MartinHafer In 1984, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood were two of the biggest box office draws in Hollywood. So, teaming them in "City Heat" seems like a no brainer...a sure fire hit. However, inexplicably, the film isn't particularly good and I would go so far as to say it is a pretty full picture overall...which is odd for a gangster movie.Mike Murphy (Reynolds) is a private eye who used to be a cop. His partner is foolish...and tries to blackmail some gangsters. Not surprisingly, he's soon killed and these same folks think Murphy knows about the blackmail...and decide to kill him. However, he is totally in the dark on all this and just wants to be left alone. At the same time, a tough but laconic cop, Lt. Speer (Eastwood) just happens to be hanging out and eventually gets involved as well.The biggest problem with the film is the lack of chemistry between Eastwood and Reynolds. Instead of teaming them up at the start, they don't start actually working together until late in the movie. Additionally, Reynolds' dialog is clichéd and Eastwood's is practically non-existent (zombie-like I might venture to say). It's crazy but halfway decent writing AND some sense of enthusiasm and fun by the two stars would have helped this one a lot! As it is, it's a film I'd only recommend to folks who love the two actors and simply watch anything and everything they made. Otherwise, it wouldn't be hard to do better.By the way, the idea of a black and white man working together as partners is nice...but it's also a 1980s idea...something you simply wouldn't have found in the 1930s when this story is set. Also, the shootout scene is incredibly dumb. They were only standing about 50 feet apart and fired hundreds of shots...yet NO ONE is shot?! Huh?! A whole lotta effort but no connection...it sounds like the plot and characters as well.

The Grand Master The teaming up of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in City Heat could have been a box office success, however this turned out to be a complete disappointment. City Heat was an action comedy released in 1984 which probably could have done better if it came out sometime in the late 1970's when both actors were at the top of their game at the box office. The lukewarm story and the desperate grab for laughs didn't help either.Set in Kansas City, 1933 where the Prohibition era ruled the streets, Police Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood) and Private Investigator Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) are former friends turned bitter enemies who find themselves reluctantly forming an uneasy alliance again after the death of Murphy's partner Swift (Richard Roundtree) after attempting to blackmail mobster Primo Pitt (Rip Torn) with Leon Coll's (Tony Lo Bianco) accounting records, another rival mobster. Speer and Murphy must investigate Swift's murder as well as prevent an all out mobster war which threatens to erupt in the middle of Kansas City.Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds are two actors who could do no harm no matter which movie they are involved in. Here in City Heat, this was one to forget for both of them.Director Richard Benjamin can consider this movie one to forget.It's no surprise that City Heat received many negative reviews and this was not one of the most memorable movies in 1984.City Heat is living proof that star power alone does not guarantee a movie to be a success. The story must work otherwise it is a waste of time and effort, and City Heat failed dismally.Unless you are a fan of Clint Eastwood or Burt Reynolds, this is not worth it.4/10.

bkoganbing City Heat casts two of Hollywood's biggest box office draws of the past forty years in the same film as different types. The film is set in Kansas City of 1933 which richly earned the reputation it had back in the day of a wide open town. This was in fact the Kansas City of Tom Pendergast. Clint Eastwood is a by the book and honest city detective, not an easy thing to be in Kansas City of that era. Burt Reynolds is a former cop who's now a roguish private eye. The two of them have a history, they like each other well enough, but they also grate on each other's nerves.As all good private eyes have, Burt has a cool and efficient Effie like secretary in Jane Alexander and a partner in Richard Roundtree. Burt's one of the few back in the day who would even consider going into business with a black person. But Roundtree's playing a lone hand involving a runaway bookkeeper and a war between two rival mobs headed by Rip Torn and Tony LoBianco. For his troubles Roundtree winds up dead and in the same tradition of Sam Spade, when your partner's killed you do something about it.But it's also Eastwood's homicide case and like it or not the two are forced into an alliance of inconvenience, kicking and screaming right up to the end of the picture. The plot also calls for rescuing Alexander who Eastwood fancies, Madeline Kahn who's Burt's girlfriend and chanteuse Irene Cara.City Heat is not at the top of the list of films by Eastwood and Reynolds. But they've got nothing to be ashamed of here. The film glides effortlessly from comedy to drama and both guys get their innings to show why they're the superstars they are. You could do a lot worse than City Heat for your viewing pleasure.

TxMike This movie is part of a 3-for-1 DVD set of Clint Eastwood movies. None of them arise above the "B" movie genre.Set in the 1930s, here Clint Eastwood is Lieutenant Speer, normally very laid back, to the point where he can watch others beating each other up with no involvement, until ... they cause his coffee or drink to spill. Then he becomes a fighting machine.Burt Reynolds is his friend and investigator Mike Murphy, who is constantly the butt of "short" jokes next to Eastwood.Other notables include Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn, and Rip Torn. Plus, the singer Irene Cara of "Flashdance" fame plays a singer Ginny Lee.As a movie, overall, it isn't very good. The story is confusing, almost impossible to figure out who is doing what and for what reason. There are lots of fights and lots of shooting, but hardly anyone gets hit with bullets. But as a dark comedy it works pretty well, for the actors in it.