Body Heat

Plot synopsis:
Mary Ann Simpson (Kathleen Turner) and Matty Tyler (Kim Zimmer) graduate together from Wheaton High School in Illinois. According to the yearbook, Mary Ann's goal is to be rich and live in an exotic land. She pursues her goal in a calculated, manipulative, and ruthless manner that includes a switch of identities.The following synopsis describes events in chronological order, but the viewer learns many of the events only at the end of the movie.Mary Ann Simpson gets involved in bad things after high school, but then sets her sights on wealthy Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna). She knows Walker will not marry her if he finds out about her past. She decides to adopt the identity of her high school classmate Matty Tyler. As Matty Tyler, she arranges to meet Edmund Walker. They get married and move to a waterfront estate in Pine Haven, Florida. Edmund travels frequently and is involved in many business dealings, including an investment in an abandoned beachfront hotel nearby.Edmund's will leaves much of his estate to his niece. Matty Tyler Walker (the real Mary Ann) knows that if his will is invalidated for any reason, she would inherit all his estate as the surviving spouse under state law of intestacy. Matty devises a plan to murder Edmund and get all of his estate. To carry out the plan, she must find an attorney to commit the murder and forge a new, invalid will. She will then implicate the attorney as the murderer and kill him in what looks like an accident to end any further investigation.Ned Racine (William Hurt) is a slightly disreputable attorney. One of the wills he drafted was invalidated and he was sued for legal malpractice. His best friends are prosecutor Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson) and detective Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston).At a party, Matty Tyler Walker meets an attorney who tells her about the legal malpractice case against Ned. Matty decides that Ned is the perfect target for her scheme. Matty arranges to meet Ned and they begin a hot affair. She eventually talks Ned into murdering Edmund. Ned gets advice on arson devices from his client Teddy Lewis (Mickey Rourke). Matty asks Ned to change Edmund's will and forge his signature. He refuses because he thinks it will attract attention.As the murder plans develop, Ned makes a surprise visit to see Matty and finds another woman meeting with Matty. Matty introduces her as "Mary Ann Simpson," but unknown to Ned (or to the viewer) she is actually the real Matty Tyler. The real Matty Tyler has learned about Matty Tyler Walker's deception and is blackmailing her. Matty Tyler Walker must now alter her plans to also get rid of the real Matty.On the night Edmund is to be killed, Ned goes to Miami and checks into a motel to give himself an alibi. He then drives back to Edmund and Matty's house and murders Edmund. He takes Edmund's body to the abandoned beachfront hotel and sets it on fire, hoping to make it look like Edmund tried to commit arson and was accidentally killed in the process. While Ned is gone setting the fire, Matty telephones the front desk of Ned's motel repeatedly and asks to speak with Ned. The front desk rings Ned's room but no one answers. Matty knows that Ned is not there and that his failure to answer the telephone calls will destroy his alibi.After the murder and the fire, Ned is shocked to learn that Matty changed the will and made it appear that Ned was involved. The redrafted will is invalid and, as a result, all of Edmund's estate passes to Matty. When Edmund's estate is eventually settled, Matty sends all the money to a secret bank account overseas.Oscar Grace and Peter Lowenstein investigate Edmund's death. They learn that Edmund's body was discovered without his glasses. If his glasses are found elsewhere, it would suggest he was murdered elsewhere and his body then taken to the hotel. They also discover the motel telephone records that show Ned did not stay in his Miami motel room the night of the death. They reluctantly begin to suspect their friend Ned.Meanwhile, Matty Tyler Walker has developed a revised plan that will get rid of both Ned and the real Matty. The first part involves a made-up story that her former housekeeper has Edmund's missing glasses and is threatening to turn them over to the police unless she is paid off. If the glasses are kept from the police, there would still be a chance that Edmund's death would be ruled an accident rather than a homicide. The second part of the plan is to murder the real Matty and place her body in the boat house at her estate. The third part is to send Ned to the boat house on the pretext of recovering the glasses. The boat house will be rigged to explode a few seconds after the door is opened.Before Matty can fully execute her plan, Ned happens to meet the attorney who originally told Matty about him. Ned suspects he has been set up. Then Teddy Lewis tells Ned that Matty had asked him questions about rigging a delayed explosion.Matty Tyler Walker murders the real Matty Tyler and puts her body in the boat house. She then calls Ned and tells him the housekeeper has been paid off and has left the glasses in the boat house. Matty asks Ned to go to the boat house and pick them up. Ned goes to the the boat house, carefully inspects it, and sees the trip wire on the door. Matty arrives, expecting to find the boat house destroyed with the bodies of Ned and the real Matty inside. She is startled to see Ned alive and the boat house intact. Ned tells Matty that he has learned the truth. Matty denies it and swears that she really does love him. To prove his suspicions are unfounded, Matty says she will go down to the boat house by herself. Matty opens the boat house door and then, unknown to Ned, secretly dives into the water and swims away. The boat house explodes a few seconds later.The dental records confirm that the real Matty Tyler's body was in the boat house. The police believe that Matty Tyler Walker and Ned were responsible for Edmund's death and that Matty Tyler Walker was killed in the boat house fire. Ned is charged with Edmund's murder and convicted. The fake Matty retrieves the money from the overseas account and moves to an exotic land. While in prison, Ned obtains a copy of the Wheaton High School yearbook and his suspicions about the switched identities are confirmed when he sees the photos of Mary Ann and Matty. He knows that Mary Ann Simpson/Matty Tyler Walker has succeeded in achieving her high school goal.

Tags: suspenseful, neo noir, murder, atmospheric

Review:
By that, I mainly mean nudity and profanity, although the language isn't that offensive.Kathleen Turner plays a femme fatale, similar to Barbara Stanwyck's role with Fred MacMurray in "Double Indemnity," except with a different ending.
I liked the classic actors better but Turner and Hurt shine with their performances, too.This is steamy movie to say the least.
(Hey, my 87-year-old father is dating a 24-year bimbo in Florida, so I know of where I speak.)The story is divided into three segments: (1) the setup; (2) the romance and plotting of the crime and (3) the crime and unraveling of Hurt as things begin to go very wrong.An intriguing film, this loses nothing with multiple viewings.
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).
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.
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).
A lightning fast affair develops between the ultra-hot and erotic Kathleen Turner and small-time Florida attorney William Hurt in the middle of an unprecedented heatwave in "Body Heat", arguably the most under-rated and most under-appreciated movie of the 1980s.
`It's the movie code,' she explained:  Evil-doers must be punished."While I'm not a fan of the sex and language direction that films have taken since the movie code died, part of the fun in watching `Body Heat' is knowing that there is a chance that either or both William Hurt and Kathleen Turner will get by with killing Turner's husband, played by Richard Crenna.`Body Heat' is almost as good as `Double Indemnity,' which is considered by many to be best of the man-teams-with-woman-to-kill-her-husband genre.
In the hot Pinehaven, Florida, the smalltime wolf lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) flirts with the sexy but married Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) and they begin a torrid love affair.
Ned carefully plots a perfect scheme for killing Edmund; however things go wrong when successive evidences are disclosed conspiring against him."Body Heat" is the greatest homage to film-noir ever!
It stars Academy-Award winner (Kiss of the Spider Woman, 1985) William Hurt with a mustache and a dangling cigarette as Ned Racine, a not overly bright Florida lawyer smitten by Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner in her steamy film debut) a rich housewife with a husband she hates, and a yearning to breathe free.
After watching this movie several(dozen) times I've found what I think are several semi-hidden clues to indicate the direction things are going in Body Heat.
a world where certain modernities have gotten stuck in time.Written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, this film stars William Hurt as Ned Racine, a mediocre attorney in a small southern town who is more famous for one particular legal screw-up - one that figures prominently into the plot - than his small time victories.
During a searing heatwave, Ned Racine(William Hurt) a none to bright Floridian lawyer with an eye for the ladies meets up with and seduces a married woman Matty Walker(Kathleen Turner) and after a torrid affair they are soon plotting to kill her husband (Richard Crenna)so that she can inherit his wealth and be free.Of course all is not what it seems in this neo-noir, the plot obviously takes a nod towards its eminent predecessors Double Indemnity and A Postman always rings twice, but it is more than a mere remake and Kasdan has added his own original spin on the story and made it his own.
Body Heat is full of the witty dialogue you might expect in a JM Cain script and all the twists of an 1980's erotic thriller and an excellent sexual tension is developed between the leads both of whom excel in their respective performances .A must see for all Noir fans..
William Hurt and Katleen Turner complement and play off each other well and Ted Danson turns in a fine performance as does Mickey Rourke and any time Richard Crenna show up in a film you can expect a great performance out of him.
****SPOILERS**** Steamy melodrama set in Florida during the middle of a record heat wave which was nothing like the heat generated on the screen by the two stars, William Hurt & Kathleen Turner, in the movie.Ned Racine, William Hurt, a local lawyer one hot steamy night at a town concert meets sexy and sultry Matty Walker, Kathleen Turner.
The results of that chance meeting leads to a sizzling and torrid affair and ends in murder and deception and finally the loss of Ned's freedom in what has to be one of the most erotic and well thought out "Film Noir" movies ever made.
Unlike the great "Film Noir" movies of the 1940's like "Double Indemnity" and "Out Of The Past" to name a few "Body Heat" is not hampered by the restrictions and limitations of the Hayes Commission back then.
Good early career performances by Ted Danson, Peter Lowenstein, as Ned's friend and fellow lawyer and Mickey Rourke, Teddy Lewis, as an accused arsonist who Ned got off and who later reluctantly gets involved in the murder plot on Matty's husband Edmund.
Superior story and acting with a really unsuspecting ending makes "Body Heat" not just one of the best "Film Noir" movies of all time but the one that all movies of that genre are to be compared too in the future..
One thing I really liked about Body Heat was the way Kasdan, the director, complimented the audience's intelligence by focusing on the plot and not exploiting Kathleen Turner's sexuality to excess.
There's plenty of heat generated in BODY HEAT and most of it comes from the steamy situations set up by director Lawrence Kasdan and, in her debut film role, KATHLEEN TURNER, who turns up the heat even more with a dynamic performance as "the femme fatale".But all of the material will seem familiar if you've ever seen THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE or DOUBLE INDEMNITY.
Still, there are some fresh new twists that will have you wondering just how this whole story will play out once WILLIAM HURT (in a role similar to Fred MacMurray's in DOUBLE INDEMNITY) learns that he's been played for a fall guy by Turner, who wants him to kill her wealthy husband so they can share the wealth.Not only is there a clever twist at the end, but the whole story has been modernized for '80s audiences by including some graphic depictions of soft core sex.
Cain might have written in the '30s or '40s, and when done as effectively as it is here, with John Barry's intriguing score adding some extra dimension to the film noir atmosphere of the tale, it can hold the audience in its grip until that final moment.Well worth seeing for Hurt's very persuasive performance as the weak-minded lawyer dazzled by sex and Turner's debut as a screen siren..
(It also alienates those viewers, such as myself, who don't care to be invited to be voyeurs.)Consequently, Body Heat - a densely plotted film even by noir standards - is left with an awful lot of plot to pack into its second act, and the second half's dialogue and structure suffer from the need to make every line and scene contribute to the explication.
To look on the positive side, which involves overlooking the blandness of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner's performances (compare them with the guilt-fired sexual derangement of Lana Turner, Fred MacMurray and John Garfield in the older films), there are good things about Body Heat.
The surprising interest that ignites this movie is the relationship between Ned and Matty, between William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.
During the whole time when I was watching Body Heat, I was reminded of other femme-fatales that were erected straight out from other 1940's film-noir classics like Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle and Out of the Past.
First look at Body Heat by Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, Accidental Tourist) one may think "Hey, so what, it looks like a remake of Double Indemnity." But a couple of factors give this film a life of its own.
And of course, there's Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in what could be considered their finest performances they ever committed to celluloid.In fact, foreshadowing is the name of the game here, as seedy Florida lawyer Ned Racine gradually realizes his fated connection to femme fatale Matty Walker.
The carnal lust that the characters share for one another fits with the film's salacious and 'heated' tone, where morality is blurred and greed overtakes common sense.I figured I could predict how the story would even play out, but I was taken by surprise with a well written twist that plays on the expectations of the viewer, and makes a passionate commentary on the human condition.So after the film was finished, I wasn't left thinking "So What?" anymore, so much as "Man, I wish I could have directed that film." A fine piece of American Neo-Noir and one of the better mystery/thrillers of the 80s.
Body Heat is also reminiscent of that classic film noir of the 1940s - Double Indemnity.Ned Racine (Hurt) is a somewhat inept and dishonest lawyer in a small town in Florida.
To be certain, Kathleen Turner looks like a cross between Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Montgomery (could there be a sexier combo?).Obviously, the movie is intended as a tribute to film noir, and it certainly succeeds.
(Not all of it from the bodies of the two main characters - Matty and Ned.) The dialogue cleverly works the metaphor of the heat into the steamy affair that Matty (Kathleen Turner) is having with the small-town lawyer (William Hurt).
Body Heat is writer Lawrence Kasden's very successful directorial debut.William Hurt is a lawyer who is drawn into a plot by Kathleen Turner to get rid of her slimy husband Richard Crenna.The acting in this film is outstanding.
Body Heat is a classic thriller that pays homage to the film noir movies of the 1940s.
It looks good, the music is great and Kathleen Turner is hot, hot, hot!You'll be extremely surprised at how intelligent and well-made this film is..
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt are paired in a classic thriller that rivals the best noir films of the 1940s.
The movie itself seems to drip with the heat and humidity of south Florida and John Barry's sultry, suggestive music score is a great accompaniment to an excellent film..
All these things conspire to work against him, as he meets smart and pretty Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), who is looking for someone just like Ned. And she gives him a thorough workout.To tell more about the plot would not be productive, only to say that it is a very clever story, and very well told in this highly entertaining movie.
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt are both superb.Edit: I watched it again July 2018, film and story holds up very well, one of my favorite modern 'noir' along with 'Basic Instinct'..
The movie is a sensuous film noir as well as a diabolical thriller; William Hurt and Kathleen Turner spin a web of illicit sex and murder,and all around them,the inescapable heat that seems to stick to everything and becomes as tangible as the characters.
Most crucially, it fails to make you care about either character, so that the rest of the film feels merely like an extended exercise in plot exposition, the broad thrust of the movie is far too clearly telegraphed so the viewer is left watching simply to see which possible twists have actually been chosen to achieve the necessary overall effect.
Body Heat is widely compared to one of the original, and still one of the best, films noir ever made, Double Indemnity.
William Hurt and Kathleen Turner work amazingly well onscreen, and the cloyingly hot and muggy atmosphere takes a welcome turn from the typical wet streets of classic noir films and makes it work spectacularly well in enhancing the tension of the film.
In the case of low-rent Floridian lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt), it's the classic combination of sex and money (with an oppressive heatwave to fuel the craziness) that makes him kill for Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), sultry wife of shady businessman Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna).
Unfortunately for Ned, Matty—if that is indeed her real name—is about as fatale as a femme can be, and is using her smouldering looks, sensuous curves and incredible sexual magnetism to manipulate the poor chump like a puppet.Full of hot steamy nights, shadowy offices, smoky bars, and seedy characters on the edge of the law, Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat has all the elements one might expect from a classic 40s film noir, but being a product of the 80s, is far less suggestive when it comes to the eroticism.
But Body Heat isn't just about the rampant sweaty sex: the plot is suitably intriguing, the supporting performances are spot-on (including great turns by Ted Danson and a young Mickey Rourke), Kasdan's direction is extremely stylish, and John Barry's jazzy score is simply wonderful..
It may be a knowing homage bordering on parody at times but this remains a real gem of a movie, illuminated by a truly brilliant performance from a then-debuting actress.Sleazy small-town lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) struggles to cope during a Florida heatwave along with his partner Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson).
saw this film today, and though i thoroughly enjoyed it, if you're at all familiar with the film noirs of the 1940s and '50s, this movie won't surprise you in the least - the plot is lifted straight from that mode (or genre, or whatever it is we're calling it these days :).the acting is quite good, especially by william hurt, who plays the role of the dumb as a doornail ned racine to a tee.
kathleen turner (and, if the other comment i read on this page is correct, in her first role) is also quite good, as the updated femme fatale, but we never really believe that she loves ned, do we?derivative it might be, but it's certainly a quite enjoyable film, even for those noir fans like me, who could pick the film's ending about three minutes in.
You'll just be glad that it's finally ending.Kathleen Turner plays our mysterious seductress, Matty Walker, and she certainly brings plenty of heat to the role, steaming up the screen in a way her Double Indemnity counterpart Barbara Stanwyck never would have been allowed to back in 1944.
Hurt and Turner have great chemistry and have some of the most erotic, turn-on sex scenes ever committed to film, yet with very little nudity.
I rate Body Heat the best of all the film noir movies.
Watch it at least twice to see how everything links together.Kathleen Turner and William Hurt play their roles perfectly, and catch Ted Danson as the A.D.A.I rate Body Heat the best of all the film noir movies.It is a definite 10.
The talents of William Hurt( Ned Racine) and Kathleen Turner(Matty Walker)("Crimes of Passion" with Anthony Perkins) along with the late Richard Crenna("Judging Amy" TV Series) and last but not least Ted Danson (Peter Lowenstein) of "Cheers" and "Becker" made this a great 1980's classic.
It is the best Film Noir ever, and though I know every twist and turn it will take, watching it take them is a thrill each time.
The film indeed has all trumps: -  superbly intricate and intelligent script and  perfect direction by Lawrence Kasdan, together with a beautiful photography which adequately renders the necessary sultry  atmosphere; - haunting musical score by John Barry; - perfect cast: one of his best performances  by talented William Hurt, together with the astonishing debut of Kathleen Turner, who never again had such a vehicle for her talents; strong supporting actors,  including notably Richard Crenna,  Mickey Rourke ( then a  newcomer ), and last but not least a quite remarkable Ted Danson.
The acting is superb , on all the cast,Even the victum Richard Crenna, William Hurt was great, and so was Kathleen Turner, Got her into stardom.
In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman (Kathleen Turner) convinces her lover (William Hurt), a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband (Richard Crenna).This film gets you very quickly with its raw sexuality.
William Hurt and Kathleen Turner are passing the time by having an affair, when Bill gets a very bad idea: why not do away with her husband?Had I known there was a neo-noir element in this movie, I might have watched it sooner.
And if William Hurt holds up his end of the acting very well, Kathleen Turner looks increasingly stiff and decorative.Director Lawrence Kasdan likes to make impressive films, on the heels of Stars Wars and Indiana Jones movies (one of each).
Naturally, nude scenes of Kathleen Turner do no harm to the film's entertainment value.Body Heat is classy and elegant; the cinematography and especially the acting are good enough that even the sex doesn't feel forced and exploitative.
One thing is for sure, they should never get too greedy by wanting all his money...With William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke I must say that Lawrence Kasdan certainly had a nose for young talent.
BODY HEAT delivers when it comes to good nudity, palpable room temperatures, and some great leg shots of Kathleen Turner in the femme fatale role of her career.
I can watch BODY HEAT over and over again, and still be enthralled by it.Great acting, striking direction, sultry music, beautiful cinematography,and a wonderful film noir plot.