opens her heart to Ned, but expects him to do so and trust her on the virtue of their constant love making. How does a true con work? By creating a sense of confidence in your mark, making them feel that they are in charge and control, unaware of the string you've tied to them, guiding them all the way. So when Ned suggests the idea of killing Edmund and helping Matty get rich as a result, it is only because Matty had brought it up in the first place after sleeping together. On the night of the killing, there is a dense fog which overtakes the upscale community of Pinehaven where Matty and Edmund reside, as Ned drives out to the rundown bar Edmund owns so he can carry out the next phase of the plot. The fog is a metaphor for his failure to clearly see what is right and wrong, emblematic of his clouded judgment. Only when he catches a glimpse of himself in his rearview mirror does the reality of what he's become sink in. People like Ned's colleagues and friends, including the assistant deputy prosecutor Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson) and Detective Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston), blame the heat for making people go a little crazy or lose perspective. For Ned, the night is indeed sultry, and the heat is a badge for the tension, thrills, and passion he craves...the raging fires like those which burn in the night, a heat so hot, one cannot shed enough clothing to compensate. Even during Ned and Matty's first encounter, they move fast, having no patience to endure the heat any longer than necessary by protracting the seduction. It is a heat as hot as sin, and burns like Hell, a preamble to the devilish flames he dances too close to when he deals with Matty Walker.
Recommended for: Fans of a steamy detective story and thriller which plays like a vintage film noir classic from yesteryear. It is also alarming to consider how much a natural Kathleen Turner is in her first screen appearance as the conniving vamp, Matty Walker.
Matty tells Ned about how her mother told her that "knowledge is power"; that's key to understanding Matty Walker, because even if it isn't knowledge she's really after, she most certainly is after power. She wants more than to just be the comfortable housewife of Edmund, and she wants more than just half of what he leaves her in the will. She's also aware that people like Ned are not her accomplice so much as a means to an end, and ultimately, a liability. That's the thought which becomes clear to Ned as events begin to spiral out of control. She is convincing as the woman who is in love (or at least lust) with the handsome lawyer, but the only glimpses we get of the real Matty comes about through incidental means. Matty never really opens her heart to Ned, but expects him to do so and trust her on the virtue of their constant love making. How does a true con work? By creating a sense of confidence in your mark, making them feel that they are in charge and control, unaware of the string you've tied to them, guiding them all the way. So when Ned suggests the idea of killing Edmund and helping Matty get rich as a result, it is only because Matty had brought it up in the first place after sleeping together. On the night of the killing, there is a dense fog which overtakes the upscale community of Pinehaven where Matty and Edmund reside, as Ned drives out to the rundown bar Edmund owns so he can carry out the next phase of the plot. The fog is a metaphor for his failure to clearly see what is right and wrong, emblematic of his clouded judgment. Only when he catches a glimpse of himself in his rearview mirror does the reality of what he's become sink in. People like Ned's colleagues and friends, including the assistant deputy prosecutor Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson) and Detective Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston), blame the heat for making people go a little crazy or lose perspective. For Ned, the night is indeed sultry, and the heat is a badge for the tension, thrills, and passion he craves...the raging fires like those which burn in the night, a heat so hot, one cannot shed enough clothing to compensate. Even during Ned and Matty's first encounter, they move fast, having no patience to endure the heat any longer than necessary by protracting the seduction. It is a heat as hot as sin, and burns like Hell, a preamble to the devilish flames he dances too close to when he deals with Matty Walker.
Recommended for: Fans of a steamy detective story and thriller which plays like a vintage film noir classic from yesteryear. It is also alarming to consider how much a natural Kathleen Turner is in her first screen appearance as the conniving vamp, Matty Walker.