Cidade Ardente

By most accounts, Clint Eastwood hijacked his long-awaited teaming with fellow superstar Burt Reynolds and the credits bear this out. After showing writer-director Blake Edwards the door, Eastwood recruited the more malleable Richard Benjamin to direct (in his autobiography, Reynolds said Benjamin was "terrified" of Eastwood), ordered Edwards' script be given a rewrite by Joseph Stinson whose only other credit was the previous year's Dirty Harry film, "Sudden Impact," brought in key players from his Malpaso crew (notably Fritz Manes as producer and Lennie Niehaus as composer), and even dumped Edwards' title, "Kansas City Jazz," in favor of the equally imaginative (I'm kidding) "City Heat."

Despite Dirty Harry's takeover, "City Heat" emerges as a showcase for Reynolds. He has the most screen time and the zippiest dialogue, but playing against a typically wooden Eastwood also heightens the opportunity for Reynolds to reap laughs with his more extroverted approach. The contrast between the two is very entertaining.

Critics were quick to dismiss this Christmas 1984 release as a bomb which it certainly appeared to be beside the Eddie Murphy blockbuster, "Beverly Hills Cop," in release at the same time. It is disappointing (Edwards would likely have given it more class), but by no means a dud. It breezes along at a comfortable pace, mixes its laughs evenly with action, and should make for a satisfying indulgence for fans of the two stars.

In 1978, Eastwood and Reynolds appeared together on the cover of Time as the reigning male superstars. If "City Heat" had been made that year, it would have been a superblockbuster.

But by 1984, Reynolds' career was already declining (too many insipid "Cannonball Run" movies.) Eastwood -- who after "Dirty Harry" never worked with major co-stars -- may have finally said "yes" to co-starring with Reynolds because he was clearly the bigger star in 1984. But even Eastwood was starting to age.

All the problems others have related here are true, plus one more: Reynolds was hit in the face by a stunt man with a real chair while filming the opening diner fight scene. Reynolds' jaw was broken and he had a severe medical condition causing pain, headaches, and dizzyness. Reynolds was a trouper and finished the movie (he is quite funny in it), but one of the reasons the movie is so short and incoherent is that the injured Reynolds couldn't work very long in the film (notice: in the final fight, "Reynolds" is wearing a wolf mask -- because that's not Reynolds.)

"City Heat" opened at Xmas against "Beverly Hills Cop" and new star Eddie Murphy cleaned the clocks of old stars Eastwood and Reynolds . Reynolds would never be a top star again. Adding insult to injury, the ad tag line "The Heat is On!" first used by "City Heat" was shifted to "Beverly Hills Cop" when "City Heat" disappeared from theaters.

It's too bad, really. Once upon a time, Eastwood and Reynolds were both co-equal major superstars, and it would have been exciting to see them paired together. The opening diner scene and a few later exchanges give us a tantalizing glimpse of how good "City Heat" could have been had it not be jinxed from the start.

I can't talk about this movie without discussing it's troubled production.

Blake Edwards originally wrote the script in the 1970's. When his wife Julie Andrews read it, she thought it was the best thing he'd done and urged him to make it. He gave it to Taxi actress Marilu Henner (who he had just worked with on the Burt Reynolds movie The Man Who Loved Women) She read it and told him she loved the script, but didn't want the part he wanted for her, but that of the secretary. Edwards rewrote the script (making the secretary's role bigger) she was in. Edwards the gave it to Burt Reynolds who loved it, and immediately saw Clint in the 'minor cop role' and asked Edwards to rewrite it again. Clint liked it, but asked for another rewrite, he liked the new script, and all was good.

Blake wanted Julie Andrews (Burts co star in The Man Who Loved Women) cast in the role of Burts girlfriend, Clint wanted Sondra Locke. Edwards also wanted Kim Basinger (another from The Man Who Loved Women) The studio said nobody who had starred with Clint or Burt in a previous movie, could be hired.

The next day, Burt was told Eastwood wanted Edwards off the picture. During this time Edwards last movie tanked and Clint's went through the roof. The studio were siding with the red hot Clint. With Edwards gone, Clint was in control. He ordered yet another rewrite, this time from Jospeh Stinson (whose only other writing credit was Sudden Impact) he brought in Malpaso regulars Lennie Niehaus and producer Fritz Manes too.

When this was first discussed in 1983, it seemed like a good idea for Clint to star with Reynolds. Reynolds had just spent 5 straight years as the number 1 movie star in the world (78-82) and Since the turn of the decade he had a movie in the Top 10 Highest grossers of the year, whilst Clint only had 1, but by the time it was released Reynolds had 3 flops in a row, whilst Clint had a huge hit with Sudden Impact. Suddenly it seemed like it was wise of Burt to star with Clint.

Sadly Reynolds suffered a serious accident on the first nights shooting and had his jaw broken when he was hit in the face with a metal chair (instead of a breakaway chair made of balsa wood) while filming the fight scene in the cafe. Not wanting to shut production down, Reynolds decided to try and power through! He survived on a liquid diet and popping A LOT of pills, he says it was about 50 a day (this led to Reynolds becoming addicted to painkillers) and lost over thirty pounds by the time the film wrapped (leading to rumours he had AIDS) This accident had dire consequences for Reynolds career, which he would never recover from.

Plot In A Paragraph: A slick private eye (Reynolds) and tough police lieutenant (Eastwood) once best friends and partners, now bitter rivals reluctantly team up to investigate a murder.

I love the opening of this movie, in the first of several neat period touches, City Heat opens with a black and white version of Warner Bros famous WB logo, this immediately sets the right feel for the era.

City Heat's opening credits appear in an old time Broadway style font. The credits appear in white, The movies name in red neon lights. We are immediately presented with a classic crime 30's movie scene, rain falls hard on a dark cobbled street, whilst a hotel advertises vacant rooms with a neon sign. Lieutenant Speer like so many Eastwood characters, is first scene in silhouette, emerging from under a street light heading for the warmth and of a nearby cafe.

It's in the cafe that we meet Eastwood and Reynolds characters. Eastwood doesn't move unless he has to, and speaks volumes whilst hardly uttering a word. Reynolds on on the other hand is a motormouth who hardly stands still. This scene is a joy, it has banter between its leads, laughs and a fight. Reynolds is fighting two goons, and Clint refuses to help, despite Reynolds pleas. That is until one of the goons bumps into Clint and spills his coffee. At which point he gets a psychotic twitch in his eye, and he helps Reynolds out.

Then from the eight minutes onwards it's all downhill for the remaining hour and 29 minutes. OK that is a little harsh as it does have its moments now and again. It moved along at a comfortable pace, it's action is well done, and it's not without its amusing moments (like when they are trying to out do each other with the bigger guns) and witty one liners. If you are a fan of either actor, there is something to enjoy over it's short run time. (One of the shortest of Eastwood's career)

I believe if the movie had been as good as the first 8 minutes it would have been a classic, however it's script is uneven, it tries to incorporate too many subplots, and some of the dialogue is painful and unfunny.

Reynolds blames himself for the movies poor performance, which I think is a bit harsh, as he was sick, so it's a miracle the movie got finished at all!! "It should have been Dirty Harry V's my cop from Sharky's Machine, instead it was Dirty Harry V's A Wimp! I just didn't have it in me, and it will always be one of my biggest regrets of my career" City Heat grossed $38 million at the domestic box office, to end 1984 the 28th highest grossing movie of the year.

After 1984, Reynolds would not work again for two years.

The opening is fun, bit its a little closer to The Naked Gun than The Big Sleep. In other words, closer to spoof than fun noir. But then they're not prepared to stick with it. There is nothing spoof about the rest of the script, its just a straightforward hardboiled noir imitation.

So this movie does two incompetent things: directly appropriates plot elements and scenes from previous and better noirs, and performs them in a way that isn't spoof enough to laugh, and isn't serious enough to be taken seriously.

You can tell this is right by watching the two leads. There's supposed to be a contrast between them, but not one so strong that they both think they're in different genres. If you just watch a one-shot of Reynolds, you can tell he thinks this is The Naked Gun, but if you just watch a one-shot of Eastwood, seems he thinks this is Dirty Harry.

But, in simple terms, the main problem with City Heat is its just plain uninteresting.

I didn't find this movie all that bad. It is merely mediocre. Unfortunately there is nothing in this movie that we haven't seen dozens of times before. Burt is sophomoric and Clint is stereotypical Clint. Good TV movie but not really worth renting unless you have seen everything else.