"Body Heat" is one of the few films I've ever seen that seems to literally sizzle. Every stylistically framed shot, every acutely timed line of dialogue and every performance sizzles. Set in a coastal town in Florida, it is the hottest time of the year and sweat pours out of you even after taking a shower. Other than Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," never have I felt the heat so intensely and intrinsically as in Lawrence Kasdan's "Body Heat." It has been deemed the first neo-noir thriller though there is nothing neo about it. Kasdan obviously aimed to make a new spin on the classic "Double Indemnity" and possibly "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the latter remade as a raw and singularly unimpressive Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange flick) and has succeeded beyond expectations yet still stays true to its fundamental traditions.
The characters in Kasdan's noir thriller, though, do not fit any of the traditional archetypes of the past. William Hurt is lawyer Ned Racine, a somewhat dim small-town lawyer who falls for Matty (Kathleen Turner) from the start, thinking only below his waist and not with his brains (She catches on quick when she says "You are not too smart are you. I like that in a man"). She is alluring, a sexual being who is married and tries to remain chaste. Ned is horny as a hound dog and says to her, "You shouldn't be wearing that body." Before one can say, "oh come over and just look at my wind chimes," Ned is asked to leave and bursts through her glass doors and makes passionate love to her. She wants it, and so does he. This is just the start of his troubles when Matty's husband (Richard Crenna), a wealthy businessman, comes back into town and the sexual pair have already decided to kill him. In this case, though, it is not for money or profit or anything other than this doomed pair wanting to be together because they love each other. Does Matty really love Ned or is it partially about money after all? It seems like it and, as you watch the film, it is clear that she is not just lusting after this man. Still, to make matters more complicated, Matty might have had a plan prior to their initial meeting. It is made more or less clear that she had him in her throes from the start.
Kathleen Turner, in her ravishing and hypnotic film debut, is not a one-dimensional siren nor is she a standard femme fatale. Her manipulative side is not made overtly obvious and that is Turner's strength as an actress. She loves men and she also wants freedom, so can she have both? Kasdan never makes that clear enough, making Matty one of those enigmatic femme fatales who knows how to play her cards right from the start. As Ned observes too late in the game, "She's relentless!" Yet Turner never makes it too obvious, always showing shades of false naivete in small spurts though never revealing how her mind is always at work and is one step ahead of everyone else. The final shot of the film is haunting, lyrical and beautiful yet quite sad. It should be victorious for a femme fatale of her nature yet it is not - we get the feeling she will never be quite at peace even in a scenic tropical island.
William Hurt also makes for a fascinatingly seedy man who beds many women who are either waitresses or nurses. He is just barely smart enough to know he's been had, though still dumb enough as well to not see what is happening with Matty. He thinks that his murder plan is his own when it is made abundantly clear that Matty has orchestrated the murder plot from the beginning (and that includes the drawing up of a new will). Hurt also has a sneaky way of making us care about him despite his seediness and his murderous mind - he loves this woman yet we can't get behind his taking a human life for love. This is all spun and orchestrated with far more humanity than the noirs of the past - you never sense a coldness arising out of these characters. Deftly and swiftly written by Lawrence Kasdan (his directorial debut),"Body Heat" has a clockwork plot that manages to never feel too complicated or contain any red herrings. Every piece falls into place because it really feels like the characters are orchestrating it rather than the feeling that some Chandleresque writer is at the helm.
I am a lover of film noir in general, especially the postwar noir of the 40's and 50's. "Double Indemnity" holds a special place for me as having the most sparkling, deliciously spicy dialogue ever (Barbara Stanwyck was the siren in that film). "Body Heat" is not better but definitely its equal, containing more salacious dialogue and more honest sexuality yet never veering into crude, histrionic sexual scenes or heinous violence. That has become "Body Heat's" mainstay since very few thrillers during its wake have aimed for true sultriness and restraint or much else. The steam is what rises in "Body Heat" and leaves you satisfied with the lustful, somewhat romantic power of the film. "Body Heat" is the very essence of sophisticated adult noir.
