by Seán McGovern
If summer is making you all hot and bothered (and sticky and sweaty), you should crank your movie watching up to your body heat. What are your favourite films set in the long, hot summer? My suggestions after the jump, cool off in the comments...
DOG DAY AFTERNOON (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1975)
Quite possibly the sweatiest film ever made and an advocate for air-conditioning, Sidney Lumet's gripping and intense thriller will leave you dripping, regardless. If you haven't seen this queered masterpiece set in 70s New York, allow yourself the pleasure. 43 years later I think we can spoil it: Al Pacino holds up a Brooklyn bank to get the cash for his wife - Chris Sarandon - to undergo their sex change. A paranoid portrayal of gender roles, police violence and New York outcasts. And what else? It's all based on fact. Attica! Attica!
STRANGER BY THE LAKE (dir. Alain Guiraudie, 2013)
Just some hot cruising and a spot of cold blooded murder and what have you: your blood runs cold while other parts heat up. Franck whiles away the summer days at the local lake, taking a swim, having some sex, witnessing a murder. And what are you supposed to do when the man killing off the locals is a complete sex god? A contemporary classic in queer cinema: tense, intriguing, philosophical, sexy. Unapologetically French too, d'accord?
DO THE RIGHT THING (dir. Spike Lee, 1989)
Rivaling DDA for the best use of steaming-hot tensions, Do The Right Thing completely boils over while the former manages to nearly stay at a constant simmer. Thirty years old next year and every moment of it as new as some boxfresh Jordans. Dare to watch Rosie Perez dance the title sequence and not be mesmerised.
BODY HEAT (Lawrence Kasdan, 1980)
If The Accidental Tourist just isn't horny enough for you, make sure to check out Kathleen Turner's debut in this erotic thriller. With all the intrigue and danger of the noir with the sticky sleaze of the 1980s, prepare to develop a lifelong crush on William Hurt, one to which my mother can definitely avow. Kathleen Turner is Matty, who finds a way to reel in sexy but stupid detective Ned Racine to pick off her husband. Save this one for last. It's a sizzler.
A mere taste of some of hot and sweaty summer movies - what are yours?