Product Details

• Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi, Peter Boyle, Ed O'Ross, Laurence Fishburne
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, Russian
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: July 22, 1997
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0784010366
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,750 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After scoring a hit with the Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte cop thriller 48 Hours, director Walter Hill returned to the buddy formula with this half-ridiculous, half-invigorating action flick about humorless Russian cop Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He follows a drug dealer from Moscow to Chicago, where he's matched up with city cop Art Ridzik (James Belushi), whose work ethic is considerably more relaxed. Most of the humor revolves around Danko's grumpy reaction to good ol' American capitalism, while Ridzik urges him to chill out. Red Heat is not bad as action comedies go, but only if you get into the absurd spirit of this predictable fare, in which the unlikely buddies get to wisecrack and act casually while mayhem erupts everywhere they go. Incidentally, Red Heat was the first American film allowed to shoot in Moscow's Red Square. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mayhem and Carnage and Arnold!, April 11, 2000

By 

Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Heat (DVD)

Arnold Schwartzenegger in the role of humorless, ultra-disciplined Soviet police-captain Vanya Danko, teamed with Chicago PD screw-up Art Ritsek (Jim Belushi), to track a Georgean drug kingpin... this is one of Arnold's greatest, but least-appreciated, action-films. The best scenes take place in Russia, in the banya (public bath), over the rooftops around Red Square, in the mafiya cafe. Arnold's Russian, spoken with his Austrian accent, is pretty terrific! What impressed me was the film's close attention to detail: Even Danko's handwriting and numbers were authentically Russian-style. The machismo of the personal battle between Ivan Danko and the smuggler was intensely Russian, as was Danko's unswerving conviction of Soviet superiority. His terse correction of the hotel clerk's question "Is [Viktor] another Russian, like you?" Danko: "Soviet.", is right-on -- Georgeans are not Russians, although many Americans don't know that. The scripting of a Georgean as the loathesome criminal is actually quite revealing, and surely a reflection of the film's "official" Russian input . Despite the grimness of the plot and Arnold's character, there is plenty of dark humor, mainly provided by Belushi's portrayal of undisciplined officer Ritsek. The humor frequently contrasts the strictly indoctrinated Soviet structure with the (to Danko) near-anarchy of American freedom. Much of the mayhem and carnage wrought during the process of Danko's personal war defies credibility; as Ritsek puts it: "Why aren't there any cops around when you need one!" The action genre's obligatory high-speed chase scene was ludicrous, yet appropriately Russian (everything Russian always seems so much "bigger"...). And the protagonists' exchange in the end, in which Vanya gets the better deal, is also typically Russian -- and proves that Danko is not so humorless after all. By the way, this movie (like all of Arnold's action-films) is extremely popular here, where it has been dubbed into the Russian language. Ironically, in the russkiy version, all the obscenities have been deleted from the dialogue.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as 1st release, January 7, 2005

By 

L. Biskup (Wellington, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Heat (Special Edition) (DVD)

Don't bother wasting your money if you think you are upgrading like I did. The earlier ARTISAN release is still much better than this special edition. The image is better and ALSO the sound. I don't know what Lions gate thought they were doing, but remastered? no. I compared both several times before writing this even though I only had to compare once. Might as well wait for a HD DVD to come out, this is a waste unless you want the additional features.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hillarious and Action Pacted, January 23, 2001

By 

Blaine (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Heat [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Schwarzenegger and James Belushi make a great team in this crazed action film. Schwarzenegger plays the serious Captain Ivan Danko, a Russian detective. Opposite him, James Belushi, is the comical cop, Art Ridzik, always good for a laugh. Who could guess what would happen when these two got stuck together?

On the downside of the film the beggining is all Russian. You'll be forced to read English subtitles not able to enjoy any of the visuals, until around ten to twenty minutes into the film. Unless of course you speak Russian.

The final word. If you're looking for something to do on a boring afternoon, I recommend sitting back and enjoying Red Heat.