Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp) made his directorial debut, riffing on Double Indemnity and practically every other hardboiled saga about an unfaithful wife plotting her spouse’s demise, with this controversial and steamy surprise hit. William Hurt, as Ned, the sex-blinded lawyer, had already established himself as a leading man in Altered States and Eyewitness but Body Heat put Kathleen Turner, as deadly Florida bombshell, Matty, on the Hollywood map and jumpstarted her career. Richard Crenna is Matty’s unfortunate husband who may or may not survive the betrayal going on behind his back. With Ted Danson and a youthful Mickey Rourke.
“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. Lawrence Kasdan makes an impressively confident directorial debut.” – Variety
“Body Heat is good enough to make film noir play like we hadn’t seen it before. 4 Stars” – Roger Ebert
Ariel Schudson discusses Body Heat on the New Beverly blog.
