Heat

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dick Richards directs. James A. Contner behind the camera. Michael Gibbs scores. Jeffrey Wolf cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 140 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Directed by Dick Richards, shot by James A. Contner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Michael Gibbs. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Jeffrey Wolf shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Burt Reynolds and Karen Young and Peter MacNicol carry the top of the cast.
• 6IMDB entry: tt0093164 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

James A. Contner

Original score

Michael Gibbs

Editing

Jeffrey Wolf

Costume design

Norman Salling

Makeup / hair

Tom Ellingwood

Runtime

101 min · 1h 41m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$2,793,214

Original language

EN

IMDB

Heat (1986) ↗

Also by

Dick Richards

• 
  Farewell, My Lovely

  1975 · ★ 6.7
• 
  The Culpepper Cattle Co.

  1972 · ★ 6.4
• 
  Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins

  1975 · ★ 6.3
• 
  March or Die

  1977 · ★ 5.8
• 
  Man, Woman and Child

  1983 · ★ 5.7
• 
  Death Valley

  1982 · ★ 5.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Heat (1986) ORIGINAL TRAILER

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2018-09-29
  ★ 7/10

  The showgirls have moustaches and the waitresses can rip the phone book in half! This Burt Reynolds starrer had a very troubled production, with punches thrown and inevitable walk outs, it's no surprise to find this is hardly a great film. However, it's not as some would have you believe, a chaotic turd either. The password is later! Plot has Reynolds as Nick Escalante, he's an ex-mercenary working out of Las Vegas as a bodyguard for hire - amongst other things. When a lady of the night who he has paternal regard for is brutally beaten and sexually dehumanised, it brings Nick into conflict with a young gangster pretender with organised crime connections. All this as Nick battles his gambling addiction whilst trying to achieve his goal of moving to Venice, Italy, for his five year plan. You're a peach of a guy. You're "A" number one. You're a swell fella. Adapted by William Goldman from his own novel of the same name, Heat often threatens to be a very good picture. The characterisations are rich and interesting, the setting ripe for dark deeds and dream shattering, and Reynolds is in fine form. Reynolds was still a star, even if the films he was starting to make in the 80s didn't come close to matching his status. He is badly let down by some very creaky and daft action sequences here, why the director (Dick Richards/Jerry Jameson) didn't just do real time man to man combat is as mysterious as the resultant offering is daft. I made $7 million dollars on my 28th birthday. Don't call me kid. Whilst the screenplay lacks action (do not enter this one expecting an action fest), the script does have some weighty merit where Nick's interactions with others is concerned, none more so than with Peter MacNicol's (superb) Cyrus Kinnick. He's afraid of being afraid, enlisting Nick to give him a crash course in bravery. They are an odd pairing, but crucial to each other, they give the film its deft slices of humour, and simultaneously holding the key as to why Heat is not a bad film at all. Michael Gibbs layers some smart sultry jazz music over proceedings, befitting the Vegas setting, while James Contner's cinematography is also tonally compliant to the sort of desperation feeling permeating the plot. Howard Hesseman and Diana Scarwid aren't given enough time to impact greatly, but at least Karen Young as Holly (lady of the night) strikes the right chords. Unfortunately Neill Barry as chief villain Danny DeMarco is implausibly poor and irritating into the bargain. Enjoyment of Heat possibly hangs on if you happen to be a Reynolds fan, to get entertainment from watching him hold court. Viewed as a strong character piece with Reynolds front and center it passes muster, but if looking for something more then you could end up - like many already have- disappointed. 7/10

  Read full review ↓
• JPV8522023-04-24
  ★ 5/10

  Had a couple okay moments and Burt Reynolds's charisma made it watchable, but the plot was muddy and I just didn't think it was very entertaining, which was pretty much my opinion of Wild Card which was also based on William Goldman's novel. 2.5/5

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• EL

  Elliott Kastner Productions

• NE

  New Century Productions

  US

Key crew

• NovelWilliam Goldman
• ProducerGeorge Pappas
• Art DirectionJerry Wunderlich
• EditorJeffrey Wolf
• Costume DesignNorman Salling
• ProducerKeith Rotman
• Makeup ArtistTom Ellingwood
• ProducerCassian Elwes

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1987-03-13

Also known as

International titles

• Heat - Nick, der KillerDE
• Heat - Ein tödlicher JobDE
• BancoFR
• 怒火保镖CN
• 赌城大哥大HK