50 Greatest Action Sequences: #49

49. Heat – The Heist Begins

“Okay, we’re gonna have to take ‘em in the car. Wait til they are all in. Get clean shots. Watch your backgrounds.”

On February 28, 1997, Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Matasareanu engaged the LAPD in a brutal shootout that lasted for 44 minutes after they robbed a North Hollywood branch of Bank of America. After the melee, in which police were outgunned and outarmored, a copy of the film Heat was found in the robbers’ VCR. Such is the dark legacy of the fictional shootout in Michael Mann’s 1995 crime drama.

Regardless of the speciousness of the argument “DeNiro made ‘em do it,” it is still with a twinge of guilt that I add this truly spectacular sequence to the list. At the same time, it is, in fact, the realistic nature of the scene that gives it much of its power. It was supervised by former SAS sergeant Andy McNab, who gave the cast weapons and tactics training, so don’t fuck with Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer or Tom Sizemore in a firefight.

Another key factor, which we’ll see a lot on this list, is the slow build. This sequence covers four separate chapters on the DVD, and the first two are just construction. Mann lets all the players get into position before he unleashes. When Kilmer finally exits the bank and happens to notice the cops, the speed and nonchalance with which he goes into kill mode is shocking.

At this point Mann drops out all music (another technique we’ll see again) and the only sound we hear is gunfire, echoes of gunfire (subtle, but important) and screams.

Ironically, the actual shootout became a rallying cry for gun control, with the cops having to go to a gun store during the battle to be as well-equipped as the criminals. Sadly, this is not the message that some took away from the fictional shootout.

This is just the shootout, but it’s worth watching the heist that precedes it.

See also: All of Black Hawk Down, the shootout-in-the-middle-of-a-car-chase from Bad Boys 2, kidnapping getaway in The Way of the Gun.

Next: You’ve got mail! Did I say “mail?” I’m sorry. I meant an ass-kicking. You’ve got an ass-kicking.