BODY HEAT (1981)

Ned Racine (Oscar-winner William Hurt) is a handsome, sleazy lawyer and Matty Walker (Oscar-nominee Kathleen Turner in her big screen debut) is the alluring wife of a wealthy businessman (Richard Crenna) and one steamy Florida night, they meet and begin a torrid affair.  They then conspire to murder Matty's husband as part of an insurance scam.....and a lot of a sweaty, twisty chaos ensues!  This Neo-Noir thriller was the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated writer/director Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon) and even though it was only a minor hit when it was first released in the Summer of 1981, it has gone on to be one of the more influential thrillers of the modern era.  It also made both William Hurt and Kathleen Turner into instant movie stars.  

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

BODY HEAT - 1981

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan

Starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, JA Preston, Mickey Rourke, Kim Zimmer, Jane Hallaren, Lanna Saunders, and Ted Danson

Genre: Neo-Noir Thriller

I have to think than even back in '81, this felt derivative of dozens of other film noirs from decades prior. But I would gather that there was just the right mix of young talent coming up at the right time to bring a fresher post Hayes Code spin to it...

This was Lawrence Kasdan's directorial debut and I might venture to say that he hasn't directed anything THIS tightly executed since then....even some of my favorite films of his like Silverado, I Love You to Death, or Mumford ALL had a bit of an unwieldy feel to them with often more characters than you could shake a stick at. But most of its 113 minute runtime, this thing is pretty much the Kathleen Turner and William Hurt (RIP....sporting a great 'stache for a change) show.  Turner plays Matty Walker while Hurt plays Ned Racine - they scorch together and even separately playing these two characters to noir-cliched perfection!

They do have a fun supporting cast around them though including Richard Crenna, JA Preston and an almost unrecognizably young-looking Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke....Rourke is barely in the film but steals every scene he's in, I wanted more. Besides that you have memorable sweaty locations from all around Florida which are TRULY essential to the feel of this movie 

Like I said previously, the story is nothing you haven't seen before - beautiful femme fatale seduces handsome gumshoe (well actually attorney in this instance) into her life at odds with her wealthy husband....and chaos ensues. But Turner and Hurt are just having so much fun with gobs of throwback-style dialogue that they help make it special - this was just such a blast!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

One major contributor for this film’s FULL-ON retro-noirish punch is a very effective score from the late, great John Barry.  Originally from York, England, Barry was a FIVE time Oscar winner for some genuinely memorable scores including Born Free and Dances With Wolves….but from my standpoint, he will always be a TRUE movie-music all-time for conducting the scores for TEN James Bond films starting with previous episode From Russia With Love though The Living Daylights.  And undoubtedly, these score DID have noirish flourishes. (Audio clip) 

Now I had already thought before seeing this for the FIRST time just a few years ago that I heard all of his best stuff by this point…..but apparently not as this HAS to be one of the SEXIER scores for any film from this era.  It kicks off with flutes, gradually builds with saxophones, and eventually climaxes with a cacophony of strings and horns…..yes I’m referring to the music of course.  And that actually depends on WHICH version of this film’s main theme you are listening to….because apparently two different versions were listed on the soundtrack including one which was much more piano-based. (Audio clip)  

We hear this throughout the film in different variations ALWAYS fitting the scene perfectly….one of THE better modern noir scores even though it’s now more than forty years old, I present you with John Barry’s Main Title theme for Body Heat. (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Now let’s brush on a subject matter which has been explored multiple times on this podcast before…..what HAPPENED to the acting career of Kathleen Turner??  This was her feature film debut and it helped kick off a pretty strong decade of memorable performances in memorable movies, Romancing the Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married, Prizzi’s Honor, AND previous episode War of the Roses which she is simply AMAZING in – she was one of the most exciting movie stars of the 1980’s. (Audio clip) 

Major roles started to trickle in more slowly in the ‘90’s but she still did some pretty memorable stuff, most likely her FUNNIEST bat-shit performance in John Water’s Serial Mom as….the titular serial mom.  A BRUTALLY dark comedy which deserved to be a significantly bigger hit than it ended up being….I can remember the opening day audience I saw it with just EATING it up. (Audio clip) 

Well that was in 1994, nothing so big since then on the big screen….so take a wild GUESS as to what happened in ’94.  That’s right, the math never lies….Kathleen Turner made the unforgivable mistake of TURNING 40.  And for Hollywood apparently until pretty recently, that was just THE cardinal sin….the major studios just don’t know what to do with you and inevitably, the roles which Turner would be considered for end up going to actresses 10 to 15 years younger….at this time, that would have been say Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry – ALL future Oscar-winners to be fair…..and make no mistake the SAME cycle would eventually catch up with them too in the early ‘00’s.  It’s truly a never-ending cycle and gratefully, there HAVE been more actresses of late who have seem to have avoided it like Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Penelope Cruz, Sandra Bullock, and Anne Hathaway.  In retrospect, Kathleen Turner - who is STILL a working actress today – deserved much better than one-joke throwaway roles on “Friends” at the same time when her previous co-star Michael Douglas was still getting plum roles including co-starring against the likes of….you guessed it….Gwyneth Paltrow, heh!  (Audio clip)  

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Even with so many memorable love scenes between our two main leads….along with a few well-orchestrated twists-and-turns in the latter half of the film, my personal highlight would be a DELIGHTFULLY written sequence when they FIRST meet on the boardwalk one hot, sweaty night in Miranda Beach, I believe a fictitious town in south Florida. (Audio clip) 

With a nearby big band concert playing in the background, the chemistry between these two is instant even under blistering heat…..it helps they both look amazing, ESPECIALLY young Kathleen Turner who is a true vision standing off to the side of the boardwalk as the wind sweeps her hair back.  Their dialogue is playfully flirtatious while still helping to set the rest of the plot into motion….with JUST the RIGHT number of glancing comments about marriage.  And of course this is showcased most in an a now ICONIC exchange with likely THE most iconic line uttered by Kathleen Turner in this or ANY movie she has ever been in.  It’s a great line! (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

As both writer AND director, this film was just in the middle of somewhat HISTORIC run for Lawrence Kasdan – from 1980 to 1985, HE wrote and/or polished the screenplays for the following films, most of them previous episodes of the this podcast: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Body Heat, Continental Divide (which I never saw), Return of the Jedi, The Big Chill, AND Silverado….the latter of which remains one of my all-time favorite Westerns.  Now of that group, I have to admit that I have ALWAYS disliked The Big Chill – sorry I just always found it to be a very self-satisfied Boomer wankfest.  But I DO get how beloved it was by many – it received three Oscar nominations, was a great launching pad for much of its extended cast, and undoubtedly it would be a major influence for ensemble comedy/dramas for decades to come. (Audio clip) 

But among the rest of that crop as far as I’m concerned….there are FOUR unassailable STONE COLD classics spanning among different genres no less – ‘Empire, ‘Raiders, Silverado, and THIS film of course.  Now what do these films have in common….BESIDES great casts?  Compelling stories with several different moving parts pretty well-connected, well-drawn characters who you can’t help but root for….OR desire….and no shortage of witty, fun dialogue.  And that writing acumen is on full display in Body Heat.  Just watch that critical legal boardroom scene late in the movie, where we witness Matty’s REAL plan finally come to light….just SUCH a smart scene. (Audio clip) 

We’re watching Matty ACT surprised, we’re watching Ned AGHAST at realizing how he was manipulated into this and yet we are also engrossed with EVERY word coming out of the mouth of Michael Ryan playing the attorney explaining all of this, Miles Hardin.  We’re ALSO watching Ted Danson’s Lowenstein get increasingly flustered, AND a whole running bit about the appropriateness of smoking at inopportune times comes back to elicit a chuckle. (Audio clip)   

It’s just a FANTASTIC melding of writing and directing in that we – the audience – receive ALL of the necessary exposition to drive this mystery to its final conclusion, it’s all laid out very clearly and concisely.  And yet every character is written in such a distinct manner – helped in no small part by the performances of course – that it never FEELS like an obligatory exposition dump.  We’re STILL able to enjoy these characters AS individuals….only a top-flight writer can pull that off and for writing and directing one of THE best modern noir films, possibly his BEST film overall, Lawrence Kasdan is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Happy 45th Anniversary to one of THE best modern Neo-Noir thrillers, right up there with previous episodes Chinatown, Memento, Blow Out, and The Last Seduction….the latter of which I REALLY do need to review one of these days.   

Streaming on WatchTCM

And that ends another LAZY…UGLY….and HORNY review!