Crime films , in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film , but also include comedy , and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as mystery , suspense or noir .
142-511: Miami Vice is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC . The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs , two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami . The series ran for five seasons on NBC from September 16, 1984 to June 28, 1989. USA Network began airing reruns in 1988 and broadcast
284-489: A BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards . His most acclaimed works include the films Thief (1981), Manhunter (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), Collateral (2004), Public Enemies (2009), and Ferrari (2023). He is also known for his role as executive producer on
426-618: A Dodge Ram Van . Other notable vehicles that appear in Miami Vice include Lamborghinis , AMG Mercedes-Benzes , BMWs , Maseratis , Lotuses , DeLoreans , Porsches , and Corvettes . American muscle cars , such as the Pontiac GTO and Firebird Trans Am , Ford Mustang , Chevrolet Camaro , Plymouth GTX and Barracuda , Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS , and the Buick Grand National also made appearances. Throughout
568-588: A graduate degree at the London Film School in 1967. He spent seven years in the United Kingdom going to film school and then working on commercials along with contemporaries Alan Parker , Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne . In 1968, footage he shot of the Paris student revolt for a documentary, Insurrection , aired on NBC 's First Tuesday news program and he developed his '68 experiences into
710-416: A Hollywood feature went from $ 20,000 in 1914 to $ 300,000 in 1924. Silver and Ursini stated that the earliest crime features were by Austrian émigré director Josef von Sternberg whose films like Underworld (1927) eliminated most of the causes for criminal behavior and focused on the criminal perpetrators themselves which would anticipate the popular gangster films of the 1930s. The groundwork for
852-520: A beard like Don Johnson's character. It was initially named the "Miami Device" by Wahl , but in the end the company opted to avoid a trademark infringement lawsuit. Many of the styles popularized by the TV show, such as the T-shirt under pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, and Ray-Ban sunglasses, have become the standard image of 1980s culture. The influence of Miami Vice ' s fashions continued into
994-475: A black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 kit replica built on a Chevrolet Corvette C3 chassis. The car was fitted with Ferrari-shaped body panels by specialty car manufacturer McBurnie Coachcraft . Once the car gained notoriety, Ferrari Automobili filed suit demanding that McBurnie and any others cease and desist producing and selling Ferrari replicas and infringing upon the Ferrari name and styling. As
1136-478: A broader category called "film type", mystery and suspense as "macro-genres", and film noir as a "screenwriter's pathway" explaining that these categories are additive rather than exclusionary. Chinatown would be an example of a film that is a drama (film type) crime film (super-genre) that is also a noir (pathway) mystery (macro-genre). The definition of what constitutes a crime film is not straightforward. Criminologist Nicole Hahn Rafter in her book Shots in
1278-505: A change signaled by films like Chinatown (1974) and The Wild Bunch (1969) noting that older genres were being transformed through cultivation of nostalgia and a critique of the myths cultivated by their respective genres. Todd found that this found its way into crime films of the 1980s with films that could be labeled as post-modern , in which he felt that "genres blur, pastiche prevails, and once-fixed ideals, such as time and meaning, are subverted and destabilized". This would apply to
1420-575: A conservative era. For crime films, this led to various reactions, including political films that critiqued official policies and citizen's political apathy. These included films like Missing (1982), Silkwood (1983), and No Way Out (1987). Prison films and courtroom dramas would also be politically charged with films like Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) and Cry Freedom (1987). While films about serial killers existed in earlier films such as M (1931) and Peeping Tom (1960),
1562-554: A cover story entitled, "Dallas Drubs the Cops: Why Miami Vice Seems to be Slipping." Miami Vice ' s season ratings slipped from #9 in Season 2 down to #27 by the end of Season 3. Before leaving the series to work on his new television series, Crime Story , Michael Mann handed the role of executive producer to future Law & Order creator Dick Wolf prior to the third season (1986–1987). Wolf had
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#17327724824271704-454: A crooked shell" and portrayed gangsters who showcased the "romantic mystique of the doomed criminal." The 1940s formed an ambivalence toward the criminal heroes. Leitch suggested that this shift was from the decline in high-profile organized crime, partly because of the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and partly because of the well-publicized success of the FBI. Unlike the crime films of the 1930s,
1846-494: A diverse selection of contemporary, mostly "upbeat" chart music and classic rock and pop, the third season's music lineup became much more somber, with songs like " In Dulce Decorum " by The Damned , " Lives in the Balance " by Jackson Browne , "Mercy" by Steve Jones , and " Never Let Me Down Again (Aggro Mix) " by Depeche Mode . All these changes were decidedly unwelcome, both by critics and by many viewers who had become fans of
1988-484: A film described as "crime/ action " or an "action/crime" or other hybrids was "only a semantic exercise" as both genres are important in the construction phase of the narrative. Mark Bould in A Companion to Film Noir stated that categorization of multiple generic genre labels was common in film reviews and rarely concerned with succinct descriptions that evoke elements of the film's form, content and make no claims beyond on how these elements combine. Leitch, stated that
2130-716: A gateway for sales to Latin America, as well as the Miami River Cops scandal (a real police corruption ring that involved narcotic thefts, drug dealing and murders), street prostitution, serial home burglaries, crimes committed by Cuban immigrants to Miami following the Mariel boatlift , and yakuza and Mafia activity in Miami. The series also took a look at political issues such as the Northern Ireland conflict ,
2272-455: A hacker who gets released from prison to pursue a cyberterrorist across the globe, was released in January 2015 by Universal. It received mixed reviews and was a commercial disaster, although several critics included it in their year-end "best-of" lists. Mann directed the first episode of the 2022 crime series Tokyo Vice for HBO Max , his first directing work since Blackhat . In August
2414-491: A hitman. Caroline Crockett, Sonny's first wife, as well as his son Billy reappeared briefly. Jan Hammer departed from the series at the end of the fourth season, having already handed much of the weekly scoring workload during the season over to John Petersen. The tone of many season 4 episodes grew lighter again, albeit sometimes veering off into the bizarre, e.g. episodes like "The Big Thaw", "Missing Hours", and "The Cows of October". Fashions and scene backdrops largely reassumed
2556-437: A line of Miami Vice dinner jackets, Kenneth Cole introduced Crockett and Tubbs shoes, and Macy's opened a Miami Vice section in its young men's department. Crockett also boosted Ray Ban's popularity by wearing a pair of Model L2052, Ray-Ban Wayfarers , which increased sales of Ray Bans to 720,000 units in 1984. In the spring of 1986, an electric razor became available named the "Stubble Device", allowing users to have
2698-491: A locker of the Hollywood Athletic Club. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) consolidated a tendency to define criminal subculture as a mirror of American culture. The cycle of caper films were foreshadowed by films like The Killers (1946) and Criss Cross (1949) to later examples like The Killing (1956) and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Leitch wrote that these films used the planning and action of
2840-501: A minor fashion trend, inspiring men to wear designer stubble at all times. In an average episode, Crockett and Tubbs wore five to eight outfits, appearing in shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia, and the show's other "approved" colors. Designers such as Vittorio Ricci, Gianni Versace , and Hugo Boss were consulted in keeping the male leads looking trendy. Costume designer Bambi Breakstone, who traveled to Milan , Paris, and London in search of new clothes, said that, "The concept of
2982-684: A mobster known as The Snapper Kid. Regeneration (1915) was an early feature-length film about a gangster who saved from a life of crime by a social worker. These two early films and films like Tod Browning 's Outside the Law (1920) that deal with the world of criminal activity were described by Silver and Ursini as being gangsters "constrained by a strong moral code". Stuart Kaminsky in American Film Genres (1974) stated that prior to Little Caesar (1931), gangster characters were in films were essentially romances . European films of
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#17327724824273124-497: A modernized, film adaptation based on the series, which was released in July 2006. The conception of the show is unclear. One version of events states that the head of NBC's Entertainment Division, Brandon Tartikoff , wrote a brainstorming memo that simply read " MTV cops", and later presented it to series creator Anthony Yerkovich , formerly a writer and producer for Hill Street Blues . Yerkovich, however, has indicated he devised
3266-480: A more distinctive style. Influenced by an Art Deco revival, no " earth tones " were allowed to be used in the production by executive producer Michael Mann . A director of Miami Vice , Bobby Roth , recalled: There are certain colors you are not allowed to shoot, such as red and brown. If the script says "A Mercedes pulls up here," the car people will show you three or four different Mercedes. One will be white, one will be black, one will be silver. You will not get
3408-590: A nomination for Mann's direction. Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film writing, " The Insider had a greater impact on me than All the President's Men , because you know what? Watergate didn't kill my parents. Cigarettes did." With his next film, Ali (2001), starring Will Smith , Mann started experimenting with digital cameras. For his action thriller film Collateral , which cast Tom Cruise against type by giving him
3550-441: A previously unaired episode during its syndication run of the series on January 25, 1990. Unlike standard police procedurals , the show drew heavily upon 1980s New Wave culture and is noted for its integration of contemporary pop and rock music, and stylish or stylized visuals. People magazine states that Miami Vice was the "first show to look really new and different since color TV was invented". Michael Mann also directed
3692-535: A psychopathic personality." Drew Todd in Shots in the Mirror: Crime Films and Society described the character as different than films featuring rebellious characters from the 1940s and 1950s, with a character whose anger is directed against the state, mixed with fantasies of vigilante justice. Films like Dirty Harry , The French Connection and Straw Dogs (1971) that presented a violent vigilante as
3834-428: A red or brown one. Michael knows how things are going to look on camera. Miami Vice was one of the first American network television programs to be broadcast in stereophonic sound. It is mixed in stereo for its entire run. Each episode of the series cost $ 2 million. Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were considered for the role of Sonny Crockett, but since it was not lucrative for film stars to venture into television at
3976-470: A remake of The Defiant Ones (1958). The cycle generally slowed down by the mid 1970s. Prison films closely followed the formulas of films of the past while having an increased level of profanity, violence and sex. Cool Hand Luke (1967) inaugurated the revival and was followed into the 1970s with films like Papillon (1973), Midnight Express (1978) and Escape from Alcatraz (1979). When Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, he ushered in
4118-534: A result of the attention the Scarab 38 KV garnered on Miami Vice , Wellcraft received "an onslaught of orders", increasing sales by 21% in one year. In appreciation, Wellcraft gave Don Johnson an exact duplicate of the boat. Afterward, Johnson was frequently seen arriving to work in it. Altogether, 100 copies of the boat , dubbed the Scarab 38KV Miami Vice Edition, were built by Wellcraft. The Miami Vice graphics and color scheme, which include turquoise, aqua, and orchid,
4260-496: A result, the Daytona lasted until season 2, at which point it was "blown up" in the season three premiere episode, "When Irish Eyes Are Crying". Neither the kit car nor its backup were actually destroyed, as the production company simply blew up a small, plastic model for both cost and safety reasons. The fake Ferraris were removed from the show, with Ferrari donating two brand new 1986 Testarossas as replacements. The Ferrari Daytona
4402-413: A robbery todramatize the "irreducible unreasonableness of life." The themes of existential despair made the these film popular with European filmmakers, who would make their own heist films like Rififi (1955) and Il bidone (1955). Filmmakers of the coming French New Wave movement would expand on these crime films into complex mixtures of nostalgia and critique with later pictures like Elevator to
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4544-420: A savior. By the mid-1970s, a traditional lead with good looks, brawn and bravery was replaced with characters who Todd described as a "pathological outcast, embittered and impulsively violent." Hollywood productions began courting films produced and marketed by white Americans for the purpose of trying to attract a new audience with blaxploitation film. These films were almost exclusively crime films following
4686-533: A second season after the airing of the pilot, it was eventually cancelled due to the death of three horses during production. In February 2013, it was announced that Mann had been developing an untitled thriller film with screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl for over a year, for Legendary Pictures . In May 2013, Mann started filming the action thriller, named Blackhat , in Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Jakarta . The film, starring Chris Hemsworth as
4828-489: Is a master of violence and lyrical anxiety". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Mann's directing, writing that "the action is richly detailed and thrillingly staged." This was followed by crime drama Heat (1995) starring Al Pacino , Robert De Niro , and Val Kilmer . The film, a remake of his TV movie L.A. Takedown , was a critical success with Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times calling
4970-402: Is a style of crime film that originated from two cinematic precursors: the gangster film and the gentleman thief film. The essential element in these films is the plot concentration on the commission of a single crime of great monetary significance, at least on the surface level. The narratives in these films focus on the heist being wrapped up in the execution of the crime more or at as much as
5112-626: Is also a film director and producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts , Cannes , and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . As a producer, Mann has twice received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture , first for The Insider and then The Aviator (2004), which Mann had been hired to direct before
5254-601: Is also frequently haunted by his past in Southeast Asia, which he had spent as a DEA agent in the Golden Triangle . In the first seasons the tone was lighter, especially when comical characters such as police informants Noogie Lamont ( Charlie Barnett ) and Izzy Moreno ( Martin Ferrero ) appeared. Later the content was darker and cynical, with Crockett and Tubbs fighting corruption, and storylines emphasizing
5396-423: Is different just as crime are different than horror, science fiction and period drama films. Rafter also suggested that Westerns could be considered crime films, but that this perception would only be "muddying conceptual waters." The history of the crime film before 1940 follows reflected the changing social attitudes toward crime and criminals. In the first twenty years of the 20th Century, American society
5538-493: Is repeatedly used as the back room of the Gold Coast Shipping building, where the offices of the vice squad are located. Miami Vice is noted for its innovative use of stereo broadcast music, particularly pop and rock hits of the 1980s, and the distinctive, synthesized instrumental music of Jan Hammer . While other television shows used made-for-TV music, Miami Vice would spend $ 10,000 or more per episode to buy
5680-421: Is the subject of a huge continuity error on the show, when it suddenly reappears in "El Viejo", six episodes after its destruction, without explanation. Originally "El Viejo" was set to be the third season premiere, but studio executives felt the Daytona's destruction would serve as a more dramatic opening to the season. Don Johnson's contract holdout at the start of the season also played a part, delaying filming to
5822-470: Is why Mann does not make films very often. Mann gained widespread recognition in 1992 for his film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel into the epic historical drama The Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day-Lewis . The film is set during the French and Indian War . Film critic Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly described Mann's directorial style, writing that "Mann, at his best,
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5964-410: The 60 Minutes segment about Jeffrey Wigand , a whistleblower in the tobacco industry . Russell Crowe portrayed Wigand, with Al Pacino playing Lowell Bergman , and Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace . The film showcased Mann's cinematic style and garnered the most critical recognition of his career up to this point. The Insider was nominated for seven Academy Awards as a result, including
6106-640: The British Board of Film Censors or conveyed mostly through narration. Box-office receipts began to grow stronger towards the late 1960s. Hollywood's demise of the Hays Code standards would allow for further violent, risqué and gory films. As college students at the University of Berkeley and University of Columbia demonstrated against racial injustice and the Vietnam, Hollywood generally ignored
6248-612: The Depression -era crime wave, based on Bryan Burrough 's nonfiction book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34 . It starred Johnny Depp and Christian Bale . Depp played John Dillinger in the film, and Bale played Melvin Purvis , the FBI agent in charge of capturing Dillinger. Mann signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski in 2009, calling for his release after Polanski
6390-503: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935), promoted bigger budgets and wider press for his organization and himself through a well-publicized crusade against such real world gangsters as Machine Gun Kelly , Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger . Hoover's fictionalized exploits were glorified in future films such as G Men (1935). Through the 1930s, American films view of criminals were predominantly glamorized, but as
6532-557: The University of Wisconsin–Madison . While a student, he saw Stanley Kubrick 's Dr. Strangelove and fell in love with movies. In an LA Weekly interview, he described the film's impact on him: It said to my whole generation of filmmakers that you could make an individual statement of high integrity and have that film be successfully seen by a mass audience all at the same time. In other words, you didn't have to be making Seven Brides for Seven Brothers if you wanted to work in
6674-1045: The Western film as they lack both the instantly recognizable or the unique intent of other genres such as parody films. Leitch and Rafter both write that it would be impractical to call every film in which a crime produces the central dramatic situation a crime film. Leitch gave an example that most Westerns from The Great Train Robbery (1903) to Unforgiven (1992) often have narratives about crime and punishment, but are not generally described as crime films. Films with crime-and-punishment themes like Winchester 73 (1950) and Rancho Notorious (1952) are classified as Westerns rather than crime films because their setting takes precedence over their story. Alain Silver and James Ursini argued in A Companion to Crime Fiction (2020) that "unquestionably most Western films are crime films" but that that their overriding generic identification
6816-495: The gangster film as both a genre on its own terms and a subgenre of the crime film. In these films, the gangster and their values have been imbedded through decades of reiteration and revision, generally with a masculine style where an elaboration on a codes of behavior by acts of decisive violence are central concerns. The archetypal gangster film was the Hollywood production Little Caesar (1931). A moral panic followed
6958-498: The " T-shirt under Armani jacket"–style, and popularized Italian men's fashion in the United States. Don Johnson 's typical attire of Italian sport coat, T-shirt, white linen pants, and slip-on sockless loafers became a hit. Crockett initially wore an 18k Rolex Day-Date "President" model in the first season, until Ebel won the contract for the remaining seasons. Similarly, Crockett's perpetually unshaven appearance sparked
7100-612: The 1940s films were based more on fictional tales with gangsters played by Paul Muni in Angel on My Shoulder (1946) and Cagney in White Heat (1949) were self-consciously anachronistic. Filmmakers from this period were fleeing Europe due to the rise of Nazism. These directors such as Fritz Lang , Robert Siodmak , and Billy Wilder would make crime films in the late 1930s and 1940s that were later described as film noir by French critics. Several films from 1944 like The Woman in
7242-689: The 1980s had an emphasis on the serial nature of their crimes with a larger number of films focusing on the repetitive nature of some murders. While many of these films were teen-oriented pictures, they also included films like Dressed to Kill (1980) and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and continued into the 2000s with films like Seven (1995), Kiss the Girls (1997), and American Psycho (2000). In an article by John G. Cawelti titled " Chinatown and Generic Transformations in Recent American Films" (1979), Cawleti noticed
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#17327724824277384-536: The 1986 season of Miami Vice was sold to a midwest couple, while the Endeavour 40, was sold to a chartering service in Fort Lauderdale . At the same time, Endeavour was building a new 42 for the 1987 season of Miami Vice . In the pilot episode, and for the first season, Crockett piloted a Chris-Craft Stinger 390 X – a 39-foot deep-v offshore racing boat. For the other four Stingers, Chris-Craft showed
7526-652: The 1990s with films like Wild at Heart (1990). Quentin Tarantino would continue this trend in the 1990s with films where violence and crime is treated lightly such as Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Natural Born Killers (1994) while Lynch and the Coens would continue with Fargo (1996) and Lost Highway (1997). Other directors such as Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet would continue to more traditional crime films Goodfellas , Prince of
7668-498: The American crime film which began rejecting linear storytelling and distinctions between right and wrong with works from directors like Brian de Palma with Dressed to Kill and Scarface and works from The Coen Brothers and David Lynch whose had Todd described as having "stylized yet gritty and dryly humorous pictures evoking dream states" with films like Blood Simple (1984) and Blue Velvet (1986) and would continue into
7810-522: The City (1980), Q & A (1990), and Casino (1995). Other trends of the 1990s extended boundaries of crime films, ranging from main characters who were female or minorities with films like Thelma and Louise (1991), Swoon (1991), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Bound (1996) and Dolores Claiborne (1996). Every genre is a subgenre of a wider genre from whose contexts its own conventions take their meaning, it makes sense to think of
7952-794: The Gallows (1958), Breathless (1960) and Shoot the Piano Player (1960). Following the classical noir period of 1940 to 1958, a return to the violence of the two previous decades. By 1960, film was losing popularity to television as the mass form of media entertainment. Despite To The crime film countered this by providing material no acceptable for television, first with a higher level of onscreen violence. Films like Psycho (1960) and Black Sunday (1960) marked an increase in onscreen violence in film. Prior to these films, violence and gorier scenes were cut in Hammer film productions by
8094-581: The June re-runs as "Lost Episodes". A fourth, previously unaired episode, "Too Much Too Late", was aired for the first time in 1990, on the USA Network . It has since been run by other networks in syndication with the fifth season episodes. Many actors, actresses, musicians, comedians, athletes and celebrities appear throughout the show's five-season run. They play many different roles from drug dealers to undercover cops to madams. The full list can be seen at
8236-660: The Mirror: Crime Films and Society (2006) found that film scholars had a traditional reluctance to examine the topic of crime films in their entirety due to complex nature of the topic. Carlos Clarens in his book Crime Movies (1980), described the crime film as a symbolic representation of criminals, law, and society. Clarens continued that they describe what is culturally and morally abnormal and differ from thriller films which he wrote as being more concerned with psychological and private situations. Thomas Schatz in Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and
8378-522: The Offshore World Cup in 1988 and continued racing into the 1990s. In the show's opening credits, along with both the pilot episode, "Brother's Keeper", and the season 4 episode, "Baseballs of Death", a Grumman Turbo Mallard (G-73T) amphibious airplane (registration # N2969), operated by Chalk's International Airlines made appearances. In the pilot episode, the drug dealer Calderone used N2969 to successfully escape from Crockett and Tubbs at
8520-704: The Power Station , Glenn Frey , Suicidal Tendencies , Willie Nelson , Ted Nugent , Frank Zappa , the Fat Boys , Sheena Easton , Gloria Estefan , and Gene Simmons . An iconic scene from the Miami Vice oeuvre involves Crockett and Tubbs driving through Miami at night to Phil Collins ' song " In the Air Tonight ". Jan Hammer credits executive producer Michael Mann with allowing him great creative freedom in scoring Miami Vice . Hammer later recalled in interviews that Michael Mann told him that as soon as
8662-516: The Studio System (1981) does not refer to the concept of crime film as a genre, and says that "such seemingly similar "urban crime" formulas" such as the gangster film and detective film were their own unique forms. Thomas Leitch, author of Crime Films (2004) stated that the crime film presents their defining subject as a crime culture that normalizes a place where crime is both shockingly disruptive and completely normal. Rafter suggested
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#17327724824278804-542: The TV series, due to the package that the first two seasons delivered. It caused the producers to retool their approach to Miami Vice for the following fourth season. By Season 4, most of the original writers had left the series. Stories and story arcs included a courtship and marriage between Sonny Crockett ( Don Johnson ) and Caitlin Davies ( Sheena Easton ), and a plot in which Crockett developed amnesia, during which he mistook himself for his drug dealer alter ego and became
8946-604: The United States, while under-performing in overseas box office. Mann's trademarks include powerfully-lit nighttime scenes and unusual scores, such as Tangerine Dream in Thief and the new-age score to Manhunter . Dante Spinotti is a frequent cinematographer of Mann's films. F. X. Feeney describes Mann's body of work in DGA Quarterly as "abundantly energetic in its precision and variety" and "psychologically layered". IndieWire ' s 2014 retrospective of
9088-461: The Window , Laura , Murder, My Sweet and Double Indemnity ushered in this film cycle. These works continued into the mid-1950s. A reaction to film noir came with films with a more semi-documentary approach pioneered by the thriller The House on 92nd Street (1945). This led to crime films taking a more realistic approach like Kiss of Death (1947) and The Naked City (1948). By
9230-468: The aspect of human tragedy behind a crime. The darker episodes sometimes lacked a denouement , each episode ending abruptly after a climax involving violence and death, often giving the episodes a despairing and sometimes nihilistic feel, despite the trademark glamour and conspicuous wealth. Given its idiosyncratic "dark" feel and touch, Miami Vice is frequently cited as an example of made-for-TV neo-noir . Michael Mann, who serves as executive producer for
9372-486: The best way to skirt complexities of various films that may be defined as crime films as works that focus primarily on crime and its consequences, and that they should be viewed as a category that encompasses a number genres, ranging from caper films , detective films, gangster films, cop and prison films and courtroom dramas. She said that like drama and romance film, they are umbrella terms that cover several smaller more coherent groups. The criminal acts in every film in
9514-546: The box office. The success of the film and its sequel The Godfather Part II (1974) reinforced the stature of the gangster film genre, which continued into the 1990s with films Scarface (1983), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Dirty Harry (1971) create a new form of police film, where Clint Eastwood 's performance as Inspector Callahan which critic Pauline Kael described as an "emotionless hero, who lives and kills as affectlessly as
9656-431: The character of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle who Leitch described as a "tireless, brutal, vicious and indifferent" in terms of constraints of the law and his commanding officers. The film won several Academy Awards and was successful in the box office. This was followed in critical and commercial success of The Godfather (1972) which also won a Best Picture Academy Award and performed even better than The French Connection in
9798-567: The climax of the episode. In the latter episode, Guerrero made an attempt to escape from the vice team in N2969 but ran out of fuel and was killed after he stole a fisherman's boat which then ran ashore and exploded. In December 2005, N2969 suffered a catastrophic structural failure when the right wing separated from the fuselage as the plane climbed out of Miami bound for the Bahamas. Both crew members and all 18 passengers were killed upon impact with
9940-639: The color was sort of beige. The art department instantly paints the house gray for me. Even on feature films people try to deliver what is necessary but no more. At Miami Vice they start with what's necessary and go beyond it." Miami Vice is to some degree credited with causing a wave of support for the preservation of Miami's famous Art Deco architecture in the mid-1980s to early 1990s; and many of those buildings, among them many beachfront hotels, have been renovated since filming, making that part of South Beach one of South Florida 's most popular places for tourists and celebrities. Other places commonly filmed in
10082-445: The concept after learning about asset forfeiture statutes allowing law enforcement agencies to confiscate the property of drug dealers for official use. The initial idea was for a movie about a pair of vice cops in Miami. Yerkovich then wrote a script for a two-hour pilot, titled Gold Coast , but later renamed it Miami Vice . Yerkovich was immediately drawn to South Florida as a setting for his new-style police show. In keeping with
10224-429: The continual breakdown and re-establishment of borders among criminals, crime solvers and victims, concluding that "this paradox is at the heart of all crime films." Rafter echoed these statements, saying crime films should be defined on the basis of their relationship with society. Leitch writes that crime films reinforce popular social beliefs of their audience, such as the road to hell is paved with good intentions ,
10366-412: The crime film was following changing attitudes towards the law and the social order that criminals metaphorically reflect while most film were also no more explicitly violent or explicitly sexual than those of 1934. White Heat (1949) inaugurated a cycle of crime films that would deal with the omnipresent danger of the nuclear bomb with its theme of when being threatened with technological nightmares,
10508-554: The criminal psychology and are characterized by and emphasis on the crime unfolding often though montage and extended sequences. The genre is sometimes used interchangeable with the term "caper". The term was used for the more dramatic films of the 1950s, while in the 1960s, it had stronger elements of romantic comedy with more playful elements as seen in films like The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Topkapi (1964). Leitch described combining genres as problematic. Screenwriter and academic Jule Selbo expanded on this, describing
10650-680: The decade ended, the attitudes Hollywood productions had towards fictional criminals grew less straightforward and more conflicted. In 1935, Humphrey Bogart played Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), a role Leitch described as the "first of Hollywood's overtly metaphorical gangsters." Bogart would appear in films in the later thirties: Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and The Roaring Twenties (1939). Unlike actor James Cagney , whose appeal as described by Leitch "direct, physical, and extroverted", Bogart characters and acting suggested "depths of worldly disillusionment beneath
10792-469: The degree of perfection with which color shades of scene backdrops, props and clothing are matched to each other. For its third season in 1986–87 after the cancellation of Knight Rider , the show moved from its traditional time slot of 10 pm on Friday nights to 9 pm, which now put it up against perennial Top 10 show Dallas . This began the show's decline, and in March, 1987, TV Guide ran
10934-427: The director's filmography focused on the intensity of Mann's ongoing interest in "stories pitting criminals against those who seek to put them behind bars ( Heat , Public Enemies , Thief , Collateral , Miami Vice ). His films frequently suggest that in fact, at the top of their respective games, crooks and cops are not so dissimilar as men: they each live and die by their own codes and they each recognize themselves in
11076-466: The drug trade—money laundering, bail bondsmen, attorneys who service drug smugglers. Miami has become a sort of Barbary Coast of free enterprise gone berserk. The choice of music and cinematography borrowed heavily from the emerging New Wave culture of the 1980s. As such, segments of Miami Vice sometimes used music-based stanzas, a technique later featured in Baywatch . As Lee H. Katzin , one of
11218-632: The drug war in South America (e.g. "Prodigal Son"), U.S. support of generals and dictators in Southeast Asia and South America, and the aftermath of the Vietnam War . Social issues like child abuse , homophobia , and the AIDS crisis were also covered. Personal issues also arose: Crockett separated from his wife Caroline ( Belinda Montgomery ) in the pilot and divorced in the fourth episode, and later his second wife Caitlin Davies ( Sheena Easton )
11360-586: The early 1990s and, to some extent, has had a lasting impact. Miami Vice also popularized certain brands of firearms and accessories. After Johnson became dissatisfied with his gun holster, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) sent their president, Rick Gallagher, to personally fit Don Johnson with an "Original Jackass Rig", later renamed the Galco "Miami Classic". The Bren Ten , manufactured by Dornaus & Dixon ,
11502-401: The end of the decade, American critics such as Parker Tyler and Robert Warshow regarded Hollywood itself as a stage for repressed American cultural anxieties following World War II. This can be seen in films such as Brute Force , a prison film where the prison is an existential social metaphor for a what Leitch described as a "meaningless, tragically unjust round of activities." By 1950,
11644-543: The film a "sleek, accomplished piece of work, meticulously controlled and completely involving. The dark end of the street doesn't get much more inviting than this." Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Stunningly made and incisively acted by a large and terrific cast, Michael Mann's ambitious study of the relativity of good and evil stands apart from other films of its type by virtue of its extraordinarily rich characterizations and its thoughtful, deeply melancholy take on modern life." In 1999, Mann filmed The Insider about
11786-439: The first season and one in the second) and the pilot episode for Vega$ . Around this time, he worked on a show called Police Story with cop-turned-novelist Joseph Wambaugh . Police Story concentrated on the detailed realism of a real cop's life and taught Mann that first-hand research was essential to bring authenticity to his work. Mann also wrote an early draft of the 1978 film Straight Time . His first feature movie
11928-456: The form of a film trailer for a purported thriller featuring Benicio del Toro . In the fall of 2007, Mann directed two commercials for Nike . The ad campaign "Leave Nothing" features football action scenes with former NFL players Shawne Merriman and Steven Jackson , as well as using the score "Promontory" from the soundtrack of The Last of the Mohicans . Mann directed the 2008 promotional video for Ferrari 's California sports car. Mann
12070-536: The gangster films of the early 1930s were influenced by the early 1920s when cheap wood-pulp paper stocks led to an explosion in mass-market publishing. Newspapers would make folk heroes of bootleggers like Al Capone , while pulp magazines like Black Mask (1920) helped support more highbrow magazines such as The Smart Set which published stories of hard-edged detetives like Carroll John Daly 's Race Williams. The early wave of gangster films borrowed liberally from stories for early Hollywood productions that defined
12212-486: The genre has been popular since the dawn of the sound era of film. Ursini and Silver said that unlike the Western, the horror film, or the war film, the popularity of crime cinema has never waned. Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author, and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas . He has received numerous accolades including
12354-412: The genre represents a larger critique of either social or institutional order from the perspective of a character or from the film's narrative at large. The films also depend on the audience ambivalence towards crime. Master criminals are portrayed as immoral but glamourous while maverick police officers break the law to capture criminals. Leitch defined this as a critical to the film as the films are about
12496-566: The genre with films like Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932). In comparison to much earlier films of the silent era, Leitch described the 1930s cycle as turning "the bighearted crook silent films had considered ripe for redemption into a remorseless killer." Hollywood Studio heads were under such constant pressure from public-interest groups to tone down their portrayal of professional criminals that as early as 1931. Jack L. Warner announced that Warner Bros. would stop producing such films. Scarface itself
12638-526: The growing rage against the establishment spilled into portrayal police themselves with films like Bullitt (1968) about a police officer caught between mob killers and ruthless politicians while In the Heat of the Night (1967) which called for racial equality and became the first crime film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture . The French Connection (1971) dispensed Bullitt ' s noble hero for
12780-445: The law is above individuals, and that crime does not pay. The genre also generally has endings that confirm the moral absolutes that an innocent victim, a menacing criminal, and detective and their own morals that inspire them by questioning their heroic or pathetic status, their moral authority of the justice system, or by presenting innocent characters who seem guilty and vice-versa. Crime films includes all films that focus on any of
12922-771: The link above, as this is just a partial list. Musicians include Sheena Easton , John Taylor , Andy Taylor , Willie Nelson , Gene Simmons , and Ted Nugent Additionally Glenn Frey , Frank Zappa , Phil Collins , Miles Davis , Frankie Valli , Little Richard , James Brown , Leonard Cohen , the Power Station , Coati Mundi , and Eartha Kitt . Crime drama Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identified crime film as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy , claiming that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, slice of life, sports, thriller, war and western. Williams identifies drama in
13064-498: The main gangster Jody Jarrett fights fire with fire. These themes extended into two other major crime films by bring the issues down from global to the subcultural level: The Big Heat (1953) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955) which use apocalyptical imagery to indicate danger with the first film which the film persistently links to images of catastrophically uncontrolled power and the "traumatic consequences" of nuclear holocaust and Kiss Me Deadly literally features an atom bomb waiting in
13206-422: The mainstream film industry, or be reduced to niche filmmaking if you wanted to be serious about cinema. So that's what Kubrick meant, aside from the fact that Strangelove was a revelation. Mann graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BA in 1965. In 1967 he earned an MA from the London Film School . Mann later moved to London in the mid-1960s to go to graduate school in cinema. He went on to receive
13348-515: The majority of the show's five-year run, is often credited with being one of the most influential neo-noir directors. The second-season episode " Out Where the Buses Don't Run " ranks #90 on TV Guide ' s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time list. During its five-year run, Miami Vice underwent several noticeable changes in its formula and content. Between seasons one and two, however, these changes were mostly subtle and involved details such as
13490-464: The network and Johnson were able to resolve their differences and he continued with the series until its end. Despite the Miami setting, the producers initially planned to film the series in Los Angeles. However, by the time production began, the decision had been made to shoot in Miami itself. Many episodes of Miami Vice were filmed in the South Beach section of Miami Beach , an area which, at
13632-405: The only or first gangster film following the fall of the production code, The Godfather (1972) was the most popular and launched a major revival of the style. The film followed the themes of the genres past while adding new emphasis on the intricate world of the mafia and its scale and seriousness that established new parameters for the genre. The heist film, also known as the "big caper" film
13774-456: The other." Mann's films have been noted for their realism when it comes to capturing the sounds of gunfire, with him preferring to use raw audio captured from the scene, rather than a sound mix. Many of his films feature practical effects to produce the action scenes, with actors attending boot camps for weapons handling and firing 'full load' blanks in scenes to accurately represent the sound of live ammunition. Mann's daughter Ami Canaan Mann
13916-407: The pastel hues of seasons 1 and 2, and the choice of music became more varied again. Hopes by the producers of propitiating former and remaining fans this way only materializing very mutedly, and reception was lukewarm, as evidenced by the show's still declining ratings during season four. The fifth season (1988–1989) saw the show return to its original timeslot, 10 pm on Friday nights and took
14058-536: The point where "El Viejo" could not finish in time for the season premiere. The series' crew also used a third Testarossa lookalike, which was the stunt car. Carl Roberts, who had worked on the Daytona kit cars, offered to build the stunt car. Roberts decided to use a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera , which had the same wheelbase as the Testarossa and thus was perfect for the body pieces. The vehicle was modified to withstand daily usage on set, and continued to be driven until
14200-548: The popular TV series Miami Vice (1984–90), which he adapted into a 2006 feature film . Mann was born February 5, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois. He is Jewish and the son of Esther and Jack Mann. His grandfather left the Russian Empire in 1912, and brought his wife and Mann's father over in 1922. Mann graduated from Amundsen High School , also the alma mater of Bob Fosse . He then studied English literature at
14342-457: The production crew a color scheme that included the red – however, since Michael Mann decided that the color red was to never show up on the show, a blue color scheme was chosen instead. The Stingers used on the show were not free from Chris-Craft. This situation caused the production team to switch to using Wellcraft 38 Scarab KVs for the remainder of the show. The Scarab 38 KVs were a 28-hued, twin 440-hp boat that sold for $ 130,000 in 1986. As
14484-617: The public, including the Steyr AUG , MAC-10 and the Desert Eagle , were showcased to a wide audience on this show. Even heavy guns came to use, as Zito is seen maneuvering an M60 machine gun from a rooftop in the episode "Lombard". Two automobiles drew a lot of attention in Miami Vice , the Ferrari Daytona and Testarossa . During the first two seasons and two episodes of the third season, Detective Sonny Crockett drove
14626-434: The release of the early gangster films following Little Caesar , which led to the 1935 Production Code Administration in 1935 ending its first major cycle. As early as 1939, the traditional gangster was already a nostalgic figure as seen in films like The Roaring Twenties (1939). American productions about career criminals became possible through the relaxation of the code in the 1950s and its abolition in 1966. While not
14768-449: The remainder of the series' run and brought with him a style of instrumental synthesizer music that was markedly different from Jan Hammer's. After still-declining ratings during the fourth season, NBC originally planned to order just a shortened fifth season of only 13 episodes, but eventually settled for another full run, which was, either way, going to be the final season. At the beginning of season five, Olivia Brown recalled, "The show
14910-467: The rights to original recordings. Getting a song played on Miami Vice was a boost to record labels and artists. Some newspapers, such as USA Today , would let readers know the songs that would be featured each week. Among the many well-known bands and artists, as well as underground or 'new wave' associated acts, who contributed their music to the show were: Several artists guest-star in episodes, including Leonard Cohen , Phil Collins , Miles Davis ,
15052-496: The role of a hitman, Mann shot all of the exterior scenes digitally so that he could achieve more depth and detail during the night scenes while shooting most of the interiors on film stock. Jamie Foxx was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Collateral . In 2004, Mann produced Martin Scorsese 's The Aviator , based on the life of Howard Hughes , which he had developed with Leonardo DiCaprio . The Aviator
15194-669: The same year, Mann released Heat 2 , a novel he had co-written with Meg Gardiner . The book takes place from 1988 to 2000, covering events that happen before and after the 1995 film. The same month, Mann began shooting Ferrari starring Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz in Modena . The film premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival and was released in the US in December 2023. Ferrari received generally positive reviews from critics and attained moderate box office success in
15336-412: The series ended. Crockett was also seen driving a black 1978 Porsche 911 SC Targa in a flashback to 1980 in the Season 3 episode "Forgive Us Our Debts." Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, drove a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Convertible . Stan Switek drove a turquoise 1961 Ford Thunderbird . Gina Calabrese drove a 1971 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible . When Stan and Larry were undercover, they drove
15478-486: The series include locations around Broward and Palm Beach counties. Interior scenes were initially supposed to be filmed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, but to simplify cross-country logistics, the decision was made to use the facilities of Greenwich Studios in North Miami instead, and only carry out post-production in L.A. In a few scenes, particularly in earlier episodes, Greenwich Studios' rear loading dock
15620-415: The series, Sonny Crockett lived on an Endeavour sailboat, St. Vitus' Dance , while in the pilot episode, Crockett is seen on a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat. In season 1, he is seen living on an Endeavour 40 sailboat, while in the rest of the series (seasons 2 to 5) he is seen living on an Endeavour 42 sailboat (priced at $ 120,000 in 1986). The allure of the sailboats was such that the Endeavour 42 used for
15762-565: The serious human aspect of crime than on glamorizing the tropical lifestyles of drug dealers and other high-profile criminals. This shift in tone also reflected in the series' fashions, color schemes, and its choice of music. The cast started wearing pronouncedly dark clothing and even earthtones, which had famously been avoided by executive producer Michael Mann in seasons one and two. Color palettes of scene backdrops started becoming much darker as well, with pastels replaced by harsher-appearing shades of neon. Whereas seasons one and two always featured
15904-530: The short film Jaunpuri which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1970 . Mann returned to the United States after divorcing his first wife in 1971. He went on to direct a road trip documentary, 17 Days Down the Line . Three years later, Hawaii Five-O veteran Robert Lewin gave Mann a shot and a crash course on television writing and story structure. Mann wrote four episodes of Starsky and Hutch (three in
16046-544: The show focus on contemporary issues like the Troubles in Northern Ireland and capital punishment. In addition to losing the battle against new timeslot rival Dallas, the general tone of season 3 episodes started to become more serious and less lighthearted than in previous seasons. Comedic scenes and subplots became distinctly rare. True to Dick Wolf's "grabbed from the headlines" approach which he later employed in TV series like Law & Order , storylines focused more on
16188-465: The show is to be on top of all the latest fashion trends in Europe." Jodi Tillen, the costume designer for the first season, along with Michael Mann , set the style. The abundance of pastel colors on the show reflects Miami's Art-deco architecture. During its five-year run, consumer demand for unstructured blazers, shiny fabric jackets, and lighter pastels increased. After Six formal wear even created
16330-468: The show on a yet more serious tone, with storylines becoming dark and gritty – enough so that even some of the most loyal fans were left perplexed. Some of the lack of script quality could be attributed to the Writers Guild strike throughout spring and summer of 1988, which ended just before filming of season 5 began, but greatly impacted its preparation. Tim Truman took over scoring the episodes for
16472-425: The show's directors, remarked, "The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words." These elements made the series into an instant hit, and in its first season saw an unprecedented fifteen Emmy Award nominations. While the first few episodes contain elements of a standard police procedural , the producers soon abandoned them in favor of
16614-511: The show's production would start, Mann wanted him to "run with it" . The collaboration resulted in memorable instrumental pieces, including the show's title theme , which climbed to the top of the Billboard charts in November 1985. The Miami Vice original soundtrack, featuring the theme song and Glenn Frey's " Smuggler's Blues " and " You Belong to the City " (a No. 2 hit), remained at
16756-434: The show's run, three official soundtrack albums with original music from the episodes were released. Hammer also released several albums with music from the series; among them are Escape from Television (1987), Snapshots (1989), and after many requests from fans, Miami Vice: The Complete Collection (2002). The clothes worn on Miami Vice had a significant influence on men's fashion . They popularized, if not invented,
16898-493: The show's title, most episodes focus on combating drug trafficking and prostitution. Episodes often end in an intense gun battle, claiming the lives of several criminals before they can be apprehended. An undercurrent of cynicism and futility underlies the entire series. The detectives repeatedly refer to the " Whac-A-Mole " nature of drug interdiction, with its parade of drug cartels quickly replacing those that are apprehended. Co-executive producer Yerkovich explained: Even when I
17040-536: The silent era differed radically from the Hollywood productions, reflecting the post-World War I continental culture. Drew Todd wrote that with this, Europeans tended to create darker stories and the audiences of these films were readier to accept these narratives. Several European silent films go much further in exploring the mystique of the criminal figures. These followed the success in France of Louis Feuillade 's film serial Fantômas (1913). The average budget for
17182-402: The street". In early episodes in particular, local elderly residents were frequently cast as extras. Some street corners of South Beach were so run down that the production crew actually decided to repaint the exterior walls of some buildings before filming. The crew went to great lengths to find the correct settings and props. Bobby Roth recalled, "I found this house that was really perfect, but
17324-410: The success of Shaft (1971) which led to studios rushing to follow it's popularity with films like Super Fly (1972), Black Caesar (1973), Coffy (1973) and The Black Godfather (1974) The films were often derivations of earlier films such as Cool Breeze (1972), a remake of The Asphalt Jungle , Hit Man (1972) a remake of Get Carter (1971), and Black Mama, White Mama (1973)
17466-407: The three parties to a crime: criminal, victims, and avengers and explores what one party's relation to the other two. This allows the crime film to encompass films as wide as Wall Street (1987); caper films like The Asphalt Jungle (1950); and prison films ranging from Brute Force (1947) to The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Crime films are not definable by their mise-en-scene such as
17608-414: The time, other candidates were considered. Mickey Rourke was also considered for the role, but he turned down the offer. Larry Wilcox , of CHiPs , was also a candidate for the role of Crockett, but the producers felt going from one police officer role to another would not be a good fit. After dozens of candidates and a twice-delayed pilot shooting, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas were chosen as
17750-429: The time, was blighted by poverty and crime, with its demographic so deteriorated that there "simply weren't many people on the street. Ocean Drive's hotels were filled with elderly, mostly Jewish retirees, many of them frail, subsisting on meager Social Security payments. ... They were filming all over Miami Beach. ... They could film in the middle of the street. There was literally nobody there. There were no cars parked in
17892-399: The top of the U.S. album chart for 11 weeks in 1985, making it the most successful TV soundtrack at the time. The theme song was so popular that it also garnered two Grammy Awards in 1986. It was also voted the number-one theme song of all time by TV Guide readers. " Crockett's Theme ", another recurring tune from the show, became a No. 1 hit in several European countries in 1987. During
18034-460: The vice cops. For Johnson, who was by then 34 years old, NBC had particular doubts about the several earlier unsuccessful pilots in which he starred. Jimmy Smits played Eddie Rivera, Crockett's ill-fated partner, in the pilot episode. After two seasons, Don Johnson threatened to walk from the series as part of a highly publicized contract dispute. The network was ready to replace him with Mark Harmon , who had recently departed St. Elsewhere , but
18176-450: The war in narratives, with exceptions of film like The Green Berets (1968). The crime film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) revived the gangster film genre and captured the antiestablishment tone and set new standards for onscreen violence in film with its themes of demonizing American institution to attack the moral injustice of draft. This increase of violence was reflected in other crime films such as Point Blank (1967). Leitch found
18318-401: The water. Scripts were loosely based on actual crimes that occurred in Miami over the years. This included both local, international, and global organized crime. Many episodes focused on drug trafficking (for which real-life Miami was a main hub and entrance point into North America in the early 1980s). Other episodes were based on crimes such as firearms trafficking, for which Miami was equally
18460-554: Was Thief (1981) starring James Caan , a relatively accurate depiction of thieves that operated in New York City and Chicago at that time. Mann used actual former professional burglars to keep the technical scenes as genuine as possible. His next film was The Keep (1983), a supernatural thriller set in Nazi -occupied Romania . Though it was a commercial flop, the film has since attained cult status amongst fans. In 1986, Mann
18602-495: Was a stainless steel handgun used by Don Johnson during Miami Vice's first two seasons. Dornaus & Dixon went out of business in 1986, and Smith & Wesson was offered a contract to outfit Johnson's character with a S&W Model 645 during season three. Several firearms never before seen on TV were featured prominently for the first time in the show, including the Glock 17 pistol. In addition, firearms not yet well known to
18744-628: Was a television special called The Jericho Mile , which was released theatrically in Europe. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special in 1979 and the DGA Best Director award. His television work also includes being the executive producer on Miami Vice and Crime Story . Contrary to popular belief, he was not the creator of these shows, but the executive producer and showrunner , produced by his production company. Mann's debut feature in cinema as director
18886-529: Was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. In January 2010, it was reported by Variety that Mann, alongside David Milch , would serve as co-executive producer of new TV series Luck starring Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Farina . The series was an hour-long HBO production, and Mann directed the series' pilot. Although initially renewed for
19028-703: Was available by special order on any model Scarab from 20 to 38 feet. Don Johnson also participated in the design of the Scarab Excel 43 ft, Don Johnson Signature Series (DJSS), and raced a similar one. The DJSS was powered by twin 650-hp Lamborghini V-12 engines, which caused some problems to the design of the boat due to their size. Overall the boat cost $ 300,000 with each engine amounting to between $ 60–$ 70,000. His interest in boat racing eventually led Johnson to start his own offshore powerboat racing team, named Team USA . Joining him were Hollywood stars including Kurt Russell and Chuck Norris . Johnson won
19170-532: Was delayed for over a year as its director Howard Hughes talked with the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America 's Production Code Office over the films violence and overtones of incest. A new wave of crime films that began in 1934 were made that had law enforcers as glamourous and as charismatic as the criminals. J. Edgar Hoover , director the Bureau of Investigation (renamed
19312-603: Was killed by one of his enemies. In the three episodes "Mirror Image", "Hostile Takeover", and "Redemption in Blood", a concussion caused by an explosion caused Crockett to believe he was his undercover alter ego Sonny Burnett, a drug dealer. Tubbs had a running, partly personal vendetta with the Calderone family, a member of which ordered the death of his brother Rafael, a New York City police detective. Lieutenant Martin Castillo
19454-470: Was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to Million Dollar Baby . After Collateral , Mann directed the film adaptation of Miami Vice which he also executive produced. The film starred Colin Farrell as Don Johnson 's character Sonny Crockett, and Jamie Foxx filling Philip Michael Thomas ' shoes. Mann directed the 2002 " Lucky Star " advertisement for Mercedes-Benz , which took
19596-418: Was on Hill Street Blues , I was collecting information on Miami, I thought of it as a sort of a modern-day American Casablanca . It seemed to be an interesting socio-economic tide pool: the incredible number of refugees from Central America and Cuba , the already extensive Cuban-American community, and on top of all that the drug trade. There is a fascinating amount of service industries that revolve around
19738-484: Was producer with Peter Berg as director for The Kingdom and Hancock . Hancock stars Will Smith as a hard-drinking superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public and who begins to have a relationship with the wife ( Charlize Theron ) of a public relations expert ( Jason Bateman ), who is helping him to repair his image. Mann makes a cameo appearance in the film as an executive. In 2009, Mann wrote and directed Public Enemies for Universal Pictures , about
19880-465: Was the first to bring Thomas Harris ' character of serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the screen with Manhunter , his adaptation of the novel Red Dragon , which starred Brian Cox as Hannibal. In an interview on the Manhunter DVD, star William Petersen comments that because Mann is so focused on his creations, it takes several years for him to complete a film; Petersen believes that this
20022-427: Was trying to reinvent itself." Dick Wolf said in an interview for E! True Hollywood Story , after the fifth season, it was all just "...kind of over", and that the show had "run its course". In May 1989, NBC aired the two-hour series finale, "Freefall". Despite its status as the "series finale", there were three episodes that did not air ("World of Trouble", "Miracle Man", and "Leap of Faith"), which appeared during
20164-400: Was under intense social reform with cities rapidly expanding and leading to social unrest and street crime rising and some people forming criminal gangs. In this early silent film period, criminals were more prominent on film screens than enforcers of the law. Among these early films from the period is D.W. Griffith 's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) involving a young woman hounded by
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