Just what I expected

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Private investigator Mike Murphy's partner is brutally murdered when he tries to blackmail a mobster with his secret accounting records. When a rival gang boss goes after the missing records, ex-policeman Murphy is forced to team up with his ex-partner Lieutenant Speer, even though they can't stand each other, to fight both gangs before It erupts in a mob war....This should have been one of, if not the biggest film of 1984. It had the two biggest stars in the world at the time, together, in what should have been a fun romp.But while there are a couple of good scenes ( the opening fight, and the shoot out ), the film makes no sense whatsoever, and becomes boring, very very quickly.Eastwood appears to be on autopilot, seemingly knowing that this could be the biggest film of his career, and Reynolds, is over the top wacky, but in a really annoying way.The sets are authentic, but it appears that all the action takes place on one street, and every situation concludes in the same apartment.Its a shame, because the opening has so much potential, but falters very soon after.A huge disappointment...

I'm not really much of a fan of Clint Eastwood movies, his silent, calm, and collected characters just don't really seem to mesh with me. This movie is no different. What attracted me to this movie though is the 1920's gangster plot line; this is something that I quite like, though they never seem to turn out how I expected. In these movies one expects to see gun fight with tommy guns, cement shoes, speakeasies, and gangs at war with each other. This movie has it, but the action, as seems to be in a lot of Clint Eastwood movies, is a bit slow.Clint Eastwood's character is not the main character, rather it is an ex-cop come gumshoe (private detective) named Murphy. Eastwood plays Murphy's ex-partner and there seems to be quite a bit of animosity between them. This is the typical personality test that puts together people with opposing personalities, and these two character's personalities are definitely opposed, right to the point where they will start shooting at each other. Murphy is quite extroverted and loud while Eastwood is his usual quiet and calm self.The movie was alright but not really all that gripping, especially how I decided to stop it and go to sleep. The action was slow and the plot was also quite slow. They kept the flavour of the era and it was reasonably easy to see what was going on. Unfortunuately this means that there is little intrigue and when there is little intrigue then something else is needed to fill the space. There wasn't much in this movie that did this. There were gunfights, but even these were slow and tedious to watch. To me, City Heat is a movie to see once and forget.

"In Kansas City 1933, wisecracking detective Murphy (Burt Reynolds) tracks the killer of his partner," according to the synopsis writer at Warner Bros. Meanwhile, "Police Lt. Speer (Clint Eastwood) doesn't have much tolerance for the local mob war's body count. Neither guy likes each other, so that makes them a dream team. And it provides the ideal scenario as they clean up the town with slugfests and shoot-'em ups that parody Reynolds' and Eastwood's macho screen images." Original writer/director Blake Edwards was replaced by Richard Benjamin after reportedly clashing with Mr. Eastwood, while Mr. Reynolds suffered a serious injury early in the filming. This didn't mean "City heat" had to be a disaster, but it was. It looks like Eastwood and Reynolds are trying, with a couple of facial tics and gestures, to duplicate the successful Paul Newman and Robert Redford team. Whatever they're trying doesn't work. We're left with Eastwood calling Reynolds short.** City Heat (12/5/84) Richard Benjamin ~ Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn

Buddy-buddy cop movie set in Kansas City, 1933. Director Richard Benjamin ("Mermaids" and "Made in America") does well to allow Eastwood and Reynolds to carry the film, knowing Sam O. Brown's plot and premise weren't going to pull this one across the line.Clint and Burt do beautifully creating a hate-hate relationship that stems from a former partnership on the force. Eastwood has remained a lieutenant, while private eye Reynolds has himself knee-deep in a botched sting operation thanks to his now dead partner. The pair are great together; no-one is as dry as big Clint, nor as wet as old Burt. Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn, Rip Torn and Irene Cara lend support.Benjamin wisely kept things tongue-in-cheek, while the scenery is convincing enough, with lots of old cars and tommy guns knocking around.Wednesday, July 22, 1998 - Video