Body Heat
Body Heati is a very 70s thing that enjoys the notable benefit of good dialogue. It is hard to overstate just how 70s it is, stylistically, visually, conceptuallyii. It is also hard to overstate just how important good dialogue is for a movie. For instance - it entirely rescues yet another redo of that ancient themeiii from the meh pile.
Not just by itself, of course. There's also Kathleen Turner, who has no boobs, and by modern standards no ass either, yet is very lively. And it is hard to overstate the importance of lively enthusiasmiv in the consummation of amorous congress ; or cinematic digress. In any case she has a reasonably healthy relationship with nudityv, which is to my eyes and by very far the foremost qualification of any actress.
Definitely worth a watch.
———- 1981, by LawrenceKasdan, with Kathleen Turner, Mickey Rourke, William Hurt (and Ted Danson!) [↩]
- Here's one example : respected lawyer, concerned sister-of-deceased cut off from will, not-so-concerned surviving wife that altered the will, her lawyer and partner in crime, and the district attorney are gathered around a table. Lawyer inquires if anyone would mind if he smoked. The next second everyone, the women, the men, everyone has some sort of tobacco good out - with the exception of the poor DA. Who is so shockingly lonely in his abstinence that the sister extends him the use of her tobacco pile as a minimal courtesy, like you give a sandwich to the only kid at the picnic who apparently doesn't otherwise get one.
He politely declines, volunteering that he's ok, he'll just breathe the air.
Believe it or not, there was a time when the anti-smoking lobby was moreover pleasant, likable and certainly in firm possession of a point. [↩]
- Unhappy wife meets new fucker ; they conspire and kill the husband ; merryment ensues. Yeah, just like Double Indemnity ; The Woman In The Window and we're not even done with the year 1944! [↩]
- Incidentally : Turner is the original inventor of the gaydar. [↩]
- It's her first film. She was 27. [↩]
