IN 2017, AUSTRALIAN FILM JOURNALIST BLAKE HOWARD CAME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR A PODCAST ABOUT MICHAEL MANN’S 1995 CRIME OPUS HEAT. EXAMINING THE FILM CHRONOLOGICALLY, IN 60-SECOND INCREMENTS, THE APTLY TITLED “ONE HEAT MINUTE” SAW HOWARD, AND A GUEST STAR, SPENDING ANYWHERE FROM 15 MINUTES TO WELL OVER AN HOUR DISSECTING THE SELECTED MINUTE. EACH DISCUSSION USED THE MINUTE AT HAND AS A SPRINGBOARD TO EXPLORE MANY ELEMENTS OF THE FILM, AS WELL AS MICHAEL MANN’S BROADER BODY OF WORK AND HIS IMPACT ON CINEMA.
WITH MORE THAN 170 EPISODES RELEASED SO FAR, THE LINE-UP OF GUESTS INCLUDES FAMOUS FILMMAKERS (JOE LYNCH, DANTE SPINOTTI, PHIL HAY, ABE FORSYTHE), WRITERS (REED FARREL COLEMAN, JORDAN HARPER), EDUCATORS, MAJOR CRITICS (MANOHLA DARGIS, BILGE EBIRI, MATT ZOLLER SEITZ, WALTER CHAW) AND FILM JOURNALISTS (KRIS TAPLEY, CHRIS EVANGELISTA). WITH ONLY A FEW REMAINING EPISODES, HOWARD USED HIS FINAL LIVE SHOW RECORDING AT THE 2019 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL TO ANNOUNCE THAT MICHAEL MANN, THE LEGENDARY MASTERMIND DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER AND PRODUCER BEHIND THE FILM, WOULD BE THE FINAL CRESCENDO OF THE INCREDIBLY EXTENSIVE YET LIMITED SERIES.
“I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams that ‘One HEAT Minute’ would include Michael Mann himself as our final guest. For Michael Mann fans, there’s information about HEAT here that’s literally nowhere else. For fans of ‘One HEAT Minute,’ this is the most perfect ending imaginable. I’m still struggling to grasp that it even happened.” said Howard.
“I’m honoured by this genuine tribute to the film. The passion and enthusiasm that Blake and his guests – artists, cinephiles, film historians – showed to HEAT is extraordinary, and their appreciation of it, humbling,” said Mann.
HEAT, MICHAEL MANN’S 1995 CRIME OPUS DELIVERED THE FIRST ON-SCREEN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN AMERICAN CINEMATIC TITANS ROBERT DE NIRO AND AL PACINO. WHEN AN ARMOURED CAR ROBBERY GOES WRONG, PROFESSIONAL THIEF NEIL MCCAULEY (DE NIRO) AND HIS CREW ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF L.A.’S ROBBERY HOMICIDE DIVISION AND DETECTIVE VINCENT HANNAH (PACINO). THESE OBSESSIVE PROFESSIONALS, ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LAW, CONDUCT AN UNRELENTING CAT-AND-MOUSE CHASE THROUGH THE SPRAWLING INDUSTRIAL CITYSCAPE OF L.A.
“When you’ve done 121 hours excruciating hours about Heat, only then are you just on the same level as One Heat Minute. ”
— Maria Lewis - Award-Winning Author and Screenwriter
“Blake Howard’s Cine-essential ‘One HEAT Minute’ podcast may be the most delightfully detailed dissection of a single film since Roger Ebert’s shot-by-shot explication of CITIZEN KANE, and possibly more entertaining! It’s one of the few podcasts in recent memory that could stand the test of time to become a valuable resource for film theorists and casual movie lovers alike. And to have Director Mann, himself, for the final episode to discuss his classic film is just like the final shot in HEAT....the perfect ending to an epic journey.
— Joe Lynch - Director of POINT BLANK & MAYHEM
“It’s a brilliant idea, relentlessly executed with charm, wit, and enthusiasm. Every time I listen to it, I feel the need to rush back to my TV and watch the whole movie again.”
— Bilge Ebiri - New York Magazine
“That’s a GREAT idea”
— Christopher Nolan Director of THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
What makes One Heat Minute distinct, though, is the sheer, unfiltered sincerity with which Howard conducts the proceedings. Howard is a true believer in the power of film and this film specifically. Heat is his means of bringing people together, accessing their worldviews, and cultivating a sense of solidarity. And he does so with enviable conviction. “Sometimes you get this perfection, you know,” Howard told KQED’s Carly Severn in a September 2018 interview. “It’s like, it was made to be examined. It was made for me to have a conversation about.”
One Heat Minute Turned the Movie Heat Into a Religious Experience By Nicholas Quah
One HEAT Minute: Episode #89 - Manohla Dargis
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 "magnum opus" HEAT minute by minute. It's the 89th minute (1:28:00-1:29:00) - host Blake Howard joins the world's greatest living film critic, The New York Times co-chief film critic, Manohla Dargis. Blake and Manohla discuss the sensational orchestration of the ACTUAL first time that Pacino and De Niro share the screen, foreshadowing the finale with Vincent holding a gun and Neil literally boxed in his car, the first glimpse of the iconic Kate Matalini's diner scene and SO MUCH MORE. What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee and you have a listen?
One HEAT Minute: Episode #88 - Dr. Christopher Sharrett (Seton Hall University)
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 "magnum opus" HEAT minute by minute. It's the 88th minute (1:27:00-1:28:00) - host Blake Howard joins Professor of Visual and Sound Media at Seton Hall University, writer for CINEASTE and editor for Film International, and the man who wrote that "Michael Mann has emerged as the quintessential cinematic poet of the postmodern urban world," - Dr. Christopher Sharrett. Blake and Christopher discuss the ugly, deadly and alluring cityscape; the fluid nightmare of L.A traffic; Mann echoing Howard Hawks' affinity for men who are good at what they do; and the overwhelming loss and tragedy of this 170-minute masterpiece. Have a listen.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #87 - Sean Burns
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 "magnum opus" HEAT minute by minute. It's the 87th minute (1:26:00-1:27:00) - host Blake Howard joins film critic in North Shore Movies, Philadelphia Weekly, Metro, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, RogerEbert.com, and Spliced Personality - Sean Burns. Blake and Sean kick off by discussing his incredible article THE CHASE IS THE THING: ON MICHAEL MANN'S "MANHUNTER," "HEAT" AND "PUBLIC ENEMIES" (which was published at RogerEbert.com) that outlines that Heat is the "purest expression of the filmmaker’s pet themes, played out with a doomy grandeur." Blake and Sean then discuss mad people lining Greenwich Village streets on Heat's opening night muttering the mantra "Al and Bob. Al and Bob. Al and Bob"; we talk about the beautiful strange of Pacino's performance especially why he can't appropriately unwrap and eat gum in a timely fashion and then finally how odd it was to see these two New York guys on a poster with a tagline "An L.A Crime Epic."
One HEAT Minute: Episode #86 - Simon Miraudo
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 86th minute (1:25:00-1:26:00) - host Blake Howard joins editor of Student Edge, film/pop culture critic on RTRFM & ABC Radio, Simon Miraudo. Blake and Simon reveal an ongoing bitterness about losing to Lee Zachariah in a film trivia competition, discuss the travesty the breadth of the Oscar snubs associated with HEAT, Hannah's ultimate power play of getting up into the sky to one-up McCauley.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #85 - Andy Hazel
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime saga HEAT minute by minute. It's the 85th minute (1:24:00-1:25:00) - host Blake Howard joins actor, ARIA-nominated musician, journalist, editorial assistant at The Saturday Paper and the producer and host of Melbourne film podcasts Cultural Capital and Twin Peaks: The Return; Mr Andy Hazel. Blake and Andy discuss earning the thankful gush of passing the halfway mark of the project, the juxtaposition of scenes between the car confessional in the underpass cathedral, architectural match-cuts and Diane Venora's back muscles contorting during another civil fight, and much much more.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #84 - Dr Hamish Ford (Senior Lecturer - University of Newcastle)
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 84th minute (1:23:00-1:24:00) - host Blake Howard joins Senior Lecturer in Film, Media and Cultural Studies and program convenor for the Bachelor of Arts program at the University of Newcastle (and his honours thesis supervisor) Dr Hamish Ford. Blake and Hamish discuss how Mann gets right what so many others get wrong in conversation staging, the concept of "amour fou" or crazy love and being compelled to crime because of the banality of regular life; fraternal guidance in Voight's performance; the majesty of the overpass cathedral and so much more.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #83 - Kyle Turner
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 84th minute (1:22:00-1:23:00) - host Blake Howard joins writer at Paste Movies, Vice, Slate, Village Voice (RIP), Playboy and editor of Movie Mezzanine's (RIP) 'The Balcony', the extreme talent that is Kyle Turner. Blake and Kyle discuss the hangman's noose in the background in the opening frames of the minute, avoiding films because of their running time, learning through the podcast that Mia Hansen-Løve is correct in her assertion; HEAT is all about the relationships.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #82 - Dan Barrett
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 82nd minute (1:21:00-1:22:00) - host Blake Howard joins SBS T.V guy and host of the recently concluded BATMANLAND podcast Dan Barrett. Blake and Dan discuss this "Perfect Pacino Minute" (Dan's spin-off podcast); peacocking and performing to De Niro; the vulture-like score signalling Neil in his "birds eye" perch; and HEAT's influences on T.V show "Homicide: Life on the Street."
One HEAT Minute: Episode #81 - Anders Furze
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 81st minute (1:20:00-1:21:00) - host Blake Howard joins writer contributor to The Guardian, Meanjin, Domain Review, Crikey and a man who best summed up the state of the union for film criticism in Australia, co-host of The Cultural Capital Podcast - film critic - Anders Furze. Blake and Anders marvel at the 24 cuts in this single minute, HEAT's four editors and 22 editorial support staff, the frantic nature of the scene messing with your subconscious.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #80 - David Brown
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 80th minute (1:19:00-1:20:00) - host Blake Howard joins former Senior Editor at Empire Magazine Australasia, Freelance Contributing Writer at The Big Issue Australia and Rolling Stone Australia and author of the upcoming novel Wavelength: The Film Music Of Tangerine Dream, David Michael Brown. Blake and Dave discuss seeing this scene for the first time before you realise that the hunted have become the hunters; the only time in the film that De Niro is so incredibly animated; David shares stories of Mann's use of music in THE KEEP and THIEF and music wrangler Bob Badami's insights working alongside the great auteur.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #79 - Alicia Malone
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 79th minute (1:18:00-1:19:00) - host Blake Howard joins film reporter, author, self-confessed movie geek host on Turner Classic Movies and The FilmStruck Podcast, Alicia Malone. Blake and Alicia discuss viewing HEAT on an L.A rooftop; unpredictability as an interrogation tactic; Hank Azaria's genuine fear of Al Pacino; and HEAT's contribution to the canon of movie memes.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #78 - Mark Searby
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 78th minute (1:17:00-1:18:00) - host Blake Howard joins journalist, broadcaster and author of Al Pacino: The Movies Behind the Man, Mark Searby. Blake and Mark discuss how Trejo does not give a shit about the stakes that his fellow crew members agonise over; a minute which profiles both crews; Vincent Hannah's "walk out" music when something's gonna go down; and the instantaneous response to a Hank Azaria finger in the nose.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #77 - Eloise Ross
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime epic HEAT minute by minute. It's the 77th minute (1:16:00-1:17:00) - host Blake Howard joins program coordinator and co-curator at the Melbourne Cinémathèque and co-host of the Cultural Capital Podcast, Eloise Ross. Blake and Eloise discuss the strange Elliott Goldenthal score choice to emphasise Sizemore's "lug" of a character agonising over this crucial decision; Eloise's yearning for uncharacteristic silence in this sequence; the fatalism of noir films; and the chicken wire dead ends connecting CHINATOWN, VERTIGO, L.A CONFIDENTIAL and HEAT.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #76 - Ian Barr
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 76th minute (1:15:00-1:16:00) - host Blake Howard joins the sardonic cinephile and serious 'under the radar' writing talent (contributing to SBS Movies, Little White Lies, 4:3 Film, The Film Stage, Cinema Scope Magazine), Mr Ian Barr. Blake and Ian discuss the strange setting that conjures science fiction feelings; seeing Michael Mann in person discussing the eyes of the actors in the film when you watch HEAT on the big screen, and who voted for HEAT in Sight and Sound's "Greatest Films of All Time" poll.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #75 - Dan Barrett and Stu Coote
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 75th minute (1:14:00-1:15:00) - host Blake Howard creates a Sydney podcasting play date joining film and T.V writer and the podcasting T1000 at SBS - BATMANLAND's Dan Barrett and all-star guest The Sinner Files', Stu Coote. Our conversation begins with more Scott Glenn than we've experienced in the podcast so far, HEAT's George Constanza connection, Val Kilmer's hair indecision, the greatness of the INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE premiere photos and of course, the minute at hand.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #74 - Niles Schwartz
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 74th minute (1:13:00-1:14:00) - host Blake Howard joins another Mann aficionado and author of the phenomenal analysis "Off the Map: Freedom, Control, and the Future in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies," Mr Niles Schwartz. Blake and Niles discuss connections to Kubrick with the awesome György Ligeti song "Concerto For Violoncello And Orchestra" underpinning this sequence (as discovered by Richard Combs in his Film Comment article "MICHAEL MANN: BECOMING" (Vol. 32, No. 2 MARCH – APRIL 1996). We also discuss concepts of performance intertextuality, Mann's other "guys" and finally, chuckle about the unfortunate demise of Dziga Vertov's Soviet School.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #73 - Joe Lynch
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 73rd minute (1:12:00-1:13:00) - host Blake Howard joins one of the Top 3 HEAT obsessives in the known universe, the immensely talented director of MAYHEM, EVERLY and the upcoming Frank Grillo and Anthony Mackie starring POINT BLANK for Netflix, friend of the show, Joe Lynch. Blake brings Joe for the first face to infrared face (or "infrablue" in the Michael Mann universe) between Vincent Hannah and Neil McCauley. Correction: "Captain Hydration" is not Chuck "Charlie" Adamson as my research to that point led me to believe. Adamson was a technical advisor on HEAT and plays Ancell in THIEF. Steven Ford, the son of former President of the Gerald Ford, plays "Officer Bruce" a.k.a Captain Hydration. He is though a Chuck Adamson look-a-like.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #72 - Travis Johnson
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 72nd minute (1:11:00-1:12:00) - host Blake Howard joins friend and human locomotive (read 'hella' prolific film critic) behind Australia's FilmInk Magazine Mr Travis Johnson. Blake and Travis discuss the Mann paying more attention to Chris' (Kilmer) drilling than anyone other filmmakers would, before going down a brief rabbit hole about Mann's use of the sublime in Heat and in the criminally underrated Miami Vice.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #71 - Stu Coote
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 71st minute (1:10:00-1:11:00) - host Blake Howard joins all-star guest The Sinner Files', Stu Coote. Blake and Stu discuss how he actually 'works here' and discuss that a full 70 minutes after the podcast began, they're back on another minute without any dialogue.
One HEAT Minute: Episode #70 - INVESTIGATOR OF ORGANISED CRIME IN AUSTRALIA - Steve [REDACTED]
ONE HEAT MINUTE is the podcast examining Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus HEAT minute by minute. It's the 70th minute (1:09:00-1:10:00) - host Blake Howard joins an "investigator of organised crime in Australia" Steve <Redacted>. Blake and Steve focus on Heat's authenticity, the minute's ability to convey how amped up each team for the score/sting and finally where Steve feels like he would have taken the opportunity to get Neil and his crew off the streets.