What A Man Does, That He Has: Michael Mann’s “Heat”

1. Ok first, this film is outrageous and completely over the top. The violence. The shoot out. The big asses. The fact that Pacino and De Niro literally sit in a coffee shop together, and then we still get 90 more minutes of Pacino trying to capture De Niro. It’s a time capsule of the 90s and the classic super-widescreen, telephoto lens heavy “epic” film.

2. Noir has always used what a man “does” (their profession, their family life) to explain who a man is. 

Heat uses this noir trope to explain that a job, a role, more shapes fate than anything else. De Niro can’t do anything BUT drive to that hotel to go for Waingro. Pacino’s stepdaughter attempts suicide and he can’t do anything BUT dance down the stairs of the hospital on his way to catch De Niro. Cops are cops, and robbers are robbers. As time goes on and men get older, in many ways, we actually do not grow and change for the better, but remain stuck in our trivial tendencies. 

I also think the foil nature of De Niro and Pacino shouldn’t go unnoticed, where each views the love interest in their life as completely different from every other element. 

A ying-yang, where Pacino is the white, and his treatment of his wife as the little dark spot. He works for the purpose of the greater good but suffers from the ability to even communicate his thoughts, concerns, feelings with his wife. For DeNiro, it is the opposite. He can only really open up to Eady, the single white spot. 

What makes this movie fun has (something) to do with the action sequences. What makes this movie hold up after almost 30 years is its commentary on masculinity and whether discipline –and the honor that comes with the commitment to it– is inherently destructive or instead necessary for a feeling of purpose. Both men stick to their discipline for a majority of the movie, and it results in so much turmoil. Is the only other place for purpose in life in family/relationships? If one attempts a balance between purpose in family and profession, will they find success, fulfillment, happiness? Does that fulfillment equate to the purpose found in the discipline Pacino and De Niro stick to? I’m not sure I have answers, but I definitely have plenty of questions.

Watched at the Cinematheque with Ryan Ritter, Patrice Tandifor, and Sean Van Besouw.