Red Heat (1988)

A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.

Director:

Walter Hill

Writers:

Walter Hill (story), Harry Kleiner (screenplay)

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Belushi, Peter Boyle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Ivan Danko
Jim Belushi	...	Art Ridzik (as James Belushi)
Peter Boyle	...	Lou Donnelly
Ed O'Ross	...	Viktor Rostavili
Laurence Fishburne	...	Lt. Stobbs (as Larry Fishburne)
Gina Gershon	...	Cat Manzetti
Richard Bright	...	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

Storyline

A mutually uneasy alliance is formed between the stern Captain Ivan Danko of the Moscow Police and his American equivalent, the Chicago Detective Art Ridzik when the latter captures Viktor Rostavili, a dangerous Georgian drug kingpin. With his partner murdered by Viktor's hands, Ivan lands in Chicago to extradite the crime lord back to Russia, however, when he manages to escape, a frenzied chase in the bustling downtown will begin. In the end, to bring down the ruthless criminal, are the two reluctant comrades who are worlds apart willing to put their differences aside?

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Plot Keywords:

gunfire | policeman | drug dealer | drug lord | police officer killed | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA Hungary

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

17 June 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dimitri

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$29,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,133,822, 19 June 1988

Gross USA:

$34,994,648

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,994,648

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures, Lone Wolf, Oak Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The whole torn 100 dollar bill thing is most likely inspired by the Rosenberg Spies, Julius Rosenberg used a torn Jell-O box lid to confirm his contact (or so it is said). The Rosenberg ' s were convicted for treason and executed stemming from accusations of feeding nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.

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Goofs

The Russian letters that appear in the opening credits are all used in the wrong context and don't make sense phonetically. For example, the Russian letter resembling an inverted R is actually pronounced as "ya"; the Russian letter resembling an inverted N is equivalent to I in the Latin alphabet; and so forth.

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Quotes

Art Ridzik: You know this game? It's called chicken, except you're not supposed to play it with buses.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits certain letters are reversed so as to imitate Russian Cyrillic script. In particular, "Rs" and "Ns" are reversed.

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Alternate Versions

German theatrical version was edited for violence to secure a "Not under 16" rating. Rental VHS (Starlight) was also edited for violence. Retail VHS (Starlight, EuroVideo) included all the violence but missed 9 minutes of dialogue (oddly both versions were rated "Not under 16"). In 1997 the film was re-released by Astro, this time in its uncut form with a "Not under 18" rating (it was advertised as being a "Director's Cut"). DVD (Kinowelt) is also uncut.

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Connections

References Doctor Zhivago (1965)

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Soundtracks

NEW AGE AGAIN
Keprohi Music (BMI)
Written and Performed by Michael Welsh

User Reviews

These guys eat too much red meat!

Walter Hill is a director known for his tough guy action movies (The Warriors, Extreme Prejudice, Southern Comfort) and in the early 80s he scored big with 48 Hours, a story of mis-matched partners working together to catch the bad guys. He repeated that formula again in 1988 with Red Heat, though it had become a regular cliché by this point.

Ivan Danko is a no-nonsense Soviet cop sent to Chicago to extradite a notorious Russian criminal back to Communist soil. While in America he is teamed-up with easy-going Detective Art Ridzik as they jump over new hurdles and suffer multiple setbacks. As an action comedy it offers a fare amount (but just not enough) of laughs and thrills. Big Arn is amusing a the brick-faced Danko and Belushi (in his first of three appearances in Arnie movies) is likable enough. Peter Boyle and a young Laurence Fishburne help appear in smaller roles as Ridzik's cynical superiors, but are not given much else to do. Gina Gershon (yum yum) shows up as a damsel in distress, but extends the plot without deepening it. Even James Horner's score is kind of middle-ground, neither good nor terrible.

There's no real problem or fault with Red Heat except that is just doesn't offer an exhilarating amount of what it sets up. It's so straight-forward and lacking in mystery and intrigue when it could so easily have written in. A bit of a missed-opportunity, but certainly worth watching and owning for action and Arnie fans.