Writer Lawrence Kasdan made his directing debut with this neo-noir film, which brought back the femme fatale to the big screen. The set-up is pretty standard, but the pay-off is what makes the film so great.
In the first scene, we meet low-brow lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt, THE ACCIDENTIAL TOURIST), who is a ladies man with stale lines that he even admits only work on women who haven’t been around too long. One night he meets Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner, ROMANCING THE STONE), who’s married and blows him off. They meet up again and soon enough are wrapped up in a sultry affair set to the humid summer temperature of southern Florida. Their affair heats up and talk begins about wanting Matty’s millionaire husband Edmund (Richard Crenna, FIRST BLOOD) dead.
The characters are archetypical for film noir. Racine is a shmuck who doesn’t know he’s a shmuck. Matty is the vulnerable seductress. Edmund is a greedy land developer who will screw anyone to get what he wants. Because we know the genre, we suspect Matty from the start. But the set-up is important for tone and character development. There’s a wonderful scene in the film where Racine goes to get help from a former client who’s an arsonist named Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke, 9 1/2 WEEKS). Teddy advises Racine that for any crime there’s 50 ways you can get caught and if you can think of 25 you’re a genius. Racine may be smart, but he isn’t a genius.
This sets up the tail end of the film, which puts the audience on the edge of their seats. Following vile characters is a dangerous affair, because you risk the chance of losing you’re audience’s sympathy. What makes BODY HEAT work so well is the perfect construction of the characters and story. Edmund isn’t the nicest guy in the world so no one will shed a tear for him. An audience will usually side with lovers even if lust is more of what they are feeling. Plus, we always like to root for the underdog, which Ned Racine fills nicely. In addition, Racine has two friends who care about him, which makes us care about him. Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson, TV’s CHEERS) is an assistant DA, who likes to live vicariously through Ned’s sex life and Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston, A FEW GOOD MEN) is a detective who likes Ned much like someone would like a shaggy dog.
The dances and moves that Ned has to make to skip around the affair as well as his crimes are fascinating. There’s something alluring about the perfect murder, but there is no such thing as the perfect murder. In a way film noir let’s us live out our darkest thoughts, but reaffirms our moral beliefs when the consequences come to light.
The ending of the film is a twist from the classic film noir and adds a complex tone to the entire film. Take a special notice to the mood of the last character we see and certain truths can be assumed. The performances are wonderful and the characters are given crisp and fun dialogue. The cinematography is perfect. The pacing is dead on. Everything about the film works and serves the story perfectly. This deserves to be ranked up with some of the best film noirs of all time. It’s just that good.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
