A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Ivan Danko: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Art Ridzik: Jim Belushi
• Lou Donnelly: Peter Boyle
• Viktor Rostavili: Ed O’Ross
• Lt. Stobbs: Laurence Fishburne
• Cat Manzetti: Gina Gershon
• Sgt. Gallagher: Richard Bright
• Abdul Elijah: Brent Jennings
• Hooker: Gretchen Palmer
• Night Clerk: Pruitt Taylor Vince
• Pat Nunn: Mike Hagerty
• Streak: Brion James
• Intern: Gloria Delaney
• TV Announcer: Peter Jason
• Yuri Ogarkov: Oleg Vidov
• Gregor Moussorsky: Savely Kramarov
• Salim: J.W. Smith
• Consul Stepanovich: Gene Scherer
• Josip Baroda: Tengiz Borisoff
• Pytor Tatomovich: Roger Callard
• Vagran Rostavili: Gábor Koncz
• Col. Kulikov: Géza Balkay
• Lt. Redetsky: Zsolt Körtvélyessy
• Officer: János Bán
• Mongol Hippy: Masanori Toguchi
• Nikolai: Sven-Ole Thorsen
• Sacha: Norbert Növényi
• Yegor: Istvan Etlenyi
• Piano Player: George Gati
• Waiter: Peter Marikovsky
• Gangster: Gábor Németh
• Gangster: Istvan Vajas
• Gangster: Peter Kis
• Gangster: Atilla Fási
• Ali: Eric Mansker
• Jamal: Lew Hopson
• Nelligan: Jason Ronard
• Officer Audrey: Gigi Vorgan
• Joliet Prison Guard: Allan Graf
• Detective: Kurt Fuller
• Detective: Bruno Alexander
• Cop in Hospital: Christopher Mankiewicz
• Bernie the Newsie: Bob O’Donnell
• Waitress: Marjorie Bransfield
• Lupo: Luis Contreras
• Hooligan: Christopher Anthony Young
• Police Photographer: William McConnell
• Police Photographer: Ed DeFusco
• Man at Phone Booth: Joey D. Vieira
• Railroad Engineer: Michael Adams
• Prison Cleanhead: Jonathan Tate

Film Crew:

• Production Design: John Vallone
• Casting: Jackie Burch
• Story: Walter Hill
• Original Music Composer: James Horner
• Editor: Freeman A. Davies
• Director of Photography: Matthew F. Leonetti
• Executive Producer: Mario Kassar
• Makeup Artist: Jeff Dawn
• Producer: Gordon Carroll
• Editor: Donn Aron
• Editor: Carmel Davies
• Costume Design: Dan Moore
• Set Decoration: Ernie Bishop
• Art Direction: Michael Corenblith
• Screenplay: Harry Kleiner
• Stunts: Tony Brubaker
• Stunt Double: Allan Graf
• Executive Producer: Andrew G. Vajna
• Screenplay: Troy Kennedy Martin
• First Assistant Director: James Dyer
• First Assistant Director: Jeanne Caliendo
• Assistant Director: Gábor Váradi
• Stunts: Bob Herron
• Second Unit Director: Bennie E. Dobbins
• Second Assistant Director: Tom Phillips
• Second Assistant Director: Barry K. Thomas
• Script Supervisor: Luca Kouimelis
• Makeup Artist: Michael Germain
• Associate Producer: Mae Woods
• Hairstylist: Peter Tothpal
• Location Manager: Robert H. Lemer
• Art Direction: László Rajk
• Makeup Artist: Erzsébet Forgács
• Post Production Supervisor: Michael R. Sloan
• Unit Production Manager: Dirk Petersmann
• Trainee Production Coordinator: Richard J. Levin
• Publicist: Regina Gruss
• Post Production Coordinator: Noori Dehnahi
• Second Second Assistant Director: Lorraine Raglin

Movie Reviews:

• JPV852: Entertaining enough buddy-cop movie has some fun action scenes (the bus chase sequence was great). Only thing holding it back was the pairing of Schwarzenegger and Belushi never quite worked for me. Still a good flick from Walter Hill, though not sure it ranks all that high compared with others from the era. **3.5/5**
• John Chard: Look out Chicago, Arnie & Jimmy are loose on the streets.
• Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a no nonsense Soviet cop who is sent to Chicago to pick up a murdering Russian drug dealer. Upon arriving in the windy city, Danko is teamed with Art Ridzik (James Belushi), a wise-cracking street cop notorious for cutting corners to get the job done. Complete polar opposites, both men form an unlikely alliance as Danko’s Soviet methods blend with Ridzik’s free spirited street wise techniques.
• There were quite a few buddy buddy films around in the 1980s, certainly the teaming of unlikely cop partners was nothing new at the time of Red Heat’s release. Yet for all it’s obvious reliance on clichés, and its out dated Russian/American guffaws, Red Heat is a romping, violent and funny picture. Pairing the big Austrian Oak Schwarzenegger with the Americana that is James Belushi pays off in bundles. Yes it’s sometimes crass, but Belushi’s cocky mannerisms play off Schwarzenegger’s robotic frame with comedic joy. All played out in amongst carnage and murder created by director Walter Hill, who is quite frankly, and thankfully, just extending the formula that he started in 1982 with 48 Hrs.
• The support cast is not to be sniffed at either. Peter Boyle, Ed O’Ross, Laurence Fishburne, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Brion James and Gina Gershon. All line up to add fuel to the Arnie and Jimmy fire. Also good to see is that Hill shot on location in Illinois and Moscow to give the film some scenic impetus, whilst James Horner’s score is suitably bombastic and at one with the material. It’s no rocket scientist who observes a film like this and calls it popcorn fodder, because it so obviously is. But within its buddy buddy framework lies a very quotable film that’s essential for fans of Arnie & Jimmy. Sometimes that’s all one needs from a film like this. 7/10
• CinemaSerf: I am not sure how much actual acting Arnold Schwarzenegger had to do in this rather derivative crime caper. A bit like John Wayne in “Brannigan” (1975), he is despatched to partner up with a cop abroad to order to repatriate a dangerous criminal. In this case, though, he is a Russian and it is wise-cracking American “Ridzik” (Jim Belushi) that he must bridge the culture-gap and work with to track down a murderous drug dealer who did for his partner and fled. To be fair to Arnie, he has his tongue a bit in his cheek here, but Belushi just mis-fires once too often in this rather sloppy adventure. The escapades are all rather predictable and the underlying joke/scenario wears thin all too quickly. I suppose it nods a little to the thawing in the post-Reagan relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union, but the delivery borders on the slapstick at times and I was never really a fan of Belushi’s brand of rather puerile comedy – indulged in spades here by a trio of writers including the usually far more reliable Troy Kennedy Martin. It passes the time effortlessly enough, and reminds us who lived through that period of just how dodgy some of our fashions were, but thereafter it’s all pretty mediocre fayre.