film

The title of Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic refers to increased pressure from the LAPD felt by a loose association of high-stakes thieves, but it could just as easily be a reference to temperature. Mann shot the city as beautifully as anyone before or since, setting the perfect dark, steamy backdrop for his story and creating the perfect atmospheric film for a summer evening in the process.

The story follows the cat-and-mouse dynamic between Robert DeNiro's Neil McCauley, a highly skilled and professional thief, and Al Pacino's Vincent Hanna, an LAPD detective whose obsession with his work supersedes everything else in his life. Heat's characters are deeply and methodically drawn and its action sequences have never been bettered in terms of intensity and realism.

Despite having been seen as practically a double act for two decades prior, Heat marked the first time Pacino and DeNiro had appeared in the same scene together, and what a scene it is: even for those of us who try to use the word "iconic" sparingly, there are few more appropriate words to describe the mid-film cup of coffee they share in a late-night diner.