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| The three stars above a mysterious image of five men with long shadows make up this stylish poster for Michael Mann's Heat |
A five-man group of professional robbers leave a mess after they rob a large sum of money in bearer bonds, and a dedicated veteran LAPD detective begins to let them feel his heat on their tails.
Heat is written, co-produced and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker Michael Mann (Thief (1981), inspired by the actual criminal case of Neil McCauley and detective Chuck Adamson in the early 1960s.
It is a fantastically well-made man's film. The showdown of the cinematic powers that are Robert De Niro (Greetings (1968)) and Al Pacino (Scarface (1983)), - who meet for the first time on-screen here, - is gladiatorial, but Mann refuses to let this be the film's main premise.
The thrills and suspense is the heart of Heat, which works as a cat-and-mouse game of wits for the two leads but is also heavily loaded with good drama. De Niro and Pacino are terrific, and in supporting roles Dennis Haysbert (Jarhead (2005)), Ashley Judd (High Crimes (2002)) and Amy Brenneman (Nine Lives (2005)) are particularly satisfying.
Heat is written, directed and edited so that its long running time never gets in the way of us always paying full attention; and Elliot Goldenthal's (Blank Generation 1980)) score adds to the tension in superior fashion. Heat is a tremendous joy.
Related posts:
Michael Mann: Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element
Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever
Watch a very short teaser for the film here
Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 187.4 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)
[Heat premiered 6 December (California) and runs 170 minutes. Mann wrote a 180-page draft for Heat in 1979 that eventually turned into a pilot for a TV-series, which was canceled after the pilot was made and released as TV movie L.A. Takedown (1989). Mann's success with The Last of the Mohicans (1992) allowed him to take up his old script and ideas once again. Shooting took place from February - July 1995, solely on locations in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Jumanji and hold-over hit Toy Story, to an 8.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 67.4 mil. $ ( 36 % of the total gross). In recent years Mann has teased a sequel to the film several times; Heat is widely considered his greatest film. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #126 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Rashomon (1950) and Yojimbo (1961). Mann returned with The Insider (1999). De Niro returned in The Fan (1996); Pacino in City Hall (1996); and Val Kilmer (5 Days of War (2011)) in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Heat is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Heat?
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