The Story: "It's hot." Temperatures around the nation are in the triple-digits. That's not good for a lot of things. Crops, for one thing. Libidos, another. But also tempers and I.Q.'s, one getting higher and the other precipitously lower. Heat and humidity will do that. Raymond Chandler, in one of his short stories, put in a lovely phrase about how in such heat "anything can happen. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks."
Cold showers help with both, but nobody likes cold showers.
"It's hot" is said quite a bit in Body Heat, Lawrence Kasdan's 80's erotic noir that owes more than a hat-tip to Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and other death-triangle movies that lead one astray and end up as traps.
This scene is your basic joke set-up. Guy walks into a bar. The punchline is he gets exactly what he wants. Matty Walker is sitting by herself, the stool next to her invitingly empty. Nature abhors a vacuum, but Ned Racine, by his nature, sees it as an opportunity, a chance to continue a flirtation with a woman earlier met. He's a lawyer, but a low rent one, wanting to upgrade; it's just that he doesn't want to put any effort into it. Matty is something he aspires to but could never get to on his own—class.
He's smart enough to know the law, but stupid enough to not know what he doesn't know. And he uses this opportunity, unplanned but anticipated by both parties, to move from casual attraction to shared experience. Maybe intimacy.
Well, "intimacy" is not the term he'd use.
What Matty wants, we don't know yet. But her conversation, guarded but open, indicates need. A lot of need. But she's a contradiction. On the surface, she's one thing, but inside, different. She may have a high body temperature, but it belies a cold-bloodedness, a calculation that the shallow Ned can't even fathom.
His first clue should have been the slap that comes from nowhere as a ruse to hide their separate exits.
He should have seen it coming.
Hindsight is always 20/20, even with your eyes wide shut.
The Set-Up: It's hot in Florida. And low-rent lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) is feeling it. It's not that Ned is entirely sleazy. He just doesn't have any scruples. \And, besides, he's all hot and bothered by a woman (Kathleen Turner) he met at a band concert in the town of Pinehaven. Now, he stops by a neighborhood bar in the area to see if he can find her. He does.
Action!
Racine looks at her, almost as though he can't place her. But he doesn't push that effect hard. He lights a cigarette.
MATTY You're the one that doesn't want to talk about the heat.
RACINE What about them?
MATTY The wind chimes on my porch. They keep ringing and I go out there expecting a cool breeze.
The Bartender has come up.
RACINE Bourbon, any kind, on the rocks.(to Matty) Another?
She thinks, then nods her agreement. The Bartender moves away.
RACINE I'm no yokel. Why, I was all the way to Miami once.
The Bartender brings their drinks and leaves.
RACINE I'm not that eager.
RACINE (offers his hand) Ned Racine.
MATTY (laughs) Yes. My temperature runs a couple degrees high. Around 100 all the time I don't mind it. It's the engine or something.
MATTY Don't tell me -- you have just the right tool.
MATTY How'd you know I drink?
RACINE You seemed like a woman with all the vices.
RACINE Maybe you should drink at home.
MATTY Too quiet.
MATTY This is a blouse and a skirt. I don't know what you're talking...
Matty leans back in her seat and glances down at herself. She's magnificent.
Ratty drains her glass and stubs out her cigarette.
RACINE I'll take you.
MATTY I have a car.
RACINE I'll follow you. I want to see the chimes.
Racine again accepts.
MATTY This is my community bar. I might have to come here with my husband some time. Would you leave before me? Wait in your car?
Body Heat
Words by Lawrence Kasdan
Pictures by Richard H. Kline and Lawrence Kasdan
Body Heat is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Warner Home Video.