You are here: Home » Reviews, Reviews, Reviews » Screen, Big and Little » If the “Heat” Isn’t On, It Should Be.

If the “Heat” Isn’t On, It Should Be.

Jimmie | October 17, 2010 | Comments (0)

I have had Heat among my favorite movies ever since I saw it for the first time in the mid 1990s. It is one of the best-written, best-acted movies I’ve ever seen, with at least two action scenes that will take your breath away (almost literally!), and a cast that is as strong from top to bottom as any movie made in the past 20 years.

Kurt Schlichter, over at Big Hollywood, wrote a tribute to the movie’s unapologetic manliness that is well worth your time. Here’s one of my favorite parts.

I will not insult your manhood by recapping the plot. Actually, it’s so dense and convoluted it would take forever anyway. Plus, there are the tangents that I still don’t fully get – what the hell is that whole Natalie Portman subplot doing in there anyway? And some parts you just have to see for yourself – think Waingro’s plot line. Bottom line: if you have never seen Heat, go buy it immediately. Until you do, if you are biologically male, you are not entitled to stand while urinating.

For many of us, Heat has a personal connection that comes from both its time and place. I saw Heat in Houston the day it came out (December 15, 1995), having been waiting for it for months thanks to the remarkable trailer. I was there for a buddy’s wedding the next day; at that wedding, I would meet my hot wife for the first time. About a month after, the giant law firm I was then slaving away for moved into the 444 South Flower building. You probably know it best as the bank De Niro’s crew robs. Before I quit (I had more business than many of the partners but they offered me the same crappy $500 bonus they gave to the guy caught sleeping under his desk, so I counter-offered that I’d keep everything), I must have walked past the spot where Val Kilmer first opens up with his CAR-15 a hundred times thinking, “Dude, I know where you’re coming from.”

But even if the movie might not be wrapped around your life as it is mine, it’s likely to have hit you at some deeper level. Heat is a man’s film in a very true way – it’s about loyalty, honor, and commitment. It brooks no compromise – the men in it must do what they must do regardless of the cost and regardless of their personal feelings. Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna gives up his potential for a normal life because Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley must be stopped. And De Niro’s McCauley gives up his chance too because he owes it to his dead buddies to see that Waingro pays for his betrayal.

If you have not seen it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You won’t regret the purchase.