What's the deal with "Heat"?

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El Guero

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I'm not trying to be a troll or anything here, but when I was looking at some old threads about movies it seemed like half the people on these forums were in love with the movie "Heat", so I rented it.

There were a couple REALLY good gun segments of the movie, but I thought the rest was really drawn out and boring, even as far as dramas go. As much as I love Al Pacino, I thought he was overacting and his whole story was annoying.

I could watch a few scenes over and over admittedly, but I didn't think the rest of it was that great. If I've got three hours to kill I'd rather watch the Godfather, but I could say that about a lot of movies.

So what is so great about "Heat"? I think it would have been a much better movie if they could have cut it to 2 hours.
 
I'm sure you meant to ask "what's so great about the guns and gunplay of Heat, right?

Meet fellow forum members, find a common ground. Introduce new people to responsible firearm ownership. Posts must be related to firearms.
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TrippyFool. Relax. It's just a movie that some posters think is great because there's an FNC in it.
Go rent 'Zulu Dawn' and 'Zulu'. The former actually happened, in history, a few hours before the latter. As far as I'm concerned, 'Zulu' is the greatest movie ever made. It'll make you want to put on a scarlet tunic and run out and buy a .577/450 Martini-Henry.
 
I liked the guns and gun-handling.

I guess I intrepreted the plot differently. Shows the intent of user defines the use of a weapon. Think about the role of the firearms b/t two main characters. DeNiro did not always carry did he...or did he? ;)

Really not much different in Pacino and DeNiro, as far as "moral" character, as defined by society.Without being married to the "job" What did Pacino really have in life? Society's perception of good vs evil ...hey Pacino was not a saint. Was Deniro really "bad" - Symbolism of societal ideas/ roles.

I forget exacly how it goes..." don't be attached to anything that in 30 seconds you cannot walk away from". - DeNiro

Could Pacino "walk away" from his custom 1911, woman, job? Was DeNiro owned by his possessions...including guns?

Me, I watch stuff to watch and not get all anal about the guns, gun handling and plot. Just watch it for what it is - entertainment.

Later I may re watch to focus on gun handling, and/or the symbolism.
 
Because the gun scenes in that film were really good. Same reason why folks around here like, Way of the Gun, though I didn't really care for it.

Nice to see shorty M16s, AKs, Galil, FAL, FNC, lots of pistols, and more handled in a realistic manner. Yeah, it's slow in parts, but I like to think it makes the intensity of the shootouts a bit more dramatic, not unlike Unforgiven.
 
Heat did a good job by comparison to most Hollywood movies when it comes to firearms handling and shooting. Just a quick example, in Heat they riddle cars and trucks with bullets and none of them explode - basically reality. You'll notice in most movies a car explodes after being shot a couple of times or sometimes only once - basically fantasy.

As for the movie itself it was decent, but did get a little long and drawn out at times.
 
I should mention that this post has spoilers but then is there anyonehere who hasn't seen it already?


I think there is a deeper meaning to the scenes when they leave the bank and Pacino and half of the police department are outside waiting for them.
There seemed a total lack of concern for innocent bystanders by all of the robbers. This should remind us to be ever vigilant in our daily routine. So many people just stood there with that "Duh" look on their faces. Too many ran in panic. In real life more would have died in the stampede than by gunfire.

It also shows, as did the LA bank shootout, the reason for something a little more powerful in the police arsenal than the occasional shotgun.

Pacino did however, display a good use of hard cover.

I have discussed this movie with several people who expressed sympathy for DeNiro's and Kilmer's characters. But the senseless shooting of the armored car guards in the beginning of the movie shows their true colours.
Were they totally bad? Perhaps not but then neither is a rabid dog.
 
Pacino overacting? You repeat yourself:D

I liked Heat well enough, but you are right about some of it being drawn out. Any movie showing Henry Rollins getting the snot kicked out of him is worth buying though.;)
 
BluesBear

I see you saw the same version I did. :)

Hey I had to use a "source of media" to discuss "Society's Peceptions" for Sociology. I picked a gun movie and we were allowed to watch in Class. :D

Pacino used cover very well.
Public were "duh" and had that "deer in the headlight look".

Even with Pacino's characters "misgivings"...deep down in his core was the morality of good. Might have been buried or hidden at times...he may have lost sight of it for a bit...it was there. This didn't leave him...he had walked away from it for a bit. :)

My Instructor knew exactly what I was doing...we got along great. So ..."maybe"...I had another 'perception' I wanted to present. :)
 
What's great re: guns and gun handling of Heat may be the nice variety.

Sizemore used different firearms in every scenario, best as I recall. Galil ARM at the bank. Benelli M1 at the drive in.

Kilmer with the G3 at the drive in. G3 v. Steyr machinepistol wasn't much of a fair fight.

Besides which, part of the reason the movie is long is that there's a plot, and character development. Mann actually wanted the audience to get something out of the movie, rather than just another run of the mill guns and explosions for 110 minutes.
 
i loved heat but thats mostly because i love pacino and deniro. it was nice to see them in the same scene for once.


But the senseless shooting of the armored car guards in the beginning of the movie shows their true colours.
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but you are forgetting that the long haired guy is that one that shot the first guard which started a chain reaction. killing the guards pissed off deniro and was the reason he was gonna wack the long haired guy.
 
Pumping the shotgun - gotta be because it was loaded with blanks which wouldn't cycle a semi.

I could be wrong about Kilmer in his supporting role. H&K aren't my area of expertise.
 
SPOILERS, if that bothers you don' t read:

******************************************
My favorite thing is, HEAT never insults my intelligence.

Except that Pacino's character's wife has no redeeming qualities at all, (I felt NO sympathy for her i the least) the rest of the movie is fantastic!

The relationships seem plausible. The events seem realistic. The characters are not frigid at all -- they don't cheat themselves or act unpredictably.

I thought the meeting between DeNiro's character and Pachino's character were fabulous. I hurt for Chris's wife that he can't get his life together.

The ending is like a Greek Tragedy. All DeNiro's character has to do is get on the plane and he is a multi-millionaire for life. He is set. But his ego forces him to deal with Waingro immediately, hence his downfall. All he had to do was leave the country. He could have returned to kill Waingro a year later or paid to have him killed. But he is so arrogant and self-righteous, he CAN'T overcome the desire for immediate revenge.

The fact that the movie has exceptional gun handling is just frosting on the cake for me. Yes, it adds to the drama. Conflict always adds to the drama. But the movie is about drama, first and foremost. Take away the relationships, the drama, and the character flaws and HEAT could be like a thousand other movies like "Con Air", or "The Rock", or "3000 Miles to Graceland" or any of the other forgettable action films that never really satisfy.

HEAT is satisfying and memorable.
 
So Jimbo ... you quite liked the movie!:) :p

Indeed so did I .. and I haven't thus far seen a movie that portrays a firefight in the street as authentically either.

Your observation re DeNiro having to take out Waingro is spot on .. I remember thinking that first time around .... WHY, hang around right now! GET OUT!!

No movie is perfect but ''Heat'' is up there with the best.
 
I'm not trying to be a troll or anything here, but when I was looking at some old threads about movies it seemed like half the people on these forums were in love with the movie "Heat", so I rented it.

There were a couple REALLY good gun segments of the movie,
Click to expand...

FYI: For those that don't already know, the actors in the movie were trained by Andy McNab, a former SAS (British special forces) trooper who wrote Bravo Two Zero (about his experience as a POW in Iraq) and several other books (both fiction and non-fiction).


from an interview:

The longest stint I've had in the States was the seven months I spent working as a technical adviser on the film Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. I trained the actors and checked the script so that the bank heist and armored car robbery would be as realistic as possible.
Click to expand...
 
Vincent Hannah (Al Pacino) was carrying a Colt Commander 1911, and Neil McCauley (Robert Deniro) was carrying a Sig P-220.

If the final gunfight between the two had been a real incident, I'm sure that gun ragazine writers like Chuck Taylor and Jeff Cooper would have published articles citing Hannah's victory as more "proof" of why cocked-and-locked is superior to double-action.
 
OK, I got to admit, I own Heat - both on video and DVD. I'll also admit that the whole Pacino storyline is a little soapy - I guess Michael Mann was trying to tell stories of the personal lifes of each main character. The movie Ronin offers a better story line.

But the most compelling thing about Heat is the bank robbery scene. An absolute classic.
 
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