If at first you dont succeed, remake your own film with much bigger actors, a much bigger budget, and a refined script. Michael Mann did just that with his second effort of bringing his beloved script to life, which became Heat in 1995. Mann finished his script in the early 80s and had tried to get Heat made for nearly a decade before it finally happened in 1989, but it wasnt exactly the movie he really wanted to make. This made for TV movie is known as L.A. Takedown, a dumbed down 90-minute version of Heat. Since he was working with such a low budget, Mann had no choice but to cut out important plotlines, so his original 180-page script was shed down to only 110 pages. Mann would later disown the film along with NBC. Six years later Mann had an appropriate $60 million budget and directing freedom to make the movie he originally envisioned. All 180 pages from the script were included which resulted in a 170-minute edge of your seat crime classic with the same central cat and mouse story of a cop (Pacino) chasing a bank robber (De Niro) and his crew. Why It Outshines The Original: Heat is arguably the greatest Heist movie of all time and a perfect example of how to remake a movie. A smart script, an A-list cast, and intense action sequences make this a classic. And dont forget about the famous downtown L.A. shootout scene, which is considered one of the best action scenes in the history of American cinema. L.A. Takedown is the prototype of what Mann envisioned and Heat is the polished final draft.
