673. Body Heat (1981)

Running Time: 113 minutes
Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan
Written By: Lawrence Kasdan
Main Cast: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston

HURT'S SO GOOD: PART TWO OF THREE

Well, while my cold is getting better, it's still making a full night's sleep a hell of a challenge. That is why I come to you at nearly 6am on a Monday morning to tell you about the film I watched last night, "Body Heat".

William Hurt returns to the blog as Ned Racine, a down on his luck lawyer, who, on a hot summer's night in Florida, makes the acquaintance of Matty Walker (Turner). Matty is the wife of wealthy businessman Edmund Walker (Crenna), and after exchanging some flirtatious advances, the two separate, only to meet back up the next night in a local bar. Once again, the flirtations flow and one things leads to another, with Ned back at Matty's house, so that he can "see her wind chimes". He sees the chimes, but as you guessed the two end up taking a roll in the hay and Matty releases the information that her husband is only home on the weekends - the rest of the week he's out of town on business. Ned and Matty's affair continues on the weekdays, as the hot summer night's continue as well, adding an extra dash of passion, to Ned and Matty's already sweltering love affair. Eventually, just sex isn't enough for the duo and they mutually agree to kill Matty's husband, leaving the rich and able to be together. The duo pull off the killing, but now it's up to them to hide it. Can Ned and Matty band together to trick the authorities or will they ultimately be caught?

SPOILER ALERT!

"Body Heat" started out a little slow, but as it progressed I got more and more lost in it. Just as a quick note before I get into the meat and potatoes of the review - I love films where extreme heat is emphasized. I think it always adds an extra element of tension and almost always "works". Films like this one, "12 Angry Men" and "Do the Right Thing" are all made more tense due to the constant talk of the HEAT. Anyway, "Body Heat" provided me with yet another example of the shining actor that is William Hurt. This guy was on such a roll in the 1980s, as he managed to get five movies into the "1001" book (just from his 80s career) and one that was and still should be included, that being "The Accidental Tourist". Here "Body Heat" plays out like a film noir, with scummy music and scummy characters to boot. I was, at first, really disgusted by these characters as they just came off to me as very sleazy and slimy. As the film progressed, I gained more and more sympathy for Ned, but the rest of the characters never got that far and characters like Matty, Edmund and even Lowenstein (Danson) all felt corrupt and scummy.

I'll give this film it's credit on one point and that's the end. As the film progressed I became more and more interested in what would happen to these characters and what would happen to them. Maybe it's because I was sick and not "with it" or maybe the writing was done really well, but they had me fooled right up until the end. I did not see THAT ending coming and I'd chalk it up as one of the better movie twists in film history. The only thing that didn't really make sense to me, was having Ned relay the ending to Oscar (Preston), having Oscar shut him down and then having EXACTLY what Ned said be the outcome. It just didn't seem believable that this dumb lawyer, who couldn't pull off a murder and could barely win a court case, would be that insightful as to peg Matty so well. They should have done it differently, where Ned found out a different way - maybe by cutting out the end scene with Ned and Oscar and just having Ned receive the yearbook. I think that, paired with the final shot of Matty on the beach and the audience would have figured it out for themselves.

RATING: 7/10 Good erotic thriller/neo-noir and yet another fine example of the acting muscle that is William Hurt. One to go...

MOVIES WATCHED: 300
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 701

July 18, 2011 6:01am

697. The Big Chill (1983)

Running Time: 105 minutes
Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan
Written By: Barbara Benedek, Lawrence Kasdan
Main Cast: Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, JoBeth Williams

GREAT MOVIE, GREAT SOUNDTRACK

As I write this review I'm being serenaded via headphones by The Band and their song "The Weight". My wife needed to watch "The Big Chill" tonight for her movie project and I opted to join her and get it knocked off of my list in the process. This is one that I have seen a few times before and remembered having mixed feelings about it. This time the feelings pretty clearly pointed to a great film, with great actors and realistic situations.

The movie opens with a ringing phone at the home of Harold (Kline) and Sarah (Close) Cooper, followed by the news that their longtime friend, Alex, has just committed suicide. We're prepared for the funeral by Marvin Gaye and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The funeral, burying and reception follow that and we meet the rest of "the gang" or the rest of Alex's friends' from college. There's Sam Weber (Berenger), star of television's "TJ Lancer", Michael (Goldblum), a journalist who writes for People magazine, Meg (Place), a tomboyish lawyer, Karen (Williams), a now married housewife with two kids and Nick (Hurt), a drug addict who still manages to provide stability during difficult times. The rest of the movie is pretty straight forward, as we spend a few days getting to know these characters, what they're all about, the remembering of Alex, the rehashing of old wounds and relationships and basically just some good (and a few bad) times all around.

When I saw this movie many years ago, I remember loving it. I remember re-watching it a few years ago and not liking it as much, chalking it up to a movie that doesn't really hold up on second viewing, but I have to say that the third time has apparently been the charm, because this time around I had a blast hanging out with these characters one more time. This movie really gives you a sense of togetherness and friendship and the cast really gels well together as everybody seems to be having a great time making this movie and the chemistry is there in full force. We've all been in a situation like this and maybe it wasn't during a funeral, but we've all had those weekends or few days where we get together with old friends or family members and talk about the old days and just soak in the presence of someone you love, that you may not have seen in a really long time. Bottom line, it's a very relateable movie and in my opinion, it's hard not to think about your own life and your own friends while watching it.

The cast does a great job and I'm especially fond of William Hurt and Jeff Goldblum and what about Glenn Close, who seems to be impressing me more and more with each and every movie I see starring her and climbing to the top of my favorite actresses list film by film. As I said above the cast does a great job gelling together and they all have their distinct personalities and places in the film. In my experience with "The Big Chill", you don't ever pick a favorite character, but rather enjoy the interactions of everyone as a group. After looking over the star actors of the film and realizing that they all still work today or have worked recently, this is one movie that I'd be all for a sequel to. I think it would be great to round up all these actors and actresses and let them reunite on the screen once again. It would be kind of like a Before Sunset/Before Sunrise kind of thing and I think it would work and I'd be super excited for it, even though I'm usually not one for sequels. Anyway, I guess I'll wrap this up by saying that "The Big Chill" really makes you feel comfortable and it's a really fun watch, with great actors portraying interesting characters and even though there's not a lot of action, there's a great deal of good dialogue and interaction between the characters and if that doesn't get you then just watch it for all the great music, because damn, what a soundtrack on this movie!

RATING: 9/10 Didn't quite feel like a full blown '10', but a '9' is nothing to sneeze at. Definitely a recommendation from yours truly and it currently happens to be streaming on Netflix.

MOVIES WATCHED: 159
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 842

October 9, 2010 3:25am