The LAPD put the "heat" on a group of professional robbers.

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2014)

I somehow missed this movie back in the 1990s when it was popular. Recently my public library bought the BluRay version and that is what I watched. It is filled with first-rate actors and for the most part is a very gripping police and crime drama.
Al Pacino is Lt. Vincent Hanna, very dedicated and focused on catching crooks and putting them away. His main nemesis is Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, the leader of a well-organized band of big- time robbers. Among his gang are Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, and Tom Sizemore as Michael Cheritto. A fixer, the kind of person who can make connections and get fake credentials is Jon Voight as Nate.
All of them are good but the real focus of the movie are the Pacino and De Niro characters. In fact about half-way they meet face-to- face in a restaurant, each makes it known to the other that they intend to accomplish their missions, and we know both can't succeed.
Also good are the ladies, Diane Venora as Justine Hanna, the wife who has a hard time coping with her husband's duties. And Amy Brenneman as Eady, who McCauley falls for, making his exit more difficult.
SPOILERS: The big bank heist at the end, where the robbers carry out several large cases of paper money, is almost foiled but in a massive (and unrealistic) shootout in the street the robbers manage to get away. But Hanna is still looking to find an informant, he is certain that the crooks have a plan to leave L.A. for parts unknown. But when he gets the clue there is a showdown at the LAX airport, as a plane is landing shadows reveal McCauley allowing Hanna to shoot him. His vow of never going back to prison comes true.