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Red Heat pits two very different men against each other: Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold), the taciturn, relentless Russian homicide cop known in Moscow as "Iron Jaw", and Detective Sergeant Art Ridzik (James Belushi), a wisecracking Chicago plainclothesman, known for his lax attitude and penchant for cutting corners. These cultural and temperamental polar opposites are forced into an alliance when the Russian comes to the Windy City to track down a notorious, murderous Russian drug dealer named Viktor Rostavili (Ed O'Ross), who's just been arrested locally on a minor traffic violation.
Much of the pleasure of Red Heat comes from the contrast between the characters of Ridzik and Danko. While the reluctant plainclothes cop annoys Danko by shooting off his mouth about anything-including the drawbacks of his new partner's social and political systems - the Russian remains focused on his goal. The relationship evolves when Danko loses custody of Viktor in an ambush by the mobster's gang. A Chicago cop is killed in the process, which inspires Ridzik to become a real partner to the Russian. The two embark on a relentless search for the fugitive, freely disregarding police procedure and alienating Commander Donnelly (Peter Boyle). The pair delve into the Chicago underworld and, in the process, get to know each other and establish a curious sort of rapport. Along the way, much of Chicago is destroyed before Viktor is brought to heel.
Red Heat was director Walter Hill's attempt to duplicate the success of his own 48 Hours, another unrestrained action film that featured mismatched partners who must work together toward a common goal. Hill asked Arnold to lose 10 pounds ("so I would look more Slavic", as the star told US magazine) and study Russian. Further realism came from a number of scenes that were shot on location in Moscow's Red Square. The result was that Red Heat turned out to be a moderate box-office hit.
Reviewers noted the picture's slickness and technical adeptness, but remained cool to the film, lamenting its use of stereotypes and routine odd-couple comic shticks. Still, Schwarzenegger's charm hardly eluded them. As Richard Corliss wrote in Time, "Arnold, starched tongue in cheek, is a doll: G.I. Joe in Soviet mufti. He could beat the stuffing out of a toy Rambo."
