NMS #4: New Year, Old Movies
Crime films to watch instead of The Rip
On first glance, Journey Into Cinema looks dormant in the early weeks of the year. But if you look closely, you might see rising temperatures all around, gas slowly leaking, maybe animals fleeing the area… to extend my terrible volcano metaphor further, there is nothing static about these last couple of weeks, with plenty of Rotterdam, Berlinale and (perhaps) Sundance content ready to explode into your inbox in the next two to four weeks. It’s just all under the surface.
In the meantime, I have started the year by, well, at least trying to, although TV keeps getting in the way, watch as many movies as possible, which, inevitably, leads me back to the hallowed halls of the greatest streamer of them all: Tubi. For those of you who, like me, clicked hopefully on Matt Damon/Ben Affleck Netflix vehicle The Rip (Joe Carnahan, 2026) last night in the misguided belief that that it would be at least moderately entertaining, only to fight back sleep as almost nothing happened, my latest newsletter should be a tonic: with four wonderful crime movies that don’t forget to be fun while the guns go off and A-list actors weigh varying unethical decisions.
Heat (Dick Richards, 1986)
The title Heat is now almost exclusively associated with Michael Mann’s masterpiece (1995) — which The Rip (promise, I’ll never mention this again), with its iconic star pairing, is desperately trying to evoke — but it’s actually a pretty common title. There is a Larisa Shepitko film (1963). There is a Paul Morrisey film (1972). And there’s Burt Reynolds’ star vehicle, directed by journeyman Dick Richards.
A weird, uneven Vegas picture, it sees Reynolds play the ultra-cool Nick ‘Mex’ Escalante, who eschews guns while working as a chaperone for various down-and-outs and shady businessmen across the restless, neon-streaked city. It also stars the excellent Karen Young as an aggrieved prostitute, who gets her revenge on a yuppie mafioso in the most excellent fashion possible.
Heat is an extremely weird one, pivoting from con artist picture, to hangout film, to gambling addiction portrayal, to all-out shoot-em-up (and because he doesn’t use guns, there are some really hilarious kills here) movie. Still, oddly enjoyable. Makes a fun “other-side-of-Vegas” pairing with the Roy Schneider TV movie Money Play$ (Frank D. Gilroy, 1998).
