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Welcome to “Best Summer Ever,” your guide to getting the most out of the sunny season. Whether your idea of a perfect summer is embarking on epic adventures or blissfully doing as little as possible, we’ve got you covered. Because the best summer doesn’t just happen—you have to make it happen.
Records were made to be broken, of course, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record, globally (or for at least the last 2,000 years). And you’ll probably not be surprised to learn that 2024 managed to top that (just by a bit, but still). 2025 has already seen one of the hottest springs on record in the contiguous United States, with expectations high that the upcoming summer will be at least the second-hottest ever recorded. Yay?
In that spirit, maybe it’s time to get out of the heat for a couple of hours (if you’re fortunate enough to have air conditioning that works on a regular basis) and stream a movie or two. It’s often said that hot beverages can be cooling on hot days, so it stands to reason (I guess?) that a hot, sweaty movie set in a sultry climate might be just the thing. If not, bookmark this and come back when it’s cold—maybe these movies will warm you up as readily as they’ll cool you down.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The setting: Brooklyn, NY
The heat in Spike Lee’s masterpiece Do the Right Thing isn’t merely incidental: It’s the trigger for an explosion—the factor that set a Brooklyn neighborhood’s simmering racial tensions (largely between the Black residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria) to boil over on one particularly sultry summer day. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson created a color scheme for the movie emphasizing reds and oranges, while the movie as a whole includes a memorable montage involving an opened fire hydrant, and an even more memorable bit involving Mookie (Spike Lee), Tina (Rosie Perez), and some rapidly melting ice cubes. You can stream Do the Right Thing on Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
The setting: New Mexico, 1989
Muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising, Love Lies Bleeding star Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she’s the daughter of the local crime boss (Ed Harris), with a sister (Jena Malone) who is suffering from the abuse of her no-good husband (Dave Franco). It’s all quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) stops off in town. She’s ‘roided up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two of them get caught up in an act of violence that sends everything spiraling toward a truly wild final act. You can practically feel the grime and smell the sweat here and so, while it’s not explicitly set during the summer season (it was filmed during the height of summer in New Mexico), it’s as summer-in-the-west as it gets. You can stream Love Lies Bleeding on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
Stray Dog (1949)
The setting: Tokyo during a heatwave
This essential noir from Akira Kurosawa finds Toshiro Mifune as Murakami, a rookie homicide detective who loses his gun on his very first day. The hunt for the sidearm (this is very much a forerunner to our modern police procedurals) leads him deep into the Tokyo underworld, and also into a reluctant partnership with veteran detective Satō (Takashi Shimura). There’s a literal Tokyo heatwave going on, but the film is also suffused with postwar dread—the sweat that drenches our protagonists in this daylight noir is as tied to the unreasonably warm temperature as it is to the sense of a society nearing its breaking point. You can stream Stray Dog on The Criterion Channel.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The setting: North central Florida
Based on the the real-life account of one-time convict Donn Pearce, Cool Hand Luke tells the story of the title’s Luke, a Korean vet sentenced to two years on a prison camp chain gang for some relatively mild drunken shenanigans. With the camp’s cruel overseers and unforgiving fellow prisoners (led by George Kennedy’s Dragline Slidell), the movie is nearly two full hours of hard labor in the blistering Florida sun. The film’s most memorable heat-related moment, though, deals with the heat indirectly: Luke impresses his fellow prisoners by winning a bet that he can eat 50 hard boiled eggs in one hour. You can rent Cool Hand Luke from Prime Video.
Predator (1987)
The setting: An unnamed South American rainforest
Filmed mostly in Mexico, Predator finds a group of buff actions stars (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, etc.) fighting off an invisible hunter deep in some rainforest or other. You know it’s hot because of the glistening biceps, and you can presume that it gets hotter as the film goes along as Arnold’s outfit loses bits throughout, until it’s so hot that he’s wearing nothing but a thin layer of mud by the movie’s final act. You can stream Predator on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The setting: The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in northwest Mexico
The sweat and grime and dirt of John Huston’s film isn’t merely scene-setting: It feels like a look inside the soul of Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), one of the most believably avaricious characters in American cinema. Dobbs and a small party head into the mountains on the hunt for the title’s treasure, only to find themselves turning on each other in a dark spiral of greed. At least it’s a dry heat. You can rent The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from Prime Video.
Rear Window (1954)
The setting: A third-floor Greenwich Village apartment with a view
There’s a heatwave in Greenwich Village, and the neighbors are struggling to keep cool. Less so Jeff Jeffries, a photojournalist recovering from a broken leg who’s rather more interested in watching the antics of his (often scantily clad neighbors) than with his impossibly hot girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly). As the heat rises, so do tempers and passions—not surprising—given that we’re in a Hitchcock movie—there’s also a murder witnessed by the largely helpless Jeffries; he’s forced to rely on his resourceful girlfriend and sassy caretaker (played by the great Thelma Ritter) in order to find out what really happened while hoping that the killer doesn’t catch on to the guy with the binoculars across the courtyard. You can rent Rear Window from Prime Video.
In the Heights (2021)
The setting: Washington Heights, NYC
The phenomenal, wildly underrated musical follows several members of the largely Dominican-American community (at least in the movie) in Washington Heights during a summer building to the hottest day of the year. The movie’s centerpiece number, “Carnaval del Barrio,” brings most of the movie’s characters together and sees Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) exhorting her community to celebrate rather than mope. After all, she sings, “Since when are Latin people scared of heat?” You can rent In the Heights from Prime Video.
Beau Travail (1999)
The setting: Republic of Djibouti
Claire Denis’ gorgeous, hypnotic tone poem follows men of the French Foreign Legion to Djibouti, where a triangle of obsession and hate develops between Adjudant-Chef Galoup (Denis Lavant), new recruit Giles Sentain (Grégoire Colin), and the Commandant they both admire. Emotions run strong in the summer heat of the Horn of Africa. You can stream Beau Travail on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
Body Heat (1981)
The setting: South Florida
One of the cornerstones of the entire erotic thriller genre, Lawrence Kasdan’s appropriately titled Body Heat made an instant superstar of Kathleen Turner, playing neo-noir femme fatale Matty Walker. She embroils weeny lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) in a plot to murder her rich husband—making him think, quite naturally, that it was his idea. Between the sunny setting and the various entangled bodies, everyone’s sweaty pretty much all the time. You can stream Body Heat on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The setting: Maycomb, Alabama
Fictional Maycomb, Ala. was based on Harper Lee’s real-life hometown of Monroeville in that state, where the summer temperatures could reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 degrees (of course, that was before climate change really kicked in). This was also an era when white people of any social consequence—Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch, for example—wore three-piece suits as a matter of course. The movie doesn’t go quite so far visually, but the sweltering heat of a city baking in its own racial violence makes you feel as though Atticus, Tom Robinson, and everyone else in that stifling courtroom are going to sweat through the trial and everything they’re wearing. You can rent To Kill a Mockingbird from Prime Video.
Challengers (2024)
The setting: Various tennis courts over several years; also beds
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) brought us the horny bisexual romantic tennis drama of 2024, and we’re all better for it. Zendaya stars as a former tennis pro turned coach who falls into a love triangle with her champion husband (Mike Faist) and her low-circuit boyfriend (Josh O’Connor). The chemistry among the three is impressive, with jealousy, rivalry, passion, and obsession all on full display—it’s not just the intense tennis matches that are making everyone sweat. You can stream Challengers on MGM+ and Prime Video.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The setting: The fictional town of Newt, Muerto County, Texas
Horror can run cold, as in John Carpenter’s arctic-set The Thing, but it very often runs hot. In Tobe Hooper’s unintended franchise-opener, a group of five young road-trippers run out of gas at the worst possible spot: But who was to know that Leatherface lived right there? The heat of a Texas summer is palpable here, and it heightens the general nastiness of a filthy house full of bugs drawn to rotting flesh. And, though it’s less gratuitous here than in later slashers, it also allows for our leads, particularly the women, to flee the killer wearing a bit less than they might otherwise. You can stream The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Peacock and Prime Video.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
The setting: The Mississippi Delta
It’s hard to watch nearly any Tennessee Williams play or adaptation without finding yourself craving a perfectly crafted mint julep, or a giant glass of sweet iced tea. The poster for this classic finds Elizabeth Taylor’s Maggie Pollitt stretched out on a bed in a pose that’s metaphorically hot, sure, but with actual flames rising off of her in a thematic, if not entirely necessary, artistic flourish. Dealing largely with the tempestuous marriage between Maggie and Paul Newman’s Brick, the movie frequently finds its cast glistening in the summer heat, with a decaying plantation house as the setting. You can rent Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from Prime Video.
A Time to Kill (1996)
The setting: Canton, Mississippi
Earlier legal dramas (To Kill a Mockingbird, for example) might have implied heat, but this John Grisham adaptation goes quite a bit further. Revolving around the defense of a Black father (Samuel L. Jackson) who murders the white men who attacked his daughter, the film finds pretty much everyone sweating all the time. It’s probably not just the heat. You can rent A Time to Kill from Prime Video.
Sorcerer (1977)
The setting: The fictional village Porvenir, somewhere in South America
This unjustly forgotten William Friedkin film stars Roy Scheider as one of four men from different parts of the world (he’s the American) who wind up in Porvenir, a fictional and remote village somewhere in South America. Some people are needed, you see, to transport old and badly stored dynamite across 218 miles in rickety trucks. Did you know that nitroglycerin literally sweats? It’s something these guys will quickly learn. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 The Wages of Fear mines suspense from a similar setup. You can rent Sorcerer from Prime Video.
Y tu mamá también (2001)
The setting: A road trip across southern Mexico to Chiapas
Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal coming-of-age movie finds a couple of teenagers (Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) taking a road trip with an older woman (Maribel Verdú) who’s facing a major upheaval in her own life. Jealousy, expectation, and sexual tension (both expected and unexpected) threaten the relationship among the three as they head to a paradisiacal and isolated beach with highly emotional stakes. What starts as a trip to the beach becomes something much more meaningful. You can stream Y tu mamá también on Netflix and Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
The setting: Northern Italy
In the summer of 1983, in northern Italy, the archaeologist dad of Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) invites grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer ) to live with the family over the summer. While everything seems just peachy at first, the sweating begins in earnest shortly thereafter. You can rent Call Me by Your Name from Prime Video.
Dune (2021)
The setting: The desert planet Arrakis
You won’t find much sweat in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel—they can’t waste the water, you see. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, heir to the dukedom of the desert planet Arrakis (rich in spice, extremely poor in water) at a time when rival factions and the local Fremen have other ideas. You can stream Dune on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
The setting: Jaipur, India
Here, one of those great ensemble casts (Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and Penelope Wilton) head off to sunny Jaipur, India to take up residence at the title’s hotel—one that’s seen better days, in spite of the advertising. Luckily, the manager (Dev Patel) is sincere about making the place a home for the British guests, all of whom have suffered drastically reduced circumstances. Fortunately, they all discover that Jaipur and their new community has quite a bit more to offer than the last-ditch retirement plan they’d previously considered it. You can stream The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on Hulu or rent if from Prime Video.
Cruising (1980)
The setting: New York City’s leather scene circa 1980
With the no-plot, all-vibes style of the best Italian gialli, William Friedkin and company fashioned this sweaty, horny, and wildly provocative thriller with some help from a leather-clad Al Pacino. He plays Detective Steve Burns who is, according to his bosses, perfectly suited to go undercover in the gay club scene in New York City of 1980. During the very hot summer, a serial killer has been targeting gay men in the leather scene—depicting a rather extreme subculture that pissed off gay and straight audiences alike. I get where they’re coming from, but it’s all very stylish and just a bit camp, working better as a trippy murder mystery than as a statement. And the scenes of sweaty, writing men (barely dressed, when they’re not covered in leather) will have you feeling the summer heat. You can stream Cruising on Prime.
The Burning (1981)
The setting: A summer camp in upstate New York
This cult classic has had a bit of a renaissance in recent years, having been rediscovered both for its impressively nasty take on the Cropsey urban legend…and also for serving as the cinematic debuts of Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. It’s a summer camp slasher par excellence, with plenty of horny teens in the hot summer sun being killed in some particularly gut-wrenching ways. What sets the movie apart is some solid performances, smart direction, and gore effects from the great Tom Savini. You can stream The Burning on Prime.
12 Angry Men (1957)
The setting: A jury room in New York City
Over the course of roughly 90 minutes, 12 jurors deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder. The stifling and oppressive heat of the small jury room, on an exceptionally hot summer day, adds to the already dramatic stakes: the uncomfortable climate turns the room into a pressure cooker, with emotions and nerves running extra hot. You can stream 12 Angry Men on Tubi and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
The setting: A water- and petrol-starved near future
Any of the Mad Max movies, set in a parched, post-apocalyptic wasteland, will do here, but this 2015 film, the one that gave us Charlie Theron’s Furiosa, is probably the best of the lot. Non-stop action in the desert as heroes and villains fight it out over incredibly scarce resources, with more personal stakes for Furiosa. You can rent Mad Max: Fury Road from Prime Video.
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
The setting: New Orleans of 1937
This whackadoo Southern Gothic Mystery (from a Tennessee Williams play) involves a young man, the son of Katherine Hepburn’s memorably named Violet Venable, who dies under mysterious circumstances on a holiday in Spain. Though Violet had been happy to be his wingwoman in helping him meet other guys for sexual encounters, she’s less keen on the world finding out precisely how he died and, in that vein, is perfectly happy to lobotomize her niece (Elizabeth Taylor) just to make sure. The movie’s focus shifts from a New Orleans mental institution, to an estate overrun with (literal) hothouse flowers, to the (fictional) Spanish island of Cabeza de Lobo during a particularly hot summer. You can rent Suddenly, Last Summer from Prime Video.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
The setting: Montego Bay, Jamaica
Successful, middle-aged stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett) throws caution to the wind when she heads off for Montego Bay, Jamaica. And when she spots Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs) on her first day there, it occurs to her that there’s more to the island’s appeal than just the natural scenery. People mostly don’t sweat here, even given the Jamaica heat, but they absolutely glisten—and watching pretty people cavort in the sun isn’t the worst way to spend two hours, especially when the cast is this talented. You can rent How Stella Got Her Groove Back from Prime Video.
Anaconda (1997)
The setting: Somewhere in the Amazon
A brilliantly entertaining action/horror mash-up, Anaconda knows exactly what kind of movie it is and delivers everything you could want from a movie about a giant snake chasing J.Lo, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight through South America. Lopex plays a documentary film director looking to make a movie about a lost indigenous tribe in the Amazon basin when she and her team encounter hunter Paul Serone (Voight) who convinces them that he can lead them to the tribe—it turns out he’s only after the biggest game of his life: a 25-foot-long green anaconda. That doesn’t really want to be found. With the efficiency of cinema’s best serial killers, the snake begins taking out members of our sweaty, nosy film crew. You can stream Anaconda on Tubi and Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The setting: Sparta, Mississippi
When Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) becomes trapped in Sparta, Mississippi after sundown, his life is in danger—at least until the local sheriff (Rod Steiger) realizes that he needs help from Mister Tibbs on a murder investigation. Another film in which the southern heat runs side by side with bigotry and racial tension. You can stream In the Heat of the Night on Kanopy and Prime Video.
Fire Island (2022)
The setting: Refer to the title
A queer, contemporary take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Fire Island also takes aim at the overabundance of fat/femme/Asian stereotypes in the gay community. Social commentary aside, it’s a funny, smart romantic comedy with a great cast that includes Joel Kim Booster (in the Lizzy Bennett role—he also wrote the screenplay), Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, and Margaret Cho as a group of friends who travel each summer to the titular island—but this summer proves more dramatic (and romantic) than most. A good summer-by-the-beach movie whether you’ve got abs, or if you’re more of a shirt-in-the-pool type. You can stream Fire Island on Hulu.
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
The setting: Somewhere in the Louisiana Bayou
Eve’s Bayou, the debut of director Kasi Lemmons, conjures a world of Southern Gothic mystery and magic that never loses sight of the emotional realities of its main characters. Jurnee Smollett plays the title character, who begins the film with the story of the day she killed her father as a 10-year-old—the film exploring her story with the Rashômon-esque understanding of the mutability of memory. You can stream Eve’s Bayou on Peacock.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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