(1981)
4.5
Michael Betzold
It's very warm in the stuffy interiors of this thinly disguised remake of Double Indemnity. Kathleen Turner is so sultry in this Deep South film noir potboiler that it's hard to imagine that this was her first starring role. She plays a devious wife who spins a web that traps a naïve, mesmerized lawyer (William Hurt) in a scheme to kill her husband. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, in his directorial debut, keeps the suspense and eroticism at full power, with plot twists aplenty. He expertly uses the heat of the coastal Florida milieu; the film practically sweats. The film launched the careers of Turner and Kasdan and jump-started a noir revival. Ted Danson, Mickey Rourke, and Richard Crenna provide solid support. Kasdan, Turner, and Hurt reunited in 1988 for The Accidental Tourist.
Body Heat on AllMovie
Body Heat (1981)
