Body Heat (1981)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Lawrence Kasdan

Writer:

Lawrence Kasdan (written by)

Release Date:

28 August 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It's a hot summer. Ned Racine is waiting for something special to happen. And when it does... He won't be ready for the consequences.

Plot:

In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Florida | Murder | Bar | Wind Chime

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 nominations

Cast

William Hurt	...	Ned Racine
Kathleen Turner	...	Matty Walker
Richard Crenna	...	Edmund Walker
Ted Danson	...	Peter Lowenstein
J.A. Preston	...	Oscar Grace
Mickey Rourke	...	Teddy Lewis
Kim Zimmer	...	Mary Ann
Jane Hallaren	...	Stella
Lanna Saunders	...	Roz Kraft
Carola McGuinness	...	Heather Kraft
Michael Ryan	...	Miles Hardin
Larry Marko	...	Judge Costanza
Deborah Lucchesi	...	Beverly
Lynn Hallowell	...	Angela
Thom Sharp	...	Michael Glenn (as Thom J. Sharp)
Ruth Thom	...	Mrs. Singer
Diane Lewis	...	Glenda
Robert Traynor	...	Prison Trustee
Meg Kasdan	...	Nurse
Ruth P. Strahan	...	Betty the Housekeeper
Filomena Triscari	...	Hostess at Tulio's
Bruce A. Lee	...	Man on Beach
Ramiro Velasco	...	Cuban Trio
Tomas Choy	...	Cuban Trio
Servio T. Moreno	...	Cuban Trio

Directed by
Lawrence Kasdan

Writing credits
Lawrence Kasdan		(written by)

Produced by
Fred T. Gallo	....	producer
Robert Grand	....	associate producer
George Lucas	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
John Barry		(music composed by)

Cinematography by
Richard H. Kline		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Carol Littleton

Casting by
Wallis Nicita		(as Wally Nicita)

Production Design by
Bill Kenney

Set Decoration by
Rick Gentz		(as Rick T. Gentz)

Costume Design by
Renié		(as Renie Conley)

Makeup Department
Robert Sidell	....	makeup artist (as Robert A. Sidell)
Adele Taylor	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Robert Grand	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jeffrey Chernov	....	second assistant director
Michael Grillo	....	first assistant director
Bruce Humphrey	....	directors guild trainee

Art Department
Robert L. Anderson	....	construction coordinator
Dennis Butterworth	....	greens foreman
Ray Jarvis	....	stand-by painter
Richard McKenzie	....	set designer
Robert Planck	....	leadman
Sig Tingloff	....	set designer (as Sig Tinglof)
Sonny Van Hecke	....	assistant property master
Robert J. Visciglia Sr.	....	property master (as Robert Visciglia Sr.)
Doug Wilson	....	paint foreman
Joseph Musso	....	production illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jim Cook	....	re-recording mixer (as James Cook)
Patrick Drummond	....	sound editor
Robert Grieve	....	sound editor
Maury Harris	....	production sound mixer
Chris Jenkins	....	re-recording mixer (as Christopher Jenkins)
Richard Portman	....	re-recording mixer
David Sanucci	....	boom man

Special Effects by
Hal Bigger	....	special effects man
Howard Jensen	....	special effects supervisor

Stunts
William H. Burton	....	stunt coordinator (as Bill Burton)
Steven Chambers	....	stuntman (as Steve Chambers)
Gary Combs	....	stuntman
James M. Halty	....	stuntman (as Jim Halty)
Ron Stein	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Albert Bettcher	....	camera operator
Eric Engler	....	camera assistant
Larry D. Howard	....	gaffer
Pat King	....	second grip
Michael McGowan	....	camera operator
John Monte	....	still photographer
Ted Morris	....	electrical best boy
Ron Phillips	....	still photographer
Robert Sordal	....	key grip
William Tobin	....	camera assistant (as Bill Tobin)
Robert A. Wise	....	camera assistant

Casting Department
Pearl Kempton	....	extras casting
Deborah Lucchesi	....	casting coordinator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Winnie D. Brown	....	costumer (as Winnie Brown)
Barbara Siebert	....	costume supervisor (as Barbara Siebert Bolticoff)

Editorial Department
Bruce Cannon	....	second assistant editor
Mia Goldman	....	assistant editor
Robert Raring	....	color timer

Music Department
John Barry	....	conductor
Cliff Kohlweck	....	music editor (as Clifford C. Kohlweck)
Dan Wallin	....	scoring mixer

Transportation Department
James Antúnez	....	transportation coordinator (as James Antunez)
Michael Antunez	....	transportation captain
Sam Segal	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Pamela Alch	....	script supervisor
Celeste Angiolillo	....	assistant: Mr. Kasdan
Lynne Birdt	....	production coordinator
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Mark Indig	....	location manager: Florida
Art Schaeffer	....	production accountant (as Art Schaefer)
Daniel Schneider	....	location manager
Peter J. Silbermann	....	unit publicist (as Peter Silbermann)
Bernard S. Styles	....	production assistant
Tad Tadlock	....	choreographer
Jim Bigham	....	location manager (uncredited)
Bundy Chanock	....	set medic (uncredited)
Shawn McAllister	....	stand-in (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Ladd Company, The

Distributors

• Ladd Company, The (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1984) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Argentina Video Home (1982) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (1999) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (1999) (Argentina) (VHS) (re-release)
• Warner Bros. (1999) (Argentina) (all media)
• Warner Home Video (video)
• Warner Home Vídeo (1999) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera cranes
• City of Lake Worth  the producers wish to thank for their cooperation in the making of this picture
• Creative Mobile Studio  location equipment by (as Creative Mobile Studios)
• Production Payments  production services
• State of Florida  the producers wish to thank for their cooperation in the making of this picture

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (PCA #26275) | West Germany:18 | Ireland:18 | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Delray Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Ladd Company, The

Trivia:

This movie was originally slated to be shot in New York/New Jersey. It was moved to Florida because of a teamsters strike. When the script was changed to Florida, the technical director failed to switch to Florida laws.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Under Florida law at that time, the trust would not yet have been void as stated in the movie. Florida had a "wait and see" provision from 1979 to 1988 which made the gift valid unless it failed to vest within lifetime of someone plus 21 years.

Quotes:

Peter: Assistant County Prosecutor is not the end of the line for me.
Ned: No, no. Someday, Deputy County Prosecutor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Salinui chueok (2003)

Soundtrack:

That Old Feeling

A sultry, sweaty update of Double Indemnity

The coastal Florida town in Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat brings to mind remote colonial outposts in movies like The Letter (nearby Miami, here, seems as far away as London). A sweltering spell of weather settles down for a long roost, and the distant glow of an old hotel – a relic of the peninsula's past as an exotic getaway for northerners with money – lights the opening scene; it's been torched for the insurance, an occurrence so common as to warrant little comment.

It's a town where William Hurt, a lawyer who's neither very bright nor very scrupulous, ekes out a modest existence that seems to suit him; he can dine at the best restaurant in town once a month so long as he doesn't order an appetizer. The rest of his time he spends lazily with bourbon or beer or in bed with whoever obliges him.

Then he meets up with Kathleen Turner, who hangs around cocktail lounges when her wheeler-dealer husband (Richard Crenna) is out of town, which is a lot. After the ritual game of cat-and-mouse, Turner and Hurt kindle a torrid romance, despite the enervating heat that keeps everything else limp as dishrags. Soon, the pillow talk works around to murder....

Of course, Body Heat is a latter-day version of the story for which Double Indemnity serves as archetype: Duplicitous woman seduces lust-addled stud into killing rich older husband, then leaves him to twist slowly, slowly in the wind. There's not even enough wind to stir the chimes that festoon the porch off Turner's bedroom -- can't the rich old cuckold spring for air conditioning? Hurt and Turner are reduced to emptying the refrigerator's ice tray into the post-coital bath they share -- but Hurt's left twisting nonetheless, in one of the better updates of this ageless tale.

In her movie debut, Turner makes her deepest impression with her best asset, that dimple-Haig voice of hers, all silk and smoke (but neither she nor Kasdan, who also wrote the script, quite justify her character's long and intricate back-story of ruthless scheming). With his long, lithe college-boy's build and wife-swapper's mustache left over from the '70s, Hurt embodies the self-satisfied patsy whose zipper leads him through life. Crenna (who played this Walter Neff role in the 1973 TV remake of Double Indemnity) now takes on the role of the disposable husband, the victim (or rather, the first victim).

But it's two smaller parts that give the movie a special shine. Mickey Rourke, as the local arsonist whom Hurt once helped out of a jam, ups the voltage in his two scenes, warning the heedless Hurt, then warning him again when it's all but too late. And, as Hurt's amiable adversary in the town's tiny legal circle, Ted Danson proves surprisingly spry and intuitive an actor (and he contributes a lovely little idyll, doing a soft-shoe routine under a street lamp on a pier). There's a twist or two too many in Body Heat -- it's a bit gimmicky -- but, after watching it, you feel as though you, too, should be stripping off your clothes, if only to wring them out.