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Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

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“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Bark louder, little dog.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Is this just the devil in me?

Is this just the devil in me?

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Today’s record high temperatures prove conclusively that Al Gore is fat. It also makes me ask: what are the best movies about extreme heat, what are the best songs?

For movies, I’ll go with the divine Body Heat and the great Do The Right Thing. For songs, I’ll go with Heat Wave and, just to get old-school, Too Darned Hot.

What else? Please, no Hot Town, Summer In The City or Smooth.

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  2. 2.

    Lolis

    I have been grooving to Brite Futures, “Dog Eared Summer.” I got it for free on KEXP Song of the Day podcast available on Itunes. I have gotten so many awesome songs there.

  6. 6.

    Served

    Not a movie, but there’s a Twilight Zone episode where the earth is getting pulled into the sun, and it’s hot as hell in an apartment building.

    Best Songs? The musical “In The Heights” takes place during a heatwave in Washington Heights in NYC, and has some great songs and funny quips about the heat.

  14. 14.

    Nylund

    I’m stuck in moderation. In case it was all the links…here it is sans links:

    Movies:
    The heat plays a big role in Summer of Sam. I think it may in Dog Day Afternoon as well, but its been decades since I’ve seen that.

    Songs:

    Too Hot (original by Prince Buster or the cover by The Specials)

    Summer in the City by The Lovin Spoonfull

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Not a movie, but there’s a Twilight Zone episode where the earth is getting pulled into the sun, and it’s hot as hell in an apartment building.

    Hey, I thought of the same one. Just saw it a few weeks ago. Pretty much my personal nightmare.
    Almost on topic, there was a chirpy little report on the weather channel this morning about a piece of ice the size of Manhattan breaking off a Greenland glacier. The anchor-bot talked about it in that “can you imagine that?” sing-song voice they usually save for moose swimming in somebody’s pool videos.

  18. 18.

    Darby

    /lurker (Yes, I’ve been haunting the place since before Cole converted)

    Ring of Fire

    That is all.

    \lurker

  20. 20.

    vtr

    Steam Heat from The Pajama Game. Thanks for banning Hot Town, though I like John Sebastian. Yes -Sly.

  24. 24.

    adolphus

    Either version of Dune comes to mind.

    There was a cheesy Sci-Fi movie back in the 80’s called Ice Pirates.

    I’ll second Dog Day Afternoon.

    Beau Geste

    Lawrence of Arabia

  29. 29.

    DanR2

    A Time to Kill,, 1996, with Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey and Sandra Bullock all sweating their asses off for the entire 2 and a half hours.

    Donald Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Kiefer Sutherland and Ashley Judd add to the sweatiness.

  30. 30.

    adolphus

    Plus there were some episodes of Barney Miller that really made me sweat. I think it was the pit stains on the characters, but you could tell they were really hot. The same for some episodes of Hill Street Blues.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    also, too, the Simpsons where they get a pool.
    “Marge, can you make the oven cold?”

  35. 35.

    adolphus

    Soylent Green was a hot, sweaty movie, too if I recall. Plus a lot of fire movies like Back Draft and Towering Inferno.

  38. 38.

    fleeting expletive

    I thought of the Twilight Zone episode as well. Back in the mid 70’s there was some “Summertime” song that I liked, didn’t know the performer. At the record store all I could find was something from Ted Nugent. As I was looking at the album, the store employee came up beside me and said, “Dude, you don’t want that.” Still don’t know who did the song I liked. Glad I passed on Nugent though.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Inherit the Wind. Spencer Tracy, Harry Morgan, Sinatra and a very large Frederick March. Very dated, but I love Spencer Tracy in just about anything.

  43. 43.

    Gromit

    “Barton Fink”.

    John Goodman roaring down that hotel corridor as the walls burst into flames around him.

  45. 45.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    Kook and the Gang “Too Hot”

    Gotta run for shelter, gotta ru-hun for shade.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    My iTunes just went to Art Blakey’s Moanin’, which also always struck me as a very hot number for some reason.

  47. 47.

    someone

    Best song about the heat? That’s easy, leave it those from New Jersey:

    It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humanity
    Bouncing Souls

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLrw3pkJx4s

    It’s a four-alarm fricasee boy this heat is killing me
    it’s hot, it’s hot, it’s hot tonight
    It’s duelling dicks in a deep-fry It’s hot standing next to these other guys
    it’s hot, it’s hot, it’s hot tonight
    It’s sweaty snapper in a stir-fry A blazing sun under a red sky
    it’s hot, it’s hot, it’s hot tonight

    It’s hot and sexy and it’s wet and the show ain’t even over yet
    How much better can get tonight
    It’s so hot i can’t even think I need some air I need a drink
    Sweaty bodies everywhere down to their underwear tonight!
    My balls are sticking to my leg Pass the 40; sippin’ dregs
    Raise the roof let’s set it off cause we just can get enough tonight!

  48. 48.

    lamh34

    I agree with “Do The Right Thing”. the scene with the ice cube is what I always remember, among other things.

  49. 49.

    Joel

    It’s certainly not better than Body Heat, but Falling Down was okay.

    How about “Summertime” by Sublime/Pharcyde?

  50. 50.

    someone

    As for a movie, Since Barton Fink and Soylent Green have been mentioned I’ll add: Streets of Fire.

  51. 51.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    How about “Summertime” by Sublime/Pharcyde?

    Great one. Sublime doesn’t get its due, IMHO.

  52. 52.

    honus

    Sahara, with Humphrey Bogart and the original Flight of the Phoenix. Songs Fire by Arthur Brown, Hendricks, and Springsteen and Red Hot

  53. 53.

    Special Patrol Group

    “Barton Fink” is a good call. I would also nominate “Blood Simple,” what with the ceiling fans and the incinerator.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Springsteen has a lot of summer songs, doesn’t he?
    Barefoot girl sittin’ on the hood of a Dodge/Drinkin’ warm beer in the soft summer rain

    Sandy, the fireworks are hailin’ over Little Eden tonight/forcin’ a light/onto all them stony faces/left stranded on this warm July

    Girls in Their Summer Clothes

  58. 58.

    dr. bloor

    Guilty pleasure: Summer Breeze, Seals & Crofts. Never fails to put me back on the seat of my gold sting-ray in July, riding over to my friend Len’s house.

  60. 60.

    JenJen

    I was just saying yesterday that here in Cincinnati, it was “Do The Right Thing” hot. My real thermometer hit 103 outside today. Freaking miserable and all the Ohio sweet corn I associate with July in the midwest can’t make up for it, either.

  62. 62.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    Springsteen has a lot of summer songs, doesn’t he?

    Meh, they’re all it’s so hot in Jersey, gonna eat some fried dough with my girl.

  63. 63.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    Bridge On the River Kwai

    I swear to Bieber you and the Cool Hand Luke people are ripping off the sweatiest movie ever debate from the first episode of Cheers.

  64. 64.

    DanielX

    Summertime…..the version by Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring one Janis Joplin.

  68. 68.

    PopeRatzy

    Just pull out War – Anthology
    Summer
    Cisco Kid
    L.A. Sunshine
    Low Rider
    Sun oh Son
    Tobacco Road

    War has always been my “begin the summer playlist”

  69. 69.

    Comrade Luke

    62 degrees here in Seattle. One of our local meteorologists ran the numbers, and we’ve been above eighty degrees for 78 minutes so far this year: 12 minutes on July 2, and 66 minutes on July 6.

    Seventy. eight. minutes.

    But hey, almost 19hrs above 75, so there’s that.

  72. 72.

    Off Colfax

    Movie: C’mon, dudes. Don’t tell me nobody has mentioned the Mad Max movies yet?

    Song: Meatloaf – You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)

  76. 76.

    John T

    My favorite music for bringing the temperature down is Jamaican dub reggae, the spacier the better, with lots of “wet” reverb.

    But I live in Portland, Oregon, where we haven’t really had any summer weather yet. Hearing the lamentations of everyone else in the country (outside of the Pacific Northwest) makes me feel kind of grateful for that.

  79. 79.

    freelancer (iPhone)

    Volunteers with Tom Hanks and John Candy.

    “Jesus H Christ! We must be a mile from the sun!”

    Also, Sinatra wasn’t in Inherit the Wind, Gene Kelly played E K Hornbeck aka H L Mencken.

  83. 83.

    Corner Stone

    In case no one has mentioned it yet, Cool Hand Luke has some of the sweatiest scenes in all of moviedom.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    Oh, I see James E. Powell was thinking along the same lines.
    Cool Hand Luke was a pretty fucking sweaty movie, IMO.

  90. 90.

    scandi

    If you like opera/musical theatre, there is a beautiful song in Kurt Weill’s STREET SCENE called “Ain’t it Awful, the Heat?”

  94. 94.

    MikeJ

    Hung Up with Summer – Big Star
    Summer – Buffalo tom
    Double Summer – the Chills
    Other Side of Summer – Elvis
    Summer Skin – Death Cab
    Summer song – decembrists
    summerland – everclear
    something wonderful happens in summer – Frank
    Celebrated Summer Hüsker Dü

    Jesus, I’ve got 97 more summer songs in itunes.

  100. 100.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    Miami Vice had some great episodes on the heat and humdity

    VietNam movies usually focus on the heat (Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Boys in Company C).

    Year of living Dangerously

  101. 101.

    The Dangerman

    @Comrade Luke:

    But hey, almost 19hrs above 75, so there’s that.

    I was in Seattle in June; brrrrrrrr. Cold as the Mariners bats.

    Has “Summer Nights” by Van Halen been tossed into the mix?

  103. 103.

    diakron

    Meat Puppets – Flaming Heart

    Lyrics have nothing to do with hot weather but I don’t care. That’s my submission.

  109. 109.

    PIGL

    One Hot Summer
    Veda Hille, from Spine, 1996.

    There seems to be no YouTube version, but the song absolutley cooks…and the Grass in the City is Catching on Fire. boom taddada boom taddada boom taddada boom.

    “Gravel and sand, I am avalanche land”

    and I wish I could remember for you all the words, or give you some feel for the melodic power of this almost unknown song.

  110. 110.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    The Flamingo Kid

    Ya know when you think about it, summer movies really feature summer weather

    while there are coming of age movies set in summer like corvette summer, American Graffiti, Blue Crush, etc., they don’t feature hot weather.

  113. 113.

    Karen

    “Hot Child In The City” Nick Guilder
    “Hot In The City” Billy Idol
    “Summertime, Summertime” The Jamies
    Every song by the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.

  114. 114.

    eemom

    1. Hot August night, and the leaves hangin down and the grass on the ground smelling sweet

    2. Helter Skelter in the summer swelter, the birds flew off to the fallout shelter, eight miles high and falling faaaaaast

  115. 115.

    eemom

    ….how they danced in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
    some dance to remember, some dance to forget

  116. 116.

    eemom

    pre Pulp Fiction (long pre) John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John:

    Summer lovin, had me a blaaaaaast
    Summer lovin, happened so faaaaast

  118. 118.

    Handsome Stranger

    My all-time favorite summertime heat movie may be Street Scene — an astonishingly great movie considering it was released in 1931. Directed by King Vidor and starring Sylvia Sidney.

  119. 119.

    Brachiator

    Not a movie, but there’s a Twilight Zone episode where the earth is getting pulled into the sun, and it’s hot as hell in an apartment building.

    The episode is called “Midnight Sun.”. Great episode, as always with a twist.

    Also, there is a great 1960s British science fiction movie, “The Day The Earth Caught Fire.”

  120. 120.

    dead existentialist

    @ eemom
    Heat gettin’ to ya, or are those just the normal hot flashes?

  121. 121.

    BD of MN

    Fine. no “hot” threads when the dewpoint hit 88 and the heat index hit 132 on Tuesday in Moorhead, MN which is just across the border from Fargo…. yes, freaking Fargo…

    just for that, I give you “Predator 2” as my hot movie….

  122. 122.

    AnotherBruce

    It might have made 68 today in Seattle, thank god it’s beginning to cool down.

    Not to rub it in of course. Enjoy the heat and humidity.

  123. 123.

    Pappy G

    Long time lurker here. Agree with everything I know or recognize from above. Just want to throw in Jane Campion’s ‘In the Cut’ – not a great film, but she captures NYC summers in a very visceral way. I also really dig listening to ‘Here Comes the Summer’ by The Undertones when it gets really hot. But, alas, I live in dsease covered Puget Sound. Haven’t had any cause to break it out yet. Which is fine by me. Al Gore is phat.

  128. 128.

    hamletta

    My all-time favorite summertime heat movie may be Street Scene — an astonishingly great movie considering it was released in 1931. Directed by King Vidor and starring Sylvia Sidney.

    And featuring the gracious and dignified Beulah Bondi adjusting her undies.

    Was just thinking about that shot this afternoon when everything was sticky.

  129. 129.

    barbara

    “The Day The Earth Caught Fire” — great sci fi movie from the 60’s, I think. No longer science fiction.

  132. 132.

    Taylor

    Echo “The Day The Earth Caught Fire.” The science in it is total crap, but its depiction of a world melting down, done in that typical understated British fashion, is better than any histrionics by Emmerich.

    The best book on this subject is Ballard’s The Drowning World.

    Also don’t forget Soylent Green, which considers a world dying due to global warming, among other environmental failures. Silly, but now we can see also prophetic. Who knew the human race was too stupid to survive?

  133. 133.

    Tony J

    Mickey Rourke. Lisa Bonet. Angel Heart. It’s hot and sweaty and the Devil’s gonna get you in the end.

    And, for the love of FSM, people. Why has no one mentioned Top Gun? Blue skies, aviator shades and that volleyball scene that I can never watch without getting an itch on (not the Marcus Bachmann kind, the other kind) at the very thought of all that sand getting into sweaty crevices.

  135. 135.

    Cat Lady

    Seven Year Itch. Can’t believe no one thought of Marilyn’s street grate scene before now. It’s the iconic image of “hot” for all time.

  136. 136.

    Dr. Wu

    Billy Joel’s “Borderline” gets an honorable mention for its line “Blackout, heatwave, .44 caliber homicide/the bums drop dead and the dogs go mad in packs on the West Side”

  138. 138.

    Lurking Canadian

    I second Angel Heart. Every scene in that movie takes place in a miserably hot room under an ineffective ceiling fan.

  140. 140.

    Amir_Khalid

    My own candidate for favorite summer song: Sherry Darling by Bruce. “Let there be sunlight, let there be rain, let the brokenhearted love again …” And the Big Man,
    God bless him, is just all over the song with that magnificent horn.

  141. 141.

    Paul in KY

    How bout Mungo Jerry’s ‘In the Summertime’?

    Excellent choices up above by all.

  147. 147.

    phein39

    Music:

    Pierre Dorge and the New Jungle Orchestra, (So Hot) Even the Moon is Dancing “Suho Ning Samo”

    Movie:

    “Rear Window” — Jimmy Stewart sitting at his apartment’s courtyard window to catch a breeze, watching his neighbors cope (or not) with the summer heat.

  148. 148.

    low-tech cyclist

    Why so harsh on the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” ?

    It is one of the quintessential summer songs – you can almost feel the heat rising up off the pavement while listening to it. Terrific song.

  150. 150.

    Gus

    Oh, and Hot Fun in the Summertime-Sly and the Family Stone
    Long Hot Summer Night-Jimi Hendrix

  151. 151.

    artem1s

    Drunken Angel

    early Kurosawa, post WWII, set in Tokyo slums. Takashi Shimura plays an alcoholic doctor who is trying to save everyone. Toshiro Mifune in his first film with Kurosawa steal the show as a mob guy, street tough suffering from tuberculous. Boy was he HOT. He could totally kick James Dean’s ass.

    Come to think of it, a bunch of Kurasawa’s films feature the oppressive heat as a central character. Stray Dog especially.

  153. 153.

    pookapooka

    Honolulu exotica band Don Tiki’s “Heat” from their CD “Skinny Dip with Don Tiki” wherein it is claimed soon every place will be tropical.

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