Summer of heat
Getting stuck in a heat wave is the worst part of any summer. Your lemonade isn’t cold enough, your ceiling fan doesn’t rotate fast enough, your ice cream melts too fast, and you can’t quite get rid of the feeling of the sweat on your back. The heat affects your mood, how things look and feel around you, and how you choose to live your life in those long days. Oppressive heat is a shared human experience, which is why you can find its traces across cinema history.
As on-screen temperatures rise, so do tensions. This heat-induced desperation can be found across genres, decades, and countries. When brainstorming titles for this series, Calgary Cinematheque discussed erotic thrillers, heist films, prison dramas, buddy cop movies, white-knuckle roller coasters, and traditional dramas that all fell under the spectre of summer heat. We settled on three wildly different but equally engaging American releases to put together our version of a summer blockbuster series. Beat the heat at Globe Cinema and enjoy our latest series, Summer of Heat.
Art by Jacob Paris.
Series Films
Body Heat (1981)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
August 7, 2025
“When it gets this hot, people try to kill each other.”
Set in sweltering South Florida, the film’s noir elements unravel in a manner heavily inspired by Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity. Like many classic American noirs, our main character, played by William Hurt, meets an irresistible woman and soon finds himself in a fiery plot.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Directed by Sidney Lumet
August 14, 2025
“He won’t listen to anybody. He’s been crazy all summer.”
The second film of Calgary Cinematheque’s Summer Heat series is also the second film to allude to the movie’s heat directly in its title. Set on a hot summer day in Brooklyn, this crime thriller is based upon a true story. A heist goes wrong, and all of a sudden two thieves (Al Pacino and John Cazale) are stuck holding hostages in a sweltering bank.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Directed by Spike Lee
August 21, 2025
“Well, gentlemen, the way I see it, if this hot weather continues, it’s going to melt the polar caps and the whole wide world.”
Spike Lee’s masterpiece captures the hottest day of the summer turning “everyday” class and racial tensions into a political pressure cooker that is still as relevant in 2025 as it was in 1989. The camera moves, and the performers shine with a vibrancy that other filmmakers have been chasing for over thirty years, to no avail.
