[pryor15]

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In your opinion, is the film Body Heat more a complete ripoff of the vastly superior Double Indemnity, or is it a clever homage? And what's the difference?

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geez, it's been way too long since I've seen Body Heat to even attempt to answer that...stumped on the first question, damn you, dom!...i need to see Double Indemnity again too, now that it's on DVD.

as to the second part, i think a good rule of thumb is if the second film is employing the intent of the original's content, rather than just the content itself. Example: the famous running shot from Jules et Jim. If you just mimic the shot b/c you think it looks cool--ripoff. But, if you use the shot (or, better yet, a variation of that) to convey what Truffaut was attempting to convey--homage.

meh, i'm not sure that made sense.