Neil McCauley Revisited
It really doesn’t matter what side of the law the lead characters of Michael Mann’s work are on; you are just drawn to them. As a young man you see their confidence, poise and at times almost superhuman levels of ability as their weaknesses fade into the background, you just ignore them.
Heat (1995) gives us a perfect example of such a character with Neil McCauley, portrayed by Robert De Niro. For almost 30 years of watching this film you are presented with a cold, calculated, master criminal with no discernible ties, he shines on screen. However, on a recent viewing, as a world-weary early middle-aged man myself, I began to drastically question this character assessment and even considered whether he actually could be the antithesis of the persona we are presented with, let’s break it down…..
From a personal relationship perspective Neil first meets Eady (Amy Brenneman) after the initial heist and at that point, although Neil has a connection with her, we the viewer feel he could be just blowing off steam after the issues during the job. He makes a point of initially saying to her: “I am alone, I am not lonely” and the next morning leaves after wrapping a napkin around the glass some say to be a gentleman, and some say due to not wanting to leave fingerprints, representing there already being a conflict in his mind.
Soon after we see Neil back at his minimalistic all business apartment where he finds Chris (Val Kilmer) in a bad state after an argument with his wife Charlene (Ashley Judd). Neil gives Chris the famous speech: “Have no attachments, allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk away from in 30 seconds flat if you see the heat around the corner.” Neil can see plainly the danger of being attached to someone as he then visits Charlene to persuade her to stay with Chris to keep him in the right mental space for the upcoming robberies.
Neil, Chris and the team then have a dinner with their respective families and halfway through the meal Neil makes a call to Eady and asks, “Can I see you?” with a clear neediness suddenly surfacing. When he visits her, he quickly goes through the gears and wants to leave and start a new life with her, with Eady even saying that he doesn’t even know her yet. This completely flies in the face of the advice he claims to live by, he is actively going out of his way to have an attachment.
We then see Neil back in his business mode when he discovers that Detective Vincent Hannah (Al Pacino) is onto him and his crew “Assume they have our phones, names, addresses” and when asked by the crew whether they should deal with Van Zandt, Neil says he is “a luxury”, Neil is focused here. Neil then meets Nate (Jon Voight) who outlines in significant detail who Hannah is and that he is a “maniac” who has taken down significant crews in the past. So with all that information and knowledge the police know who he is and the heat is very much around the corner, it is very surprising Neil does not cut and run there and then and still goes ahead with the heist.
Next is the infamous diner scene between Neil and Vincent, and Neil puts up that cold exterior talking down barbecues and ball games, once again gives the speech about being willing to walk away in 30 seconds flat if you see the heat: “That’s the discipline”. As a reminder, three days earlier, the police were unaware of who the crew even were, let alone Neil’s identity, yet now he is still spewing the speech sitting opposite the person who is actively chasing him who found him on the freeway with the greatest of ease, Neil needs to take a second and think here.
Will the real Neil McCauley please stand up?
So here we go, it’s the day of the big bank heist and the crew’s driver Trejo calls and pulls out due to the feeling of being watched, still no red flag for Mr Discipline as he seems to be completely driven with a notion of grabbing all the cash and riding off into the sunset with Eady. He then offers the job seemingly at random to diner worker Donald (Dennis Haysbert) who he recognizes from working together in the past. It is at this point I really was questioning his professional ability not just his newfound need for the picket fence. I mentally linked this recruitment strategy to the initial problem driving the narrative which was the hiring of Waingro (Kevin Gage) which was before Eady and his accelerated personal timeline. Why on earth would this highly respected, well-connected criminal, hire an unknown maniac to join his criminal family to rob a security truck in broad daylight? It makes no sense.
In addition, Neil decides to bury the problem by killing Waingro and putting him in the boot of a car in a very public place, where anyone could walk by. Inexplicably when the police roll by and their plan to dispose of Waingro is stalled, he escapes. Neil literally had his foot on the guy and he managed to get away from the entire crew, this rap sheet for Neil is adding up in a big way now.
Ok back on track, it’s the bank job itself which I must say was executed very well by the core crew, apart from the problem that Waingro tipped the police off with the heist location so Vincent and the team get there just in time to intercept. After Donald gets killed, the movie’s memorable gunfight ensues and Chris is shot just as they are breaking through the police lines. Neil once again puts himself at risk choosing to save Chris rather than going alone with the money, it’s a miracle they escape.
Having got Chris to safety Neil is now in a position where he is on the run, and in possession of the money. So what does Neil do next? He goes to Trejo’s house where as far as he knows, the police are sitting on top of him, another high-risk manoeuvre. Then he goes to pay a visit to Van Zandt who could also be heavily guarded, once considered a luxury, he is making one terrible decision after another as vengeance for his slain crew.
It is all unravelling as Neil goes back to Eady and she knows everything, she runs off completely distraught and somehow he convinces her to stay with him and go off into the sunset. It is a real stretch at this point, how on earth can she trust him and consequently he trusts her not to run off again or speak to the authorities?
Neil next goes to see Nate to get an update on Chris’ condition and is visibly upset that Chris has taken his advice and split, Chris looks more calculated than Neil at this point. Nate tells Neil he is “home free” but tells him where Waingro is. As Eady and Neil are finally in the car and heading to freedom with the money, Neil cannot resist but change course and head to where Waingro is being held near the airport. Again Neil must know he is heavily guarded and in his effort to kill Waingro actually has an LAPD gun to his head outside the room but still manages to complete the task and finally kill the fly in the ointment.
Back outside the hotel and ready to leave with Eady, Neil sees Vincent heading towards him and gives her a longing look as he knows at that point the dream is over. I have never seen Robert De Niro give a love interest that look in any other performance. In the space of a few days this ice-cold master criminal has become completely vulnerable. He had just warned her hours before that “I don’t even know what I am doing anymore.” When the dogged Vincent Hannah finally catches up with and kills Neil in a tense standoff, it is Neil who offers his hand to Vincent not the other way round, he wants to be held even to the last.
In conclusion, I do look at Neil McCauley in a different light now, I am now a similar age to these Michael Mann titan characters and the complex struggle with middle age is now in plain sight. Neil is not a young man, Eady is not the first woman he has ever spoken to and on the eve of his two biggest jobs NOW is the time he wants someone. His iron-clad rules have been discarded due to the pressure of aging and what he feels he should be doing, coupled with slippage in his professional choices. If he stuck to his mantra he would have lived but would he have been happy? We will never know.
