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

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."

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Goofs

In the article by Fowler in the London Times there is the word "kilometers" with the American spelling rather than the British spelling "kilometres". It is very unlikely that an article by a British journalist in a British newspaper would use this spelling. It is also unlikely a British newspaper would use Kilometres, as Britain still uses imperial miles, road signs, speed limits etc are all still stated in Miles. Although for smaller measurements, the metric system is used, Kilo's instead of Pounds and Centimetres in place of inches.

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Quotes

Ivan Danko: I have car under control.
Art Ridzik: Yeah, I'm sure they taught you all about cars and the price of insurance at your famous Russian school in Kiev!
Ivan Danko: In socialist countries, insurance not necessary. State pays for everything.
Art Ridzik: Yeah? Well, tell me something, Captain. If you've got such a fucking paradise over there, how come you're up the same creek as we are with heroin and cocaine?
Ivan Danko: Chinese find way. Right after revolution, they round up all drug dealers, all drug addicts, take them to public square, and ...
[...]

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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

Featured in At the Movies: Arnold Schwarzenegger: The Unlikeliest Star (1990)

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Soundtracks

CANTATA FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
Op.74: "The Philosophers"
Written by Sergei Prokofiev
Arranged and Conducted by James Horner

User Reviews

From the golden period of Schwarzenegger

The movie is a very good and stylish action, but such movies are not appreciated in comparison with the recent action movies which is pretty strange. For example, even the rating of awful Transporter 3 is higher than Red Heat. You probably know that critics hate Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Van Damme, also they hate action genre probably, so according to them, Schwarzenegger is an untalented muscle mass who can impress only children and his movies are shame. Schwarzenegger is not a Jack Lemmon or Sean Penn or Brad Pitt, but he has a pulling power and is great acting necessary for action movies? I ask this already asked question. By the way, I think that his performance in The Terminator 2 was outstanding. And as an action star, he is much better than new action stars. He made very bad movies yes, but everyone does that, doesn't? One of the criticisms of the critics is that he kills people, so the movie supports individual justice (killing criminals instead of imprisoning etc.) Well, most of action movies are like that, but they do not object, when it comes Tarantino movies or David Cronenberg movies like A History of Violence. Red Heat does not include a lot of action scenes, or action scenes are not 'big', but it is very stylish thanks to Walter Hill, one of my all time favorite directors and fun. There is a key scene, when I was a child, I used to become Arnold Schwarzenegger and do what he does in the scene. He was one of my childhood heroes. Those days and his films are pleasant memories for me. Returning to Red Heat, it is from Schwarzenegger's golden period. Today, they cannot make action movies like Red Heat.