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The Rewatchables ·

Heat

year 1995decade 90sdirector Michael Manngenre Crimegenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryan format Repeat visit
All 19 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 26:45

Neil and Vincent's diner scene

Bill Simmons: One host tried to get creative with picks rather than the obvious ones; the other says this category requires playing the hits.

Bill Simmons: The first armored-car robbery: the truck hitting the armored car is one of the loudest, most terrifying sounds in a theater, and the shaped charge blowing out all the car windows at once is 'the coolest thing in the world'.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 25:23

Never fall for a guy with no furniture

Bill Simmons: Before the categories, the lessons of Heat from the last podcast are reiterated, narrowed down to the best.

The film

Heat (1995)

Directed by Michael Mann · Crime

170 minutes [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Al Pacino LAPD Robbery Homicide Lieutenant Vincent Hanna
Robert De Niro Neil McCauley
Val Kilmer Chris Shiherlis
Jon Voight Nate
Tom Sizemore Michael Cheritto
Diane Venora Justine Hanna
Ashley Judd Charlene Shiherlis
Mykelti Williamson Sergeant Bobby Drucker
Wes Studi Detective Sammy Casals
Ted Levine Detective Mike Bosko
Dennis Haysbert Don Breedan
William Fichtner Roger Van Zant
Natalie Portman Lauren Gustafson
Tom Noonan Kelso
Niki Haris Marcia Drucker
Kevin Gage Waingro
Hank Azaria Alan Marciano
Danny Trejo Gilbert Trejo
Susan Traylor Elaine Cheritto
Kim Staunton Lillian
Henry Rollins Hugh Benny
Jerry Trimble Detective Danny Schwartz
Tone Loc Richard Torena
Ricky Harris Albert Torena
Ray Buktenica Timmons
Jeremy Piven Dr. Bob

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

21:44

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:44Read transcript
  • Roger Ebert gave the movie three and a half out of four stars, writing that it is not just an action picture and that its dialogue is complex enough to let eloquent, insightful, poetic characters say what they're thinking without cliches. — Bill Simmons
  • A quote attributed to Mann, presented as singing from the same hymn book as Ebert, calls the crime-thriller label the last thing the movie is. — Chris Ryan
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31:24

Picking Nits

Waingro's escape; police releasing Kilmer at the checkpoint; Mann's L.A. geography and missing traffic; the public fa...

Waingro's escape; police releasing Kilmer at the checkpoint; Mann's L.A. geography and missing traffic; the public family dinner after the heist; the 'slick' clue

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:24Read transcript
  • An early nit taken during the scene picks: how Waingro escapes with Neil standing over him with a gun, somehow rolling 50 yards away. — Bill Simmons
  • Kilmer asking pickup basketball players where to get bread was covered in the last pod. — Bill Simmons
  • Police let Kilmer go at the checkpoint instead of bringing him in to check, though they could get Vincent a helicopter for coffee. — Bill Simmons
  • Mann's L.A. ignores distances and has no traffic; 'two freeways right here' at the first robbery would mean sitting in traffic. — Bill Simmons
  • The crew goes to a fancy public dinner with their families right after the heist, and Neil sits there alone. — Bill Simmons
  • The crew is caught because a witness heard someone call the guard 'slick', which Vincent runs as an alias and confirms through Albert; it is called too convenient. — Bill Simmons
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1:03:08

Casting What-Ifs

Walter Hill directing; Keanu Reeves as Chris; Michael Madsen as Michael; Don Johnson as Michael; Ted Levine as Waingr...

Walter Hill directing; Keanu Reeves as Chris; Michael Madsen as Michael; Don Johnson as Michael; Ted Levine as Waingro; Voight declining Nate; the Thief star as Nate

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:08Read transcript
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1:10:00

Recasting Couch

Fishburne in the Mykelti Williamson role; Ed Norton as Van Zant

Fishburne in the Mykelti Williamson role; Ed Norton as Van Zant

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:00Read transcript
  • A joke that Gong Li could be put in every role. — Bill Simmons
  • After a Tarantino podcast that raved about him, Fishburne in the Williamson role, with four scenes and the shootout. — Bill Simmons
  • Fishburne as Neil is floated, but De Niro is preferred. — Bill Simmons
  • Ed Norton as Van Zant a year before Primal Fear, joking he'd want to rewrite the empty-telephone line. — Bill Simmons
  • The other host calls it a perfect movie whose casting what-ifs are more tantalizing than any recast. — Chris Ryan
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1:10:54

Half-Assed Internet Research

Folsom Prison and LAPD detective research; Kevin Gage called Waingro in prison; the real Chicago Waingro; the Wilshir...

Folsom Prison and LAPD detective research; Kevin Gage called Waingro in prison; the real Chicago Waingro; the Wilshire diner's closing; Neil's gray suits and starched collars; Xander Berkeley in L.A. Takedown; the BJ's on Alvarado tweet

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:54Read transcript
  • Research cited says the cast spent time at Folsom Prison and with real LAPD detectives. — Bill Simmons
  • Research cited says Kevin Gage, in prison for two years in 2003, was universally called Waingro by inmates and guards. — Bill Simmons
  • Per Mann, as cited, Waingro was based on a real Chicago criminal who ratted out influential criminals, went missing and was found nailed to a shed wall in northern Mexico. — Bill Simmons
  • The diner where the diner scene was shot (table 71) on Wilshire was a favored spot, visited with both kids; the hosts say it closed in 2014 and a billionaire should have saved it. — Bill Simmons
  • Per Mann's commentary, as cited, Neil's gray suits were meant to blend into a crowd and his collars were starched the prison way. — Bill Simmons
  • Research cited says Xander Berkeley, who plays Ralph, played Waingro in L.A. Takedown, and a Trail Blazers sideline reporter tweeted in 2015 that BJs on Alvarado does not exist. — Chris Ryan
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1:24:02

Probably Unanswerable Questions

The human-shield kid; whether Kelso invented the internet; running onto the LAX runway; whether the film caused more ...

The human-shield kid; whether Kelso invented the internet; running onto the LAX runway; whether the film caused more bank robberies; Chris's Super Bowl losses; Chris's and Dominic's futures; Neil's hypocrisy; Heat 2

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:02Read transcript
  • Is grabbing a little kid as a human shield the most evil act by a movie bad guy? In context, the character immediately has to go. — Bill Simmons
  • Did Tom Noonan's character invent the internet? 'We can't say he didn't.' — Chris Ryan
  • Could a man with a gun run from an LAX hotel onto the runways? Easier pre-9/11 but still hard; a 2020 version would have to address it, perhaps at Union Station. — Chris Ryan
  • Did the film cause more bank robberies? The hosts cite internet claims listing armored-car robberies abroad and the 1997 North Hollywood Bank of America shootout, which they say left both robbers dead and 11 officers and seven bystanders injured and was partly blamed on the movie. — Bill Simmons
  • The character's line that the Super Bowl cleaned him out is placed as the Chargers-Niners Super Bowl with jokes about him backing the Chargers against Steve Young, gambling touts and betting the Pro Bowl. — Chris Ryan
  • What happened to Chris? He moves to Vegas, maybe starts a sports book, and is probably killed within two years by someone he owes. — Bill Simmons
  • Dominic's life looks dark per Drucker; a Netflix version could have Portman as a detective chasing Dominic, and Neil and Eady may have had a son. — Bill Simmons
  • Was Neil a hypocrite for going back for Chris during the bank shooting? He breaks his own rules throughout, including hiring Haysbert's fry cook as a driver. — Bill Simmons
  • Heat 2 options: modernize with new people and tech, an all-Black cast, Kelso starting Facebook, or a generational sequel with Portman's character, Dominic, Neil and Eady's son and the girl Cheritto grabbed seeking revenge. — Bill Simmons
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