Red Heat (1988)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers (WGA):

Walter Hill (story)
Harry Kleiner (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 June 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Moscow's toughest detective. Chicago's craziest cop. There's only one thing worse than making them mad. Making them partners.

Plot:

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a Russian policeman sent after a Russian drug dealer who has escaped to...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Drug Dealer | Airplane | Russian Mafia | Baton

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Capt. Ivan Danko
James Belushi	...	Det. Sgt. Art Ridzik
Peter Boyle	...	Cmdr. Lou Donnelly
Ed O'Ross	...	Viktor 'Rosta' Rostavili
Laurence Fishburne	...	Lt. Charlie Stobbs (as Larry Fishburne)
Gina Gershon	...	Catherine 'Cat' Manzetti
Richard Bright	...	Det. Sgt. Gallagher
J.W. Smith	...	Salim
Brent Jennings	...	Abdul Elijah
Gretchen Palmer	...	Hooker
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Night Clerk
Mike Hagerty	...	Pat Nunn (as Michael Hagerty)
Brion James	...	Streak
Gloria Delaney	...	Intern
Peter Jason	...	TV Announcer

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2004) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (Certificate #29177) | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

In the scene in the coffee shop after the shoot out in the hospital, Ridzik shows Danko the different kinds of police reports. The title on the report shown by the camera is: "Worthless Document Case Report/ Chicago Police."

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When Danko is being told to "…bring Victor home and tell no-one", the subtitle spells Victor two different ways - Victor and Viktor.

Quotes:

Art Ridzik: Captain Danko, congratulations. You are now the proud owner of the most powerful handgun in the world.
Ivan Danko: Soviet Patparine, nine-point-two milimeter, is world's most powerful handgun.
Art Ridzik: Oh, come on, everybody knows the .44 Magnum is the big boy on the block. Why do you think Dirty Harry uses it?
Ivan Danko: Who is Dirty Harry?

Movie Connections:

Featured in I'm Not Russian, But I Play One on TV (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

CANTATA FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION

Routine 1980's era buddy-cop movie enlivened by good cast.

The Governator plays Captain Ivan Danko, a humorless and utterly stiff Russian cop who tracks ultra-sleazy / nasty Georgian drug dealer Viktor Rosta (Ed O'Ross) to Chicago, where local detective Art Ridzik (James Belushi), a crass, wisecracking jerk is stuck with the job of playing babysitter to Danko while he attempts to escort Rosta back to Russia.

There are enough elements here that are too familiar to make the film itself more than ordinary. There's the fish-out-of-water concept, the mismatched-partners concept, the culture clash concept, and so on. It's true that the two protagonists are *not* terribly likable, but at least they do manage to get some laughs, and Schwarzenegger and Belushi do have an adequate amount of odd-couple chemistry.

It's all entertaining enough; director Walter Hill has been an action expert for about three decades now and at least he creates some competently staged fights and chase scenes. The supporting cast includes Peter Boyle, Belushi's gruff boss who isn't quite the stereotypical angry, yelling boss common to action films. Larry Fishburne is good as a co-worker of Belushi's who dislikes him intensely. Gina Gershon has one of her earliest roles as the hapless dance instructor who gets in over her head by agreeing to marry Rosta. Other familiar faces include some Walter Hill regulars (like Brion James and Peter Jason), as well as Brent Jennings (great in a brief cameo as a drug kingpin determined to strike back at white men by getting them all hooked on drugs), Pruitt Taylor Vince, Kurt Fuller, etc.

This film does have the distinction of having scenes that were actually filmed on location in Russia, which is a little bit of a bonus. Mostly, I felt it was rather standard action fare, despite the assets it did have. One lasting impact was the fact that O'Ross's performance as the villain would often get him typecast as Russian characters from that point on.

7/10