10 Sexy Movies To Beat The Summer Heat

It's officially not fit for man nor beast outside, and with a hurricane bearing down on the East Coast, there's no better time to hole up in a dark, air-conditioned room, perhaps with someone you love and/or would not mind seeing naked, and pop in some sexy summer movies. Here are ten of our favorites, from the steamiest swelter-set sexfests to the coolest love stories ever filmed mid-blizzard. We recommend ice cream and margaritas.

HOT

Body Heat

Kathleen Turner and William Hurt are the ne plus ultra of sexy summer swelter in Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 film noir. Hurt is a sleazy small-town lawyer; Turner is restless and unhappily married. Their solution: Kill her husband and then bang like weasels. The movie's hottest scene (and that's saying a lot, as it's set in Florida during a heat wave) comes when Hurt throws a lawn chair through a plate glass door to get to Turner. Oh, man. If this one doesn't make you sweat, see a doctor.

A Time to Kill

Yes, it's about the horrific rape of a child and the racial tensions that explode in a small Mississippi town. But the 1996 drama based on John Grisham's first novel is also the absolute hottest Matthew McConaughey has ever been, and he's even wearing a shirt for most of the movie. As small-town lawyer (what is it about those dudes?) Jake Brigance, Matty Mac spends most of the movie sweating, smoking, smoldering, and gazing lustfully at either Ashley Judd, who plays his wife, or Sandra Bullock, who plays his law clerk. If ever a movie deserved a sequel that wasn't about the court case, this was it.

Black Snake Moan

In which Sam Jackson chains Christina Ricci to a radiator to stop her from being such a filthy slut. It's not, how you say, a politically correct movie, but if your idea of a fun and sexy time involves bondage and belly shirts with a wee skosh of Justin Timberlake on the side, put this one in the Netflix and step on it.

Monsoon Wedding

Mira Nair brings a certain subcontinental sensuality to all her films (she even tried with Vanity Fair, God bless her), and the romance in her 2001 extravaganza about a New Delhi family preparing for an arranged marriage is perhaps her best (although we also like the scene with all the rose petals in The Namesake). Just before the wedding, the bride must break off her affair with her boss, the wedding planner falls in love with the maid, and the family's "old maid" brings home a shattering revelation. The movie reaches its climax with, what else, a gloriously filmed, cathartic rainstorm. Cross-Cultural Dating Rules

Rear Window

Another about murder! We wonder why murder and sex intersect so often on the big screen, but that will have to wait for another day. Hitchcock's 1954 classic focuses on James Stewart's housebound photographer L.B. Jefferies, who, bored and immobilized by a broken leg, begins spying on a neighbor and becomes convinced that the man has murdered his wife. Sticky summer heat percolates throughout the film, with Grace Kelly at her most lissome and achingly elegant ratcheting up the tension a few more notches. Why We Fantasize And What's Normal

COLD

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Robert Altman, with his laser-sharp eye for casting chemistry, brought Warren Beatty and Julie Christie together in this 1971 Western, and together they're hot enough to boil the snow that blankets the film. He's a gambler who arrives in Washington State to open a tavern/brothel. She's a madam who comes to town and offers to run his whorehouse for him. And yet it's delightfully romantic in that dirty Altman way. Beatty's virile insouciance is mostly unknown to younger moviegoers, and Christie has a knowledgeable sexiness that sets her apart from ingénues. Watch this one, you’ll like it.

The Cutting Edge

TOE PICK! The romance of a brain-damaged hockey player and a brittle figure skater is one of the most beloved films ever run on TBS once a week for the rest of eternity. We will happily profess our love for D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly as if this were the only film either ever made (and considering how obnoxious she was on The West Wing, we kind of wish it was). He's all rough, surly edges, and she's as prickly and fragile as a glass porcupine. And they are wonderful together. See it again and shiver deliciously.  Discuss: Do opposites attract?

The Horse Whisperer

The opening scenes, in which a young Scarlett Johansson goes riding in the snow and the horrific accident that follows set the tone for the quiet, pensive drama to come. Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas build a sweet and subtle intimacy as Johansson comes back from her injury. You’ll cry so hard you'll forget that outside is the devil's sweatbox. 

Some Like It Hot

Billy Wilder's immortal 1959 cross-dressing comedy starts out in the frozen tundra of Chicago in February, when struggling musicians Joe and Jerry hock their overcoats to gamble on the ponies. After witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, they disguise themselves as ladies and join a women's orchestra for a trip to Florida. In one of the funniest movies of all time, the opening scenes of shivering folks packing into speakeasies will cool you down for the vibrant Marilyn Monroe action to come.

House of Flying Daggers

Zhang Yimou's epic 2004 explosion of colors and sound features Andy Lau and the delectable Takeshi Kaneshiro fighting for the affections of blind thief Ziyi Zhang. The whole film is a kaleidoscope of opulence and immaculately choreographed fight scenes, but none tops the final showdown in a snowblown field. The chill from the screen pales in comparison to the agony of the romantic clash between the two men and the woman between them.

Photo courtesy of Paramount.

It's officially not fit for man nor beast outside and there's no better time to hole up in a dark, air-conditioned room, perhaps with someone you love and/or would not mind seeing naked, and pop in some sexy summer movies. Here are ten of our favorites, from the steamiest swelter-set sexfests to the coolest love stories ever filmed mid-blizzard. We recommend ice cream and margaritas.

HOT

1. Body Heat
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt are the ne plus ultra of sexy summer swelter in Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 film noir. Hurt is a sleazy small-town lawyer; Turner is restless and unhappily married. Their solution: Kill her husband and then bang like weasels. The movie's hottest scene (and that's saying a lot, as it's set in Florida during a heat wave) comes when Hurt throws a lawn chair through a plate glass door to get to Turner. Oh, man. If this one doesn't make you sweat, see a doctor.

2. A Time to Kill
Yes, it's about the horrific rape of a child and the racial tensions that explode in a small Mississippi town. But the 1996 drama based on John Grisham's first novel is also the absolute hottest Matthew McConaughey has ever been, and he's even wearing a shirt for most of the movie. As small-town lawyer (what is it about those dudes?) Jake Brigance, Matty Mac spends most of the movie sweating, smoking, smoldering, and gazing lustfully at either Ashley Judd, who plays his wife, or Sandra Bullock, who plays his law clerk. If ever a movie deserved a sequel that wasn't about the court case, this was it.

3. Black Snake Moan
In which Sam Jackson chains Christina Ricci to a radiator to stop her from being such a filthy slut. It's not, how you say, a politically correct movie, but if your idea of a fun and sexy time involves bondage and belly shirts with a wee skosh of Justin Timberlake on the side, put this one in the Netflix and step on it.

4. Monsoon Wedding
Mira Nair brings a certain subcontinental sensuality to all her films (she even tried with Vanity Fair, God bless her), and the romance in her 2001 extravaganza about a New Delhi family preparing for an arranged marriage is perhaps her best (although we also like the scene with all the rose petals in The Namesake). Just before the wedding, the bride must break off her affair with her boss, the wedding planner falls in love with the maid, and the family's "old maid" brings home a shattering revelation. The movie reaches its climax with, what else, a gloriously filmed, cathartic rainstorm. Cross-Cultural Dating Rules

5. Rear Window
Another about murder! We wonder why murder and sex intersect so often on the big screen, but that will have to wait for another day. Hitchcock's 1954 classic focuses on James Stewart's housebound photographer L.B. Jefferies, who, bored and immobilized by a broken leg, begins spying on a neighbor and becomes convinced that the man has murdered his wife. Sticky summer heat percolates throughout the film, with Grace Kelly at her most lissome and achingly elegant ratcheting up the tension a few more notches. Why We Fantasize And What's Normal

COLD

6. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Robert Altman, with his laser-sharp eye for casting chemistry, brought Warren Beatty and Julie Christie together in this 1971 Western, and together they're hot enough to boil the snow that blankets the film. He's a gambler who arrives in Washington State to open a tavern/brothel. She's a madam who comes to town and offers to run his whorehouse for him. And yet it's delightfully romantic in that dirty Altman way. Beatty's virile insouciance is mostly unknown to younger moviegoers, and Christie has a knowledgeable sexiness that sets her apart from ingénues. Watch this one, you'll like it.

7. The Cutting Edge
TOE PICK! The romance of a brain-damaged hockey player and a brittle figure skater is one of the most beloved films ever run on TBS once a week for the rest of eternity. We will happily profess our love for D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly as if this were the only film either ever made (and considering how obnoxious she was on The West Wing, we kind of wish it was). He's all rough, surly edges, and she's as prickly and fragile as a glass porcupine. And they are wonderful together. See it again and shiver deliciously.  Discuss: Do opposites attract?

8. The Horse Whisperer
The opening scenes, in which a young Scarlett Johansson goes riding in the snow and the horrific accident that follows set the tone for the quiet, pensive drama to come. Robert Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas build a sweet and subtle intimacy as Johansson comes back from her injury. You'll cry so hard you'll forget that outside is the devil's sweatbox. 

9. Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder's immortal 1959 cross-dressing comedy starts out in the frozen tundra of Chicago in February, when struggling musicians Joe and Jerry hock their overcoats to gamble on the ponies. After witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, they disguise themselves as ladies and join a women's orchestra for a trip to Florida. In one of the funniest movies of all time, the opening scenes of shivering folks packing into speakeasies will cool you down for the vibrant Marilyn Monroe action to come.

10. House of Flying Daggers
Zhang Yimou's epic 2004 explosion of colors and sound features Andy Lau and the delectable Takeshi Kaneshiro fighting for the affections of blind thief Ziyi Zhang. The whole film is a kaleidoscope of opulence and immaculately choreographed fight scenes, but none tops the final showdown in a snowblown field. The chill from the screen pales in comparison to the agony of the romantic clash between the two men and the woman between them.

Photo courtesy of Paramount.