Film

I'm not a fan of gangster movies (I prefer Westerns), but this new film appears to be worth watching. It's written, produced, and directed by Michael Mann, who produced the television series Miami Vice in the 1980s. I have all five seasons of Miami Vice on DVD. I'm almost done watching the second season. I watched the original version of the series on television while I was in graduate school in Tucson. As I recall, it was shown on Friday evenings. Another series I enjoyed during the 1980s was L.A. Law. Does anyone out there remember these series?

Comments

[steve walsh]

I have never been a big television watcher, and especially do not watch a particular show every week, but I do remember Miami Vice. I recall (perhaps incorrectly) that it was an innovative show, they used interesting camera angles and lots of motion, Don Johnson was the stylishly dressed and coiffed lead character, and they made use of popular music during the show in a way that had not been done before. It was all the rage at the time.

[John Sullivan]

I was never a big "Miami Vice" fan, but did enjoy "L.A. Law", which premiered when I started college. Our floor's lounge always had a good turnout for NBC's Thursday night lineup. I began to lose interest when Harry Hamlin and Jimmy Smits left the show, as their's were my two favorite characters. By my first year of law school, one of the newer characters went from announcing she wanted to attend law school, to discussing Palsgraaf v. Long Island Railroad, to appearing in court, all in the same season. At the end, there were several shark jumping incidents that turned me off the show.

[Jack Brickwell]

About Michael Mann,

1) Without a doubt, his best film in every respect is The Insider (1999).

2) Heat (1995) is a brilliant film. One brilliant thing about it is the way the story unfolds similarities and contrasts between protagonists and antagonists. It is one of the few really good movies Al Pacino has done in many years - having indulged in becoming a caricature of himself. (In addition, Robert de Niro's performance is truly excellent.) For a crime / drama / suspense movie, I highly recommned Heat (much more so, I think, than Public Enemies).

3) Mann's film Ali (2001) is quite good if you wish to see an excellent depiction of the complexities in one (famous) portion of Ali's life.

4) The Last of the Mohicans (1992) is a living classic (but you need to like this sort of movie to appreciate it - and it is also a bit dated in terms of developments in film quality over time - same goes for Mann's Manhunter (1986) - excellent for the genre, but undoubtedly an artifact of the '80s and no match for Red Dragon (2002) without Mann.

5) The tv show Miami Vice is a bit famous for giving a lot of great actors their first jobs, though like many things from the '80's, it is a big joke in many circles. Mann's Miami Vice movie (2006) is much better and serious, but no match for Heat (1995), though much better than Mann's Collateral (2004) - the latter not recommended by this Mann fan.

About L.A. Law: it has many nostalgic fans, but it too has become something of a joke for many people critical of '80's fads. Mimi Leader had a hand in a few early episodes (as she did for the arguably excellent show in the earlier seasons "E.R.", I believe.) Leader has great talent and is someone too watch for if she develops her career. Deep Impact (1998) is perhaps her best film and deserves more credit than it has received for the apocalyptic genre. A much, much better tv series - in my opinion - by the creater/writer/producer of L.A. Law (Steven Bochco) is NYPD Blue.

[John Sullivan]

As far as gangster movies go, I absolutely recommend "The Untouchables". On IMDB, they make fun of Sean Connery's attempt at an Irish accent (it was certainly better than his Russian accent in "Hunt for Red October"), but the performances were still fantastic. As much as I enjoy the first 3/4 of "Bull Durham" (the last 30 minutes turned into an unnecessarily sappy love story), I believe it was Kevin Costner's best performance.

I also recall enjoying "White Heat" when I watched it in film class in high school. James Cagney is always a pleasure to watch.

With regard to "Public Enemies", just a note of caution: the NY Post gave it a rather poor review, stating that Mann is overrated, and that Johnny Depp was wasted in an underwritten part.