christopher-underwood Writer/director Kasden got just about everything right in this his first feature. The dialogue crackles as befits a neo noir and John Barry's score is always there to to support or promote some wondrous visuals. Kathleen Turner is quite astonishing in this her first film. Her boldness and bravery in the sex scenes ensure that this sizzles from the off and I guess helps to draw attention away from what is really going on. William Hurt hasn't made many films before this and he too seems very relaxed and easy with regard to the nude and non nude sequences. His banter with his colleagues is as believable as his smouldering tete-a-tetes with his co-star. Mickey Rourke is effective in a key small role and the whole thing moves very well. Having seen this upon its original theatrical release, I have always held it in high regard, feeling upon this Blu-ray viewing that it didn't quite race throughout as I had 'remembered' and there seemed to be a slight imbalance on the sound. But hey - excellent film with fine performances.

KineticSeoul When it comes to these femme fatale type of movies, the formula has become very familiar now. However when this film first came out, it was pretty cleverly executed. I think this is one of the films that inspired the creation of other seductive woman type characters in films that know what they want and know how to play the game. The the story takes place during the summer in Florida when it's going through a heatwave. A woman temps a lawyer with her sexiness and manipulates him to kill her rich husband. So they can take off with his money by legally taking it all by using the legal system. From there are the choices the characters make really start to bite them in the butt. While you as an audience is trying to figure out exactly what is going on and what the main plan that is being utilized is. This is a film for adults and I don't mean that because of the sexual content. But because this is a slow burn movie that will bore most teenagers. Overall, I have seen these types of movies before so the ending was quite predictable for me. But I appreciate it for what it accomplished and brought forth at that time. Plus another femme fatale film came out a year later called "Basic Instinct". Which will be a bigger hit because of Sharon Stone and because of a certain scene with her in it.7.6/10

blazesnakes9 Now, I have to admit something. I do enjoy watching movies that consists on film-noir style. I really do. Like anyone else, I do have my own favorite batch of genres that I like to watch on my own. My favorite genres are action, crime/gangster, science-fiction and western. But, film-noir or neo-noir pictures are essentially one of my personal and favorite one of all. Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote both Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, written and directed a movie of his own. The name of it? Body Heat. The movie takes place in Florida during an endless, steamy heat wave. Ned Racine (William Hurt), is a seedy lawyer, who can't seem to get his hands off of his female clients. He's the kind of guy that someone would call a sleazeball, yet you know, Ned is a sleazy man, who can't seem to stop doing what he does best. One night, he runs across an beautiful brunette, Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner, in her first movie role) during a outdoor concert. At first, Walker doesn't buy Ned's womanizing tactics and even after her refusal, Ned continues to see her, even though her husband is away. Soon enough, Ned and Matty began to start a steamy and somewhat erotic affair between the both of them. Then, Matty tells Ned that she is planning to kill her rich husband so that she can collect all of the money. Walker's husband, Edmund, (Richard Crenna) soon comes home and doesn't seem to notice the ongoing relationship between Matty and Ned. But, the movie does get interesting when Ned finds himself getting in way over his head about falling in love with Matty. The plot leads to a series of corruption, betrayal and even suspicion when a private investigator suspects that someone kills Edmund. The surprising interest that ignites this movie is the relationship between Ned and Matty, between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Their sex scenes are truly well-shot and also very erotic in its own right. Another criticism that I have about the movie is Kathleen Turner. She definitely stole the movie away from all of the other supporting actors. During the whole time when I was watching Body Heat, I was reminded of other femme-fatales that were erected straight out from other 1940's film-noir classics like Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle and Out of the Past. Turner does resembled a lot like a modern femme-fatale of the 80's. The one thing that all femme-fatales have in common that I certainly did see in Kathleen Turner is the lips. Her lips have a red-hot flare to them. Every time a light shimmers over her lips, I was reminded of those 1940's femme-fatales. In fact, Double Indemnity and Out of the Past, the two movies that I mentioned above, were the two movies that were inspired to make Body Heat. But, getting back on Kathleen Turner's performance. She's beautiful to look at and she is also smart in the way that her character can easily manipulate Ned by convincing him to go along with her murder plot. As for the eroticism of this movie, I have to say that it really is convincing and it is sexy. One of the high points in this movie is when Ned looks through the window at Matty and he can't control his lust about her. So, he takes a chair and throws it through the glass window and walks up to her and start kissing her. That is just about as sexy as a movie can go. If you think about it, it isn't played for dirtiness. It isn't trash. It's a neo-noir picture of the 80's. For its time, Body Heat was shocking when it first came out and even today, it is ranked as being one of the best erotic thrillers ever made. In fact, I think that Body Heat helped inspired other neo-noir films of its kind like Blood Simple or The Last Seduction, which was film-noir for the 90's. Furthermore, Kasdan himself feared that he would never make another picture in his career. Lucky for him, his career did expanded with other pictures like The Big Chill and the western Sliverado. His screenplay crackles with high-voltage energy and with star-making performances by Turner and Hurt. Hurt himself is also very convincing as the seedy lawyer who doesn't know what he is getting himself into. Kasdan's direction is also great. He knows how a scene works by letting the characters and the actors talk and communicate through dialogue that literally breaks through like glass. Body Heat proves to be, once again one of the best erotic thrillers ever made. It is well-paced, well-directed with excellent performances by Hurt and Turner and it is one of the films of 1981. Suspenseful and sexy. ★★★★ 4 stars.

jmillerdp The problem with this neo-noir is that, since it so exactly follows the femme fatale formula of classic film noir, you know exactly what's going to happen from beginning to end. How William Hurt's character can't is mind bending! You really want to just yell at the screen at him! Sheesh.Since the plot is a lost cause, what else to consider is the filmmaking. Lawrence Kasdan stymies himself by writing the aforementioned script as he did. So, his direction is only going to be able to do so much, and it isn't enough. John Barry's film score is the clear highlight! It is excellent and atmospheric. But, everything else is very routine.***** (5 Out of 10 Stars)