Heat vs. Thief

[AbeFroman 70]

Heat is the pinnacle of Michael Mann's career and one of the greatest films of all time. In the sea of Tarantino copycat mediocrity of 1995, Heat is The Godfather meets Citizen Kane.

 

However, Thief from 1981 is essentially a proto-Heat featuring a career best performance from James Caan.

 

In short, Michael Mann needs some love from The Cannon.

 

Heat, Manhunter, Thief, Insider, Collateral...I don't care. Just give us an hour or so on Michael Mann.

[CarlosFerreira 20]

I am entirely up for this. Let's Mann-up.

 

To make thing even more special, I would go for a Heat vs Thief vs Collateral. Heat will walk it, but I want to hear if Amy agrees with me that Collateral is the type of role Tom Cruise should be doing.

[NathanGordon 1096]

I actually just made my way through Mann's filmography.

 

Manhunter is the superior film -- please do yourself a favor and watch it! It's interesting not only for its early Hannibal Lecter, but its astounding cinematography and art direction. I'm not being hyperbolic at all, it is visually amazing. I've never paused and rewound a film more times to just admire the composition.

 

Thief is a very good film and a terrific sign of things to come for Mann. Heat is good, but it's more about the performances and a few very well staged shootouts; there's less of the visual flair of his earlier films. Pacino's relationship with the much younger Amy Brenneman is unbelievable and without chemistry (understandably), and the film is slightly overlong -- probably due to its star-studded cast. Still, it's prime Pacino, just at the tipping point before his descent into self parody.

 

Manhunter, or failing that, Thief. James Caan deserves to be in the canon.

[AbeFroman 70]

Couldn't agree more about Manhunter.

 

It's the best Thomas Harris/Lecter adaptation to date.

 

Lambs is excellent but Manhunter is far better, with Brian Cox giving the superior Lecter performance.

 

Also agree on Cruise in Collateral as it is easily his best work.

 

Mann up already, Canon!

[HoldenMartinson 221]

Hopefully, they could get an expert on his filmography, should such an episode arise, to Mann-splain why his work is so great.

[CarlosFerreira 20]

There as so many Mann-inist puns to be made here, this episode needs to happen.

[FictionIsntReal 79]

Oh, man. Manhunter is absolutely one of my favorite films, and perhaps the one I have watched the most times. But I don't think it belongs in the Canon. It bombed on release*, it was completely displaced by Silence of the Lambs in popular culture as THE Harris/Hannibal movie, and there are more canonical Mann films to choose from (Heat ups the hunter/hunted duality even more by splitting the focus more evenly, and Thief is more obviously the progenitor of Mann's 80s style, even if Manhunter takes it to further extremes). This is a bit like Beyond the Black Rainbow (whose director cites Manhunter as a big inspiration): I will promote it every chance I get, but it's just not going in the Canon.

*I also recall reading about a tv show made a little after which by some of the writers admission was partly inspired by it and bombed, with them saying they should have figured audiences weren't in the mood for serial killers yet.