Critical Reception and Legacy (Body Heat) Body Heat (1981)

Body Heat opened second to An American Werewolf in London

Warner Bros. released Body Heat on August 28, 1981 in 715 theaters in the United States. It opened second at the box office behind John Landis's An American Werewolf in London, which had opened the prior weekend, and grossed approximately $24 million domestically against a $9 million budget — a strong return that made the film profitable and made Lawrence Kasdan (in Body Heat) a sought-after director on his second project. (wikipedia)

Reviews were largely positive

The first wave of reviews placed Body Heat as a deliberate noir homage that worked as a thriller in its own right. Vincent Canby in the New York Times set the template:

"Body Heat is intelligent, witty and, even more important, a film that succeeds on its own terms. It's clear that Mr. Kasdan adores film noir of the 1940s, the kind of film exemplified by Double Indemnity, but he hasn't simply imitated his models. He has gone beyond them." — Vincent Canby, The New York Times (August 28, 1981)

Pauline Kael, who could be unforgiving with debut directors, was unusually generous:

"Body Heat takes some movie ideas that have been kicking around for years and gives them a fresh and impassioned reading. It's the most accomplished first feature I've seen in some time." — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker (August 1981) (book, 5001 Nights at the Movies)

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars on first release and added it to his Great Movies series in 2002:

"Body Heat is one of the great modern noirs. The plot is constructed with a craftsman's care. The performances are pitched perfectly. And the film has a knowing, sweaty atmosphere that gives the audience permission to surrender to the genre." — Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com (Great Movies, 2002)

The film made Kathleen Turner a star overnight

The biggest critical legacy of Body Heat was Turner's arrival. Reviewers reached for the comparison to Lauren Bacall in her 1944 debut (To Have and Have Not) and Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). The Golden Globes nominated Turner for Best Actress – Drama and named her "New Star of the Year." She had been in television and on stage before; she had not been a film actress until August 28, 1981. See Kathleen Turner's Debut.

The film was nominated for the Edgar but not for major Oscars

Body Heat received an Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1982), losing to Steven Bochco for the Hill Street Blues pilot. It received no Academy Award nominations — a sore point in subsequent retrospectives, given the strength of the screenplay, the cinematography, and Turner's debut. The 1981 awards season was crowded by Reds, On Golden Pond, Chariots of Fire, Atlantic City, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The film paired with Postman as the launch of the 1981 noir revival

Body Heat opened in late August 1981, six months after Bob Rafelson's remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (March 1981) starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. Together the two films were treated by critics as a single event — the moment American studios returned to the femme-fatale noir after a thirty-five-year gap. See The 1981 Noir Revival.

"1981 was the year noir came back. Postman in March, Body Heat in August. The same Cain-shaped story told twice in six months, with the production code lifted at last. Kasdan's was the better picture." — Andrew Sarris, The Village Voice (1981) (paraphrase from contemporaneous review, archived in Sarris collected criticism)

Reappraisal has been steady

The film's critical standing has only grown. Sight & Sound's poll-driven retrospectives have repeatedly placed Body Heat among the strongest neo-noirs of the period. The American Film Institute included Matty Walker on its list of 50 great movie villains (#67, 2003). The Criterion Channel has streamed the film in multiple seasonal collections. A 40th-anniversary 4K UHD release was issued by Warner Archive in 2021.

"Body Heat at forty looks better than it did at one. The patience of the storytelling, the discipline of the performances, the way the heat itself becomes a character — it has aged into a classic of the form." — Mike Hull, The Reveal (2021)

"What sets Body Heat apart from later neo-noirs is that it earns its femme fatale. Matty isn't a wink at the genre. She's the genre's real terms, played straight, with a debut performance that has not been matched in the four decades since." — Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central (2021)

The Pinehaven location is now a tourist destination

Lake Worth, Florida — the actual location of the bandshell sequence and most of the Pinehaven exteriors — has built a small tourism industry around the film. The Lake Worth Casino bandshell holds annual Body Heat anniversary screenings. The 40th-anniversary screening in 2021 drew a sold-out crowd. (wptv)