Movie Challenge Review: Body Heat

Sleaze. Sex. Obsession. Murder.

All of this and more takes place in a torrid heat wave in Body Heat, the film that launched Kathleen Turner’s movie career. After this, she was one of the most sought after actors for the next 10+ years. Her sultry voice and piercing come-hither gaze brought William Hurt to his knees.

There are two scenes involving Ms. Turner that surprised me–I was going to put in a screenshot of one of them but I’d rather not ruin it. This is not a movie to be missed if you want to see a sexy, sultry, dangerous Kathleen Turner. You thought she looked good in Romancing the Stone? Think again…

The film, directed by the late, great Mr. Kasdan, took me a bit by surprise with its slow, meandering pace, wide turns here and there and its attitude of not wanting to be rushed. But then I thought about it and that was a perfect way to capture the intense heat wave that the characters had to endure, slowly beating down on them, never letting up, always there, everywhere. You could say the heat became a character itself. And I think Mr. Kasdan had that in mind and he executed it extremely well. Everybody was hot, everybody was a bit on edge, everybody wanted to escape…escape the heat not only brought on by the weather but by their past, their lives they didn’t want and the dreams of a future they could taste. The heat was making people do things and say things and take chances they normally wouldn’t take.

Or would they?

Check it out and find out for yourselves. And enjoy Ms. Turner’s performance beyond the two I alluded to. She’s good. She’s mysterious. And William Hurt doesn’t seem to mind.

Would you?

-Siskeljuiceboy

**So, Cap’n Blackjack, you want a movie to watch, eh? Well, this is one I saw just a few weeks ago. The American remake is coming out soon. And if there’s one thing I have found out about subtitles is that once you move past the five-minute mark, you don’t really realize you’re reading them. Enjoy!