H

Heat (1995)

Rated R

170 Minutes (Yes, 2 hours and 50 minutes!!!)

Directed by Michael Mann (The Last of The Mohicans, The Insider, Ali)

Budget - $60,000,000

Box office - $187,436,818


Ok.  So, Heat shouldn't be allowed to be a Frank Movie.  It had a $60,000,000 budget, plus Pacino and DeNiro together onscreen for the first time.  I'll grant you that.  But, it only finished 3rd at the box office its opening weekend, behind Jumanji and Toy Story.  And, this may be THE Frank Movie.  Like, you put The Godfather and Goodfellas back in the mix, and this is still one of my Top 5 all-time films.  Here's why:



1.  Great opening scene.

To be a great film, you have to open with a bang.  Hard to beat this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=409IGgu-Utw


2.  The greatest gun fight in the history of film.  Period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL9fnVtz_lc


3.  One of the greatest ensemble movies ever. 

Oceans, The Departed, Breakfast Club... great ensemble films.  And, this is truly the story of Pacino vs. de Niro, but it's also so much more.  It's not just an ensemble cast, it's an ensemble cast vs. an ensemble cast.  It's a team of good guy stars vs. a team of villain stars.  If you're looking to do a great superhero team movie - this is how yu should do it.

For anyone interested, here's Roger Ebert's review.  He loved it:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/heat-1995




Runner-up:  Hanna (2011)

Reasons that it's a Frank Movie:

1.  It's the best film version of the Logan/Wolverine story.  We've had the 6'2" Australian showtune singer play the hairy stout Canadian in 6 different films.  None of them does the story of Weapon X get told as well as it does starring an Irish teenage girl.  This is how you do Wolverine on the big screen.

2.  The escape sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNP82dVSIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDSekadtuHk


Honorable Mentions:  The Hitcher (1986), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), High Fidelity (2000)