Charming and brutal

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

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

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Burt Reynolds has know to be an action hero as well as a wisecracking actor. In "Heat", he never uses a gun. Reynolds plays Nick "Mex" Escalante, a former soldier of fortune who is also a habitual gambler in Las Vegas. He meets different people, protecting them as well. When teaching one man to be tough, a call girl named Holly(Karen Young) get viciously beaten by a new high roller(Neill Barry) who is back by a pair of giants. Holly demands revenge, but she needed Mex's help. He goes in disguise, takes out the two giant thugs and takes out DeMarco as well. While tied up, Holly comes in, with a pair of shears, and did the unthinkable. Baby(Joseph Mascolo) hears the news on what happened. But he wanted Mex's side of the story since he finds DeMarco accounts kind of questionable. The loophole was Mex doesn't use guns. Earlier, he met a man named Cyrus Kinnick(Peter MacNicol), who knows about his situation: He wants to go to Venice. After training him to be tough, he repays Mex with some money to go. Before they can go further, DeMarco and his goons ambushes them, only wounding Kinnick. He didn't look like much when Mex met him, but he appeared a lot tougher than he thought he was. A gun-less victory is possible when you're a super soldier. Just tell that to DeMarco and his crew. This movie has a lot of action. A little subtle to say the least. But what the hey! 2 out of 5 stars

Burt Reynolds plays the same character again in this typical Cannon eighties movie. His character needs to get 100k, so h can move to Venice, but first he must help MacNicol do other things than drink Perrier and be scared of betting money.A girl he knows gets beat up, so he goes to the attackers dressed up in a smoking jacket, and fights them all in slow motion, using a medallion as a weapon.But he struggles to make his money, as he's a compulsive gambler, and when he wins his 100k, he bets it away, because he wants more, and more.But then he gets chased by some organised crime members, the ones who abused the girl from the first act. So Reynolds must act quick, before Statham remakes it in 2014...I don't care what the film is, but any action movie made by Cannon in the eighties is worth watching. Brosnan owned the movies, American Ninja movies were watchable, and then we had prolific actors showing up in random movies (this, and 52 pick up).This is no different, its cheaply made, focuses on Reynolds, and despite it being relatively action free, the two key action sequences are really well choreographed, and quite gruesome, which is pretty out there for a generic eighties movie.Reynolds is good, and support is also good, but generic.It won't change the way you see eighties movies, but its a little under seen treat I you come across it.Plus its the best movie ever made featuring Reynolds jumping from a height and having a hissing sound effect while falls, and then fifteen minutes later sitting on a Gondola....

This movie was pretty good. He showed in this one like Sharky's Machine that he could be serious. It did show the true life of Vegas too. It had some good suspensfull moments in it too. The end I thought could've been a little better though. I thought that there'd be more to it since it was suspensfull but it ended quickly. It is a good movie though.

I thought this was by FAR the best Burt Reynolds flick ever.Fine story of a degenerate gambling mob fringe dweller who might get a chance for redemption.Also note the brief appearance of retired Jets Sack exchange member Joe Klecko as a mob bodyguard. Not to be confused with Michael Mann's more famous "Heat"I thought this was a better film although their plots are different.These pictures are not linked at all.