A movie about a crew of professional bank robbers being chased by a squad of obsessed cops sounds like the typical action movie formula.  But add Al Pacino as the relentless detective and Robert DeNiro to play the meticulous crook, and everyone takes notice.  That’s what happened 20 years ago Thursday, when Michael Mann’s “Heat” was released.  Billed as the first time the two legendary actors would share a scene, “Heat” also featured a supporting cast of big-name players, including Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight and Tom Sizemore.  Despite its commerical success — it grossed $174 million — and star appeal, there are several facts about “Heat” that may surprise even avid fans of the crime drama:  DeNiro’s character is based on a real bank robber named Neil McCauley  Mann’s friend, former Chicago cop Charlie Adamson, inspired him to write the script after telling him about the real Neil McCauley.  Adamson tracked McCauley — a hardened criminal who spent time in Alcatraz — as a member of an elite police unit in the 1960s.  He eventually killed McCauley in a shootout in 1964 — just as Pacino kills DeNiro’s character in the movie.  The restaurant scene between Pacino and DeNiro is based on a real-life meeting  According to Mann, while Adamson was stalking McCauley and his crew, he happened to run into him outside of a dry cleaners.  After a few tense moments — McCauley knew Adamson was the cop who was hunting him — Adamson invited the bank robber for a cup of coffee, just like Pacino does in the movie.  “They (Adamson and McCauley) definitely discovered a rapport for each other,” Mann told Rolling Stone.  Jon Voight’s character was based on a real ex-convict  Voight’s character, “Nate” was based in part on former convict Edward Bunker.  Bunker, who became a successful actor and writer after spending more than 20 years in prison — he starred in “Reservoir Dogs” and “The Longest Yard” — was a friend of “Heat” actor Danny Trejo — whom he met in prison — and Mann.  DeNiro insisted on no rehearsals for the restaurant scene  In a recent interview, Pacino said that DeNiro insisted that the pair not rehearse the restaurant scene — the two legendary actors’ first appearance in a film together — to preserve the unfamiliarity between their two characters.  Pacino initially balked, but later realized it was the right move.  Musician and writer Henry Rollins has a small part in the film  Henry Rollins, the former lead singer of Black Flag and the Rollins Band, plays “Hugh Benny,” a bodyguard for crooked businessman Roger Van Zant.  Late in the film, Pacino tosses Rollins’ character through a glass window.  “Heat” is a remake of a TV movie  “L.A. Takedown” was a TV movie released in 1989 that was written and directed by Mann.  According to Rolling Stone, Mann wrote the original script for “Heat” in the early 1980s, but put it aside because it didn’t feel right.  "When something's not ready, it's like not ready ," Mann told the magazine.  The shootout scene was not a copy of the “Battle of North Hollywood”  Despite the similarities — including determined and well-equipped robbers who outgunned dozens of cops — the gunfight between Pacino’s cops and De Niro’s crooks was not staged to resemble the infamous shootout.  In fact, the North Hollywood incident— a raging gunfight between the LAPD and bank robbers that saw more than 1,500 rounds fired and resulted in two deaths and 18 injuries — occurred on Feb. 28, 1997, more than a year after “Heat” was released.  Pacino improvised a famous line from the movie  When Pacino’s crew of cops intimidate Hank Azaria’s character, who has been having an affair with Judd’s character, Azaria laments why he ever got involved with her.  “Because she’s got a great ass!” Pacino screams, to Azaria’s exasperated shock.  According to the director’s commentary, Pacino improvised the line, and Azaria’s look of shaken disbelief was authentic.  Mann filmed one scene to mimic a piece of art  The scene where De Niro’s character comes home to a modern, desolate home on the ocean, puts a pistol on the table and looks out at the water is an ode to the Alex Colville painting, "Pacific."  The house where “Trejo” was killed still has blood stains on the floorboards  After De Niro’s character discovers his friend, “Trejo” has betrayed the crew, he hunts the traitor down, only to find he’s already mortally wounded.  Trejo lays bloody and beaten on the floor of a house before De Niro shoots him as an act of mercy.  According to the documentary “Heat: Return to the Scene of the Crime,” the house where the scene was filmed still has stains from the fake blood on the floorboards.
Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro starred in "Heat," a 1995 drama about a bank robber being chased by an obsessed cop.