Heat ***** (1995, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora) – Classic Movie Review 225

Al Pacino’s LA cop Lieutenant Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro’s master thief Neil McCauley battle it out in Michael Mann’s brilliant cat-and-mouse epic gangster thriller film Heat. Tom Sizemore plays crew member Michael Cheritto.

Al Pacino’s LA cop Lieutenant Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro’s master thief Neil McCauley battle it out for survival and supremacy in writer/ director Michael Mann’s brilliant, riveting, cat-and-mouse epic gangster thriller Heat. It’s one of the top 20 best crime films of all time.

It begins when Neil McCauley, a professional thief based in Los Angeles, and his crew – Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), Trejo (Danny Trejo) and the newly hired Waingro (Kevin Gage) – rob $1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armoured car.

Long but totally involving, this electrifying 1995 Los Angeles crime saga is directed with the greatest of pace, style and energy by Michael Mann, delivering a great lowlife crime atmosphere, a flavoursome sense of the mean streets, some amazing heist sequences and awesome shootout action set pieces.

Unusually, Mann, who hadn’t intended to direct it too, is also solely responsible for the lovingly honed and crafted original screenplay. It’s not based on a novel and he had no actual writing collaborators, though the story is inspired by the real-life clash between Chicago cop Chuck Adamson and the real Neil McCauley. Mann first started working with the by then retired cop Adamson on his 1981 James Caan thriller Thief (aka Violent Streets).

The script was first used for a TV pilot developed by Mann, which became the 1989 TV movie L A Takedown after the pilot was not taken up for a series.

Keeping entirely out of the film studios, it is all filmed under some very difficult circumstances on location – 65 of them, actually, in LA. This is one of the main reasons is so scaldingly realistic and thrilling.

There’s notable cinematography by Dante Spinotti too, and a great cast includes Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, Jon Voight as Nate, Tom Sizemore as Michael Cheritto, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykhelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner and Natalie Portman.

But the final triumph belongs, as it should, to Pacino and De Niro. It was the first movie to feature them acting together, though of course they are both in different sections of The Godfather: Part II. Unfortunately, and frustratingly, they share hardly any screen time in Heat, but their historical meeting in the coffee shop and the final showdown provide the main attraction and emotional climax here.

The 1995 release print runs 171 minutes but the Director’s Cut is 188 minutes.

Kilmer was also busy filming Batman Forever at the time.

The cast are Al Pacino as Lieutenant 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 Sergeant Bobby Drucker, Wes Studi as Lieutenant Sammy Casals, Ted Levine as Detective Mike Bosko, Dennis Haysbert as Don 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, Susan Traylor as Elaine Cheritto, Kim Staunton as Lillian, Henry Rollins as Hugh Benny, Jerry Trimble as Detective Danny Schwartz, Tone Loc as Richard Torena, Ricky Harris as Albert Torena, Ray Buktenica as Timmons, Jeremy Piven as Dr Bob, Xander Berkeley as Ralph, Bud Cort as Restaurant Manager Solenko, Martin Ferrero as a construction clerk and Hazelle Goodman as the mother of a prostitute.

Tom Sizemore (November 29, 1961 – March 3, 2023).

Tom Sizemore, best known for his roles in Natural Born Killers, Stranger Days, Pearl Harbor, Heat, The Relic and Saving Private Ryan, died on 3 March 2023 following weeks in a coma in hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm, aged 61.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 225

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