Heat (1995)

A group of professional bank robbers start to feel the heat from police when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist.

Director:

Michael Mann

Writer:

Michael Mann

Stars:

Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer

Top 250 #121 | 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

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....

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Plot Keywords:

bank | criminal | police | detective | thief | 

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Taglines:

An L.A. Redemption.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

15 December 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fuego contra fuego

Filming Locations:

1219 Dodds Circle, East Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£8,903,230 (UK) (15 March 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Regency Enterprises, Forward Pass

Technical Specs

Runtime:

170 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Madsen was originally casted as Michael Cheritto, but was ultimately replaced (for unknown reasons) by Tom Sizemore.

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Goofs

Bosko says of the armored car robbery at the scene of the crime, "...someone heard a guy call a guard slick." Michael called Waingro "Slick", not one of the guards.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Edited into Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Mystery Man"
Written and Performed by Terje Rypdal
Courtesy of ECM Records

User Reviews

Masterful on all counts

For some reason I cannot stop thinking about this film lately.

You know that feeling of having seen it about 3 or 4 times in the last 12 months is not enough? That's what I feel at the moment.

I rate it as Mann's best. It's his most kinetic,vibrant(for a film mostly shot in steely blue),agonising,stirring,brash,violent and brilliance in such a simple story.

What games did you play as a young kid? Cops and robbers.Good guy.Bad guy.

We all know De Niro and Pacino could have been either main part,but can you imagine it any other way round. Pacino doing ice cool calm? De Niro the manic outbursts,arms flailing? It wouldn't work. We know these men now.We know neither will stop at what they do.And yet there is no way either would stop the other.Unless they had too. Which leads us too the characters. All of them.

This is an extended family where you feel you know all of them without knowing anything at all. The cops are similar to the robbers and vice-versa. Perhaps Mann is telling us were all the same.Except in what we do.Every speaking part holds substance in this movie, and the support cast is astonishing when you actually read the caliber of who appeared in this film.Tom Sizmore, Val Kilmer,Ashley Judd,Ted Levine,Wes Studi,Hank Azaria,William Fitchner,Henry Rollins,Dennis Haysbert,Tom Noonan. And Natalie Portman, for chrissake! Try getting that cast again.

A real 10/10 film. And that Moby song at the end(God moving over the face of waters) gets me every time.