"Body Heat" is not "Nine 1/2 Weeks"

It's also not "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the remake). They came out in 1981, 1986, 1981, respectively, and they all starred hot blondes and...guys. Ok, pretty hot guys, too. And they were known for being sexxy, hot nude movies!, so I've had them confused for the last twenty years or so.

Which is odd, because I think I've seen "Nine 1/2 Weeks" (which is not "8 1/2" or foreign) -- I'm not sure if I saw the good parts. I guess I didn't if I'm not sure. That movie made me uncomfortable because Kim Basinger was pretty unhappy about the whole thing, and Mickey Rourke is bizarre.

He's also in "Body Heat", so you can see how confusing this all is. I thought this was basically a sexy sex movie about sex. Nobody told me it was a noir about good old-fashioned husband-murdering!

I finally saw "Body Heat" recently, and I loved and adored it and want to go back in time and write it myself. This was Lawrence Kasdan's directing debut after also writing some movie about muppets or something? Muppets hitting back?

The casting is brilliant, the actors are perfect, Kathleen Turner is my hero, William Hurt brings his peculiar implosive disgust to this loser's tale and makes it both funny and pathetic. And Ted Danson! My god, I didn't even recognize old lean 'n lanky. He has the trickiest part in the movie and pulls it off with perfect understated grace -- he makes it look so easy that you almost forget to notice how the whole movie hangs on him.

This is a movie about love; not adultery love or I'll-murder-for-you love or narcissism, not even so much love of great movie genres, but other kinds of love. Less explosive kinds. Friendship. Love of justice (Ted Danson's character). Love of the law (J.A. Preston's character). Love of power (Richard Crenna). Love of the game (Turner). Love of hot blondes.

Dear Ted Danson -- make brilliant indie movies and show your chops again. Come on! Don't deny us! You could have Cary Grant's career in reverse!