Heat captures a certain vibe unique to Los Angeles. Michael Mann didn’t film a single scene on a soundstage, electing to shoot across more than 70 real locations throughout the city. The train that Robert De Niro gets off of in the opening credits is the actual Blue Line of the city’s metro system. The house where Al Pacino has the blowup with his ex-wife, derided by his character as “deadtech post-modernistic bullshit,” is famed L.A.-based architect Thom Mayne’s Sixth Street Residence. And the diner where the stars face off over coffee is Kate Mantilini, a onetime Beverly Hills hotspot where Hollywood power brokers regularly talked shop over shrimp cocktails and crab cakes (you used to be able to reserve the “ Heat table” before it closed its doors). The result is a gritty crime opera

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