With Hanna closing in and despite the increased police surveillance, McCauley's gang - right-hand man Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), enforcer Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore) and stand-in getaway driver Donald Breedan (Dennis Haysbert) - agree to one last “retirement” bank robbery worth $12m before they flee Los Angeles and go their separate ways.
The famed firefight begins at the film’s 100-minute mark. I remember the script describing the shootout as ‘World War Three’." The brief was that De Niro’s character was ex-military, so it was all about his process - how he’d plan jobs and go about his business. “The armoured car robbery at the start of the film, the platinum depository raid in the middle and especially the street shootout towards the end. “There were three major things he wanted me to look at,” recalls McNab. To make the action sequences as realistic as possible, Mann hired McNab as technical weapons and tactics advisor. Heat sets this pair on a lethal collision course, played out over 170 minutes of handsomely crafted drama.
Decorated detective Lt Vincent Hannah (Al Pacino) is married to the job and has devoted his life to catching serious lawbreakers. Master criminal Neil McCauley ( Robert De Niro) has made a career out of “taking down scores” with precise planning and slick execution. Writer-director Mann’s panoramic crime thriller, which had its UK release 25 years ago this week, is a story of two obsessive men on opposing sides of the law. I thought it was just for a few weeks but I ended up getting so involved in production, I stayed for seven months.” A fortnight later, I flew out there and did the whole Hollywood thing. I was like ‘Yeah yeah, course he does.’ But then the script was sent to me, so I could make notes and prepare. “I got a call saying this film director, who I’d never heard of, wanted me to work on a big movie in Los Angeles. McNab soon found his phone ringing with an offer he couldn't refuse. “A recommendation from De Niro - it doesn’t get much better than that.” “De Niro read Bravo Two Zero while he was shooting something in Australia and said to Michael Mann: ‘Can we see if this guy wants to come over? He seems to know what he’s talking about’,” recalls McNab. And it was all thanks to Robert De Niro reading his book while bored on a film set. It’s a long way from behind enemy lines in Iraq to Hollywood pool parties but that’s the journey made by veteran SAS sergeant Steven Mitchell - better known by his pseudonym Andy McNab.
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