DIRECTOR: Michael Mann
PRODUCERS: Michael Mann, Art Linson
PRODUCTION CO: Warner Bros
SCREENPLAY: Michael Mann
PHOTOGRAPHY: Dante Spinotti
EDITORS: Dov Hoenig, Pasquale Buba, William Goldenberg, Tom Rolf
MUSIC: ​Elliot Goldenthal
WITH: Al Pacino (Lt Vincent Hanna), Robert De Niro (Neil McCauley), Val Kilmer (Chris Shiherlis), Jon Voigt (Nate), Tom Sizemore (Michael Cheritto), Diane Venora (Justine Hanna), Ashley Judd (Charlene Shiherlis)

REVIEW

“Michael Mann’s masterpiece is a three-hour crime epic, a love/hate letter the city of Los Angeles, a scathing Balzacian view of a society corrupt from top to bottom, and a vision of the universe as a space contested over by the fractious armies of crime and the law. Opening with a spectacular armoured-car robbery that degenerates into mass murder, Heat follows the consequences of the raid, the plans for its successor, the response of the police, led by detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and the consequences of it all for wives, families, girlfriends and innocent bystanders.
The cops and the crooks are both constituted like armies, with generals, ranks and special skills assigned — and doppelgangers in the opposing team. Mann is less interested in moral questions than in professionalism as a code worth adhering to, no matter which side of the law one finds oneself on. Mann’s equal sympathies for both sides are always evident. He also loves Los Angeles at night, and rarely has it been evoked as beautifully as it is here.”

– John Patterson, Observer

“Michael Mann’s painstakingly detailed cat-and-mouse thriller, in which an LA cop (Al Pacino) obsessively strives to nail the leader (Robert De Niro) of a gang responsible for a deadly armed robbery, makes imaginative and psychologically expressive use of locations, decor and lighting. From a simple conversation between two men in a coffee-shop to an extraordinary expressionist finale at LAX airport, this is virtuoso fare.”

– British Film Institute

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Westport     
Wednesday, 11 February, 7.00pm

​Whanganui    
Monday, 02 March, 7.00pm

Hamilton     
Monday, 23 March, 6.30pm

​Wellington     
Monday, 04 May, 6.00pm

Wellington     
Monday, 04 May, 8.30pm

Queenstown      
Tuesday, 19 May, 8.00pm 

Dunedin      
Wednesday, 29 July, 7.30pm 

Bigger Picture Ōamaru      
Tuesday, 29 September, 7.00pm 
RETRO CLASSICS >>