in ‘Heat’ that gave audiences the most realistic firefight in movie history
For this edition of That One Scene, we’ll be discussing the iconic bank robbery and shootout on the streets of Los Angeles, and that makes us very excited, since the firefight in Heat is the greatest example of fire and movement ever depicted on screen.
When McCauley and his crew of ace stick-up men, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), and last-minute replacement Donald Breedan (Dennis Haysbert), go through with their plan of a daylight bank robbery in downtown L.A., it quickly devolves into chaos and bloodshed after they exit the building with their bags of cash and find a police ambush waiting for them.
What follows is a shootout that was so good, in fact, that the clip was often played for fresh out of a boot camp Marine privates at the Corps’ School of Infantry, to show them an example how the concept of bounding overwatch was applied in practice.
It’s easy to see why: In the span of roughly 10 minutes, the film’s characters provide each other with cover fire and effectively suppress their foe (in this case, the cops), communicate effectively, and move just like trained infantrymen. Could Neil or Chris be a former grunt? Perhaps.