Introduction

I have chosen to perform an eclectic analysis on Michael Mann's film "HEAT" starring Rober Dinero and Al Pacino.  I will be focusing in my analysis, on a very well known scene from the middle of the film which many call "the diner scene" or "the conversation."  Due to the complexity of the film and the scene, and the wealth of data that can be drawn from this film, I will supplement some of the steps with references to other scenes and comments on the film as a whole.  In conculsion I will end up with an in depth eclectic analysis of the "diner scene" and a more eclectic view of the film.  The scene I am analyzing begins at 3:20 in the clip I have provided.  I provided the leader part because I think that part is cool and also because it gives a bit of context to the diner scene.

Open Viewing/Listening



This scene is emotionally very powerful within the context of the whole film. The acting in this scene exhibited by Robert Deniro and Al Pacino is fascinating and performed at a very high level. Their discussion encompasses the basic major events and experiences in life: birth, death, love, fear, and dreams. There is a hubbub of the diner crowd as they speak. There is a loose conversational form to the dialogue which makes it seem like two guys who are just meeting in a diner for some coffee. Within the context of the film however, these are both dangerous men, one on the side of the law the other an outlaw, discussing the nature of their unconventional circumstances in a very matter of fact way. Deniro and Pacino at 6:14/6:15 almost smile/laugh at eachother but never completely finish the gesture, the only reach about 90 percent of the gesture. Throughout the scene there is a significant level of tension. The fact that these men are adversaries is always looming. Yet at the same time they reach a very close connection and respect for eachother.

Historical Background

The film was released in 1995 between Michael Mann's The Insider and The Last of the Mohicans. Michael Mann was at the time and continues to be a major force in the cinematic world. The film is a basic reconstruction of L.A. Takedown, a made-for-television film written and directed by Michael Mann in 1989. Robert Deniro had just wraped Casino in the same year and Pacino was coming off of Carlito's way. Pacino and Deniro have often been compared and likened throughout their careers for their appearance in mostly the same genres of film, their high level of acting, and comparable styles.
"The mid-1990s saw a resurgence of sympathy for, if not veneration of, villainy with the popularity of screen villains like Hannibal Lecter, John Doe, and Keyser Soze." The detective and the villian locked in a timeless interplay was a major theme of 1990s film.Other important films released at the time of HEAT were Braveheart, Apollo 13, Se7ven, and the Usual Suspects. The main theme in the artworld in the 1990s was technology in movements such as Information art and New Media art. The idea of surveillance and the importance of technology and information in the film is a constant theme in a way similar to the film The conversation which in the same year was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The music composed for this scene is by Elliot Goldenthal. Much of Elliots work would be characterized in the 21st century genre of atonal music which however retains much of the elements of melody and harmony. He has however said about himself that "I don't have any differentiation in my head between tonal and atonal, I either hear melody or I hear sonority." There is notable use of color correction in certain scenes to enhance blues:



which became popular around this time and was used in other movies of the time such as se7ven. The bank robbery scene has become slightly controversial. The heavy amount of violence has said to have led to a number of copy-cat style robberies including the North Hollywood shootout in L.A. The main scene of analysis: the diner scene, was shot at Kate Mantilini in L.A. Deniro and Pacino elected to not rehearse the scene before the filming. Most of the final edit of the scene is from the 11th take.

Syntax

The length of the specific scene in analysis is 6:02 (3:30-9:22). The scene is between Neil McCauly (Deniro) and Lt. Vincent Hannah (Pacino). There are about 52 cuts in the scene between Deniro and Pacino. The camera never cuts to anything except Deniro or Pacino. Each shot is a notably simple medium shot which gradually becomes more of a close up as the scene progresses. The pace of the cutting starts out paced to the delivery of the lines of the actors without reaction shots. As the conversation progresses, reaction shots begin to be shown more and more frequently until at the end, only reactions are shown and there is no dialogue. The lighting is shadowy with fluorescent lighting from the diner lights. The theme of the colors are overall on the gray to dark end of the scale. The time is pretty late at night. The setting is a common diner. Two over the shoulder cameras are set up simultaneously to capture the scene. This are the only camera angles used however there were others. The scene occurs 1:28 hrs into the movie which is 2:45 hrs long. Basically the scene occurs in the almost exact middle of the film.
There are 42 lines of dialogue with each character having exactly 21 lines. This creates a back and forth rhythm between the characters. As with the cutting, the dynamic intensity increases over the period of the scene crescendoing at the end. The voices of the two characters act like contrapuntal voices in a fugue, Vincent Hannah introduces the subject at 3:30, acknowledging he knows who McNeil is and what he is doing. McNeil answers with a countersubject and the rest follows. Their voices become more and more interconnected, constantly with similar themes in their lines. Interestingly enough the conversation ends with Hannah presenting a subject and Deniro imitating the subject in almost exact answer. Silence, like in a musical piece is carefully placed to highlight the important changes in rhythm and dynamic. For instance from 6:12-6:22 there is complete silence, only facial expression between the two. Within the context of the entire work, this scene comes 6 minutes before the climactic gun battle showdown between Pacino and Deniro.



Immediately before the scene Deniro's character has just gotten surveillance on who Pacino is and the blueprints for the bank robbery he plans to commit.



Immediately after the scene, Deniro's character and the rest of his heist crew dump all the surveillance on them. In the beginning of the dialogue the word you is the most prevalent subject. As the dialogue progresses, I becomes the most common subject.

A Basic form:

A(1) Acknowledgment of the adversarial game they are playing

B The state of their Lives

C Their Relationships

A(2) Acknowledgment of the adversarial game they are playing and its effect on relationships

D Dreams and Death

A(3) Acknowledgment of the adversarial game they are playing and the simultaneous anxiety and facticity of death

Musical and Textual Representation:

Vincent Hanna: Seven years in Folsom. In the hole for three. McNeil before that. McNeil as tough as they say?

Neil McCauley: You lookin' to become a penologist?

Vincent Hanna: You lookin' to go back? You know, I chased down some crews; guys just lookin' to fuck up, get busted back. That you?

Neil McCauley: You must've worked some dipshit crews.

Vincent Hanna: I worked all kinds.

Neil McCauley: You see me doin' thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a "Born to Lose" tattoo on my chest?

Vincent Hanna:No, I do not.

Neil McCauley: Right. I am never goin' back.

Vincent Hanna: Then don't take down scores.

Neil McCauley: I do what I do best, I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys
like me.

Vincent Hanna: So you never wanted a regular type life?

Neil McCauley:What the fuck is that? Barbeques and ballgames?

Vincent Hanna: Yea

Neil McCauley:This regular type life that your life?

Vincent Hanna: My life's a disaster zone. I got a stepdaughter so fucked up because her real father's this large-type asshole. I got a wife, we're passing each other on the down-slope of a marriage - my third - because I spend all my time chasing guys like you around the block. That's my life.

Neil McCauley:A guy told me one time, "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Now, if you're on me and you gotta move when I move, how do you expect to keep a... a marriage?

Vincent Hanna: That's an interesting point, What are you, a monk?

Neil McCauley: I have a woman.

Vincent Hanna:What do you tell her?

Neil McCauley:I tell her I'm a salesman.

Vincent Hanna:So then, if you spot me coming around that corner...you just gonna walk out on this woman? Not say good bye?

Neil McCauley: That's the discipline.

Vincent Hanna:That's pretty vacant, you know.

Neil McCauley: Yeah, it is what it is. It's that or we both better go do something else, pal.

Vincent Hanna:I don't know how to do anything else.

Neil McCauley: Neither do I.

Vincent Hanna:I don't much want to either.

Neil McCauley:Neither do I.

Vincent Hanna:You know I have this recurring dream. I"m sitting at this big banquet table and all the victims of all the murders I ever worked are sitting at this table and they are staring at me with these....black eyeballs...because they got eight ball hemroges form the the head wound...and there they are these big balloon people because I found them two weeks after they been under the bed...the neighbors reported the smell...and there they are all just sittin there

Neil McCauley: What do they say?

Vincent Hanna: nothin, they don't talk, they don't have anything to say,They look at eachother,They look at me and thats it thats the dream

Neil McCauley: I have one where I'm drowning. And I gotta wake myself up and start breathing or I'll die in my sleep.

Vincent Hanna:You know what that's about?

Neil McCauley: Yeah. Having enough time.

Vincent Hanna: Enough time? To do what you wanna do?

Neil McCauley: That's right.

Vincent Hanna: You doin' it now?

Neil McCauley: No, not yet.

Vincent Hanna:You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it. But I tell you, if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down.

Neil McCauley:There is a flip side to that coin. What if you do got me boxed in and I gotta put you down? Cause no matter what, you will not get in my way. We've been face to face, yeah. But I will not hesitate. Not for a second.

Vincent Hanna: Maybe thats the way it'll be, or who knows

Neil McCauley: or maybe we'll never see eachother again.

Phenomenological Analysis:


Overall
Light source: flourescent lights
Color Scheme: Dark: Greys, Blacks, Browns
Motion: No extreme physical motions only changes in body language and facial expression

Sensory Associations

tough

heat

smell (stink)

Three Sentences of Action

The two characters meet at a diner.

The two characters have a conversation.

The two characters create connections and define their differences.

Recurring Visual and Aural Patterns

Colors: Black, Brown, Grey, dim lighting

Aural Patterns: Rhythmic exchange between the two characters. Same words and phrases are often used by both.

Repitition of words and important words: time, take, want, dream, chase, regular, passing, attached, vacant, know, sitting, hesitate, flip

Recurring Themes

Time/Fate/Death

Duality

Relationships

Dreams

Research: see historical background and syntax

Phenomenological Description:

3:30-4:20
Deniro and Pacino remain somewhat rigid as if it were an interrogation. Pacino begins by asking the questions, brings up Deniro's past record, and asks him if he wants to go back to jail as a Detective would do in an interrogation scene. Deniro answers in brief and concise retorts that do not divulge any information already known. Deniro and Pacinon both remark that they are good at what they do; Pacino basically that Im good at catching people and Deniro saying I'm a professional I don't "thrill-seek"

4:20-5:27
The two characters begin to discuss more intimate aspect of how they live their lives. Pacino releases almost a confessional on how his life is "a disaster zone" because he has to chase people like Deniro's character. Deniro says that he lives according to a strict discipline where he remains always detachable from the world around him in order to sacrifice for his professional goals. This parallels what Pacino reveals in his confessional, that he is detached from his personal life due to his professional life. It seems that that they become slightly more comfortable with eachother. Pacino leans forward for a brief momment. Deniro remains rigid but his facial expression changes briefly from a serious poker face to a thoughtful contemplative mood.

5:27-6:03
At this point Pacino ventures further into the life of Deniro's character by asking him about his personal relationships. Sentimental music is cued as Deniro begins to respond, highlighting that although Deniro for most of his life has become a hardened and cold criminal, Eady (his love interest in the film) is the closest thing to a soft spot in his hard outer shell. Vincent's character brings up the point Deniro made earlier that they live a life of discipline where their professions come before all else. Deniro acknowledges that this remains true despite his relationship.

6:03-6:20
Stemming from the acknowledgement that they have there professional attitudes in common, and these attituteds are the root of many of their relationship issues, Deniro and Pacino share a momment of almost emotional transperency where they almost connect completely on an emotional level. This is illustrated in their facial expressions. They both agree that they don't know how to do anything except what they do and they don't really want to. About 90% of a smile comes across both their faces but it never actually becomes a complete smile signifying that the while they understand, respect, and are interested in eachother, the two can never actually bond in any normal sense. The partial smiles quickly recede yet there is still a lingering sense of connection between the two.

6:20- 7:47
Resulting from this nearly complete connection, Pacino divulges a description of a recurring dream he has, opening his subconcious and his "world" (the most private of things he can divulge in such a brief encounter) to Deniro's character. The dream is a macabre scene of dead murder victims at a banquet table who don't speak and just sit, staring. Deniro responds with his own recurring and equaly macabre dream of himself drowning. Interestingly Deniro and Pacino find it necssary to divulge a piece of their "world" to eachother. During this exchange, their body language becomes the most relaxed it has been in the scene. Pacino leans forward and back. Deniro, while always remaining back in his chair, allows his face to communicate much more than at the begenning. His whole face moves with expression. An expression of sadness almost seems to come across his face at 7:40. Deniro relates to Pacino that he knows the dream is about not having enough time to do what he wants to do.

7:47-End Scene
Pacino then begins to revert back into a more grim face. As Pacino begins to speak he moves back from Deniro. Pacino relates that they have made a connection, that he does in some way like Deniro, but that he will not hesitate to kill Deniro. Deniro's expression changes as Pacino speaks from the slightly more open facial expressions to a more rigid face again. Deniro counters saying "there is a flipside to that coin," that if he has to, he will kill Pacion. The faces they return to of tough grimmness are slightly different however than at the begenning of the scene. They faces are more animated versions of the original poker face showing that they needn't hide anything from eachother but they "gotta do what they gotta do." They are not offended by the threats of death that have been exchanged. The silence at the end of the scene seems to affirm that they have seen their "worlds" resonate deeply with eachother but they are still adversarys. THe scene ends with a near smile from both characters similar to the smile between 6:03-6:20 however this smile is simultaneously a much more reserved smile, and a much more authentic smile of understanding.

Onto-historical worlds

The two characters in the conversation are Neil McCauley (Robert Deniro's character) and Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino's character). Neil McCauley was actually a real professional criminal in the 1950s pursued by one of the co-writers of the film Chuck Adamson. Chuck Adamson was a Major Crime Unit (Robbery Homicide) detective in the Chicago area in the 1950s and Lt. Vincent Hanna is representative of Chuck Adamson. The real Neil McCauley and Chuck Adamson met in a similar situation (not as open as a diner) and apparently had a very similar conversation. At the end of the conversation, Pacino tells Deniro he will not hesitate to kill Deniro if he has to even though they have met face to face and shared a conversation. Deniro says "there is a flipside to that coin" and he will not hesitate to kill Pacino. According to Chuck Adamson, basically the same words were actually exchanged between him and the real Neil McCauley.
In relation to the history of the rest of the story (the context which the conversation is potrayed in) there is a part in the film where McCauley senses he is undersurveillance and calls a heist off in the middle of it.



This apparently did happen as well between Chuck Adamson and the real Neil McCauley. Neil McCauley attempted to rob a department store and unbeknownst to him he was being watched by a surveillance team of police officers. McCauley however seemed to feel something was not right and waited for a long time listening. One of the officers moved to go to the bathroom, McCauley heard it, and left the store. In 1964 Chuck Adamson killed the real Neil McCauley. Neil McCauley attempted to take down a supermarket that had just received a delivery from an armored car. The police had tailed McCauley to the market and waited for him to come out. When he did come out he saw Chuck across the street and a violent gun battle ensued including a long foot chase. The end result was the death of McCauley and his crew. A very similar situation happens in the major hesit scene of the film (the bank robbery) and at the end of the film where Pacino kills Robert Deniro's character.
Michael Mann, the director who grew up in the Late 50s in Chicago in an immigrant family and neighborhood. His family was from the lower middle classes as was Pacino's and the nieghborhood consisted of mostly southern Italian and Eastern European immigrants. MIchael Mann in the "Making of" extra on the DVD explains that his world growing up is what the idea of the "front page news" for crime came out of. A conception of folkloric outlaws and speak-easy poker rooms was the mood of the time.
Although much of the basis for this scene and the whole film is from the 1950s and 1960s the film is set in (at the time of its release) modern L.A. in 1995. Gang violence and crime in L.A. in the 1990s was rampant shown by the crackdown initiated by Bill Clinton due to the death of a 3 year old girl in a shootout. (wiki) Despite this, a resurgence for the need of tough actors with tough guy roles like Humphrey Bogart occured in Hollywood. The decade begins with the fall of communism and the Iraq war. This is relevant in the movie because after numerous viewings, it becomes apparent Pacino and Deniro's characters are both x-marines. When Deniro is getting intelligence on Pacino he is told that Pacino is an x-marine. In one scene where Deniro has his shirt off, a tattoo of the marine Eagle Globe and Anchor is exposed. Also quite interesting is the affirmation and encouragement of free-market capitalism in the U.S. simultaneous with the development of personal computers and the Internet. Technology and the intelligence/knowledge which can be gathered from it plays a crucial role in the film. The concept of free-market capitalism propogated at the time placed a high level of importance on making money and it could be said, put ethics on the back burnner.

Virtual Feeling

Phenomenology and Virtual Feeling In Heat

Throughtout the film Heat, but specifically in the particular scene under analysis here, Heideggarian, hermeneutic phenomenology and the concepts of Dasein (paritcularly), being, and death are embodied in the characters and the words throughout the script. "Dasein is not isolated. Dasein's discovery of the world is simultaneous with the discovery of Others that are the same as himself yet distinctive. (109, Ferrara)" I do not know how this could be presented more clearly than in this diner scene in HEAT. They examine the structure of their own ontological worlds and eachother's ontological worlds. The concepts of being and time, right out off the title of Heideggers' major essay on phenomenology, are the core issues of the scene. Clarity as to the nature of each characters' being is the primary topic on the table. Pacino and Deniro's characters are searching through the entire film for their "Being or is-ness of man ...like searching for a foundation of (their) human existence. (104, Ferrara)" The conversation in the Diner is one that embodies the meaning of Dasein, that "man alone is the being that can pose the question of Being. (105, Ferrara)" In the diner Deniro and Pacino connect their "worlds" and become aware of eachother's "being." They become "in" or "with" eachothers "world." Yet at the same time, they never connect beyond this sort of resonance of worlds. They remain the only being which can illuminate for themselves their own beingness. This duality is shown by the fact that they smile but not completely or at the end they remain firm but understanding. This unresolved yet resonant mood between the two also exemplifies the character of Dasein is always unfinished. They bring up death at the end of the conversation. As Heidegger says it should be treated, the two do not treat death as something to fear but acknowledge the anxiety of the nothing and at the same time that they are aware that they are always on the path to this completion (especially in their line of work). They acknowledge understandingly with their partial smiles at the end of the scene the "future as coming towards (112,Ferrara). In the last scene of the entire film, death becomes the resolution which Heidegger speaks of. Deniro's death exemplifies the "completion" of Dasein where Deniro's being has coincided with his Dasein and his inauthenticity evaporates like the cold breathe coming from his mouth:

2nd Open Listening/Viewing



On second open viewing, instead of simply being "emotionally powerful," the worlds of the characters are much more open to me. While they remain rigid and tough for most of the scene they are struggling beyond belief inside. This is captured by a phenomenal level of acting in Deniro and Pacino. They are able to show the presence of their Dasein without specifically making note of it. The struggle is introverted while they retain an outer defensive shell which only slightly comes down at certain moments. Upon first viewing it is obvious that the men are supposed to be mirrors of each-other but after the eclectic analysis I can see how much they are of their own person and how that is what makes their resonance so special and emotionally moving within the context of the entire film.

Meta Critique

Due to the obvious complexity of just this one scene, to do an eclectic analysis on the entire film would be extraordinarily rewarding but at the same time extremely difficult and time consuming. I regret that I did not have the time to do this however I believe the eclectic method would be well applied to an anlysis of the the entire dramatic work.