The Menswear In Heat (1995)

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Being a proud card-carrying AMC A-list member, I tend to watch a lot of movies. Most of the time, they’re good, whether it’s something that I’ve been hearing buzz about ever since it was announced (One Battle After Another) or a complete indie surprise (Problemista is great). But because I want to make the most of my monthly $30 investment ($27.99, but who’s counting), I also see some duds. Again, sometimes I have a feeling of what to expect, and sometimes you’re just disappointed (Running Man, by way of Edgar Wright). I guess the fun is being able to immerse yourself in a dark room, turn off your phone for two hours (more or less), and spin the dice. Thankfully, I just love watching movies…and talking about them.

Anyway, all of that is how I found myself watching Crime 101, a recently released noir/heist film set in my home of Los Angeles, California. As it is full of freeway jokes and references to a certain $20 smoothie frequented by influencers and rich nepobabies, you’d expect me to find it familiar. I certainly did, but not just for those reasons. You see, this film follows a highly competent and dispassionate thief who takes his orders from a mysterious old man, finds himself pursued by a dedicated, incorruptible detective, all because another hotheaded would-be thief mucked up a separate robbery. Oh, and there’s a chance meeting with a beautiful, innocent woman that makes our robber protagonist (who lives in an empty apartment) rethink his Spartan lifestyle in favor of actually allowing himself to have one real attachment. Does any of that ring a bell?

Yes, I found myself watching bad-Heat. It wasn’t completely awful, as the cinematography and a few chase scenes were a bit compelling, but the drama was just charmless. It was clear that the filmmakers couldn’t handle the various interlocking storylines, which made for a very long film that seems to forget its characters more than a few times. I just felt like I should be watching Heat. And so, nearly half a year later, I did!

I ended up watching it with Serhan and my girlfriend, both of whom hadn’t seen it. I had actually only seen the movie once before, during the early days of the pandemic, when I, being laid off, made a point to watch a few classics (12 Angry Men was also on that list). Heat was just as awesome as I remembered. I was completely enthralled in this three-hour flick, slowly eating BBQ chips and chocolate pretzels without taking my eyes off the action…and quiet drama. You know it was good when everyone in the room is glued to the TV in complete silence.

This time around, I clocked all the great menswear in the film. After all, I actually didn’t start regularly talking about movie style until the pandemic, which was also when I discovered my affinity for sexy, tonal tailoring (spurred by actually Going Out and obviously, a bit of Frasier). Heat is a beast, with sharp, minimalist tailoring that looks great on screen and can even serve to inspire, though hopefully not that much.

*Suits feature quite heavily in this film! Everyone in the big shootout has a suit on.*

*Having the main characters both be in tailoring but **styled** differently a*dds so much more to their conflict in the film. It also just makes both of them look cool as hell.

Heat has some of the slickest menswear in any movie I’ve covered on the blog thus far. Much of that is because every major character in the film is wearing a suit, or at least a jacket. Tailoring is known to have this empowering quality, mainly because it’s forever associated with formal or business attire. That effect is played up to 11 in this film, with all the tailoring serving to emphasize each character’s competence and drive. No one, except Waingro, is just getting by. Everyone is good at their job and dedicated as hell. You can certainly see where Nolan took a few cues from Inception and Tenet, both of which feature heisters in chic suiting. However, there is indeed a certain charm for Heat.

Much like in Quiz Show, Mann’s bountiful use of tailoring in this film is nuanced and helps distinguish the characters. It’s all rather subtle, which is perhaps lost on modern audiences who might think everyone looks the same, but the semiotics are indeed present. In short, the good guys do suits differently than the “bad guys” (in fact, the worst guy of the bunch doesn’t wear any sort of tailoring), a movie styling move that I first clocked when I watched Gangster Squad all those years ago. The interest is in how Deborah Lynn Scott made these distinctions.

Overall, Heat is a fun watch for menswear enthusiasts all around… and certainly goes a long way toward showing just how fun and alluring minimalist tailoring can be.

*Despite being our “hero”, Vincent Hanna dressed a bit like a villain. He’s always in a dark palette, incorporating a black or navy shirt, an abstract tie, and a solid suit.*

*It’s an intense look, one that matches his demeanor and drive. Quite an interesting way for a cop to dress!*

*He definitely stands out among his fellow lawmen, though they are all also well put together. No one here is sloppy*.

Let’s start with my favorite character in the film, Lt. Vince Hanna, who, like a certain blind veteran also played by Al Pacino, seems to like dressing up…and having sex.

You would expect an aging detective to be dressed like Columbo, whose schlubby attire is meant to hide his crime-solving prowess. Ruffalo’s character Lubesnick in Crime 101 certainly plays that straight, as he wears a perpetually undone tie and 10 o’clock shadow (he does have a sick mustache). Lubesnick is meant to look beaten down by a hyper-competent thief and a corrupt LAPD looking to boost their crime stats. Hanna couldn’t be more different.

Vince Hanna is exceptionally dressed for a lawman. Instead of the earthy, military-inspired styling of Sarge O’Mara in Gangster Squad (another example of decently competent detectives), Hanna commands his crew by opting for edge. Each of his on-screen appearances has Hanna in a dark suit, dark shirt, and dark tie, the latter of which features a 90s “Giorgio Armani Cravatte”-esque abstract design, the only point of interest as it’s enveloped by the other pieces. The combination is quintessentially 90s, but with its overt “Going Out” vibe, the styling seems more at home for a sleazy villain; a crime lord rather than a crime fighter. The combo even makes Hanna stand out among his compatriots, who are all dressed more “normal”. With such a dark look, you may even think that Hanna will do something dubious or even be revealed to be a villain himself. But no, the man is a caring father and doesn’t even cheat. Hanna just wants to catch up with Neil and his crew, all while wearing his uniform of somber tailoring that serves as an outward expression of his deep intensity and drive.

I like that the exact combination varies between scenes, or rather, when days pass within the movie. When we are introduced to our manic protagonist, Hanna wears a black suit, black shirt, and a tan/brown abstract tie. During a meeting with chop shop informant Richard Torena, Hanna adds a bit of texture with his exploded birdseye jacket. In the infamous “Great Ass” scene, he has a dark blue shirt and a tonally harmonious tie. My personal favorite is when Hanna wears a brown suit, black shirt, and black abstract tie. Again, these are all outfits more suitable for a night at the bar than for a dedicated lawman, which only makes him even more iconic as a film character. It might even feel like a sartorial send-up of the black workshirt and tie worn by uniformed police officers. In any case, this intentional costuming makes it clear that Hanna actually has a personal style and, at the very least, a wardrobe made up of distinct pieces.

Hanna’s fellow cops are also surprisingly nicely dressed, though most of that comes from just how much less intricate and adorned tailoring has become in the past thirty years. They all wear decently fitting suits, all in the slouchy Armani-esque silhouettes characteristic of the period of release, but they also take care to pair them with interesting shirts and ties. Casals and Drucker both take care to wear collar clips, a fun, superfluous accessory that certainly makes them feel a bit more dressed up than the colloquial cop; the latter even incorporates some striped-shirt-and-patterned-tie action as well as a tie pin! All of this shows that Hanna’s crew is intentional, dedicated, and not just messing around, which makes for a truly compelling conflict between them and the robbers.

Neil and his crew are quite sharply dressed, showing that they, too, are consummate professionals. However, unlike Hanna’s dark combinations, Neil opts for a plain white shirt and a grey suit. Quite dispassionate and austere!

*He swaps into a dark and striped suit and **adds a tie** when robbing the bank.*

*Nate, Neil’s fence and mentor, has a wild aesthetic: a long mullet, sack jacket, and southwestern shirt. I love it.*

Neil McCauley also has a uniform. Unlike Hanna’s, which is predicated on deep colors and a few varied accouterments, Neil’s is austere and plain. In almost every appearance, he wears a light grey DB suit (4×1) and a white point-collar shirt; no other accessories, except a pair of sunnies and a digital watch. The ensemble is decidedly professional and clean, but not overly formal. It’s quite a far cry from what we’d expect from a dandy, gentleman thief. Neil is direct and no-nonsense, and his outfit matches. His outfit is completely passionless, in sharp contrast to Hanna’s bold suiting and rambunctious personality. This all makes sense; our master thief needs to be ready to leave in 30 seconds if he spots the heat coming around the corner.

That said, Neil wears a tie twice in the film. One is during the climax, where a plain cravat is part of the hotel uniform he steals to sneak into the hotel and assassinate Waingro. The other is during the iconic bank robbery scene, where Neil and his own compatriots are all in full suits and ties. Neil himself is in a striped DB suit and a dark, geometric tie, as well as the balaclava and mesh tac vest that Shiherlis and Cheritto also wear. This somber, more business-oriented fit definitely fits in with the other bank bystanders, but also makes Neil look a bit more dangerous, more determined than his simple uniform. Of course, it goes without saying that each time Neil wears a tie, things go badly.

What’s interesting is that Neil and his crew seem to swap palettes for the bank robbery. In other scenes, Shiherlis and Cherrito are typically in dark colors, as well as some more intricate pairings. Cherrito gets to wear a gradient-check shawl-collar sport coat, while Shiherlis goes between a black shirt and a grey suit (a flip of Neil), a black grid-knit polo, or just a simple button-up (worn with an air tie) and a black jacket. But when it comes to their big heist, these two gents are now the ones to wear grey! Both wear light grey suits, white shirts, and light grey/silver ties; their only difference is in their jacket details: Cherrito has a low-closure two-button jacket, while Shiherlis has a chic three-button number. In that way, all three of these robbers reflect the suit styles of the period, each making for a badass look, especially with their dark eyeglasses (Neil and Cherrito have wire frames while Shiherlis gets a chunky pair), and assault rifles.

Of course, each robber’s style stands out compared to the wild outfits worn by Nate, Neil’s fence, confidant, and implied mentor. This man seems to be from a different era, shown not just by his wrinkles, glasses (strapped to his neck, and greying hair, but also by his use of older-style jackets: a plaid, structured, high-vented jawn (likely from the 70s) and a khaki 3-roll-2 sack suit. Both are worn with a southwestern-print shirt and a thunderbird necklace, perhaps alluding to a history in the desert. Finishing it off with a long mullet creates an interesting, mysterious character. This wackily attired man is able to find jobs and provide them with “outs”, complete with new identities and plane tickets. Who the fuck is this guy?!

To me, a big reason why this movie goes so **hard** is that everyone is fitted up in a suit.

*With the tailored costuming, it can almost feel similar to a period film (where sartorial outfits are par for the course), but the intensity and drama make Heat into a different beast.*

Going back over this film again just makes me see how much better this is than Crime 101 and how much The Dark Knight takes after it. It also just feels like the best version of this cat-and-mouse, running-out-of-time trope, something that Mann explored again in Public Enemies, just with a period backdrop. I do enjoy that film (and certainly love the costumes), but there’s no question: Heat is just better in every way. And that’s saying something!

I’d go as far as to say that Heat is one of my favorite movies of all time, though thanks to the runtime, it isn’t one I’ll typically sit down and watch in one go. I’ll have to be in a Heat mood to watch this quiet and intense film. When it hits again, I’ll be ready for another three-hour jaunt through Los Angeles. It’s just really funny that the opening attack on the armored car takes place at my exit for Anime Expo.

All this damn movie does is make me want to play Nerf in a full suit and tie, though I would never forgive myself if I damaged any of my beloved beauties. The pics would go so hard though, wouldn’t you agree?

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