Chris Castleman

One of the best film noir films ever made. Kathleen Turner (Mattie Walker) & William Hurt (Attorney Ned Racine) star in this terrific movie. Both provide Oscar Award winning performances. Ned is a devious-playboy lawyer. Mattie plays a sex-starved con artist married to a shady FL Real Estate developer named Edmund Walker (Richard Crenna). Mattie & Ned start a steamy affair. The 2 lovers-grifters conclude they’ll rework his will then kill him. Ted Danson (Asst. County Prosecutor) and a very young Mickey Rourke (Arsonist) add to an intense & complicated plot. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, BODY HEAT is a heady film you’ll need to watch closely. Lots of sub plots. As J.A. Preston (Detective-Oscar) says in the movie…”When it gets HOT, people get cranky, wake-up and never recover. They think the old rules don’t apply. They try to kill each other.”

Great cast. Plot is too complicated. Disjointed at times. Director Nicolas Roeg takes us on an endless journey of perverted/narcissistic twists and turns. Most of these should have been left on the cutting room floor. The movie premiered in 1983. It stars Gene Hackman (Jack McCann) and a terrific supporting cast (Theresa Russell, Rutger Hauer, Mickey Rourke and Joe Pesci). The problem isn't with the acting. It's the script. Eureka starts off fine, but runs completely out of steam by the end. The asinine side plots ruined the premise. Voodoo, chicken sacrifices, palm reading, sex starved military officers wives, a court trial which is more akin to a marriage counseling session, alcoholism, an amorous son-in-law he loathes, etc. Early on we are introduced to McCann as a young tough prospector braving the Alaskan winters digging for GOLD. The movie takes place between the 1920's, ending in the mid 1940's. McCann becomes the richest man in the world after hitting paydirt. He moves to South Florida and starts buying up real estate. He eventually purchases an elaborate private tropical island in the Caribbean with his alcoholic wife. She is played by Jane Lapotaire (Helen McCann). McCann's sex kitten daughter Theresa Russell (Tracy) becomes another albatross for McCann, after she elopes with French playboy Rutger Hauer (Claude Maillot). The plot thickens a bit when organized crime in Miami, FL enter the picture. They attempt to put the squeeze on McCann. Mickey Rourke (Aurelio D'Amato) is a slick talking Italian mob lawyer hired by a local Jewish boss Joe Pesci (Mayakofsky). Rourke's job is entice McCann to sell part of the island to the syndicate. Enter the GOON SQUAD. The gangster SUITS discover the old turk ain't no pushover when it comes to violence. McCann survived sub zero temperatures for over a decade. The ending left a lot to be desired. It's my opinion the producers and director couldn't agree on when to end the darn thing? I would have faded to black. EUREKA proves the old adage that wealth carries endless headaches. Might want to reconsider playing the powerball after you see it.