Pacino and De Niro turn up ‘Heat’

A movie from 1995 might not seem as classic as many others, but director Michael Mann’s “Heat” – now streaming on Hulu – made itself an immediate classic of the crime genre. Though it runs just under three hours, its pace might leave you surprised that it lasted that long when it’s over, and its many attractions include the first on-screen meeting of iconic actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. (Both appeared earlier in “The Godfather, Part II,” but in different segments set in different eras.) Pacino plays the leader of an elite Los Angeles police unit determined to catch a career criminal (De Niro). While that story thread runs through the entire film, the script also goes deep into the two men’s personal lives: Pacino’s Vincent has a complicated relationship with his estranged wife (Diane Venora), while De Niro’s Neil is a loner hesitantly becoming involved with a new interest (Amy Brenneman).