Heat (1995 film) ~ Celebrity

Heat is a 1995 American crime film written and directed by Michael Mann. It stars Al Pacino,Robert De Niro, and Val Kilmer. De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional thief, while Pacino plays Lt. Vincent Hanna, veteran LAPD homicide detective whose temper and devotion to his job causes him to neglect his family. The central conflict of the film was based on the experiences of former Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson and his pursuit of a criminal named McCauley in the 1960s, from which the name of De Niro's character was derived.^[2]

The film is technically a remake of L.A. Takedown, a 1989 made-for-television film which was also written and directed by Mann; the director had been trying to get Heat made for over a decade, and created L.A Takedown as a simplified version after his efforts were unsuccessful.Heat was a critical and commercial success, grossing $67 million in the United States and $187 million worldwide.^[1]

Plot

Career criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his crew: Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), Trejo (Danny Trejo), and Waingro (Kevin Gage), perpetrate anarmored car heist, stealing $1.6 million in bearer bonds from money launderer Roger Van Zant (William Fichtner). During the heist, Waingro impulsively kills one of the guards, forcing the crew to eliminate the remaining two guards out of necessity. Waingro later escapes when McCauley tries to kill him in retaliation. McCauley's fence Nate (Jon Voight) sets up a meeting with Van Zant to sell the bonds back, and he ostensibly agrees but instructs his men to kill McCauley as a warning to other thieves. With backup from his crew, McCauley thwarts the ambush and vows revenge.

Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) of the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division heads the investigation of the armored car heist and learns McCauley's crew plans to rob a precious metals depository next. Hanna and his unit stake out the depository but when an officer inadvertently makes a noise, McCauley is tipped off, and the crew abandon the robbery. Despite the police surveillance, McCauley and his crew decide to go through with a bank holdup with an estimated $12 million payoff. Waingro is revealed to be a serial killer; murdering a prostitute with the crime falling under Hanna's jurisdiction as well. Hanna discovers his wife Justine's (Diane Venora) affair and moves to a hotel, and McCauley catches Charlene Shiherlis (Ashley Judd) cheating on Chris with Alan Marciano (Hank Azaria), a Las Vegas liquor salesman with a criminal past.

Hanna deliberately intercepts McCauley during a surveillance operation and invites him to coffee, where he concedes the problems of his personal life; his concern for his step-daughter Lauren (Natalie Portman) and the failure of his third marriage due to his grueling work schedule. Likewise, McCauley confesses his profession as a robber forbids attachments and stresses mobility, making his relationship with his girlfriend Eady (Amy Brenneman) tenuous. Having met face to face, Hanna and McCauley share a mutual respect but readily admit that neither will hesitate to kill the other if the circumstances demand it.

Trejo is compromised just hours before the bank robbery. In need of a new getaway driver, McCauley recruits Donald Breeden (Dennis Haysbert), an ex-convict frustrated with his demoralizing position as a short order cook at a diner. Hanna's unit is alerted to the robbery in-progress by a confidential informant and surprises McCauley's crew as they exit the bank. Cherrito, Breeden, and several police officers including Detective Bosko (Ted Levine) are killed in the ensuing shootout. McCauley narrowly escapes with Chris and leaves him with a doctor to treat his wounds. He tracks down Trejo, who he finds at his home severely beaten. Trejo admits that Van Zant's men called in the tip on the robbery from information Waingro provided. McCauley executes Trejo at his request, then hunts down and kills Van Zant. He makes new arrangements to flee to New Zealand with Eady, who is now fully aware of his criminal activities. The police surveil Waingro in a hotel near the airport, and Hanna attempts to bait McCauley into coming out of hiding by releasing Waingro's whereabouts to the network ofbookies, bail bondsman, and snitches he hopes will spread the word.

Fed up with Chris's abuse, Charlene leaves him and goes with Marciano to a police safe house where Sergeant Drucker (Mykelti Williamson) threatens to charge her as an accomplice and send her son to a foster home if she does not betray Chris to the police. Charlene initially agrees, but, when Chris shows up in disguise, she surreptitiously warns him about the police presence, and he slips through the dragnet. Hanna finds Lauren unconscious in his hotel room from a suicide attempt and rushes her to the hospital. As he and Justine wait in the lobby for the news of her recovery, they admit their marriage will never work, citing Justine's affair and Hanna's job taking precedence over his personal commitments. McCauley and Eady are en route to the airport when Nate calls with Waingro's location, and the temptation proves to be too much for the normally disciplined criminal. He risks his assured freedom by detouring to exact his revenge. McCauley infiltrates the hotel, creates a distraction by faking a fire alarm emergency, and kills Waingro but is forced to abandon Eady when he spots Hanna approaching in the crowd. McCauley is then shot and killed by Hanna after a brief foot chase outside the LAX freight terminal, dying as he and Hanna hold hands.

[edit]Cast

Al Pacino as Lt. Vincent Hanna
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley
Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis
Jon Voight as Nate
Tom Sizemore as Michael Cheritto
Diane Venora as Justine Hanna
Amy Brenneman as Eady
Ashley Judd as Charlene Shiherlis
Mykelti Williamson as Sgt. Drucker
Wes Studi as Det. Cassals
Ted Levine as Det. Bosko
Dennis Haysbert as Donald Breedan
William Fichtner as Roger Van Zant
Natalie Portman as Lauren Gustafson
Tom Noonan as Kelso
Kevin Gage as Waingro
Hank Azaria as Alan Marciano
Danny Trejo as Trejo
Henry Rollins as Hugh Benny
Tone Lōc as Richard Torena
Jeremy Piven as Dr. Bob
Xander Berkeley as Ralph

[edit]Reception

Heat was well-received by critics, earning an 86% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes^[3] and a score of 75 on Metacritic.^[4] Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, writing: "It's not just an action picture. Above all, the dialogue is complex enough to allow the characters to say what they're thinking: They are eloquent, insightful, fanciful, poetic when necessary. They're not trapped with cliches. Of the many imprisonments possible in our world, one of the worst must be to be inarticulate — to be unable to tell another person what you really feel."^[5]

Heat was listed as the 38th greatest film in history in Empire's 2008 list of the "500 Greatest Movies of All Time".^[6]

[edit]Impact

The explicit nature of several of the scenes in Heat was cited as the model of a spate of robberies since its release. This included armored car robberies in South Africa, Colombia, Denmark, and Norway^[7]^[8]^[9] and a bank robbery in North Hollywood, California.

[edit]Home media

Heat was released on VHS in June 1996.^[10] Due to its running time, the film had to be released on two cassettes.^[11]

A "bare bones" edition of Heat was released on DVD in 1999, which did not include any extra features. A two-disc special edition DVD was released in 2005, featuring an audio commentary by director Michael Mann, deleted scenes, and numerous documentaries detailing the production of the film.