"Heat" (1995) Dir. Michael Mann

Once every year or two, I get a strong urge to re-watch the movie "Heat" for many reasons.

1. I love Michael Mann's visual style
2. De Niro's character and his dedication to professionalism with no words wasted
3. Pacino's character and his wide-eyed freakouts and dogged determination
4. Kilmer's character and his badass ponytail
5. The bank job/shootout scene in downtown LA
6. Incredible soundtrack
7. It was a pivotal movie of my youth

My dad took to me to see it in theaters. I was in 5th grade, which means this movie is now 16 years old. Wow......anyways, I remember it having a ton of hype because the big name actors involved. I don't think I'd even seen "The Godfather" movies at that point, but I knew it was a "big deal" that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were in the same movie for only the second time ever. My dad was psyched as hell to see it.

We emerged from the theater some 10 hours later (movie is super long, man!) and I was just floored by the whole thing. I didn't comprehend some of the more subtle themes of movie, but it was such a visceral, raw and emotional movie-going experience. It had weight. It wasn't a comic book movie or a hollow action flick. For whatever reason, it resonated with me even then.

And I would revisit the film often as I got older, noticing new cool things about it here and there, quoting some of Pacino's more ridiculous lines and always regarding it as personal favorite of mine. It made me a huge fan of Michael Mann and lead me to discover his earlier gems like "Thief" and "Manhunter." No one tells a crime story quite like Mann. And no one films it as well as he does either. And he can also bust out incredible action/adventure films like "Last of the Mohicans." Okay, enough gushing already.

I think the major reason why "Heat" stuck with me so long as youngin' was that it dealt heavily in shades of gray with its characters and story in ways that I probably hadn't been exposed to much at that point. Pacino is the good guy, the cop, but he completely neglects his family life. De Niro is the bad guy, the bank robber, but he's really a pretty decent human being with many admirable traits. His crew of dudes, Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, the guy who played Cerrano in "Major League", are also decent people trying to provide for themselves and their families. You end up rooting for the bad guys and it's heartbreaking when they lose. The protagonist/antagonist storyline that dominates so many of our fictional stories couldn't be further from reality and sometimes that's what we want. There's nothing wrong with that. Escapism is more fun. But, the accurate portrayal of complicated real life morality in "Heat" is what made such an impression on me and for that I will always appreciate it.

“You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we’ve been face to face, if I’m there and I gotta put you away, I won’t like it. But I tell you, if it’s between you and some poor bastard whose wife you’re gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down.”