X
- 1981
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 53 m
- 1981
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 53 m
Summary Body Heat, a sexy, haunting tale of desire and skullduggery that echoes 1940s film noirs but is charged with an energy and passion that could only flare in the '80s. Sit back and bask in this contemporary classic's wicked warmth. (Warner Bros.)
Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan
Written By: Lawrence Kasdan
- 1981
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 53 m
- 1981
- R
- The Ladd Company
- 1 h 53 m
Body Heat
77
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary Body Heat, a sexy, haunting tale of desire and skullduggery that echoes 1940s film noirs but is charged with an energy and passion that could only flare in the '80s. Sit back and bask in this contemporary classic's wicked warmth. (Warner Bros.)
Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan
Written By: Lawrence Kasdan
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
77
82% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
77
82% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
18% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Body Heat is good enough to make film noir play like we hadn't seen it before.
Kasdan's moody tribute to cinema's dark past set a gold standard for neo-noirs that has seldom been equaled.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 62 User Ratings
8.4
92% Positive
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
3% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
5% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 62 User Ratings
8.4
92% Positive
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
3% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
5% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
You know guys, I gotta tell you, this movie is great. Everything about this movie is done perfect! It takes thrills, chills and William Hurt and Kathleen Turner is in it. But there is one problem for me. Ted Danson is not comedic but the hell with it. That's okay. Take what's worth watching. You gonna like it.
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Body Heat is full of meaty characters and pungent performances...a film to be seen at a drive-in, on a heavy summer night, with someone you trust.
Still regarded as one of the steamiest movie's of all time, Body Heat is a fantastic exponenet of how noir has developed.
Aside from the over abundance of rather large glasses and sweaty actors, Body Heat succeeds fabulously, not only as an excellent example of a classic film noir but as a solidly executed production in its own right.
Sometimes raunchy, but always well-acted. [25 Dec 1981]
Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat--an homage to film noir--gets off to a nice start before it becomes entangled in its convoluted and somewhat uninteresting plot machinations.
A haunting film, loosely based on the famous film noir "Double Indemnity". Kathleen Turner makes a fine femme fatale, William Hurt very plausible as the lawyer caught in her flirtatious web. The film manages to really capture a sense of a stiflingly hot Florida, so sultry that, as the detective puts it: "people think the old rules don't apply". The acting is uniformly excellent, the direction tight, the soundtrack memorable. I loved Double Indemnity, but Body Heat is, in its own way, no worse a movie. Enjoy.
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Body Heat: 9 out of 10: Many successful movies lose their ability to shock over the years. After hundreds of copy cats Alien isn't as effective as when it first came out. Kramer vs. Kramer certainly isn't the shocking eye opener it once was.
Body Heat should suffer the same fate. It doesn't. Despite a hundred direct to video takes on the same story (six of them with the exact same title) the movie still works. In fact it works very well indeed.
Writer Lawrence Kasdan had just penned Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back so it is a surprise he chooses noir for his first directing outing. (His next film was The Big Chill so this is one guy hard to pigeonhole) He both updates and in many ways upgrades the noir of the past.
By setting the movie in a Podunk Florida town he invokes John D Macdonald the way no Macdonald movie treatment has successfully done. His then unknown actors William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are pitch perfect.
This is a movie that really brings some new things to the table as it does some old things very well indeed. Like the best noir you are too involved to even begin to try to guess the next twist and turn.
Like Scorsese in Goodfellas or Huston in the Maltese Falcon Kasdan's directing is obviously very good yet his tricks remain hidden from view. Not a wasted shot and your television will sweat from all the heat generated.
Highly recommended to all fans of noir or simply fans of movies.
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Writers Guild of America, USA
• 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Nomination
