Director Walter Hill, when he's not actually making westerns, makes contemporary westerns. And so it came to pass that Hill, already a co-creator of the buddy genre with 48 Hours, made another western variation with Red Heat. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Russian cop sent to Chicago to retrieve a Georgian drug dealer (a sleazy Ed O'Ross). When things go tits-up, Arnie is forced to partner with wisecracking James Belushi to get his man. So in Walter Hill's mind, this is a big city sheriff, going to the wild west to arrest a wanted outlaw.
It has all the hallmarks of a Walter Hill thriller. Sleazy hotel shootout? Check. Topless strippers? Check. Bar room brawl? Check. Sparring protagonists? Check. Walter Hill's guns don't sound like guns. They're bloody cannons which never need reloading, and whose bullets send their targets flying across the room. It's gritty, adult in tone, but unimaginative compared with the likes of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, released around the same time.
After The Running Man, it was great (and still is) to see Arnie doing something that was a little more well-made and serious in presentation. Schwarzenegger wisely plays to his strengths, keeping the acting tightly reigned in, allowing Belushi to mug his way through the rest of the movie. But like the Smith and Jones pairing in Men In Black, the gulf in personalities allows for some epically sharp one lines amongst all the the fire escape chases and fish-out-of-water humour. In a world where Arnie has yet to have a successor (Vin and Dwayne don't seem up for it) this may not be the Guvinator's best work, but it's stood the test of time really, really well.
No comments:
Post a Comment