Attorney Ned Racine's life coasts along in neutral - until he meets a siren in white (with a well-to-do husband) named Matty Walker. Ned knows Matty's the kind of woman a man would kill to be with. So he does.

William Hurt and Kathleen Turner strike sparks in Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat, a sexy, haunting tale echoing 1940s film noirs but charged with an energy and passion that can only flare in the '80s. Kasdan's assured directorial debut foreshadows the emotional textures he would bring to later films The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist and Grand Canyon. Sit back and bask in this contemporary classic's wicked warmth.

Amazon.com essential video: While scoring high-profile credits as a screenwriter (including The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark), Lawrence Kasdan made his directorial debut with this steamy, contemporary film noir in the tradition of Double Indemnity and other classics from the 1940s. In one of his most memorable roles, William Hurt plays a Florida lawyer unwittingly drawn into a web of deceit spun by Kathleen Turner (in her screen debut) as a married socialite who plots to kill off her husband with Hurt's assistance. Kasdan's dialogue is a hoot (sometimes it borders on satire), and the sultry atmosphere is a perfect complement to the perspiration-soaked chemistry between Hurt and Turner, whose love scenes caused quite a stir when the film was released in 1981. John Barry's score sets the provocative mood, and both Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke are splendid in memorable supporting roles. --Jeff Shannon