Is 'Heat' the Manliest movie of all time?

Short answer? Yes.

Is there shooting? Yes. Is there a bank robbery/robbery of some sort? Yes. Is there at least one scene where Robert De Niro gives a thousand mile death stare? Yes. Does Al Pacino yell? Yes.


Absolute Key Scenes (Spoilers Ahead):

-The entire cat and mouse game between the two 'crews.' A cops vs. robbers theme where each team is professional and not to be messed with. Key scenes include the moment when Pacino realizes he and his LAPD team have been duped and are now actually being monitored by De Niro's crew and the first failed heist that De Niro's crew bails on.

-Obviously the diner scene with Pacino and De Niro

-Danny Trejo's character is unable to shake an LAPD tail and is unable to meet up for the bank heist scene. De Niro sees that the cook at the diner they are eating at is a former friend/inmate played by Dennis Haysbert. De Niro point blank asks him if he is "cool" and if he can be driver for the heist. A simple in or out moment that is in the paragon of cool and decisive.

-Obviously the downtown shootout. GUNS AND STUFF! The audio in that sequence is stellar.

-De Niro ignoring the conventional wisdom of abandoning revenge and escaping in to the night instead goes in to a heavily police monitored hotel to kill the guy who not is the reason why Danny Trejo's character dies, but for screwing up the downtown LA robbery.

-On the LAX tarmac Pacino pursues De Niro as airplanes roar overhead. A final showdown of screen giants occurs as the lights for the runways flash on and off. As lights turn up Pacino sees De Niro's shadow and quickly turns and fires. De Niro falls back and slumps over. With De Niro's dying breaths he tells Pacino (recalling the earlier scene in which the two shared coffee) that, "I told you I'm never going back (to prison)." De Niro extends his hand upwards and Pacino embraces it. Two warriors on both sides of the law realizing that in their failed marriages and relationships that they are in fact as close to one another as anyone else could be. You can see in Pacino's eyes the mutual respect and the solemn sadness that maybe in another life these two would be friends and not enemies.

Michael Mann doesn't give much screen time to the women and I think its clear that throughout his career he doesn't really know how to write for/handle women on screen. The common ethos of most of his characters are that they are above all else there is an overarching moral center that one can divert from. There exists various codes but honor is obviously a huge one. Take a look at Collateral for more obvious evidence. Tom Cruise plays an assassin who takes a liking to Jamie Foxx's character and in numerous times goes out of his way to defend/protect him even as Foxx tries to undermine Cruise. Fascinating stuff folks.