With the official start of summer only a few days away, we have already had several 90-degree days. Everyone has experienced the discomfort that comes with high heat and humidity that forces us to seek sanctuary in our air-conditioned homes and autos. Early theaters advertised their air-cooled comfort to entice audiences to escape the heat before the advent of in-home air conditioning.
Heat waves have played a significant role in several films over the years. If implemented effectively the audience feels the discomfort exhibited by the characters on the screen. Today we examine a few of our favorite “heat wave” movies.
Take One
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more stifling image of a city block in the summertime than Spike Lee’s masterpiece, “Do the Right Thing” (1989). This is an electrifying look at racial tensions on a single block of Lee’s native Brooklyn Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The performances, production design (by the legendary Wynn Thomas) and camera work all come together for a sun-bleached time-capsule of city life that seems like it hasn’t aged a day. Danny Aiello, playing a disgruntled ethnic pizza parlor owner, matches Lee’s intense staying power.
Sticking to urban environs, Haskell Wexler’s “Medium Cool” (1969) is a true-life Chicago fable for the ages. Part documentary/part fiction, in a manner no film had done before, Wexler shoots during the August 1968 Democratic National Convention. His camera is on the ground for much of the real violence that ensued. What he captures is remarkable — everything from actual street scenes to ground-level interviews with city residents and plenty of soaring technical imagery. This is a highlight of the era that is not to be missed by film lovers or historians.
Finally, what would a film list about heat-related stress be without Sidney Lumet’s legendary “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975). Featuring Al Pacino in an Oscar-worthy performance (up against Oscar winner Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) for playing the real-life John Wojtowicz, who robbed a bank in order to help fund his partner’s transition to another gender. Sensational in its day — and still controversial today — the film is most remarkable for how achingly human and equally flawed it presents all of its well-drawn characters. Under Lumet’s tight direction, this is a real eye-opener that stays with the viewer long after the credits roll.
Take Two
The summer heat of southern Florida is a major element in the neo-noir crime thriller “Body Heat” (1981). William Hurt portrays sleazy attorney Ned Racine, who falls for sultry femme fatale Kathleen Turner, who is looking for help in eliminating her abusive husband. There is no question the plot owes much to director Billy Wilder’s 1944 noir classic “Double Indemnity” that starred Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Director/screenplay writer Lawrence Kasdan also borrows from another classic “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946) which featured Lana Turner and the transcendent John Garfield. The only thing hotter than the Florida climate are the sex scenes between Hurt and then-television soap opera star Turner, who became a major Hollywood player with this role.
Anyone who’s spent time in New York City, in the summertime, without air conditioning, understands suffering. Unless you’re a harried publishing executive, whose family is away on vacation, and the person living in the apartment above you is Marilyn Monroe. Thus the set-up in Wilder’s 1955 romantic comedy “The Seven Year Itch.” Broadway star Tom Ewell is the aging businessman who’s undergoing a mid-life crisis and fantasizing about his voluptuous neighbor. This is the film that produced the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate that blows her white dress up revealing her attractive legs. Will Ewell’s dreams be fulfilled?
Director Norman Jewison’s “In the Heat of the Night” (1967) perfectly captures the oppressive atmosphere in small town Mississippi in the 1960s. Black Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs, played by Sidney Poitier, is coerced into assisting beleaguered police chief Bill Gillespie, depicted by Rod Steiger in an Oscar-winning performance, with solving the murder of a leading industrialist. Racial bias, incompetence and intimidation boil over as tempers and temperatures impede Tibbs and Gillespie in their investigation. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture and Actor (Steiger).
All films are available on YouTube or Amazon Prime Video.
(This column is written jointly by a baby boomer, Denny Parish, and a millennial, Carson Parish, who also happen to be father and son.)
