Red Heat

Plot

Captain Ivan Danko of the Moscow Militia sets a trap for Viktor Rostavili, a Georgian drug kingpin and crime lord. The ambush severely backfires; Viktor flees the Soviet Union and comes to the USA, after gunning down several other Moscow cops, including Danko's partner.

Loudmouthed Chicago Police Department Detective-Sergeant Art Ridzik, investigates several local murders committed by Viktor's cartel. When Viktor is arrested in Chicago, Danko is dispatched to escort him back to Moscow to face justice in the Soviet Union. Unexpectedly, Danko and Ridzik find themselves partnered together when Viktor escapes custody, gunning down Ridzik's partner, Gallagher, in the process. Danko is frustrated when his lack of a diplomatic license prohibits him from carrying a weapon. He shares his candid observations with Ridzik: "This Chicago is very strange city. Your crime is organized, but your police is not."

Danko and Ridzik pursue Viktor and his henchmen around Chicago. Finally, Danko and Viktor commandeer a couple of Greyhound buses, then engage in a high-speed chase, smashing up half of Chicago in the process, with no sign of the cops...until Viktor is side-slammed by a train. He takes on Danko in a running, Texas-style shootout (Danko uses a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum given to him by Ridzik); Viktor is gunned down. Danko returns to Moscow after exchanging wristwatches with Ridzik as an act of goodwill.

Cast

Production

The film was based on an original story by Walter Hill. He says he conceived of the idea for Red Heat because he and Arnold Schwarzenegger had long wanted to work together:

I didn't want to do sci-fi and it's tough to use Arnold credibly in an American context with his accent. I thought it would be interesting if he could play a Russian cop in the US. I wanted to do a traditional John Wayne/Clint Eastwood larger-than-life movie. You then ask the question: Will the American audience accept an unapologetic Soviet hero, someone who will not defect at the end of the movie?

According to Schwarzenegger, when Hill approached him he did not have a complete script - he just had the basic premise and the opening scene. Schwarzenegger agreed to make the movie on the basis of this and Hill's track record, in particular his earlier buddy action comedy 48 Hours.

Hill says he deliberately chose to tone down the Schwarzenegger persona, making him more realistic and less prone to wisecracks. Hill:

I had confidence in him as an actor. I didn't want him just to throw a Volkswagen over a building. Arnold has an ability to communicate that cuts through cultures and countries. They just love to see this guy win. But everyone thinks it's his muscles. It's not that at all: it's his face, his eyes. He has a face that's a throwback to a warrior from the Middle Ages, or ancient Greece.

Schwarzenegger says Hill told him to watch Greta Garbo's performance in Ninotchka (1939) "to get a handle on how Danko [his character] should react as a loyal Soviet in the West. I got to learn a little Russian, and it was a role for which my own accent was a plus."

The music score was done by James Horner. "I told James I wanted something like you're in the Olympics and you've just won a gold medal," said Hill. "I wanted something heroic."

Hill says he wanted to use buses rather than cars in the climactic action scene because it would be more interesting. "Also, I thought it was very appropriate for Arnold. He doesn't fit well in cars."

He described the film as "in an odd way it's a traditional love story between these two guys.

The script was constantly rewritten during the shoot. Among the writers who worked on it were Hill himself, Harry Kleiner, Troy Kennedy Martin, Steven Meerson & Peter Krikes, and John Mankiewicz & Daniel Pyne. "You've got to understand that Walter likes to create as he goes along," said a source close to the production. "Also, the project was put together quickly based on an idea of his-a Russian cop in Chicago. There was no script." A spokesman for the Writers Guild said Hill was a member in very good standing: "He does tend to hire a lot of people but he pays well above minimums and we feel he's been quite straightforward about screen credit."

The first half of the opening scene was shot in Budapest's Rudas Thermal Bath. The second half was shot in Austria because Budapest had no snow.

Reception

The movie received a mixed to positive response from critics. Red Heat currently holds a 62% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews.

Box office

The movie was a box office success, but was far outpaced by Schwarzenegger's other comedy film in 1988, Twins.

Schwarzenegger later wrote the film "wasn't the smash I'd expected. Why is hard to guess. It could be that audiences were not ready for Russia, or that my and Jim Belushi's performances were not funny enough, or that the director didn't do a good enough job. For whatever reason, it just didn't quite close the deal."

Home media

The film was a success on home rentals.