Red Heat

Look out Chicago, Arnie & Jimmy are loose on the streets. Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a no nonsense Soviet cop who is sent to Chicago to pick up a murdering Russian drug dealer. Upon arriving in the windy city, Danko is teamed with Art Ridzik (James Belushi), a wise-cracking street cop notorious for cutting corners to get the job done. Complete polar opposites, both men form an unlikely alliance as Danko's Soviet methods blend with Ridzik's free spirited street wise techniques. There were quite a few buddy buddy films around in the 1980s, certainly the teaming of unlikely cop partners was nothing new at the time of Red Heat's release. Yet for all it's obvious reliance on clichés, and its out dated Russian/American guffaws, Red Heat is a romping, violent and funny picture. Pairing the big Austrian Oak Schwarzenegger with the Americana that is James Belushi pays off in bundles. Yes it's sometimes crass, but Belushi's cocky mannerisms play off Schwarzenegger's robotic frame with comedic joy. All played out in amongst carnage and murder created by director Walter Hill, who is quite frankly, and thankfully, just extending the formula that he started in 1982 with 48 Hrs. The support cast is not to be sniffed at either. Peter Boyle, Ed O'Ross, Laurence Fishburne, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Brion James and Gina Gershon. All line up to add fuel to the Arnie and Jimmy fire. Also good to see is that Hill shot on location in Illinois and Moscow to give the film some scenic impetus, whilst James Horner's score is suitably bombastic and at one with the material. It's no rocket scientist who observes a film like this and calls it popcorn fodder, because it so obviously is. But within its buddy buddy framework lies a very quotable film that's essential for fans of Arnie & Jimmy. Sometimes that's all one needs from a film like this. 7/10

I am not sure how much actual acting Arnold Schwarzenegger had to do in this rather derivative crime caper. A bit like John Wayne in "Brannigan" (1975), he is despatched to partner up with a cop abroad to order to repatriate a dangerous criminal. In this case, though, he is a Russian and it is wise-cracking American "Ridzik" (Jim Belushi) that he must bridge the culture-gap and work with to track down a murderous drug dealer who did for his partner and fled. To be fair to Arnie, he has his tongue a bit in his cheek here, but Belushi just mis-fires once too often in this rather sloppy adventure. The escapades are all rather predictable and the underlying joke/scenario wears thin all too quickly. I suppose it nods a little to the thawing in the post-Reagan relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union, but the delivery borders on the slapstick at times and I was never really a fan of Belushi's brand of rather puerile comedy - indulged in spades here by a trio of writers including the usually far more reliable Troy Kennedy Martin. It passes the time effortlessly enough, and reminds us who lived through that period of just how dodgy some of our fashions were, but thereafter it's all pretty mediocre fayre.