As I watched "Heat", I kept thinking that it looks like a film with an unfinished script...or perhaps bits and pieces of scripts that aren't woven together well. A lot of this makes sense when I read through the IMDB trivia...and the film reportedly has a half dozen directors! This explains a lot, as the film just seems a bit directionless and meandering. It's really a shame...and it's a film that probably shouldn't have been made unless it had only one director and one script and one direction.

Burt Reynolds plays Mex, a guy who does favors for money....which mostly involves being a personal body guard. But he also does other things, such as beating the snot out of three guys who, for kicks, beat the up a poor woman. After this, he takes on a job from a strange guy whose motives and motivations seem to change throughout the film. Later, the same guy pays Mex to teach him to be more macho...which seems impossible since the guy is played by Peter MacNicol.

The film has good moments but isn't a coherent film. I like the hairpiece bit (though it certainly is ironic considering Reynolds himself wore a toupee for years in his films) and thought the gambling addiction portion could have been really interesting. But overall, it's a weak film that seems more like a direct to video film than a feature you'd have seen in the theaters.

Stoic chaperon and bodyguard Burt Reynolds (as Nick "Mex" Escalante) wants to leave Las Vegas and retire in Venice - but he always gambles his savings away. When he meets computer software millionaire Peter MacNicol (as Cyrus Kinnick),Mr. Reynolds could be on his way to the watery city. First, Reynolds has to deal with boyish gangster Neill Barry (as Danny DeMarco). The well-connected little man roughed up Reynolds' call-girl friend Karen Young (as Holly) during a sexual encounter. Reynolds got even, but it doesn't end there...

The opening of "Heat" grabs your attention, but there is some unnecessary confusion because the two women look similar; it seemed like they were cross-cutting present with recent past, making Reynolds' "Mex" look like the perpetrator. Moreover, Reynolds seems uncharacteristically humorless and angry throughout this film. The aforementioned supporting cast is great, with Wendell Burton (as Osgood) and Deborah Rush (as D. D.) notable in small roles (was expecting Mr. Burton to pull off Burt's hair in return). Too bad their efforts are wasted.

***** Heat (11/12/86) Dick Richards ~ Burt Reynolds, Peter MacNicol, Neill Barry, Karen Young

Ex mercenary Nick Escalante hires himself out as a bodyguard in Las Vegas but he really wants a quiet life in Venice but lacks the funds.

However he hits a lucky streak in the casino while minding a rich but meek businessman who he teaches to defend himself, but his luck does not last both in the casino and out of it.

A mobster's son is out for revenge as Nick humiliated him for beating up a friend of his.

Burt Reynolds was a busted flush by the mid 80s having a run of mediocre movies and this is really the pits. The film goes nowhere with just a lot of talking, the action scenes look silly and you know it is Burt's stuntman doing all the work. Somewhere along all the jabber an actual plot arrives which is lousy. This is a dull lifeless film.