Body Heat
BODY HEATÂ (18)
D: Lawrence Kasdan
Warner Bros/Ladd (Fred T. Gallo)
USA 🇺🇸 1981
113 mins
Thriller
W: Lawrence Kasdan
DP: Richard H. Kline
Ed: Carol Littleton
Mus: John Barry
William Hurt (Ned Racine), Kathleen
Turner (Matty Tyler Walker), Richard Crenna (Edmund Walker), Ted Danson (Peter Lowenstein), Mickey Rourke (Teddy Lewis)
The Basic Instinct (qv) of the 1980's, this sexed-up
Double Indemnity provided the breakthrough role of Kathleen Turner, who smoulders onto the screen with an excellent debut performance.
Set in Florida during a scorching heatwave, a seedy
attorney embarks on a sexually-fuelled affair with a married woman, who seduces and manipulates him into murdering her husband, so she can inherit his wealth.
The film also provided a directorial breakthrough for
Lawrence Kasdan, who also penned the script, but it's Kathleen Turner who deserves all the plaudits here, with one of the sexiest screen performances of all time.
Likely to be appreciated most by fans of 1940's film
noir.
7/10
