"Dead Heat" is notable, I guess, for starring two washed up actors who really should have had better careers. Joe Piscopo's name is known from being the punchline to numerous jokes about has-been actors, but consider the way his career started: when he was signed to SNL, the cast he was a part of bombed with audiences, and so all were fired except two: him and Eddie Murphy. So how is it that Murphy is still world famous after all these years, and Piscopo is unheard of?
Williams has a similar story of early potential apparently fizzling out. He was hand-picked by the masters Sidney Lumet and Sergio Leone for their classic '80s films "Prince of the City" and "Once Upon a Time in America", and turned in solid performances in films throughout the eighties and nineties.
So what happened to either of these should-have-been-stars? Flicks like "Dead Heat" provide some clues. It's a little-seen horror b-movies that meshes genres that were popular in the '80s with little success. Buddy cop movies were everywhere in that particular decade: "48 Hours", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Lethal Weapon", "Tango 'n Cash". In fact there were so many that producers saw fit to play with the formula, sensing audiences might be getting tired of seeing mismatched men arguing about whether to go on three or after it, hence "Turner & Hooch" and "K-9" at the end of the decade.
"Dead Heat" is one of these that tried inject new life into this formula - ironically, for a flick about zombies. Trouble is, it doesn't do the formula well enough. For one thing, there's no chemistry between Piscopo and Williams. The movie doesn't bring them together well enough. They feel like they are from two different movies, and this one doesn't acknowledge that or do anything with it. Obviously the buddies being mismatched is a huge staple of the genre - but they're supposed to bounce off each other, and derive humour from the mismatch. Williams, particularly, seems to be waiting for Piscopo to stop talking before he can get on with the serious business of investigating zombies who have risen from the dead and are committing armed robberies. Oh, and the fact that he's a zombie as well.
I almost forgot to mention that this is a "horror comedy". The movie forgets to mention it as well, for most of the run time. I believe the horror aspect was another attempt to inject new life into the buddy cop formula the movie takes on, but for most of the picture it's just the same tired thing. It's at the end that the movie finally comes to life, when the necessities of the plot make the horror aspect take centre stage, and we get the long awaited appearance of Vincent Price, who, well into his seventies, is clearly having fun, and I was glad to join in.
I had hoped "Dead Heat" would be more entertaining than it was. I recommend it mostly based on its conclusion, though found it pretty tedious leading up to that.
