Body Heat
Encyclopedia
Body Heat is a 1981 American
neo-noir film
written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan
. It stars William Hurt
, Kathleen Turner
, Richard Crenna
, Ted Danson
, J.A. Preston
, and Mickey Rourke
. The film is inspired by Double Indemnity.
The film launched Turner's movie career—Empire
magazine cited the film in 1995 when it named her one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History. The New York Times
wrote in 2005 that, propelled by her "jaw-dropping movie debut [in] Body Heat... she built a career on adventurousness and frank sexuality born of robust physicality."
heatwave, Ned Racine (William Hurt
), an inept and somewhat sleazy lawyer
, begins an affair with Matty (Kathleen Turner
), wife of Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna
), a wealthy businessman.
They go to great lengths to keep their affair a secret, but Ned mistakenly makes a pass at a woman he thought was Matty but turns out to be an old school friend of hers named Mary Ann Simpson (Kim Zimmer
); and Matty is discovered performing fellatio
on Ned by Edmund's young niece Heather (Carola McGuinness) who is staying with Matty. Ned even meets Edmund when he comes across the Walkers by chance.
Matty soon makes it clear to Ned that she wants to leave Edmund but also wants his money, explaining that a divorce would leave her with very little of his fortune because of a prenuptial agreement
. Racine suggests that the only option is to kill Edmund.
While planning the murder, Ned consults one of his shadier clients, Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke
), an expert on incendiary device
s, who gives Ned the bomb he built for him.
Matty tries to get Ned to change Edmund's will to prevent her niece Heather from getting half the fortune, but he refuses in order to avoid suspicious activity in the days leading up to Edmund's death.
Racine establishes an alibi at a Miami hotel, then drives back to the Walker estate at night where he kills Edmund. He places the body in an abandoned business that Edmund was known to be involved with, and destroys the building with the incendiary device, to make it look like a botched arson
job.
After his victim's death has been officially declared, Ned is contacted by Edmund's lawyer about a new will that Racine supposedly drew up on Edmund's behalf which was witnessed by Matty's friend Mary Ann Simpson. Unaware of the new will's existence, Ned plays along to avoid suspicion. Still leaving half the estate to Heather, the new will is so badly prepared it is declared null and void, resulting
in Matty getting the entire fortune.
As Matty later admits to an angered Ned that she forged the will, Ned's friends, prosecutor Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson
) and police Detective Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston
), begin to suspect Ned of involvement with Matty in a plot to kill her husband. While Ned is in Grace's office, Edmund's sister Roz brings in her daughter Heather to identify the man she saw earlier with Aunt Matty. Heather meets Ned face-to-face but fails to recognize him.
No longer concealing his affair with Matty, Ned tells Grace and Lowenstein it has only recently begun. They reveal to him that Edmund's steel-rim glasses, which he always wore, were not on him at the time of the explosion, and are nowhere to be found. Mary Ann Simpson has also disappeared, having supposedly left the country after witnessing the new will that Matty forged.
Nervous about the will, the glasses, the suspicions of the police, and Matty's loyalty, Ned happens upon a lawyer who once sued him over a mishandled legal case who reveals that to make amends, he recommended Ned to Matty Walker, and admits to telling her about his lack of competence as a lawyer.
Lowenstein warns Ned that someone kept calling his hotel room on the night in question but never got an answer, thereby weakening his alibi. While in custody on a separate charge, Teddy Lewis also warns Ned that a woman came to him for another incendiary device, and that he showed her how to set it to explode when opening a door.
Matty calls Ned to tell him the glasses were found by her housekeeper who, in exchange for money, has left them in the boathouse on the Walker estate. At her prompting, a suspicious Ned goes to the boathouse late at night and sees through the window a long twisted wire attached to the door.
When Matty shows up, Ned confronts her at gunpoint. She admits to having arranged to meet him on purpose but claims to really love him now. He tells her to prove it by going to the boathouse and getting the glasses. She does so and the building explodes. Grace, having obtained enough evidence for an arrest, finds a body in the remains of the boathouse which is identified as Matty Walker (née Tyler) through dental records
.
Now in prison, Ned tries to convince Grace that Matty is still alive, laying out for him the scenario that the woman he knew as "Matty" had an unsavory background and, in order to marry Edmund Walker and get his money, assumed the identity of Matty Tyler. The woman Ned knew as "Mary Ann Simpson" discovered this and played along, presumably in exchange for some of the money, but was then murdered and left in the boathouse. Had he been killed by entering the boathouse, the police would have closed the case; both suspects would have been found dead, and "Matty" would have gotten away clean with the money, which was never recovered.
Remembering that Matty told him where and when she attended High School in Illinois
, Ned writes to the school asking for the yearbook
from that time. As Ned looks through the yearbook, he finds the pictures of Mary Ann Simpson and Matty Tyler, confirming his suspicion that Mary Ann Simpson stole Matty Tyler's identity, eventually becoming Matty Walker.
Below Mary Ann Simpson's picture in the yearbook, Ned reads the inscriptions: "Activities: Swimming", "The Vamp
", and "Ambition—To be rich and live in an exotic land".
A substantial portion of the film was shot in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida
, including downtown Lake Worth
and in the oceanside enclave of Manalapan
. Additional scenes were shot on Hollywood Beach, Florida, such as the scene set in a band shell.
wrote "Body Heat has more narrative drive, character congestion and sense of place than any original screenplay since Chinatown, yet it leaves room for some splendid young actors to breathe, to collaborate in creating the film's texture"; it is "full of meaty characters and pungent performances—Ted Danson as a tap-dancing prosecutor, J.A. Preston as a dogged detective, and especially Mickey Rourke as a savvy young ex-con who looks and acts as if he could be Ned's sleazier twin brother." Variety
wrote "Body Heat is an engrossing, mightily stylish meller in which sex and crime walk hand in hand down the path to tragedy, just like in the old days. Working in the imposing shadow of the late James M. Cain
, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan makes an impressively confident directorial debut." Roger Ebert
included the film on his "10 Best List" for the year.
Janet Maslin
said Body Heat was "skillfully, though slavishly, derived" from 1940's film noir classics; Maslin wrote "Mr. Hurt does a wonderful job of bringing Ned to life" but was not impressed by Miss Turner:
Pauline Kael
dismissed the film, citing its "insinuating, hotted-up dialogue that it would be fun to hoot at if only the hushed, sleepwalking manner of the film didn't make you cringe or yawn". Ebert responded to Kael's negative review:
In a home video review for Turner Classic Movies
, Glenn Erickson called it "arguably the first conscious Neo Noir"; he wrote "Too often described as a quickie remake of Double Indemnity, Body Heat is more detailed in structure and more pessimistic about human nature. The noir hero for the Reagan years is ...more like the self-defeating Al Roberts of Edgar Ulmer's Detour
."
s", and a trailer.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
neo-noir film
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...
. It stars William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
, Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
, Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
, Ted Danson
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
, J.A. Preston
J.A. Preston
J. A. Preston is an African American actor of both film and television. He was most active from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.-Filmography:* Body Heat* Real Life* Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins...
, and Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
. The film is inspired by Double Indemnity.
The film launched Turner's movie career—Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazine cited the film in 1995 when it named her one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote in 2005 that, propelled by her "jaw-dropping movie debut [in] Body Heat... she built a career on adventurousness and frank sexuality born of robust physicality."
Plot
During a particularly intense FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
heatwave, Ned Racine (William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
), an inept and somewhat sleazy lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, begins an affair with Matty (Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
), wife of Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
), a wealthy businessman.
They go to great lengths to keep their affair a secret, but Ned mistakenly makes a pass at a woman he thought was Matty but turns out to be an old school friend of hers named Mary Ann Simpson (Kim Zimmer
Kim Zimmer
Kim Zimmer is an American actress. She is known for her role as Echo DiSavoy on One Life to Live and best known for her role as Reva Shayne on Guiding Light.-Career:...
); and Matty is discovered performing fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
on Ned by Edmund's young niece Heather (Carola McGuinness) who is staying with Matty. Ned even meets Edmund when he comes across the Walkers by chance.
Matty soon makes it clear to Ned that she wants to leave Edmund but also wants his money, explaining that a divorce would leave her with very little of his fortune because of a prenuptial agreement
Prenuptial agreement
A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenup or prenupt, is a contract entered into prior to marriage, civil union or any other agreement prior to the main agreement by the people intending to marry or contract with each other...
. Racine suggests that the only option is to kill Edmund.
While planning the murder, Ned consults one of his shadier clients, Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
), an expert on incendiary device
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
s, who gives Ned the bomb he built for him.
Matty tries to get Ned to change Edmund's will to prevent her niece Heather from getting half the fortune, but he refuses in order to avoid suspicious activity in the days leading up to Edmund's death.
Racine establishes an alibi at a Miami hotel, then drives back to the Walker estate at night where he kills Edmund. He places the body in an abandoned business that Edmund was known to be involved with, and destroys the building with the incendiary device, to make it look like a botched arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
job.
After his victim's death has been officially declared, Ned is contacted by Edmund's lawyer about a new will that Racine supposedly drew up on Edmund's behalf which was witnessed by Matty's friend Mary Ann Simpson. Unaware of the new will's existence, Ned plays along to avoid suspicion. Still leaving half the estate to Heather, the new will is so badly prepared it is declared null and void, resulting
Intestacy
Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies owning property greater than the sum of their enforceable debts and funeral expenses without having made a valid will or other binding declaration; alternatively where such a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of...
in Matty getting the entire fortune.
As Matty later admits to an angered Ned that she forged the will, Ned's friends, prosecutor Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
) and police Detective Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston
J.A. Preston
J. A. Preston is an African American actor of both film and television. He was most active from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.-Filmography:* Body Heat* Real Life* Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins...
), begin to suspect Ned of involvement with Matty in a plot to kill her husband. While Ned is in Grace's office, Edmund's sister Roz brings in her daughter Heather to identify the man she saw earlier with Aunt Matty. Heather meets Ned face-to-face but fails to recognize him.
No longer concealing his affair with Matty, Ned tells Grace and Lowenstein it has only recently begun. They reveal to him that Edmund's steel-rim glasses, which he always wore, were not on him at the time of the explosion, and are nowhere to be found. Mary Ann Simpson has also disappeared, having supposedly left the country after witnessing the new will that Matty forged.
Nervous about the will, the glasses, the suspicions of the police, and Matty's loyalty, Ned happens upon a lawyer who once sued him over a mishandled legal case who reveals that to make amends, he recommended Ned to Matty Walker, and admits to telling her about his lack of competence as a lawyer.
Lowenstein warns Ned that someone kept calling his hotel room on the night in question but never got an answer, thereby weakening his alibi. While in custody on a separate charge, Teddy Lewis also warns Ned that a woman came to him for another incendiary device, and that he showed her how to set it to explode when opening a door.
Matty calls Ned to tell him the glasses were found by her housekeeper who, in exchange for money, has left them in the boathouse on the Walker estate. At her prompting, a suspicious Ned goes to the boathouse late at night and sees through the window a long twisted wire attached to the door.
When Matty shows up, Ned confronts her at gunpoint. She admits to having arranged to meet him on purpose but claims to really love him now. He tells her to prove it by going to the boathouse and getting the glasses. She does so and the building explodes. Grace, having obtained enough evidence for an arrest, finds a body in the remains of the boathouse which is identified as Matty Walker (née Tyler) through dental records
Dental Records
Dental Records is a small, independent record label, based in Ipswich, UK.-Releases:*DRCD0501 The Ballistics - Allow Me To Demonstrate*DRCD0601 Singled Out - Hardcore Seanography*DRCD0602 The Ballistics - The Spirit Of Kelso Cochrane...
.
Now in prison, Ned tries to convince Grace that Matty is still alive, laying out for him the scenario that the woman he knew as "Matty" had an unsavory background and, in order to marry Edmund Walker and get his money, assumed the identity of Matty Tyler. The woman Ned knew as "Mary Ann Simpson" discovered this and played along, presumably in exchange for some of the money, but was then murdered and left in the boathouse. Had he been killed by entering the boathouse, the police would have closed the case; both suspects would have been found dead, and "Matty" would have gotten away clean with the money, which was never recovered.
Remembering that Matty told him where and when she attended High School in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Ned writes to the school asking for the yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
from that time. As Ned looks through the yearbook, he finds the pictures of Mary Ann Simpson and Matty Tyler, confirming his suspicion that Mary Ann Simpson stole Matty Tyler's identity, eventually becoming Matty Walker.
Below Mary Ann Simpson's picture in the yearbook, Ned reads the inscriptions: "Activities: Swimming", "The Vamp
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
", and "Ambition—To be rich and live in an exotic land".
Cast
- William HurtWilliam HurtWilliam McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
as Ned Racine - Kathleen TurnerKathleen TurnerMary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
as Matty Walker - Richard CrennaRichard CrennaRichard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
as Edmund Walker - Ted DansonTed DansonEdward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...
as Peter Lowenstein - J.A. PrestonJ.A. PrestonJ. A. Preston is an African American actor of both film and television. He was most active from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.-Filmography:* Body Heat* Real Life* Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins...
as Oscar Grace - Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as Teddy Lewis - Kim ZimmerKim ZimmerKim Zimmer is an American actress. She is known for her role as Echo DiSavoy on One Life to Live and best known for her role as Reva Shayne on Guiding Light.-Career:...
as Mary Ann Simpson - Carola McGuinness as Heather Kraft
Production
Kasdan "wanted this film to have the intricate structure of a dream, the density of a good novel, and the texture of recognizable people in extraordinary circumstances."A substantial portion of the film was shot in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
, including downtown Lake Worth
Lake Worth, Florida
Lake Worth is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, which takes its name from the body of water along its eastern border, originally called "Lake Worth", and now generally known as the Lake Worth Lagoon. The lake itself was named for General William J. Worth, who led U.S. forces during the last...
and in the oceanside enclave of Manalapan
Manalapan, Florida
Manalapan is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States.-History:United States President Benjamin Harrison granted George H. K. Carter a homestead in 1889 on the yet unnamed land...
. Additional scenes were shot on Hollywood Beach, Florida, such as the scene set in a band shell.
Critical reception
Upon its release, Richard CorlissRichard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
wrote "Body Heat has more narrative drive, character congestion and sense of place than any original screenplay since Chinatown, yet it leaves room for some splendid young actors to breathe, to collaborate in creating the film's texture"; it is "full of meaty characters and pungent performances—Ted Danson as a tap-dancing prosecutor, J.A. Preston as a dogged detective, and especially Mickey Rourke as a savvy young ex-con who looks and acts as if he could be Ned's sleazier twin brother." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote "Body Heat is an engrossing, mightily stylish meller in which sex and crime walk hand in hand down the path to tragedy, just like in the old days. Working in the imposing shadow of the late James M. Cain
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan makes an impressively confident directorial debut." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
included the film on his "10 Best List" for the year.
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
said Body Heat was "skillfully, though slavishly, derived" from 1940's film noir classics; Maslin wrote "Mr. Hurt does a wonderful job of bringing Ned to life" but was not impressed by Miss Turner:
- "[S]ex is all-important to Body Heat, as its title may indicate. And beyond that there isn't much to move the story along or to draw these characters together. A great deal of the distance between [Ned and Matty] can be attributed to the performance of Miss Turner, who looks like the quintessential forties siren, but sounds like the soap-opera actress she is. Miss Turner keeps her chin high in the air, speaks in a perfect monotone, and never seems to move from the position in which Mr. Kasdan has left her."
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
dismissed the film, citing its "insinuating, hotted-up dialogue that it would be fun to hoot at if only the hushed, sleepwalking manner of the film didn't make you cringe or yawn". Ebert responded to Kael's negative review:
Yes, Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (1981) is aware of the films that inspired it—especially Billy WilderBilly WilderBilly Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
's Double Indemnity (1944). But it has a power that transcends its sources. It exploits the personal style of its stars to insinuate itself; Kael is unfair to Turner, who in her debut role played a woman so sexually confident that we can believe her lover (William Hurt) could be dazed into doing almost anything for her. The moment we believe that, the movie stops being an exercise and starts working.
In a home video review for Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, Glenn Erickson called it "arguably the first conscious Neo Noir"; he wrote "Too often described as a quickie remake of Double Indemnity, Body Heat is more detailed in structure and more pessimistic about human nature. The noir hero for the Reagan years is ...more like the self-defeating Al Roberts of Edgar Ulmer's Detour
Detour (1945 film)
Detour is a film noir thriller that stars Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald. The movie was adapted by Martin Goldsmith and Martin Mooney from Goldsmith's novel of the same name and was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer...
."
Home video
Warner Bros released a 25th anniversary Deluxe Edition DVD of Body Heat, including a documentary about the film by Laurent Bouzereau, a "number of rightfully deleted sceneDeleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s", and a trailer.