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City Heat
THE STORY:
Please imagine that you're a gum-shoe private detective
called Diehl Swift, (Richard Roundtree), and recently you have been given some
dubious documents which can put crime-lord, Leon Coll (Tony Lo Bianco), away
for a very long time. So who do you turn to with this information, just so can
earn a bit of money out of it? Leon ,
himself? Or what about his arc-rival, Primo Pitt (Rip Torn)?
BANG! CRASH! SPLAT!
OK. Let's scratch that, shall well? Please imagine that
you're a gum-shoe private detective called Mike Murphy, (Burt Reynolds), and
recently you've heard that your silent partner, Diehl Swift, has been made
silent forever more by the crime-lord, Primo Pitt. Well, that's what Lieutenant
Speer's (Clint Eastwood) tells you anyway. After he has a date with you're
secretary, Addy (Jane Alexander).
Now I'm sure that you remember Lieutenant Speer's, don't
you? He was once a college of yours whilst you were on the police-force, who
now calls you 'shortly', and trails your every move until you can figure out
why Diehl snuffed it so suddenly.
You know -- the clubs -- the bars -- the hq's -- and
anywhere else your feet may tread, just prior to you get a letter in the mail
by Spear's himself; telling you what you have to do next.
Hey! It could be a lot worse, right? You could receive a
very alarming phone call -- RING-RING -- make that two phone calls. One from
your wealthy girlfriend, Caroline Howley (Madeline Kahn), informing you that
she's been kindnapped by Primo Pitts men. Plus another by Spear's girlfriend, Ginny
Lee (Irene Cara), asking you for some help.
Still, that's most probably why what next transpires all
comes into play when you have a couple of errands to run. As singers sing -
hood's go ding-a-ling-a-ling - one time partners reluctantly team-up - and
please note that crime bosses can not help but eventually get blown -- BOOM!
--- you know what I mean.
THE REVIEW:
Now according to film-critique, Richard Schickel
"Blake Edwards -- of 'Pink Panther' fame -- was originally signed to
direct this film from his own screenplay, called 'Kansas City Jazz'. But a problem
arose when Blake insisted on casting his wife, Julie Andrews, in the
role of Caroline Howley. Regrettably Reynolds and Andrews had not gotten along
very well during the production of 'The Man Who Loved Women', and of
course, Reynolds had major reservations about a reprise of this previous
problem. Eastwood supported Reynolds, and to make the long story short, Edwards
quit the production, and along came Madeline Kahn".
Please note: I've decided to lead off my bullsh*t with this quote
for one simple reason -- in someway it explains why 'City Heat' turned
out the way it did.
Well, it is a rather clumsy movie in places. With a rather
flimflam through-line that quips and parries all over the place like a monkey
with an itch. One minute the story focuses on what Burt is up to. Then it goes
to Clint. After that it's back to Burt again. And so on, and so on; making the
whole things slightly strained as a story in its own right.
Moreover, another things that is also somewhat strained, is
the overall construction of the tale too. It weaves a formulaic pattern of
set-up / delay / and execution, to such an extent, that you can second guess
what is going to happen next, before it does. Oh! Let me not even mention the
bad-guys -- for use of a better word. Heck, even after they killed off Richard
Roundtree's character, I was still not scared of them in the slightest.
Listen, I don't want to imply that 'City Heat' is a crap
film in any way shape or form. Because its not. In fact, there are a number of
redeeming features to it that make it a very enjoyable flick indeed. For
example: (1) Clint and Burt. Do I have to say any more than that? Whenever
these two giants are on screen together the sparks just fly. Turning this
OK-ish film into a magical film at the drop of a hat. (2) I thought that Madeline
Kahn and Jane Alexander did a very good job with the 'girl-friend' type roles
given to them. Shame they weren't used in a more pro-active way though,
huh? (3) I did get a kick out of the penultimate battle scene where Burt said
to Clint 'I think that they are four crooks down that alleyway', because I
presume it was a filmic-reference to Clint being in 'A Fist Full Of Dollars'
[click here
for the review]. (4) Whenever Clint twitches his eye in that 'Inspector Dreyfus'
way of his, honest to God, chills ran up my spine. It was as if these jovial
scenes justified why this film was made in the first place -- Burt and Clint --
together -- say no more.
Now to finish off my bullsh*t, please allow me to relay some
filmic-fact, OK? (1) This film was released on the 7th of December, 1984, and out
of a $25 million dollar budget, it made $38,300,000 back. Not bad -- not good.
(2) Burt Reynolds got his jaw broken when he was hit in the face with a
metal chair during a fight scene within this movie. Worst still, is that
because of this injury, later on, Burt inadvertently became addicted to
painkillers too. (3) This was
Clint's penultimate comedy movie. His last was 'Pink Cadillac' [click here
for the review]. (4) Did you know that Burt Reynolds and Clint
Eastwood share quite a few things in common? They were both sacked from 'Universal
Studios' at one time or another. They're respective careers began on the
small screen. And they appeared together on the cover of 'Time' Magazine', on the 9th of January, 1978 . The headline
read: 'Hollywood 's Honchos -- Good
Ole Burt; Cool-Eyed Clint'. (5) Burt wanted his good friend and co-star on
'Cannonball Run 2' -- Richard Keil -- to play the part of the thug, Troy Roker,
in this film. But Clint didn't. Due to the fact that he was going to use
Richard in one of his up and coming movies -- 'Pale Rider'. (6) This flick
was a joint Malpaso / Deliverance production. 'Malpaso' from Clint's end -- and
'Deliverance' from Burt's end. (7)
Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood were two of biggest stars in Hollywood
at the time this movie was released. (8) Clint's 'love interest' in the
war-time adventure, 'Heartbreak Ridge', Marsha Mason, was originally cast in
the role of Addy. But again -- due to creative differences -- she was quickly
replaced by Jane Alexander.
Overall 'City Heat' is what I would call a
so-so film, and a must watch for any Burt or Clint fan out there in
movie-land.
THE RATING: B-
CITY HEAT
Reviewed by David Andrews
on
December 26, 2012
Rating: