Heat (1995)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Michael Mann

Writer (WGA):

Michael Mann (written by)

Release Date:

15 December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A Los Angeles crime saga.

Plot:

A Los Angeles crime saga, "Heat" focuses on the lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief.

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Robbery | Police | Armored Car Robbery | Ex Convict

Awards:

6 nominations

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

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

171 min | USA:188 min (original pre-aired NBC version)

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:R(A) | Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #34160) | Belgium:16 | Philippines:R-18 | Brazil:14 | UK:18 (original rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Chile:14 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 (re-rating) (2005) | Ireland:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

444 S. Flower Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

When Michael Mann filmed the restaurant scene at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills, he used the restaurant's actual employees as extras. Upon the last day of filming, he awarded them all with a SAG card. Today you can still sit in the table where DeNiro and Pacino sat, and the two are both regulars at the popular restaurant.

Goofs:

Continuity: When we see the young prostitute in the hotel with Waingro, her hair is straight and combed back. However, when Vincent is examining her body at the crime scene after Waingro has killed her, her hair is combed back but is braided in dreadlocks.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Construction Clerk: Check, charge, or cash?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Panic Room (2002)

Soundtrack:

Get Up To This

Heat is truly epic, absolutely breathtaking

One of the most amazing things about Heat is the scale of the film; it is nearly three hours long and packed to bursting with mind-blowing visuals. It seems one of Michael Mann's main priorities was to make a film with a dreamlike feel to it, to portray LA as a dusty oil-painting on which complex characters could play out their lives. One of the main themes is the similarity of the career criminal and the street-wise cop. It is fascinating to find yourself really feeling for DeNiro's tragic bank-robber, a man of philosophical merit who realises he's stuck in a life of crime he doesn't want to lead. Pacino's cop is less easy to sympathise with, but he too leads an in-escapable life of guns and crime. What really stands out is the climax. On the whole, Heat has to be the best cops n' robbers film ever made, indeed, one of the best films. An epic, wonderful, sad, adrenaline-fuelled exercise in scale and grandeur.