Heat is a 1995 American crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Michael Mann, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Val Kilmer. De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a seasoned professional robber and Pacino plays Lt. Vincent Hanna, an LAPD robbery-homicide detective tracking down Neil's crew after a botched heist leaves three security guards dead. The story is based on the former Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson's pursuit during the 1960s of a criminal named McCauley, after whom De Niro's character is named. "Heat" is a remake by Mann of an unproduced television series he had worked on, the pilot of which was released as the TV movie "L.A. Takedown" in 1989.