moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (09/30/85)
Well, hype city or no (and nobody but NOBODY in the entertainment industry
gets to the cover of Time without hype coming out the old Wazoo), that was a
pretty good Miami Vice premiere last week. For those of you who are novices
to Miami Vice, let me add a quick summary of what you can expect every week.
Excellent cinematography, combined with good music and the most incredible
sound/image editing a TV series has ever seen. Incredible background music
from Jan Hammer (I *must* get the MV album, if only for Hammer's music --
has he released any music albums independently?). Some decent acting (I
must say) from Don Johnson as Sonny, Edward James Olmos as Castillo, and
various people as the petty crooks of Miami; other acting can be pretty
weak, especially Phillip Michael Thomas as Tubbs, who is best when he's not
saying anything. Some incredibly stilted dialogue from Sonny and Tubbs, and
plots which are usually pretty fantastical. Violence shot in such a way
that it seems almost artistic (fine with me, as long as you realize just
how ugly a shotgun hole through the eyeball really looks, i.e. can you
differentiate reality from fiction?). All in all, entertaining (if uneven),
especially if you're a movie/film-making nut like me, who enjoys going
"Whoa! Great fade-out!" to friends.
Back to the premiere: especially excellent, as the dialogue was much better
than usual --some great lines by Johnson, who, with his raspy voice and
tired, bloodshot eyes and consistent smoking, is just right to spout bitter,
cynical film noir statements about things in general. New York seen as a city
of character actors (which it well may be -- I haven't been there); particular
kudos to Penn Jillette as a local NY coke dealer, and to whatever actor they
got to play the Death's-head stock broker with the William F. Buckley accent.
Plot even more convoluted than ever, and often trite (need motivation for
going to NY -- shoot Trudy!). Music was edited SO well with Jan Hammer's
music, I was often agog -- this is Television (the dreaded TV), after all --
why does it look better, run smoother and look slicker than most action
movies? Good people back there, mon...
A few questions:
I assume that MV is picking up the theme circulated by several new books on
organized crime in Miami, that most of the biggest runners of coke are these
Columbian Indian families, who are almost legendary in the violent nature
(they'd have to be, to contest control of drug traffic from the Mafia). Seems
whenever the Dade County Vice dept. runs into anyone really nasty, they're
part of a Columbian family. First Calderone, then this group...
Speaking of Calderone, I think I see two actors from *last* year's premiere
of Miami Vice being resurrected; isn't the actor who played Calderone the
same actor who played the head of the Columbian family in this episode (the
fellow who goes down with the helicopter in the end)? And isn't the federal
agent who is seen with the Vice regulars in the hospital room (waiting for
Trudy's prognosis) the same fellow who played Crockett's ex-partner in the
self-same premiere episode -- the one who is arrested for stooling for
Calderone? Could use a little info to make sure my brain isn't wandering.
I think there were probably a ton of cameos in this one -- I distinctly
thought I saw a couple of fairly famous musicians walk through (no, not Gene
Simmons -- he's listed in the credits, and he has a speaking part (at least he
didn't stick his tongue out...)).
Let's see, one hour Wed. night; two hours Thursday; two hours Friday; and a
half hour Sunday. It would appear that I'll be watching a little more TV than
I did last year...
"Never send a MAN to do a WOMAN'S
work! Why do you think I CAME
here?"
"Not for the good of my ego,
that was for damn sure."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
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