☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Body Heat (1981) – L. Kasdan
Excellent neo-noir
from director Lawrence Kasdan that updates The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1946) for less repressed times (and is heaps better than the Bob Rafelson direct
remake, also from 1981). William Hurt is
an easy-going lawyer at the bottom of the food chain in a sultry south Florida
town, hanging out with his buddies, assistant district attorney Ted Danson and
detective J. A. Preston. He’s a ladies
man who isn’t seeking commitment. When
he runs into Kathleen Turner, he is intrigued and soon they are having a
tempestuous affair, despite the fact that she’s married. Her husband (Richard Crenna) is a shady
financier who is only home on weekends.
Eventually, they hatch a plan to murder him so that she’ll inherit a fortune.
After the deed, Hurt discovers that things weren’t exactly how he thought they
were… Although hyped for its sex scenes,
what really makes this film outstanding is Hurt’s performance – he’s cocky and
confident at the start, then clearly obsessed by Turner (also good, in her film
debut), and then slowly it dawns on him that he’s been played. Kasdan warns
viewers again and again that Hurt is taking risks and that Turner is trouble –
we know it, but still we only gradually realise just how clever she really is
and how ****ed he is. Well worth a
revisit.
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