MovieChat Forums > Body Heat (1981) Discussion > I love Body Head But Two Things Always B...

I love Body Head But Two Things Always Bothered me

posted 8 years ago by cash81540
4 replies | jump to latest

This is one of my favs! I pull this one out every few years and watch from beginning to end. Just did and it reminded me to the two plot points that never came into factor, and one should have.
1: Ned throws a chair through the window to get to Maddy. One would assume Maddy had the window fixed after and no questions from her husband. I get the drama of the scene but it was too much IMO.

2: When Ned and Edmund fight the gun goes off in the house. Bullet hole anyone? Maddy reported him missing and he was found dead the next day. Of course she cleaned up, took the glasses, etc, but what about the bullet hole.

Now I know, suspend belief when watching a movie, but just keeping in line with the story, those two points get me.

Other than that, great to watch anytime. Still love the fact when I found out this was filmed in Florida in the winter and it was one of the coldest winter's in years. The scene on the beach was freezing - they make it look so hot!

[–] pullman1881 8 years ago

Agree with #2, but I think throwing the chair through the window (or something dramatically similar) was essential. We had to realize the extent of Ned's obsession for Matty. He would do anything to get her. We had to understand that so the murder plot would seem more reasonable. I also like the scene because (once we know the ending), we can see that Matty realizes - when the chair goes through the glass - that she has Ned exactly where she wants him.

[–] dlynch843 8 years ago

I too had questions on both points. Another thing that I've seen in more than a few comments here was the belief that Ned wasn't very bright. By his conversation and mannerisms, he seemed very intelligent to me--and obviously well educated. When he explains to Maddy that "nothing out of the ordinary can happen in Edmund's life right now", it shows a well thought-out plan. And his humor with Pete Lowenstein shows wit and cynicism. It's just that Ned's intelligence got over-run by his desire--for that 'big score' he was always after. In this story, that big score was both financial and sexual. It can happen to the brightest of people.

[–] mnphotoguy99 (436) 5 years ago

I tend to agree with you @dlynch843. I don’t think it was that Ned was not intelligent. Maybe Matty nailed it when she said: “There are some men, once they get a whiff of it, they'll trail you like
a hound”. Maybe he was just so obsessed with her that he became blind to her deceptions.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 3 years ago

Re: the gun

Edmund wasn't killed with a gun, least of all his own revolver, so there'd be no reason to search the house or anywhere else for bullet holes.

Otherwise, I agree with the previous responses - Matty was playing him from the beginning. She knew he'd blown a will drafting before, and she knew he was a horndog who had no trouble getting laid, so she had to play hard to get, yet still keep stringing him along. She did so brilliantly.