“For me the action is the juice.” – Michael.
For me the sun rises and sets with her man
On the show
Today we’re talking about the style of Heat from 1995 starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The Costume Designer was Deborah Lynn Scott, her filmography includes Avatar, Back to the Future and Minority Report.
My guests are Ken Stauffer from OceansOgrapher and Kyle Barbeau from Easy Smiles and Expensive Watches. The below are loose show notes. I will edit these over time. The podcast is available to listen on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify or in the player below.
Who made the suit for Robert De Niro in Heat?
According to a post by Bamf Style on Instagram,
Bank robber Neil McCauley is no exception, attired here for the movie’s famous diner scene in a double-breasted wool Yves Saint Laurent suit with a generous cut characteristic of ‘90s fashions, with a white open-neck shirt and black Timex digital watch.
Pacino wearing a Bulgari Diagono Chronograph
What Watch did Al Pacino Wear?
Initially I thought it was a Breitling, but according to Hodinkee,
Pacino as Vincent Hannah is outfitted in a Bulgari Diagono Chronograph with the now-iconic Bulgari adorned bezel, and a uniquely sparse dial.
Questions posed
- The only thing that really dates this film is the suits. Would that be fair?
- There are so many facets of this film that make it an epic, the locations, the music, the acting, there aren’t very ‘showy’ moments style wise in this film. Unlike in the last episode review we did on Tenet where the costumes were quite ‘distractingly good’. Did you think that also?
- Ken did we manage to dig up anything on ANTO’s shirt? That printed shirt Jon Voight wears when he is on the phone to Vans Sant, screams ANTO!
- I did like the fact that a lot of the suits make it through long scenes and set pieces. Vincent Hanna’s golden brown suit when he knows he’s getting photographed by De Niro, he goes home, he then gets in a chopper to find Macauley and have that sit down coffee with him, after that he goes to the station. There are practical decisions made with these costumes which adds to the flow of the film. There are no, stop start, pointless costume changes in the film. Did you notice that?
Sunglasses, ok I want them both. Are the sunglasses dated?
These sunglasses worn by Robert De Niro in the “Bank Heist” scene were manufactured by Calvin Klein.
According to Iconic Film Style the glasses that Al Pacino wears are Revo.
The sunglasses are essentially a smaller framed rectangular shaped aviator style that was popular from the mid 1990’s to the early 2000’s. Their high quality sunglasses that are a step up in price over Ray Ban’s, most are made of carbon fibre, which Pacino’s could be too. They have a wrap around shape that was very popular around this time, wrap around style sunglasses aren’t the height of fashion but they can still work.
This crew is good
My Thoughts
There is a uniform with the cops, there is a through line that they all look on duty. All suits, most have ties, they a crew as much as De Niro, Sizemore, Kilmer, as much as they are a crew with a look, the cops also have a crew, Pacino is afforded a little more flair with his gold suit the others are a bit more regular, so he looks like the guy in charge and the rest are the understudies.
Al Pacino was 54, and Robert De Niro 51, you have to say another 5 years on top of that for either of those guys and you’re starting to go beyond peak years. Righteous Kill is 2008 and they are my no means spent, but you are not getting peak De Niro, peak Pacino.
UPDATE (Jan 2024)
As featured on the Heat section of the podcast podcast, but uploaded to the YouTube channel exclusively. An audio documentary of the North Hollywood Shootout. One of the most brutal bank heists in modern American history, that drew close parellels to the movie Heat. (Click image below to be sent to my exclusive 30 minute audio doc on YouTube).
Click image for 30 minutes audio documentary (on YouTube) on the North Hollywood Shootout, inspired by Heat.
Right time, right place
Also its a film set in pre-google and times where you would have cops and journalists in front of computers. So there is nothing stale. It’s physical, chasing leads, face to face, its landline calls, you know Denis Villeneuve did an interview for Bladerunner 2049 and he said he had to figure out a way to get cops away from computers, because its dull as shit, that’s why you have that convenient plot crutch in Bladerunner 2049 where an EMP erased all databases.
So its right time, right actors, right directors, right place, I mean these locations. You will not get anything like that filmed in LAX airport ever again. LAX won’t let Robert De Niro run with a gun out in front of a Boeing. Just never going to happen again. That will all have to be done in some unknown airfield in the sticks here in the UK.
There’s a flip side to that coin
Shit from IMDB:
Tenuous Bond Connection
Macauley pretends to be a cleaner in order to surprise Charlene when he tells her to pack up and go home. This was also the same disguise tactic of Rosa Klebb to get the jump on Bond at the end of From Russia With Love.
Where are the props and costumes from Heat now?
Nothing on Prop Store, but someone has got the original Waingro mask on YourProps. All of Robert De Niro’s costumes and props are kept at the Harry Ransom Research Center.
Further Reading
- Essentials #11: HEAT (1995) by Matthew Oquendo
- Heat – Neil McCauley’s Charcoal Pinstripe Bank Robbery Suit
