1. Plot

2. Cast

3. Production

4. Music

5. Reception

6. Home media

7. References

8. External links

The film launched Turner's career—Empire magazine cited the film in 1995 when it named her one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History".^[3] 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."^[4]

The film was the directorial debut of Kasdan, screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Plot

During a particularly intense Florida heatwave, inept lawyer Ned Racine begins an affair with Matty, the wife of wealthy businessman, Edmund Walker. One night Ned arrives at the Walker mansion and playfully propositions a woman who he mistakenly thinks is Matty. The woman is Mary Ann Simpson, Matty's visiting high school friend. Soon after, Matty tells Ned she wants to divorce Edmund, but their prenuptial agreement would leave her with little money. Eventually Ned suggests murdering Edmund so Matty can inherit his wealth. He consults a shady former client, Teddy Lewis, an expert on incendiary devices, who supplies Ned with a bomb, though he strongly encourages Ned to abandon whatever he is scheming.

Ned, aided by Matty, kills Edmund and moves the body to an abandoned building connected to Edmund's business interests. Ned detonates the bomb to look like Edmund died during a botched arson job. Soon after, Edmund's lawyer contacts Ned about a new will that Racine supposedly drafted for Edmund and was witnessed by Mary Ann Simpson. The new will was improperly prepared, making it null and void, resulting in Matty inheriting Edmund's entire fortune while disinheriting his surviving blood relatives. Matty later reveals to Ned that she forged the will, knowing it would be nullified.

Two of Ned's friends, assistant deputy prosecutor Peter Lowenstein, and police detective Oscar Grace, begin to suspect Ned is involved in Edmund's death. They inform Ned that Edmund's eyeglasses, which he always wore, are missing. Mary Ann Simpson has also disappeared. Nervous over the mounting evidence implicating him, and questioning Matty's loyalty, Ned happens upon a lawyer who once sued him over a mishandled legal case. The lawyer says that to make amends, he recommended Ned to Matty Walker, and admits he told her about Ned's modest legal skills.

Lowenstein informs Ned that on the night of the murder, hotel phone records show that repeated calls to Ned's room went unanswered, thereby weakening his alibi. Teddy tells Ned about a woman wanting another incendiary device, and that he showed her how to booby trap a door. Matty calls Ned and says Edmund's glasses are in the Walker estate boathouse. Ned arrives later that night and spots a long twisted wire attached to the door. When Matty arrives, Ned asks her to retrieve the glasses. Matty walks toward the boathouse and disappears from view; the boathouse explodes. A body found inside is identified through dental records as Matty Walker (née Tyler).

Now in prison, Ned, having realized Matty duped him, tries to convince Grace that she is still alive. He lays out for him the scenario that the woman he knew as "Matty" assumed the real Matty Tyler's identity in order to marry and murder Edmund for his money. The "Mary Ann Simpson" that Ned met had discovered the scheme and was blackmailing Matty, only to also be murdered. Had Ned been killed in the boathouse explosion, the police would have found both suspects' bodies. Ned obtains a copy of Matty's high school yearbook. In it are photos of Mary Ann Simpson and Matty Tyler, confirming his suspicion that Mary Ann assumed Matty's identity, eventually becoming Matty Walker. Below Mary Ann's is the nickname "The Vamp" and "Ambition—To be rich and live in an exotic land".

The real Mary Ann (Matty) is last seen wearing a nonchalant facial expression, while lounging on a tropical beach, alongside a Brazilian Portuguese-speaking man.

Cast

• William Hurt as Ned Racine
• Kathleen Turner as Matty Tyler Walker
• Richard Crenna as Edmund Walker
• Ted Danson as Peter Lowenstein
• J. A. Preston as Oscar Grace
• Mickey Rourke as Teddy Lewis
• Kim Zimmer as Mary Ann Simpson
• Jane Hallaren as Stella
• Lanna Saunders as Roz Kraft
• Carola McGuinness as Heather Kraft
• Michael Ryan as Miles Hardin

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, 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.

There was originally more graphic and extensive sex scene footage, but this was only shown in an early premier, including in West Palm Beach, the area it was filmed, and was, apparently, edited out for wider distribution. In an interview, Body Heat film editor Carol Littleton says, "Obviously, there was more graphic footage. But we felt that less was more."

Music

In late 1980, Lawrence Kasdan met with four composers of those works he had admired, but only John Barry told him of ideas which were close to the director's own. 10 demos were recorded on March 31 and Barry wrote the whole score during April and early May 1981. The composer provided several themes and leitmotifs—the most memorable was "Main Theme", heard during the main titles and representing Matty.^[5]

Barry worked closely with recording sessions engineer Dan Wallin to mix the soundtrack album, but for several reasons J.S Lasher (who produced the limited-edition LP and CD) remixed multitracks himself without Barry's or Wallin's participation.^[6]

J.S Lasher's album was released several times: as a 45 RPM (Southern Cross LXSE 1.002) in 1983 and as a CD (Label X LXCD 2) in 1989. Both editions also included 'Ladd Company Logo' composed and conducted by John Williams.

In 1998, Varèse Sarabande released a re-recording by Joel McNeely and the London Symphony Orchestra. This CD contains several new tracks (versus J.S Lasher's editions), but still was not complete.

In August 2012, Film Score Monthly released a definitive two-disc edition: complete score with alternate, unused and source cues on disc 1 and original, Barry-authorized album and theme demos on disc 2.^[7]

Reception

Upon its release, Richard Corliss 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 magazine wrote "Body Heat is an engrossing, mightily stylish meller [melodrama] 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".^[8] Roger Ebert included the film on his "10 Best List" for the year.^[9]

Sex 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.^[10]

Yes, Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (1981) is aware of the films that inspired it—especially Billy Wilder'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.^[12]

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".^[17] Body Heat received mostly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 97% approval rating, based on 39 reviews, and an average rating of 8/10. The site's consensus states, "Classic film noir gets a steamy, '80s update with Body Heat."^[13]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 92^[14]
• 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – No. 94^[15]
• 2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • Matty Walker: "You aren't too bright. I like that in a man." – Nominated^[16]
• 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated^[17]

Home media

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 scenes",^[17] and a trailer.

References

External links

• {{IMDb title|id=0082089|title=Body Heat}}
• {{Rotten-tomatoes|1002830-body_heat}}
• {{Amg movie|6495|Body Heat}}
• {{mojo title|id=bodyheat|title=Body Heat}}
• {{metacritic film|id=body-heat|title=Body Heat}}

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