Runtime: 113 minutes
Directed by: Lawrence Kasden
Starring: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston
From: Warner Bros.
I actually saw this on Sunday night; the review is just being posted here now as the week so far has been rather chaotic... and not great in general, to be frank:
The perfect thing to watch on a summer night w/ no air conditioning.
The night of the 4th of July, I was going to view something patriotic; however, that afternoon the A/C where I live gave up the ghost and stopped working. This is not the first time it's happened to me... heck, it's not the first time it's happened during a holiday weekend. “Incredibly peeved” was my mood so watching a movie was not in the cards. Last night it was only appropriate to check out something I heard was a picture w/ plenty of hot and sweaty moments. I was not led astray: the setting is southern Florida during a heatwave and that envelops the movie, whether or not it is commented on by the characters. It has to be one of the sweatiest motion pictures you'll ever see glisten.
William Hurt (w/ great mustache) is a mediocre at best defense attorney who meets a femme fatale in Kathleen Turner; they have a torrid affair, despite her marriage to Richard Crenna. As expected in a neo-noir, they want to bump off rich husband so they can have a happy ending. Of course, things go awry. Now, it is a sleazy movie where the two leads are rather randy; this resulted in me guffawing at some of the horniest moments & dialogue. For example, one night they got it on so often that Hurt states a certain part of his body is red & liable to fall off! How could I not laugh?
All that said, this was steamy and a very good movie. It was an interesting story even if it is reminiscent of some classic noir in particular, none of which I'll list for spoiler reasons. What misfortune that Hurt's character has good friends who are a police detective and a prosecutor... although at times it is good fortune as they unwittingly give him a heads-up. The movie was well-directed by Lawrence Kasden and the cast did a swell job, which is commendable as some of them had little in the way of movie experience... chiefly, this was Kathleen Turner's feature film debut and she knocked it out of the park here. As others have noted, she is the sultry type that is perfect for the classic noir of old; imagine if she had been born 4 decades earlier-she would have been a big star in that genre.
William Hurt works as an understated lead... plenty of those were in old noir too. Mickey Rourke briefly appears and I wouldn't have minded more of him. To my surprise, the character that entertained me the most was Ted Danson as a prosecutor. In a sea of colorful characters, he stood out for his snappy dialogue, tremendous head of hair, cocksure attitude and such odd touches as him randomly dancing like he's Fred Astaire for no reason to open a scene. There's a quality score from John Barry that at times is appropriately jazzy, cinematography that sets the dark mood, & a south Florida setting that is perfect for a sun-baked tale like this... admittedly on the trashy side, it is a high-quality production with hot performances and various twists & turns. Those that like these erotic 80's pictures, this ranks rather highly.
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