6. Matty Walker - Body Heat (1981)
Kathleen Turner's reputation as a screen sexpot was cemented by her appearance in Body Heat as the beautiful but devious Matty. It is another 'weak man teams with femme fatale to kill her husband' scenario, the type which is most beloved in the noir/neo-noir genres. But this time, because it is the 1980s and the film doesn't have the restrictions that Double Indemnity had in the 1940s, there is abundant sex and nudity to entertain the viewer. The sex is erotic rather than tawdry which adds to the film's appeal. The film's plot is quite derivative and on paper, it sounds like Double Indemnity rehashed, but director Lawrence Kasdan makes it very much his own movie. Kathleen Turner's character is one of the most Machiavellian females put on celluloid and William Hurt is excellent as the small town lawyer entranced by Matty - a role that requires him to be gullible, lazy but a nice guy all at the same time. The ending of the movie has a twist and it is a beautiful, if torrid, nod to earlier noirs and the great femmes fatales. One of the most underrated movies of the 1980s.