Ned has a pretty good career in Florida as an attorney with a small practice. He spends his afternoons hanging out with friends Peter Lowenstein (Ted Danson in a very early role), another attorney and Oscar Grace (J.A. Preston), police detective. One steamy night, he meets the very sexy Matty and he is smitten and intrigued. He runs into her some time later at a bar and the two begin a torrid affair. She despises her wealthy husband, Edmund (Richard Crenna), and longs to end the marraige, but because of a pre-nup agreement, she will be left with very little if she leaves him. Instead, she and Ned cook up a scheme to murder Edmund and then they'll live happily ever after.
What would seem to be a simple plan quickly spirals out of control and Ned soon realizes that he is more Matty's puppet than partner. When Ned's friend, Oscar, begins to investigate the crime and Ned pops up on Oscar's radar, things get antsy. Soon Ned realizes that he is caught in a web he can't escape, and that nothing is as it seems.
Although this movie is hailed as a classic, I had never seen it prior to receiving it for review. The first half of the movie sort of bored me, to be honest. While the dialogue was clever and I like a good film noir as much as anyone, I just wasn't drawn in. And for the life of me, I couldn't understand why these people were so hot in this mansion that undoubtedly had central A/C. However, once I realized all of the underlying games that were going on, I was hooked in and impressed by the film. Hurt and Turner are excellent in their roles, as is Ted Danson, who insists upon doing a funny little Fred Astaire move every time he exits a building. The musical score is so intense and overwhelming that at times, it can be considered another actor in the film because it is so integral in conveying the different moods. A very young Mickey Rourke has a small role as an ex-con who helps Ned cook up a bomb for the murder, and an equally young Kim Zimmer (Guiding Light) has a bit part as a childhood friend of Matty's.
The Blu-ray features several nice-sized featurettes that cover lots of facets of the making of the movie, including screenplay, casting, editing, scoring and the eventual release. I found it fascinating that George Lucas had a hand in this film, as he secretly offered additional capital to pad the tiny budget of the movie because he believed so much in his friend, Kasdan. Also of interest are the vintage interviews with both Hurt and Turner. Turner has an almost British accent in hers.
The transfer to Blu-ray and high-def is a mixed bag. Certain scenes are lush and brilliant, such as the scenes containing explosions. Everything is crystal clear and gorgeous. Other scenes (and more often than not) are very pixelated looking and almost hazy in appearance. I know this movie portrays a very steamy atmosphere, but that's not what I am talking about. Some scenes just look as though they weren't remastered at all. The sound, however, is amazing all the way through.
If you are a huge Body Heat fan and you don't already have the film on DVD, then its worth a purchase. However, since the entire movie doesn't look spectacular, only hard-core fans may be interested as the features appear to be from several years ago, and are probably already on the previous DVD release.
