Pop Culture Happy Hour - We debate the sweatiest movie of all time

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

Whether they're lightly perspiring, gently glowing, or soaked through from sweltering, people in the movies sweat a lot. But what movie has had people sweat the very most? With another summer underway, we are revisiting our debate about what is the sweatiest movie of all time — including Do the Right Thing, Dog Day Afternoon, Y tu mamá también, and Body Heat.If you like need more summery suggestions, check out these episodes:The summer blockbusters we finally watched‘Jaws’ is still stuck in our teeth, 50 years later‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ has drama, romance and the music of Taylor SwiftConnect with Pop Culture Happy Hour:Letterboxd / FacebookOur weekly newsletterSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Whether they're lightly perspiring, gently glowing, or soaked through from sweltering, people in the movies sweat a lot. They sweat in sexy movies and in drama. They sweat all over the place. But what movie has had people sweat the very most? There can only be one champion, and with another summer underway, we thought it was a great time to revisit our debate on that very important question. I'm Stephen Thompson. And I'm Linda Holmes. And today in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy. hour, we're debating what is the sweatiest movie of all time. Joining us today are our co-hosts Aisha Harris. Hello, Aisha.

Here and sweaty to serve, Linda. And Glenn Weldon, hello Glenn. Cool hand, Glenn, they call me, hey, Linda. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So the sweatiest movie of all time is a question that, believe it or not, has come up in the culture from time to time. In fact, the very first episode of Cheers, the gang debates this very thing. What movie did people sweat the most in? That's easy.

Rocky, too. No, no, not even close. Body heat. Sweat City. Ben Hur. The boys in Edgalley sweat like pig. No, no, alien. That's why. Alien.

Buckets. That was more than 40 years ago, and a lot of sweating was yet to be filmed. So we have each brought a nominee for the sweatiest movie ever. Just so you know, we will be talking about sweat of all kinds. So we will be talking about sex for a few of these movies. Stephen Thompson, my sweaty friends. What did you bring for your pick for Sweettiest movie? Well, I brought a sweaty movie.

I brought a sexy movie. I brought a movie full of awkward rutting. And what could be sweeter than that? I picked the 2001 Mexican film It To Mama Tambien, which helped make massive stars of, basically everyone involved. Elfonso Quaron, the director and co-writer, went on to win several Oscars for directing Gravity in Roma. Diego Luna, Gail Garcia Bernal, Maribel Verdu, all very, very, very successful actors. If you have not seen Itumama Tambien, one, I highly

recommend it. And two, just to give you a quick plot description, it is a sort of coming-of-age Road movie in which two very horny and inept young men recruit an older woman, played by Maribel Verdue, to go on a road trip to a sort of mythical beach spot during kind of everyone's summer break. Along the way, you get a lot of sex and talk about sex and sweating and smoking in cars. And I've rarely seen a movie that I could so consistently feel like I could smell. That's going to be a throughline, yeah. Yes, yes. First of all, enormous amounts of cigarette smoke, a fair bit of food and drink, lots of other smells that you can sort of imagine.

Diego Luna and Gail Garcia Bernal, of all the effective kind of costuming in this film, one of the most effective visual cues in this film was clearly behind the scenes. Someone said to those two young men, please don't ever wash your hair. There is just something so sticky and hormonal about them and their performances. There is an extraordinary amount of nudity in this film. There is an extraordinary amount of sex in this film. It is definitely hot, but it is also so,

perfectly frenetic and awkward, that this movie just situates you in a cloud of hormones. As these people are driving through the very sweaty, very dusty, very picturesque Mexican countryside. And so you get a travelogue, you get a coming of age movie. You get a raunchy teen. sex comedy, but you also get something that is more than that at the same time. This is a thoughtful film, but man, you just are in that car with them, and it is 105 degrees. Yeah, you made me want to rewatch this because I don't think I've watched it in probably 20 years or so. And all I remember about it was hot, not just actual hot, but also all three of them are hot. Everybody is so beautiful.

Yes, yes, yes. Stephen, do you think the sweat in particular is used for anything other than itself? Without sweat, how would this be a different movie? One thing, going back and watching it with sweatiness in mind, you're not seeing a lot of big pit stains. You're not necessarily getting visual signifiers of sweatiness in this film the way I'm sure some of these other picks or some of the movies that were mentioned in that Cheers clip may have. may have more physical sweat associated with them, but this is very specifically a summer heat movie. Sure.

This is very much like the sweat is in the season. It's in the sense of place. But it's also like in the constant drumbeat of bad decision making. It's in the details. Okay. So, Stephen, I'm so glad you picked this film because I can tell you definitively that you're wrong because I was going to come in with this film.

Right? That was my pick. So I went back and watched it and not that sweaty. People think it's really sweaty because there's one particular scene at the end that is very, very sweaty. But as you say, there are no visual signifiers of sweat, which means like the sweat is the friends we made along the way. No, no, no, no. That's not the way. Not accepted.

Not accepted. Rejected. It's a feeling, Glenn. It's a feeling. Oh, boy. I think that there is something to be said for sweat. as a stand-in for heat more generally, which brings me to my pick. In the words of the man with whom I always agree, Cliff Clavin, I chose Body Heat.

Yeah. That was my other pick. Body Heat's a great pick. Body Heat is a 1981 neo-noir, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. This is really the movie that made a star out of Kathleen Turner. It is so related in theme to double indemnity that there are people who received it as essentially a remake of double indemnity almost. And it isn't quite that, but it is a story about this guy who is sort of a loser and meets this woman who he's just absolutely transfixed by.

And like all sexy projects in the 80s, it begins with a saxophone. The very first thing that you see is his sweaty back. And the very first thing that you hear is the woman that he has just slept with, who is not Kathleen Turner, who says, my God, it's hot. My God, it's hot. Stepped out of the shower and started sweating again. And as Stephen talked about, there is sweat and then there is heat. I think they are pretty attentive in this movie to both of those things. It is a very, very sweaty movie.

Partly, you know, people will talk about this as a really, really frank movie sexually for the time, which I think for a big studio, a big American studio release, I think it was. But that's less because of the sex acts that you're seeing in the movie. And it's more because of how naked this movie is. And not just because it's showing naked. parts that you don't normally see in movies. But because the way that it's shot, they're very good at implying, really showing you that people are naked by like showing the entire side of somebody's naked body. So you know they're naked. Sides are hot. Sides are hot. And my point is, I think the

feeling that you get is that the nudity and the sex and the sweat are all connected because it all takes place during this stretch where people keep talking about how hot it is. And I think the oppressiveness of the heat has to do with his character, Ned's closed little life and the way that he is so susceptible to the appeal of this very classic femme fatale. And in fact, you know, it's hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. He's sweaty, sweaty. He meets with his buddy, played by Ted Danson before cheers in a diner where, you know, it's smoky. The grill is going. They're sweaty. There's also a very literal conversation. There's a, he has a cop friend, in addition to his Ted Danson prosecutor friend, who expresses some thoughts about what hot weather is like for the police.

People dress different feel different. They sweat more. Wake up, cranky, and never recover. See, it's absolutely true. It's absolutely true. But then he goes outside and there's a breeze. You see the breeze on his face and you go, and this is, of course, when he's. he's about to see her. So she becomes associated with a break from the heat. That kind of becomes

part of how she comes into his life at this very oppressive moment. But the funniest thing about this, and listen, it absolutely gets away with what I'm about to play for you. But when they meet in a bar and they talk and they shake hands, this happens. You all right? Yes, I'm fine. My temperature runs a couple of degrees high around 100. I don't mind the engine or something. She literally runs hot. There you go. Amazing.

Yes, yes. I was going to pick this. The only reason I didn't is because I've never seen it. I only saw clips of this movie on Cisco and Ebert back in the day. And from those clips, which made an impression, you could tell that the line item in the budget for glycerin in this film was just the GDP of Guam. You know that this said had those caution wet floor signs everywhere. Very sweaty movie. Good pick.

I just think this is not only an incredibly sweaty movie, which it is, but it's a movie where I think the sweat is doing work. And I like sweat that does work. Also, listen, it's a super sexy movie. I haven't seen it since I was a teenager, but it made an impression. Look, to your point, Linda, I think a lot of the films, I haven't heard Aeush's yet, but I have a feeling a lot of the films, all the films are going to be talking about today, will use the pathetic fallacy, which is that literary term for when you attribute human qualities to non-human things, like when you say the clouds are selling. And weather is the number one pathetic fallacy that always gets used.

Heat as a signifier for usually imminent conflict or violence is on the way. But a lot of the films we're going to be talking about use heat to kind of mirror the emotions or trigger them. And I think this one is using the heat partly for its stifling nature, which is how heat is here in D.C. in like July. in August, it's less that you can't bear the heat and more that you just feel like you are constantly being pressed on by water molecules. The phrase I use a lot is Bayou toilet. Yeah. And the phrase I use a lot is stuffed down heat miser's underpants.

So it's all the piece. Exactly. So it's that kind of like stifling atmosphere. So anyway, that is my pick. Body heat. Solid. Very good pick. All right.

We are ready to move on. Aisha, I want to hear your pick. Okay. Well, yes, as Glenn pointed out, all of these movies, I think, for the most part, except maybe Stevens, according to Glenn, but all of these movies have similarities in terms of sort of what the sweat is doing. And my criteria for this was really just simple. It was like sweat, obviously, and not just one scene, but like most scenes or almost every scene, or maybe the entire movie. Characters constantly commenting on how hot it is. Like, the characters have to be bothered by it or be like acknowledging that it's happening and not just sweating. And then, Of course, the ambience needs to be integral to the part of the plot. And the tension for me had to be both sexual, violent, angry, or all three. And so, look, I don't think my movie really needs an introduction. It's probably the most obvious movie out of all of these, or at least it's one of the most cited if you look at any list of sweatiest movies of all time. It is, of course, do the right thing.

Spike Lee, 1989. I only didn't pick this because based on a previous conversation, I had a feeling you were going to pick this. I know. It was tough. I had to choose between this and a different movie that hasn't been mentioned. But yes, this came out on top for me. You know, when you think about how this movie starts and the fact that it starts with basically a Fly Girl slash Jane Fonda aerobics video of Rosie Perez just like pump in to fight the power. Fight the power. You can just see like all of that like the body, the kinetic energy and how much she's working and making it blithe. look like work. And then you get the opening scene after that sort of opening credit sequence where you have Sam Jackson as Mr. Senior Love Daddy, the local radio DJ who just so happens to be like directly placed in the middle of the neighborhood, this Brooklyn bedside, do or die neighborhood. And he out the gate is doing his patter, his opening, like, good morning,

it's hot. The color for today is black. That's right. Black. So you can absorb some of these rays and save that heat for one. So you want to get on out there wear that black and be involved. Also, today's temperature is going to rise up over 100 degrees. So that's a Jerry Curl alert. That's right, Jerry Curl alert. So you have him laying out what is going to happen today. Black, we're going to have this theme of blackness, black power, black pride.

And then also the Jerry Curl. You're just going to comment on the look and the costuming of the moment. Jerry curls, as we all know if we've seen coming to America, that stuff. Even in the cold doesn't work well, and especially in the sweaty heat. And then, you know, what I love about this is that we've talked about the way that heat can be such an oppressive feeling. And we don't just have the oppressiveness of the heat, but then we also have the oppression and the impressiveness of the police. Sure. Look at that.

It's perfect. And so I think that to Glenn's point earlier again, this movie, I think you can say wouldn't exist without it being hot. Like you can't imagine it being winter in bedside and people getting this upset at each other. Like most people wouldn't be outside. And if they were, the energy is just not the same. You also wouldn't get the great scene where Tina, played by Rosie Perez and Mookie, played by Spike Lee, decide, actually, it's too hot to have sex. This goes against most movies. When does that happen?

I mean, it happens in real life all the time. It happens in life. Another reason why this movie is so true to life. Hey, that's out. Hold up. Wait a minute. First of all, it is too hot, all right?

And if you think I'm going to let you get some, put your clothes on, and leave here, and I'll see you a black ass for another week. You must be bugging. Unlike so many other movies where, yes, we get, and as we were talking with body heat, like, there's just all the sexual tension.

It's like, there's sexual tension, and then there's like, it's too hot to have sex, so let's just cool off with an ice cube. And it's embedded in that clip you, that great clip you pulled because it's like this idea of you absorb the sun. Like, you're absorbing this.

energy and that energy has to go someplace, right? And that's what's going to happen over the course of the film. It's hardwired into the language. We say things boiled over. We say, you know, people get heated. We say, I run hot, for example. It's all of a piece. What makes this such a great pick is that heat is a catalyst in this film. It's not just ambient. It is integral to the plot. As you kind of said, Aisha, like things in this film happen because of the heat in addition to the heat setting a mood. Yeah. I think one of the things that these films have in common is that a lot of times, as

we've mentioned, you'll see heat used as a kind of escalate, escalate, escalate. I think these are films where you also get heat and sweat as like claustrophobic pressing down kinds of things where they pressurize the environment. And listen, this is how particularly humidity, maybe not dry heat, but particularly humidity, this is how it feels. It feels like it is coming down and kind of lying on top of you and you can't move. And so I think they do a really good job both of these films in using heat in that specific way to kind of be closing in rather than just escalating out. Especially in a place like New York City where everyone is already on top of each other. Yes. And the heat also

translates to the look of the film too. It's also, you know, Ruth Carter's costuming and the fact that a lot of people wearing red and white, and then Ernest Dickerson's cinematography, which is like, you can see the red and yellow tones just like jumping off of the screen. So do the right thing. Sweety's movie. In my opinion, but I'm sure Glenn is going to, you know, give us. Oh, Glenn is going to make a case, yes. Oh, okay. It's great pick, though. Great pick. We absolutely have open minds about your wonderful pick. Now that you've disqualified Stevens' pick. Go ahead. Yeah. I'm coming in. into this with vengeance in my heart.

Good to know. Good to know. He's hot. Steven's hot. Notionally open. He is. He's coming in hot. My pick also takes place in Brooklyn during a heat wave. You will know it when you hear this classic piece of dialogue. He wants to kill me so bad. He can taste it. All right. I was going to kill me. Erica! Erica!

Erica! This is, of course, the 1975 film Dog Day afternoon. It's right there in the title. directed by Sidney Lomette, stars a very young Appuccino as sunny, John Cazale as Sal. It's about a real hostage situation that took place in Brooklyn and a Brooklyn bank, specifically, on August 22nd, 1972. It opens with this amazing tone-setting montage of shots of a very sweltering New York in the 70s. And can we just agree that, cinematically at least, New York in the 70s is a vibe. It's you can watch this movie.

Yes. You can feel the back of your neck getting dirt and gritty. I mean, like, it is just, you got dogs digging into trash bags on the street. You got people watering down their sidewalks. You got the stink of the garbage in this film, the feel of the humidity. Like you mentioned, Linda, it's like walking through broth. There's a funk to this film. You see people collapse sweating on the sidewalks.

They're dripping sweat on Coney Island Beach. So it's sweaty, yes. But the reason this is going to win is because we're talking about two different kinds of sweat in this movie. You've got the heat and humidity sweat. Yes. Especially after the cops cut the power in the bank. Everybody is just glistening. There is also flop sweat.

Ah, we haven't had that yet. Nervous tension. Everyone in this film is anxious because it quickly becomes clear that these robbers don't know what the hell they're doing. And the camera is always in motion because Pacino is always in motion. He's pacing. The cameraman used roller skates. They used wheelchairs. They were just going back and forth.

And there's a visual signifier of just how sweaty this is. Because throughout the film, Pacino's character carries a handkerchief that he's always dabbing his brow with. And as he's pacing, he's moving around. He's got moves like Jagger, basically. He looks a lot like the Jagger. And, you know, in conclusion, number one. In conclusion, Dog Day Afternoon is a land of contrast. That's right.

New York in the 70s sweat is the sweatiest sweat you'll ever sweat. You can smell the armpits in the movie, but that is compounded. And I would say exponentially compounded, exponentially multiplied by the fact that it's there is also nervous flop sweat. There is tension. There is dread. There is fear. There is an anxiety.

That is a sweatiness multiplier. That is dog day afternoon. Sweaties movie all time. Okay. I see your point. I think it's excellently argued. Do the right thing also has the nervous sweat. That entire scene in Sal's pizzeria before Radha

Rahim is murdered by the police. There's all these close-ups of their faces and Sal yelling. And there's, and there is sweat. There is sweat happening there. Of course it does. But it introduces the sweat. partway into the film. It introduces the tension, the dread, partway into the film.

This starts from opening minute one when they walk in the bank. You know something's going to happen. And that tension does not let up. There's a lot of humor in it. There's lots because... I feel like Chuck D. brings the sweat from the... But whatever. I don't know. Saxophone and sweaty back of William Hurt. I just...

I feel like as the person who has clearly picked the movie that is not going to win... Oh, Stephen. I don't know that that's true. I should cast the deciding vote for Do the Right. thing out of spite against Glenn. Yay. No, I get that.

That's reasonable. All right. That brings us to the end of our show. Aisha Harris, Glenn Weldon, Stephen Thompson. Always glad to be with all of you. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you.

This episode is produced by Mike Katsif and edited by Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In, provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we will see you all tomorrow.