The “Heat” movie guns were cool when the film was first released and they’re still cool 30 years later. When Michael Mann let the guns do the talking, the movie is definitely something to watch. We, at Rock Island Auction Company, are big fans of the firearms of “Heat” and several of them – the models, not the on-screen examples — are available in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 2-4 Premier Firearms Auction in Bedford, Texas.
Before we start talking about the Heat movie guns, the cops and robbers should get some attention. Chief among the robbers is De Niro’s master criminal Neil McCauley. His gang is loaded. Val Kilmer portrays second-in-command Chris Shiherlis, and Tom Sizemore is Michael Cheritto. Jon Voight serves as the group’s fence, and Dennis Haysbert fills in as getaway driver for the absent Danny Trejo. These guys handle guns like foot soldiers, not actors.
Heading up the Los Angeles Police investigation is Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna. His deputies, — Mykelti Williamson, Ted Levine and Wes Studi – may be less recognizable than the stars that dot De Niro’s crew but are fantastic. Beware of spoilers ahead.
Heat Movie Guns: FN FAL
The “right hand of the free world,” FN FAL is long and sleek even in its paratrooper configuration with the side-folding stock. Sizemore’s Cheritto double taps his FN FAL to eliminate one of the armored car guards in the robbery that opens the film. Cheritto uses the gun only in short bursts in the scene, an appropriate technique as some shooters report the FAL has a stout recoil that causes barrel climb quite quickly.
Guns of Heat: Heckler & Koch 91
McCauley’s crew was after $1.6 million in bearer bonds in the armored car and wants to unload them. He offers them back to money launderer Roger Van Zant at a reduced price, knowing they were insured. At the drop, Van Zant has ordered an ambush, but McCauley’s men have the drop on them, and Shiherlis takes out the assassin with his Heckler & Koch HK91A2 and blasts several rounds into the getaway Dodge pickup before Cheritto eliminates the driver with a Benelli M3 Super 90, using the pump action.
Guns of Heat: The Doldrums
A whole bunch of uninteresting stuff happens through the middle of the film. Relationships blah, blah, blah. However, McCauley’s crew goes underground after learning Cheritto was identified by police as being at the armored car heist. In another scene that adds to the heist drama, the police think they have the drop on the robbers who are supposed to be checking out their next job, but Hanna realizes it’s a setup and they’ve been made.
After stopping McCauley on the interstate, Hanna invites him for coffee at a nearby diner. Their conversation is like a pair of heavyweight boxers, sparring to size up the other. In one of the scenes that is a quiet high point, they come to similar conclusions about their personal pursuits:
Hanna: “What are you, a monk?”
McCauley: “I have a woman.”
Hanna: “What do you tell her?”
McCauley: “I tell her I’m a salesman.”
Hanna: “So then, if you spot me coming around that corner… you just gonna walk out on this woman? Not say good bye?”
McCauley: “That’s the discipline.”
Hanna: “That’s pretty vacant, you know.”
McCauley: “Yeah, it is what it is. It’s that or we both better go do something else, pal.”
Hanna: “I don’t know how to do anything else.”
McCauley: “Neither do I.”
Hanna: “I don’t much want to either.”
McCauley: “Neither do I.”
While Hanna and McCauley are circling each other, a former member of McCauley’s crew, Waingro, is getting tight with the money launderer, Van Zant, and offers to take out his former boss. Ignoring the abandoned sub-plot that Waingro might be a serial killer, he was part of the armored car holdup crew but his quick trigger ended with the three guards being killed. McCauley intended to kill Waingro for his transgression but was interrupted by police, allowing him to escape.
Heat Movie Guns: Colt Carbine
McCauley’s crew learns of a bank that has $12.2 million sitting in its vault and decide on one last heist. McCauley offers to let Cheritto, a family man, out of it, knowing he has plenty of money stashed away. Cheritto is ready for the job, saying, “Well, ya know, for me, the action is the juice. I’m in.”
After the robbery, Cheritto gets to the waiting getaway car first, followed by McCauley. As Shiherlis walks up to the car a slight grin crosses his face, before he spots police officers across the street. Without a word of warning he lifts his Colt carbine to his shoulder and fires before getting in the car. They only escape a short distance before the driver, played by Haysbert, is killed and the car disabled. The iconic firefight is on.
McCauley and Shiherlis work their way up the street, offering each other cover against the under-gunned police, their only communication a staccato “go!” when it is clear to move forward. It is a tense, heart-pounding 11-minute scene from entering the bank to the robbers making their escape after McCauley, dragging a wounded Shiherlis, shoots his way through a grocery store parking lot and flee in a stolen station wagon.
Some of the police officers are carrying Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 shotguns during the shootout, but others did come with full-auto firepower, like Ted Levine’s Det. Bosko who carries an M16 but unfortunately is killed early in the shootout.
Heat Movie Guns: Galil
For the chaotic bank robbery, Cheritto has switched from the FAL to an Israeli select fire Galil rifle. As the crew has to shoot its way out after the getaway has been blown, Cheritto gets separated from McCauley and Shiherlis. He grabs a girl as a human shield, but as he turns to run from pursuing officers, Hanna, who has gotten in front of him, sizes up a head shot and puts down Cheritto and saves the girl.
Guns of Heat: FN FNC
Pacino’s Hanna carries an FN FNC assault rifle into the robbery shootout, stalking the robbers up the street. After McCauley and Shiherlis escape, Hanna circles back to Cheritto. With a girl held in the robber’s arm, it is a tough shot, but Hanna brings his rifle tight to his cheek, takes a breath and releases it as Cheritto turns around. An amazing shot amid the frenzy of gunplay.
Guns of Heat: Sig Sauer P220
After McCauley gets Shiherlis patched up, Kilmer’s character nearly disappears from the rest of the film as it becomes a revenge flick. Carrying a SIG Sauer P220, De Niro’s character hunts Van Zant and Waingro for crossing him while trying to outwit Hanna. After killing the two men, McCauley tries to get away from Hanna who tails him to an airport where he is caught in the landing lights and shot by the police lieutenant using his Colt Government Model.
Yes, the showdown that ends a film filled with exquisite, beyond-cool guns is between a SIG and a Government Model.
Guns of Heat for Sale
When the Heckler & Koch MP5, Benelli M3 Super 90, classic police sidearms like the Beretta 92 and Smith & Wesson revolvers and the Ithaca 37 shotgun are supporting players you know a movie has some stellar guns. Heat movie guns — from Fabrique Nationale, Colt, Galil and H&K — are admittedly cool and are available in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 2-4 Premier Auction in Bedford, Texas.
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