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Thought it was worth noting that Michael Mann's masterful film Manhunter is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary on August 15th. I don't really remember there being much a Manhunter specific thread on here though I know it's popular enough around here to deserve one. The good news is the anniversary isn't going unnoticed as Shout Factory who have done a pretty good job at releasing a lot of the old MGM horror catalog on Blu-ray is planning a Special Edition Blu-ray for May 24th. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=18402 No word yet on what all is included but I believe via Twitter they have noted it will be double-discs, include both the theatrical and director's cut of the film and Michael Mann is involved with the new release.

Others may have seen this before, but I just recently came across this photo for the first time and thought I would share it. I don't believe The Allman Brothers ever had music used in Miami Vice, but I read Gregg Allman and Jackson Browne were very good friends. This also reminded me of Sonny's line to Isabella while discussing his father playing southern rock in Mann's 2006 feature film:

https://www.france24.com/en/20190829-michael-mann-eyes-heat-2-film-as-book-nears-completion-1 Well this sounds interesting. Whether it's only a book or it does turn into a movie or series sounds like it could have some promise. Also mentions a number of other projects he is working on including a Vietnam series I posted about a long while ago and a screenplay about the Golden Triangle during the 1980's.

First of all, let me tell you that I absolutely adore L.A. Takedown. I noticed there are two kinds of people when it comes to this movie; those who didn't like it (or downright hated it) because they find it dated, that the acting is truly horrible, two dimensional and because it didn't have a big budget and was made for tv. And there are those like myself who find it excellent, even better than Heat actually. I personally think it never received enough credit and therefor I wanted to start this threat and share my views on this highly underrated gem. I once read it was created as a possible follow up series to MV that never took off, but I cannot confirm this. L.A. Takedown is classic Michael Mann, in fact it has Michael Mann written all over it. It's a neo-noir / hardboiled cops and robbers story. Therefor it's no surprise that things are set In L.A - the dame of angels has since long been the backdrop of countless noir stories and movies. For those of you who may not be familiar with the noir genre, one of it's defining characteristics is that instead of shooting film in fabricated sets in a studio using cranes, dollies and expensive lighting setups, noir filmakers would often use real city backdrops with fairly inexpensive camera and lighting setups. Often working with much smaller budgets and smaller crews than full fledged Hollywood productions. Working that way they would also inadvertently and in retrospect leave a record of an era that was no more. We can already see that several boxes are being ticked when it comes to L.A. Takedown and noir: Real city backdrops - check! Small budget and crew - check! Testimony of a bygone era - check! That's not where it ends either, because of the small budget, filmmakers in the noir genre often would have to be much more creative in the way they bring the story to their audience. When shooting in black and white they would very often use techniques borrowed from classic art forms like expressionism. Underlining already dramatic storytelling by the use of intense visual contrast by pitch black shadows created by single point lighting as used by Italian renaissance painters called Chiaroscuro. The departure from noir into neo-noir would as is the case with L.A. Takedown be that instead of shooting in black and white with intense contrasts, they would shoot in color and use other visual tricks to enhance the story. And that's exactly where the genius of Micheal Mann emerges, right from the get go Mann introduces a subtle but clearly noticeable 'pace' in L.A. Takedown. Throughout the whole movie there's a "rhythm" skillfully created by blending all the required audio-visual ingredients. As we all know by now, Mann has this uncanny talent to use the right music at exactly the right moment. Yes, he even use a track from MV in one of the scenes - but then you must understand that it's his M.O. - Mann is known for his re-use of music (yes, even from other movies). But this pace is not only to be attributed by the use of music with the visuals or the way the scenes are skillfully entwined with for example fantastic areal night shots of LA skyscrapers , the whole time you can see it in the actors too - they are always moving! Even during what seems like small conversations they keep doing things or handling objects. Coincidence you think? I don't think so! If you pay attention you'll notice that there's a moment where this pace, this rhythm actually stops for a brief moment to further enhance and accentuate a pivotal moment in the movie, you guessed it; it's the epic coffee shop scene where both pro- and antagonist meet face to face. By the way, this larger than life confrontation is rumored to have actually really happened! What's more, I think the acting and general performance of all the actors is actually very sharp and to the point - some people have claimed it to be wooden or uni-dimensional, but forgive me for not agreeing at all, because I really don't know what they expected? To me playing it flat and not very colorful or expressive is exactly what is required for guys that spend their days doing what they do. There's some great dialogue in there too, so all in all I consider this a outstanding movie that has everything to be considered excellent.

Looks like Michael Mann is returning to TV this time with a miniseries for FX on the Vietnam War particularly The Tet Offensive. http://theplaylist.net/michael-mann-fx-vietnam-war-miniseries-hue-1968-20170706/

http://www.slashfilm.com/heat-prequel/ Looks like Michael has made himself busy lately. While I have mixed feelings about the prequel in film and TV form a book would be very welcome. Hopefully since Michael's open to expanding on Heat maybe we could finally see LA Takedown released in the U.S. at last on disc or maybe a worldwide Blu-ray release.

I couldn't find the link to this article anywhere in the site, so thought I'd post it here: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/features/inside-miami-vice-19850328 Interesting insights from DJ, PMT, and other people associated with the production of Vice.

Shared from @bigharrydiehl John Diehl on instagram. An awesome behind the scenes photo!

I thought about making a discussion topic about this subject awhile back, and today reading comments in a different topic about Michael Mann having had planned - for season 4 episodes, atleast one or two, set in Paris, France and Tokyo, Japan. What do you think? I personally have an admiration for Japan, the people and culture there, and plan on going backpacking there in future. Now, the idea of a "Miami Vice" episode or two setting in the urban neon jungle counterpart, without the palm trees and flamingos, that is Tokyo - i find it to be an exciting thing. There was talk in that another topic about these episode(s) being Yakuza centered, and i think that this is a fantastic idea - this probably being one of the most likely to-have-happened settings, if Tokyo would have been a city featured and filmed in. I could see atleast Crockett & Tubbs with Castillo ofc going there, and Castillo having, due to his Southeast Asian riddled past, a main focus in the episode(s). Tokyo, circa 1987. Around the time that season 4 was in production and premiered later in September that year. What could have been out of this, if Mann's plans had come through? To what kind of an operation would the men from Miami jumped on, in the "Land of the Rising Sun"*? *Thus the clever topic title, even though Japan in general is a safe and very low crime rate country. Your thoughts? You can also discuss the would-have-been Paris setting here.

http://www.blackhatthemovie.com/ "A man is released from prison to help American and Chinese authorities pursue a mysterious cyber criminal. The dangerous search leads them from Chicago to Hong Kong."

Die Idee für die "MTV-Cops", wie die Serie zunächst genannt wurde, hatte der damalige Unterhaltungs-Chef von NBC, Brandon Tartikoff. Er wollte eine Polizeiserie schaffen, in der die Cops cool, lässig und jugendlich auftreten und zum Takt von aktueller Popmusik agieren sollten. Der junge Produzent Michael Mann wurde von der Produktionsfirma Universal beauftragt, die Idee umzusetzen. Autor Anthony Yerkovich schrieb das Drehbuch für einen Pilotfilm. Yerkovich wählte Miami als Ort der Handlung, weil ihn die Stadt fazinierte. Zunächst lief die Serie unter dem Arbeitstitel "Gold Coast" (HDK S. 235), der auch noch auf einigen Drehbuchkopien zu finden ist. Erst später entschied man sich für den Namen "MIAMI VICE", vermutlich weil in dieser Zusammensetzung alles genannt ist, was die Serie ausmachen sollte: Die exotische Stadt Miami, das schillernde Nachtleben, die Prostitution, die Drogen, das Verbrechen ... Anthony Yerkovich, der Autor des Pilotfilms hat alle Figuren des Vice-Teams in den Grundzügen erfunden. Allerdings waren einige Rollen, wie zum Beispiel die von Trudy, Zito und Switek, kaum ausgearbeitet. Als entschieden wurde, aus VICE eine Serie zu kreieren und damit auch die Nebenrollen zu erweitern, schrieben die Schauspieler selbst die Lebensläufe ihrer Rollen - in Zusammenarbeit mit den verschiedenen Drehbuchautoren der nächsten Folgen. John Diehl und Michael Talbott haben die Biografien ihrer Rollen selbst entwickelt (Alter, Herkunft, Hobbies, etc.) und ihren Figuren einige ihrer eigenen Charakereigenschaften mitgegeben. Auch Don Johnson hat sehr viel zu der Rolle des Sonny Crockett im Pilotfilm beigetragen. Er überlegte zum Beispiel, wie stark er den Südstaatenslang anlegen oder gewisse Charakterzüge einbringen sollte. Auch die Existenz von Crocketts Sohn Billy - etwa im gleichen Alter wie Johnsons Sohn Jesse - war kein Zufall. Quelle: HDK = Hinter den Kulissen von Miami Vice; Trish Janeshutz/Rob MacGregor; Knaur 1596, 1988 © 2008 by Ell.a & miamivice.info