“Now, for the first time, America’s two most electrifying actors collide!” promised the trailer for Michael Mann’s Heat. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were Mann’s top choices for the two lead roles in Heat—a cop, Vincent Hanna, and the career criminal he is chasing, Neil McCauley. The hunter and his prey. They collide when McCauley’s crew of thieves steal $1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armored car, and execute all three guards. it’s almost impossible to imagine the film working with anyone else.
Heat was a box office hit in 1995. With a budget of $60 million, it grossed $170 million worldwide on the account of suspenseful story, and cool style. Each scene in the script was developed so well, and the cast does such a good of it that one hardly notices the almost three hour running time.
While it may be true that the famous scene between Pacino and DeNiro in the coffee shop is one of the most brilliantly crafted in motion picture history, the scenes before and after are the true reasons to watch this movie. And as you’re reading this on Petrolicious, more than a few of our favorites involved automobiles.
9:06: DeNiro’s crew steal a Peterbilt wrecker, and an ambulance to take down the armored truck with the type of military precision. We’re pretty sure Grand Theft Auto stole this scene, but we can’t blame them. It works that well.
10:36: There is always some collateral damage (Hey, the name of another Michael Mann film), but luckily no classics were harmed. Back windows of some used cars are shot out, so not a huge loss
1:19: Cadillac’s new Dare Greatly philosophy-turned commercial features people most passionate about pursuing their dreams and making them a reality. Here, at least a couple of DeNiro’s crew feel the same way.
1:26:42: Pacino drives an Infiniti J30 as he chases down DeNiro in a Cadillac STS. The scene is short and memorable—unlike both these cars—and features a track by Moby.
1:29: “What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?” The chase leads to the scene movie audiences had been wanting to see. The charged coffee scene at the diner at the film’s halfway mark. Over the seemingly ordinary act of drinking coffee, each man, the cop and the criminal, recognize and admit that what they do is more similar than not.
1:39:58: “Machete”…I mean Danny Trejo…and a Chevrolet El Camino. Enough said. Great casting for both car and driver.
1:47: The shootout in Heat is one of the best depictions of criminals engaged in their violent, take-no-prisoners trade. Oh, and DeNiro’s crew gets away in a Lincoln Town Car.
2:16: Val Kilmer pilots a Chevrolet Camaro to an ill fated rendezvous with his wife, played by Ashley Judd.
2:26:42: DeNiro also pilots a Camaro as he plans his escape with new love Amy Brenneman. Did his crew get a deal for buying two from the Chevrolet dealer? Nah, they probably stole them.
2:44:30: DeNiro’s character disobeys what his criminal mentor once told him: “Never have anything in your life that you can’t walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner.”
He couldn’t walk away from both falling in love, or getting revenge on an ex-member of the crew who betrayed him, thus setting the stage for the suspenseful ending between these two men—who are desperate for different reasons.
