This doesn't deserve all the hate it gets.If the finished film doesn't quite come together as it should,it comes down to the fact that the shooting was a troubled production.Two actresses quitting their roles,a director been replaced and Burt Reynolds suffering an injury that caused him to become addicted to painkillers and becoming increasingly difficult to work with,and forcing Clint Eastwood to handle a lot of the tension amongst the cast and director.Bearing all that in mind,this is still far from been the worst of it's kind.Set in the 30's,former police partners Eastwood and Reynolds are caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs when Reynolds' sidekick Richard Roundtree (Shaft)tries to con the local Mr.Big.The plot is a little confusing at first but by the halfway point everything makes sense and sets up the film's action-packed second half.There's plenty to enjoy here.Eastwood and Reynolds' banter (despite his difficulties during,Reynolds still does quite well)the settings,and the shootouts.One of the best things about the shootouts is the lack of intrusive music on the soundtrack which for me ruins a lot of movies.This is a surprisingly pleasing combination of comedy and film noir thriller,with Eastwood in particular sending up his own macho image at every opportunity.

The title is a little bit strange considering that most of the scenes were filmed at night and there's not enough scenes involving fire or explosions. But it is a very underrated action-comedy film where two opposites policeman have to join forces to combat killers and gangsters. Sounds like "Rush Hour" and "Lethal Weapon" and it is quite similar in its humor but "City Heat" story happens in the 1930's. Detectives Speer (Clint Eastwood) and Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) were very good friends but the lack of discipline and a certain involvement with bad companies from the part of Murphy made these two guys not get along very well. Relax, this is not a so serious movie, their fights are quite funny. If Mike is getting beat up by tough guys and he asks for help Speer won't help except if one of these guys spill his drink. But they need each other again when one of Mike's business partner (Richard Roundtree) is killed after doing a risky business betraying his former associate. In the middle of all this there's plenty of mob godfathers (played by Tony LoBianco and Rip Torn) looking for something that Mike's partner hide.The whole plot is confusing and there's not enough space for incredible action scenes but at least writer Blake Edwards made a very funny movie. Not only the fights between Eastwood and Reynolds are good but it was included funny female characters too. Jane Alexander plays Addy the smart and lovable Mike's secretary and Speer's love interest; and Madeline Kahn plays Mike's love interest, a very rich woman. The problem with the villains is that they're not scary or funny, they just know how to disturb the peace of the main characters. Some of the shooting scenes and fight scenes are very absurd. A long shooting on the street with no one hitting no one, these guys needed a good training before being contracted by the mafia. Clint appears and shoot everybody. There's a fight scene in the beginning with Burt and two other guys, many punches in the face and no one is hurt, no blood appears, nothing. That was kind of lousy to see. Nothing original to see but it worths to see anyway. Reynolds and Eastwood were good partners in this film and a sequel could be good but unfortunately this wasn't a hit back in the 1980's. It's not as bad as critics and some people say, it has many funny moments (Eastwood is so serious that it's actually funny, he has great punchlines here), and the art direction is very careful and well made. 9/10

Buddy-buddy cop movie set in Kansas City, 1933. Director Richard Benjamin ("Mermaids" and "Made in America") does well to allow Eastwood and Reynolds to carry the film, knowing Sam O. Brown's plot and premise weren't going to pull this one across the line.Clint and Burt do beautifully creating a hate-hate relationship that stems from a former partnership on the force. Eastwood has remained a lieutenant, while private eye Reynolds has himself knee-deep in a botched sting operation thanks to his now dead partner. The pair are great together; no-one is as dry as big Clint, nor as wet as old Burt. Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn, Rip Torn and Irene Cara lend support.Benjamin wisely kept things tongue-in-cheek, while the scenery is convincing enough, with lots of old cars and tommy guns knocking around.Wednesday, July 22, 1998 - Video

This is one of the only times that Clint Eastwood & Burt Reynolds got together. The casting is with great imagination. It was actually made at a good time for both actors and the support cast is good. So what went wrong? Blake Edwards script for this one is just not as funny as other films he wrote. The situation seems contrived and this was a time when Eastwood was doing actions films. The action is just missing here. While Reynolds could do comedy, it seems that both actors didn't get to do in this movie what sold tickets for their fans.When the movie ends, it just kind of ends in a stand off and you get the feeling like you needed an ending that just isn't here. It is fun seeing these two actors together in this film, but the script is the missing element. Richard Benjamin, a funny man directed, and I am surprised he didn't do better with it as he knows what good comedy is.While the movie is fun, it is not funny enough. Blake Edwards saved better material for his Pink Panther movies I guess.