Tagged: Heat
Pacino in Heat: Vincent Hanna’s Checked Canali Suit
Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna in Heat (1995)
Vitals
Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna, intense LAPD detective-lieutenant and Marine Corps veteran
Los Angeles, Spring 1995
Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 83rd birthday to Al Pacino, the iconic actor born April 25, 1940. Pacino rose to fame after his performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974), the latter also establishing his co-star Robert De Niro. After two decades heralded as two of the best actors of their generation, Pacino and De Niro were finally reunited in Heat, sharing the screen for the first time as their characters in The Godfather, Part II never appeared together.
Michael Mann was inspired by the real-life exploits of Chicago detective Chuck Adamson’s investigation into an early 1960s bank robber named Neil McCauley to write and direct Heat, which was actually Mann’s second go at the story which he had originally filmed as a much lower-budget, less complicated made-for-TV movie in 1989 called L.A. Takedown.
Pacino stars in Heat as Vincent Hanna, an intense and idiosyncratic lieutenant in the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division given to bombastic outbursts (especially when women’s asses are a topic of discussion), explained in the original screenplay as the byproduct of Hanna’s cocaine addiction. Hanna is as “funny as a heart attack,” as described to Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), the professional armed robber whom Hanna becomes increasingly obsessed with hunting, sure that McCauley is planning on a major score but unsure of what it will be.
Heat – Neil McCauley’s Charcoal Pinstripe Bank Robbery Suit
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley in Heat (1995)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, professional armed robber
Los Angeles, Spring 1995
Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
De Niro’s Costumer: Marsha Bozeman
Background
My last post looked at a bank robber who relied on his wits and a team of burglars to carry out a job. Neil McCauley is far more ruthless and traditional kind of cinematic bank robber; one that you would expect a no-nonsense great like Robert De Niro to portray. After months of planning and double-crosses, McCauley’s team is ready to take down a major bank in downtown L.A. Continue reading
Heat – Neil McCauley’s Gray Double-Breasted Suit
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley in Heat (1995).
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, professional armed robber
Los Angeles, Spring 1995
Film: Heat
Release Date: December 15, 1995
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
De Niro’s Costumer: Marsha Bozeman
Background
A person’s characteristics are always made plainly visible by his or her attire. Clothing gives signals that all coordinate with the person’s background, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, occupation, and personality.
In Michael Mann’s noirish 1995 masterpiece Heat, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino face off, sharing the screen for the first time (their roles in The Godfather Part II were in completely separate timelines, as you well know). De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional armed robber who remains cool-as-a-cucumber but can be remorselessly ruthless, and Pacino stars as LAPD Lt. Vincent Hanna, the erratic detective tasked with taking him down.
If all a person had to use were images of De Niro in the film, wearing a largely-cut gray suit and an emotionless stare while carrying a state-of-the-art firearm, it would be crystal clear that he was a hardened criminal, respected and feared by both friend and foe, but burdened with a fatal weakness yet to be determined. Continue reading