in a crowded theater in the student union building, watching a new film starring actors I didn’t know, and written and directed by an unfamiliar name. This film has stayed with me ever since.All of this was brought back to my attention recently when I read on The New Republic’s Web site that Body Heat is now 25 years old.
For the uninitiated, Body Heat tells the story of Ned Racine, the ultimate slacker lawyer, with a moribund practice in Miami. He coasts along with his personal-injury cases and plea-bargain criminal defense work. One night at a band concert, he catches a glimpse of a stunning woman with chestnut hair in a tight skirt that hugs a lean and mean body, and a “back off, pal” demeanor--the classic femme fatale. It’s Matty Walker, the unhappy wife of a very rich and older man. To say that Racine is obsessed with Matty is an understatement; rather, he consumes every ounce of her being until he decides to sacrifice everything in a plot to kill her husband. Racine is not so much a stupid guy as he is criminally gullible. Even the dimmest member of the audience knows that Racine is being set up to take a fall, and that he’s out of his depth with this black widow. The beauty of the film is the surprise ending and how it arrives.
Body Heat introduced us to various artists who went on to bigger careers (although, writing for The New Republic, Christopher Orr points out that those careers have had their highs and lows). Lawrence Kasdan, fresh from writing Raiders of the Lost Ark, used his original script as his directorial debut. In a television interview with Bob Costas years ago, Kasdan told the story of his first day on the set--when he was preparing to direct relative unknown William Hurt (Racine) and TV soap actress Kathleen Turner (Matty) in what is probably the most erotic scene of the film. Racine follows Matty to her huge home, only to find himself locked outside on the wraparound porch, unable to access her, even though he can see her through the numerous windows. After a minute of furiously pacing (the camera tracking his every step), he gives in to the mounting lust and heaves a chair through the French doors, then bounding through the wreckage and taking her. The camera doesn’t pull away and does not shy away from the nudity that follows, which was bold for its time.
In addition to the director and the two leads, this film was our first glimpse of Ted Danson, playing a local prosecutor who tries to save Racine from himself, and Mickey Rourke, playing Teddy the arsonist, who helps Racine concoct the explosive booby trap for Matty’s husband, who was played by that great acting workhorse Richard Crenna. It is Rourke who delivers the best line of the film as he tries to talk Racine out of his murderous plot:
I got a serious question for you: What the fuck are you doing? This is not shit for you to be messin’ with. Are you ready to hear something? I want you to see if this sounds familiar: Any time you try a decent crime, you got fifty ways you’re gonna fuck it up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then you’re a genius … and you ain’t no genius.It’s a film well worth screening again. The South Florida setting, the highly charged dialogue, and the unblinking depiction of pure and desperate lust all complement the plot as it rolls, abruptly turns on a dime, and then begins to roll again, even faster.
Body Heat is a keeper, and it certainly makes me wish Kasdan would someday return to crime films.
Read Christopher Orr’s entire essay here.
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