A great cops vs robbers flick with some serious star power

Heat (1995)

When this movie came out there was a ton of hype.  Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro on the big screen together.  It had never actually happened before.  Pacino and DeNiro had starred in one of the greatest movies of all time, The Godfather Part II.  But despite each having big roles, they never shared a scene.

With Heat, this on screen meet up was going to happen.  When the movie hit theaters in 1995, I recall people being a bit disappointed.  It was not Godfather II.  The two Godfather movies are arguably the greatest film ever made.  Heat didn’t match up. How could it.

 

Heat, however, is undeniably a great movie.  Leaving the Pacino/DeNiro hype aside, (they use it to build drama through the film) this movie brings a lot to the table. DeNiro the perp and Pacino the cop is going to be good no matter what, but the entire cast is great. 

DeNiro’s robbery crew are portrayed by Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, and Danny Trejo.  All three add a lot to the film.  Jon Voight is the crew’s fence, and Amy Brenneman, Diane Verona, and Ashley Judd round out assorted love interests and foils.

The story is deeper than your usual action film and gives some good character development.  You get in the minds of some of the perps and find yourself rooting for them. This is a great shoot ‘em up movie but is also a lot more.  Betrayal and loyalty, love and hate, and good vs bad all are explored here. 

 

Incredibly this movie didn’t get one Oscar nomination.  That seems like a mistake in hindsight.  Leaving aside some great performances and a solid story, there is some real innovation here from the action perspective.  The big shoot out scene is not only expertly orchestrated but is also not overdubbed.  Director Michael Mann actually set up dozens of microphones across the set and captured the gunfire audio as it happened.  In stereo.

In my opinion, this is the worst weekend in sports.  No hockey and the “reimagined” Pro Bowl.  It will leave you with plenty of time to watch Heat.  And you will need it.  The movie runs almost 3 hours.  It’s filled with action and drama and the extra time is well used.  You can catch Heat on the regular streaming services for the usual $3.  We did find it for free on one service.  PLEX has it on the arm, although we must admit to never having heard of PLEX. 

Check out Heat this weekend and forget the DeNiro/Pacino hype.  Just enjoy a classic cops and robbers film. 

Enjoy the movie and Stay Safe!