Miami Vice

[areaseven]

Miami Vice
Universal Pictures, 1984-1989, 2005-2007
Created by Anthony Yerkovich (Hill Street Blues, Big Apple)
Executive Producer: Michael Mann (Collateral, Heat)
Running Time: 50 minutes per episode (110 minutes for the pilot episode)
Rated TV-14 for violence, suggestive drug use, and mild language.

Cast
Don Johnson as Detective James "Sonny" Crockett (a.k.a. Sonny Burnett)
Philip Michael Thomas as Detective Ricardo Tubbs (a.k.a. Teddy Prentiss)
Edward James Olmos as Lt. Martin Castillo
Saundra Santiago as Detective Gina Navarro Calabrese
Olivia Brown as Detective Trudy Joplin
Michael Talbott as Detective Stan Switek
John Diehl as Detective Larry Zito

Gregory Sierra as Lt. Lou Rodriguez (eps. 1-4)

In 1984, Universal Pictures and NBC unleashed a new kind of cop show on network television. Miami Vice featured the adventures of loose cannon Sonny Crockett and New York transfer Ricardo Tubbs, as they teamed up to clean the Miami streets of drug cartels and high-profile hoodlums. It was a major gamble for Universal, as they spent an average of US$1.5 million per episode. But thanks to the show's use of cutting-edge cinematography, outrageous wardrobe designs, elaborate pastel backgrounds, theatrical-grade special effects, a completely unique soundtrack and gritty storytelling, Miami Vice garnered dozens of nominations and awards from the Emmys and Golden Globes. It even launched the careers of big-name actors like Ving Rhames, John Leguizamo, Julia Roberts and Wesley Snipes.

Styles come and go, and Miami Vice may have ended a decade and a half ago, but it still continues to inspire just about everyone in the entertainment industry. As a matter of fact, it was the key inspiration to Rockstar Games' best-selling game Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

I'll tell you one thing: I never get tired of watching Miami Vice. And with 22 episodes on three double-sided discs, this newly-released DVD season 1 boxed set makes the viewing experience even better. Each episode is digitally remastered with crisp 5.1 surround sound audio. Whether it's the explosive action or the awesome title theme by Jan Hammer (Beyond the Mind's Eye), you have to crank it up. And sure, much of the series is over-the-top, but hey - it was the '80s; a decade devoid of boring reality-based TV shows. Aside from Sledge Hammer! and The A-Team, Miami Vice remains among the most fun-to-watch from that era.

If you love this show as much as I do, then it's mandatory to add this boxed set to your collection. First-timers will want to check this out before Universal releases the new Miami Vice movie next year.

Rating: A

DVD Extras: A-
Disc 1 includes the following supplemental material:

- The Vibe of Vice - An introduction to how the series became a hit.
- Building the Perfect Vice - Interviews with the people who created the series.
- The Style of Vice - A look at the show's fashion and how it influenced pop culture.
- The Music of Vice - How music by Jan Hammer, Phil Collins and other top artists made the soundtrack a best-seller.
- Miami After Vice - Just a travel commercial by the City of Miami.

Reference
The Internet Movie Database

Edited October 27, 2014 by areaseven

[Kin]

I love Miami Vice!

I'm a member of miami-vice.org forum. There's a guy on that forum who was a cameraman. He reveiled some nice behind the scenes photo's and also... the guy they interogated in episode 4 season 1 take, was in real life convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death a few years after that.

The Noogie guy was passed away cause of aids.

Check out: his webpage

Edited March 8, 2005 by Kin

[areaseven]

The guy they interrogated in episode 4 season 1 was, in real life, convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death a few years after that.

Wow, that's an oddity right there. Did he commit the crimes before or after appearing on the show? If it was before the show, the producers must've had really big balls to cast him.

[Kin]

The guy they interrogated in episode 4 season 1 was, in real life, convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death a few years after that.

Wow, that's an oddity right there. Did he commit the crimes before or after appearing on the show? If it was before the show, the producers must've had really big balls to cast him.

Well I'm not sure... maybe his trial was on proces during the shoots.

[UN Spacy]

Isn't Michael Mann also producing the NEW Miami Vice movie coming out next year?

[EXO]

Isn't Michael Mann also producing the NEW Miami Vice movie coming out next year?

Yeah as JsArclight about it... he's so excited about the news when he heard...

My favorite epsiode was when Bruce Willis guest starred as a wife beating coke dealer...

[Agent ONE]

Isn't Michael Mann also producing the NEW Miami Vice movie coming out next year? 

Yeah as JsArclight about it... he's so excited about the news when he heard...

...

Well after Colateral, I think everyone should be excited.

[Kin]

Well many fan's I know are dissapointed that farrel is the new Sonny... if you see his pic... it's just awfull

[Otaku-Smeghead]

I was a bit young for Vice when it first came out but I got it outa cusiousity.. and so Far I like it and will continue to buy future saeasons. Seing Al Bundy as a Stressed FBI Agent was cool. and Edward James Olmos rocks as always

PS Jamie Fox is Tubbs in the movie

Edited March 8, 2005 by Otaku-Smeghead

[Agent ONE]

Well many fan's I know are dissapointed that farrel is the new Sonny... if you see his pic... it's just awfull

I didn't know that... that sucks. I can't stand that guy. He is like the new Kevin Costner.

[Nightbat]

Seeing Al Bundy as a Stressed FBI Agent was cool

Not only that, but that was one hell of a cool ep.

The ones with Phil Collins as Smal Fry thief were fun!

[Cyclone]

I re-watched other 80 shows I saw as a kid, A-Team and Knight Rider for example, and none have seemed to have aged as well as Miami Vice.

Still, I can't help but giggle when they don't think of checking them new fangled video secruity cameras until the last minutes of the episode to close case, opposed to modern cop shows where it's the first thing they do

Cyc

[Hurin]

I didn't know that... that sucks.  I can't stand that guy.  He is like the new Kevin Costner.

Hmmmm, talent-less dramatic actor with huge ego who won an oscar as a directory and then managed to ruin every project he's since been in with his monstrously large ego.

vs

comic actor who constantly tells everyone he doesn't belong in Hollywood and he's expecting everyone to discover he's a fraud and have him kicked out of show business (Farrell has said this in just about every interview I've ever seen him do).

Yeah, the similarities are astounding.

So, they're turning Miami Vice into a comedy like they did Starsky and Hutch?

H

[Agent ONE]

I didn't know that... that sucks.  I can't stand that guy.  He is like the new Kevin Costner.

Hmmmm, talent-less dramatic actor with huge ego who won an oscar as a directory and then managed to ruin every project he's since been in with his monstrously large ego.

vs

comic actor who constantly tells everyone he doesn't belong in Hollywood and he's expecting everyone to discover he's a fraud and have him kicked out of show business (Farrell has said this in just about every interview I've ever seen him do).

Yeah, the similarities are astounding.

So, they're turning Miami Vice into a comedy like they did Starsky and Hutch?

H

I don't care what they say... I never listen to actor interviews anyway. They are similar because they are viod of personality. I can't imagine you are a CF fan so why the hell do you care what my comparison of him is?

[Hurin]

I didn't know that... that sucks.  I can't stand that guy.  He is like the new Kevin Costner.

Hmmmm, talent-less dramatic actor with huge ego who won an oscar as a directory and then managed to ruin every project he's since been in with his monstrously large ego.

vs

comic actor who constantly tells everyone he doesn't belong in Hollywood and he's expecting everyone to discover he's a fraud and have him kicked out of show business (Farrell has said this in just about every interview I've ever seen him do).

Yeah, the similarities are astounding.

So, they're turning Miami Vice into a comedy like they did Starsky and Hutch?

H

I don't care what they say... I never listen to actor interviews anyway. They are similar because they are viod of personality. I can't imagine you are a CF fan so why the hell do you care what my comparison of him is?

Oh crap. My mistake, I suck. I thought we were talking about Will Farrel (Anchorman, Elf, Zoolander, etc.). Not Colin.

My apologies. I misunderstood. In light of this, your comparison was apt.

H

[Agent ONE]

I didn't know that... that sucks.  I can't stand that guy.  He is like the new Kevin Costner.

Hmmmm, talent-less dramatic actor with huge ego who won an oscar as a directory and then managed to ruin every project he's since been in with his monstrously large ego.

vs

comic actor who constantly tells everyone he doesn't belong in Hollywood and he's expecting everyone to discover he's a fraud and have him kicked out of show business (Farrell has said this in just about every interview I've ever seen him do).

Yeah, the similarities are astounding.

So, they're turning Miami Vice into a comedy like they did Starsky and Hutch?

H

I don't care what they say... I never listen to actor interviews anyway. They are similar because they are viod of personality. I can't imagine you are a CF fan so why the hell do you care what my comparison of him is?

Oh crap. My mistake, I suck. I thought we were talking about Will Farrel (Anchorman, Elf, Zoolander, etc.). Not Colin.

My apologies. I misunderstood. In light of this, your comparison was apt.

H

Thank CROM!

I would take a bullet for Will Farrel. Of course I am indestructable so its not THAT big of a deal. But he still rules.

[Kin]

Well the new movie... I'm gonna miss the good ol MTV music, wonderfull beach babes, bolides and raybans.

[Noriko Takaya]

The only reason to watch Miami Vice: G. Gordon Liddy!

[Graham]

Always loved Miami Vice, the cool cars, the guns, the action, the music.......perfection!

Received my boxed set from Amazon a couple of weeks ago, but haven't found the time to watch it yet.

And yes, Colin Farrel as Sonny Crocket in the new movie sucks. I doubt even Michael Mann's direction will be able to save the movie.

Graham

[JsARCLIGHT]

BAH! Collin Farrell... as stated elsewhere I agree with Chris Rock 100%: "If you want Russell Crowe... and can only get Collin Farrell... WAIT!"

My big gripes on MV the movie are about the context and the name...

Miami Vice is as tied to it's decade as Vision Street Wear, the Bangles and Keytars. The root essence of the show is about the great "coke scare" that america was frightened and at the same time enthralled by. Unable to get inside these uber rich and powerful coke baron's world to bust them cops of the day went undercover as coke barons themselves. They had the designer clothes, hot cars, fast women and slick style that all that coke money could buy. A lot of people ask "what wasn't the show called 'Miami Narc' rather than Miami Vice?"... because in the early '80s drug dealers were under the juristiction of Vice cops most of the time... it was not until the great drug explosion of the mid eighties did departments have to dedicate entire sections (narcotics) to the pursuit of drug dealers. Anyway back to my point... this world, this "era" of coke barons smuggling giao in hot cigarette boats, living in mansions in plain view and spending their mountains of cash on everything they wanted only exsisted for a short period of time. In the mid to late eighties Uncle Sucker got wise and in some cases even declaired outright war on drug barons and coke lords. The era of the millionare drug runner vanished as quickly as it rose. Today's drug dealer media image is one of the "Thug", the gang memeber who sells rock on his street corner and buys his "bling"... the biker cooking meth in a trailer... the raver club kid selling ex tabs... the war on drugs made the drug dealers smarter. The big boys no longer flaunt their excess and most of the times cops today go undercover as jittery crack whores and low level street pushers rather than the slick deconstructed linnen suit wearing, $250K italian sports car driving walking GQ model. The '80s, the decade known for immense greed, corruption and wealth was just that... on all fronts. When the '80s ended that whole image ended.

This new Miami Vice movie is somehow trying to transplant the image of the '80s undercover coke baron cop into the new millenium and it just doesn't work. A true Miami Vice of today would be more like "White Trash Biker Cops" or "LA Thug Life" than the high style, well financed, all image undercover roles of the past. All one has to do is watch COPS or know real cops to know the days of pretending to be a high roller dope buyer in order to bring down a coke baron are over. Miami Vice was about the time, the place and the era as much as it was just another cop show. You cannot remove Miami Vice from the '80s without it losing a good piece of it's soul, that thing that made it snap.

I personally would rather see Michael Mann make this new "Miami Vice" movie accurate to today and write a modern cop vs. drug dealer movie rather than try to revive past glories. He can make a movie about a while cop and a black cop that pose as drug dealers to bust the bad guys just don't call it Miami Vice, don't try to pass it off as Miami Vice and please don't "retro" it. The original Vice was a creature of the '80s... it was born of the glitz and glamour, the pomp and greed, the self-centered pursuit of money and possessions and the general vibe of the '80s. It needs to stay there lest it become just another "joke" like Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels and the new Dukes of Hazzard promise to be.

Please Mikey Mann... do what you do best: make a period piece in the here and now and please remove the name Miami Vice from it. Calling this movie MV will only cause it harm as people like me will say "Collin Farrell is NOT Sonny Crockett".

[Graham]

Just wondering what sort of pistol Farrell's Crocket will carry in the new movie? To me the guns of Miami Vice were just as big stars of the show as the actors and the cars.

I loved Crocket's choice of guns in the TV series: Bren Ten 10mm (seasons 1-2), S&W 645 .45ACP (seasons 3-4), S&W 4506 (season 5), Detonics Combat Master .45ACP as backup ankle gun (all seasons).

Graham

[JsARCLIGHT]

Don't forget the Browning BDA .45 (Euro 220) that he had in the pilot...

... as well as the blowed up Jimmy Smitts pieces he keeps in his pocket.

[yellowlightman]

As impossible as it sounds, I don't really see how Miami Vice could be a bad movie considering it's being written and directed by Michael Mann, who has never made a bad movie. It might not be great, and it certainly won't be "Heat" level... but I'm expecting it to at least be competent.

[Graham]

As much as I admire Michael Mann I think the suckiness that is Colin Farrell will work to cancel out Mann's greatness in this case.

And as JsARCLIGHT said, Miami Vice is really tied to the 80s. I doubt a modern reimaging will work. I could be wrong though.

Graham

[yellowlightman]

As much as I admire Michael Mann I think the suckiness that is Colin Farrell will work to cancel out Mann's greatness in this case.

And as JsARCLIGHT said, Miami Vice is really tied to the 80s. I doubt a modern reimaging will work. I could be wrong though.

Well, look what Collateral did for Tom Cruise.

The pictures of Farrell as Sonny look almost identical to the TV series, has it actually been confirmed the show is set in modern times?

[Graham]

There are pics of Farrell as Sonny already?

Graham

[yellowlightman]

There are pics of Farrell as Sonny already?

Graham

http://www.colinfarrellfansite.com/gallery...s.php?album=187

[areaseven]

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this scene from the pilot episode. To many people, it's just a random scene. But since I played several hours of GTA Vice City last week...

[yellowlightman]

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this scene from the pilot episode. To many people, it's just a random scene. But since I played several hours of GTA Vice City last week...

Er, wanna explain? I haven't played much GTA Vice City, and during what little I did play I was in various states of extreme inebriation so it's pretty fuzzy.

[Graham]

Hmm......not liking this pic too much: -

http://www.colinfarrellfansite.com/gallery...miamivice34.jpg

Everybody knows that Crocket would wear a T-shirt under his suit jacket, not a shirt .

Graham

[Graham]

Rather than this new movie, I'd rather Mann directed a movie or TV miniseries starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas back again as Crocket and Tubbs, showing what they are doing now nearly 2 decades after the events in the final episode of season 5.

Graham

[areaseven]

Er, wanna explain? I haven't played much GTA Vice City, and during what little I did play I was in various states of extreme inebriation so it's pretty fuzzy.

In the game, the white "Japanese" shirt is worn by the Cuban gangsters.

[Black Valkyrie]

My No.1 80`s series, to bad I missed the last season and I don`t know happened in the last episode. As the new the new movie PLEASE CHANGE THE ACTORS they don`t fit but the weird thing they have the same horoscopes like the original actors ... strange !

[Die, Alien Scum!]

Hopefully Elvis eats Sonny in this flick. I'm also hoping they keep the 80s setting and, of course, soundtrack of the show and don't try to make it "modern-day". If there's no Jan Hammer, I'm boycotting.

[ComicKaze]

I hate Colin Farrell.

There's no way he can pull off Crockett.

I wish they'd get a no-name to do this, that picture of Farrel is just horrible...and yeah, white see-through silk shirt? Huge bling around his neck? What is this??? He's supposed to be wearing a pink-T-shirt!

AND WHAT'S THAT? A BELT!???? NO!!!!

Damnit, this is going to be horrible.

And yes, it has to retain the 80s music if nothing, that was 1/3rd of the pie. The whole premise of Miami Vice was created on a Napkin as "MTV cops".

I also don't want to sound racist but Jamie Foxx CANNOT accurately portray Tubbs. Tubbs is "dark Italian" in nature, a Ladies man, almost a European African American, the GQ black man of the 80s. Jamie Foxx just doesn't have the look...but if they're going with Colin Farrell...might as well ruin the whole pot.

Edited March 9, 2005 by ComicKaze