THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY THAT INSPIRED “SCARFACE” AND “MIAMI VICE”.

Welcome to “Miami Vice – the Documentary”. It is obvious that the young director has watched more than one episode of the classic 1980s TV show; there are moments here when you’re bound to feel like you’re watching an action movie, and the guy who wrote the music theme for the show was also hired for this film. Billy Corben seems to enjoy his blood-soaked subject matter a little too much, but he certainly has you hooked and the point comes across. Miami wouldn’t have its current skyline without the enormous wealth that poured into the city due to the cocaine traffic of the 1970s and 80s, but the cost was huge as the subsequent drug war turned the city into the murder capital of the U.S. Fascinating… except when Corben fails to rein in his sleazy interview subjects.

2006-U.S. 118 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Billy Corben, Alfred Spellman. Directed by Billy Corben. Music: Jan Hammer.

Trivia: Followed by Cocaine Cowboys II: Hustlin’ With the Godmother (2008). In 2014, an extended version of this film, titled Cocaine Cowboys: Reloaded, was released.

Last word: “[Film scores] are my drug of choice. I focus so much on story when working on our movies, which tends to be a rather structured creative process and I sometimes neglect emotion. Music can tell a story too, but it is more about emotion. People don’t usually respond to music logically; when you listen to music it’s about how it makes you feel. I was very excited to work with Jan Hammer on the score for ‘Cocaine Cowboys.’ He, of course, wrote the ‘Miami Vice Theme,’ ‘Crockett’s Theme’ and four years worth of episodes for the series. There’s just this vibe, this feeling about his work.” (Corben, Indiewire)

IMDb