Plot
The lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.
Release Year: 1995
Rating: 8.3/10 (202,509 voted)
Critic's Score: 76/100
Director:
Michael Mann
Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
Storyline Hunters and their prey--Neil and his professional criminal crew hunt to score big money targets (banks, vaults, armored cars) and are, in turn, hunted by Lt. Vincent Hanna and his team of cops in the Robbery/Homicide police division. A botched job puts Hanna onto their trail while they regroup and try to put together one last big 'retirement' score. Neil and Vincent are similar in many ways, including their troubled personal lives. At a crucial moment in his life, Neil disobeys the dictum taught to him long ago by his criminal mentor--'Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner'--as he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for the suspenseful ending....
Cast: Al Pacino
-
Lt. Vincent Hanna
Robert De Niro
-
Neil McCauley
Val Kilmer
-
Chris Shiherlis
Jon Voight
-
Nate
Tom Sizemore
-
Michael Cheritto
Diane Venora
-
Justine Hanna
Amy Brenneman
-
Eady
Ashley Judd
-
Charlene Shiherlis
Mykelti Williamson
-
Sergeant Drucker
Wes Studi
-
Detective Casals
Ted Levine
-
Bosko
Dennis Haysbert
-
Donald Breedan
William Fichtner
-
Roger Van Zant
Natalie Portman
-
Lauren Gustafson
Tom Noonan
-
Kelso
Taglines:
A Los Angeles Crime Saga
Release Date: 15 December 1995
Filming Locations: 444 S. Flower Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $60,000,000
(estimated)
Gross: $174,400,000
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
In the fire fight scene after the bank robbery, Chris crouches at the rear of a car in order to change a magazine. The registration plate of this car reads '2LUP382' 'LUP' in British Army terminology is 'Lying Up Position'. 2LUP would reflect that this was the second Lying Up Position for Chris - his first being behind a green car.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
When Vincent is tailing Neil on the highway, he is holding down the microphone key of his walkie-talkie even when he is listening to other members of the surveillance team.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Construction Clerk:
Check, charge, or cash?
User Review
The best character film of all time.
Rating: 10/10
Sound like a bold statement? Devotees of classic cops and robbers flicks
of
old will no doubt take exception, but I believe that Michael Mann achieved
some measure of perfection with Heat. To break this three-hour gem of a
film
down to its core, this is a film about men - strong men - and the
supporting
role that he women of the film have on them for better or worse. Take
Pacino
as good cop Vincent Hanna: one of the most intense characterizations of
the
tragic hero that I have ever witnessed, as he laments the demise of his
third marriage to a pill-junkie wife. A fact which he discusses with his
archnemesis (De Niro) in what history will regard as one of the most
frenetic scenes in the history of film. The dialogue in this scene (at the
very end of the first tape, if you own the VHS version) sets up the last
half of the film beautifully, as our two rivals come to the joint
realization that they have no hand in choosing the paths that will lead
them
to their ultimate confrontation: their very natures so define their
respective actions that any attempt to do otherwise would simply be a
waste
of time. While I have heard others (who I am ashamed at times to call
close
friends) say that Heat drags in places, I will concede that there are
moments in the film that require more than the cursory attention that they
give to the movie they happen to be watching at any given time (I'm sorry
not every director is Jerry Bruckheimer), there are poignant developments
of
character in Heat that many would casually disregard. I am thinking of the
interaction between the ex-con who finds conditional employment in a diner
with an opportunistic scum of a boss, and whose girlfriend is so proud of
him for swallowing his pride and not simply giving the sonofabitch a good
pummeling. But there is a catharsis that I felt for that same ex-con when
De
Niro's character presents him with the opportunity to take just one more
score, for old time's sake. Who doesn't feel for this guy - this minor
character in a film with big-time heavyweights who gets to shine for a few
brief moments. That's what Heat is really: a series of brief moments, some
touching, others traumatic, and still others incredibly horrifying in the
feelings that they inspire in the romantic who, like me sees not black or
white portrayals of protagonist and villain, but a montage of grays that
combine to create a vivid spectrum of film characterization that could not
be found in hundreds of films combined. One of my five favorite films of
all
time, Heat is a cinematic banquet of intense imagery and pulse-pounding
action. Come hungry.
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