Lawrence Kasdan’s first directorial effort, 1981’s “Body Heat,” is a throwback to the early days of film noir.
The movie is part of this year’s Spring Film Series presented by the Churchill Arts Center and will be shown Friday.
The described scene is a beastly hot Florida coastal town, where naive attorney Ned (William Hurt) is entranced by the alluring Matty (Kathleen Turner in her film debut). Ned is manipulated into killing Matty’s much older husband (Richard Crenna), the plan being that Ned’s knowledge of legal matters will enable both conspirators to escape scot-free. This might have been the case, had not Matty been infinitely craftier than the cloddish Ned.
The Oats Park Arts Center box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 6 p.m. with the movie beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7, members and $10 nonmembers. Tickets are available at the box office on the night of screening or call CAC at 775-423-1440.
Movie critic Roger Ebert said “Body Heat” has been inspired by other movies, particular Billy Wilder’s 1944 classic, “Double Indemnity.
“But it has a power that transcends its sources. It exploits the personal style of its stars to insinuate itself; Kael is unfair to Turner, who in her debut role played a woman so sexually confident that we can believe her lover (William Hurt) could be dazed into doing almost anything for her.”
The final film in the series is “The Last Seduction,” which shows on Feb. 19.
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