Episode 8 - The Great McCarthy


airtommy

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CGlide has sussed out most of the boat race, but not all of it:

http://www.miamivicelocations.org/page23.html

Some clips were filmed near forested land, especially when McCarthy pulls the old switcheroo (~40th minute) and then later on the 41st minute.  I looked from Hollywood down to Key Biscayne, but I came up empty.  I wonder if they filmed some of these scenes down in the Florida Keys?

This clip in particular is driving me nuts:

Great_Mc4.png

 

Edited by airtommy
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On 2/22/2016 at 6:16 AM, airtommy said:

CGlide has sussed out most of the boat race, but not all of it:

http://www.miamivicelocations.org/page23.html

Some clips were filmed near forested land, especially when McCarthy pulls the old switcheroo (~40th minute) and then later on the 41st minute.  I looked from Hollywood down to Key Biscayne, but I came up empty.  I wonder if they filmed some of these scenes down in the Florida Keys?

This clip in particular is driving me nuts:

Great_Mc4.png

 

I was under the impression they shot a few scenes in Hollywood near Hallandale Beach/ Hollywood Beach also near Sarah's house from "Yankee Dollar" on Golden Isles Lake/ South Lake:D

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On 2/23/2016 at 12:00 PM, Matt5 said:

I was under the impression they shot a few scenes in Hollywood near Hallandale Beach/ Hollywood Beach also near Sarah's house from "Yankee Dollar" on Golden Isles Lake/ South Lake:D

Yup, they did!  One clip at South Lake, one clip at Turnberry, and one clip between Hollywood and Turnberry. 

=======================================================

There is a clip where there is wooded land on the left of the boat, and after the boat gets past the land there is nothing but water to the horizon.  This means they must be going southbound.  The only possibilities in Dade/Broward would be Key Biscayne or Virginia Key, but they don't match up.  This proved to me that they definitely filmed some of the race scenes in the Florida Keys.

Once I decided that, I studied the sat pics of the Keys more intently for this location:

Great_Mc7.png

I think I found it at the southern end of Adams Key:

 Great_Mc5.png

 Great_Mc6.png

Unfortunately, both of these houses are long gone.  But I think this is the spot.  There are other details, like the bushes, trees, and background houses that match up, as well.

Edited by airtommy
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On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 7:41 PM, airtommy said:

Yup, they did!  One clip at South Lake, one clip at Turnberry, and one clip between Hollywood and Turnberry. 

=======================================================

There is a clip where there is wooded land on the left of the boat, and after the boat gets past the land there is nothing but water to the horizon.  This means they must be going southbound.  The only possibilities in Dade/Broward would be Key Biscayne or Virginia Key, but they don't match up.  This proved to me that they definitely filmed some of the race scenes in the Florida Keys.

Once I decided that, I studied the sat pics of the Keys more intently for this location:

think I found it at the southern end of Adams Key:

 

Nice find...well done.

 Must also have been a large budget to have the race in multiple locations, and this far south. and with all the other boats as extras.

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49 minutes ago, airtommy said:

Yes, exactly!  I think it's incredible that they went from Hollywood all the way down to the Keys.  This ep must have cost a fortune.  

actually ontop of that I remember hearing that it was based on an actual thing, some guy was really using the race as cover to pull in the drugs like that, it was something James Caan said about the thing. as he was living down there and said it to someone, the writer of the episode I think. for all I know it came from Mr Mann to him and then to the writer.
 

as to how I found that out turns out the guy who wrote the episode was doing car blogs, and one of them was on a ferrari 308 that he always wanted but couldn't afford and he mentioned his miami vice background in the article. about how he envied sonny position about it.

Edited by Kavinsky
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some location info from Stinger390X:

Quote

 

The race was ACTUALLY held in the ocean between Haulover Inlet and Government Cut, with some scenes taking place in the intercoastal south of the 125th St Bridge. I understand the shoot was in Oct. 1984 with 3 days of footage shot offshore between Government Cut and Haulover, Nixons mansion and Elliot key. The "dual Cary" shot took place in Caesars Creek, by the Ocean Reef Club.

The Bimini scenes where shot in Anglefish Creek by Ocean reef with production staging on Elliot Key. The race party was at Nixon's Mansion.

The only shots of Bad Company where in the opening scenes (featured in the rest of the episodes preambles), and one fleeting shot off Elliot key as all the boats ran around a check buoy.

 

read the whole post here:

http://miamiviceonline.com/index.php?/topic/10383-the-great-mccarthy/

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This location has a very interesting history:

Great_Mc7.png

One of Miami's founding fathers, Carl Fisher, set up the Cocolobo Cay Club in this spot on Adams Cay.   That club was visited by four sitting U.S. Presidents, plus John F. Kennedy while he was still a Senator!   The clubhouse burned in 1974.  The buildings that we see in this Miami Vice episode were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocolobo_Cay_Club

The waterway the boats are racing through is called "Caesar's Creek".

Edited by airtommy
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  • 4 weeks later...
9 hours ago, C Glide said:

This link http://photoplan.planomatic.com/2878 has some pictures of the original 20 Harbor Point house. The driveway matches regarding shape, design, and unique appearance but the interior stairs don't match. Still not sure about this one for Vanessa's.

Great work - such a key house in latter Season 2 episodes , "Payback " and "Trust Fund Pirates " even seen in the background of "Sons and Lovers"

:D

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  • 11 months later...

William Lehman Cswy and Norman M. Giller bridge as seen in "Great McCarthy" at NE192nd St looking towards Dumfoundling Bay 

IMG_3159.JPG

Edited by Matt5
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Very cool guys....My favourite episode of course!

I hung out on Offshore Only dot com and there was a guy on there who actually got the boats organized and he had a lot of detail of the fourteen boats used in the episode. I will try to find the thread and posts and see if I can get a link to it.

It was many years ago but very interesting. The red boat was the first ever Kevlar boat ever built as an experiment. He had lots to say about location shoots and it took two days to do it in 1984. Thy also used Government Cut and many other locations around the lower sound area.

Last time I was in Miami I accidently stopped right next door to the old Chalk's. Sadly it was all closed down? I guess no one is island hopping like they used to?

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1 hour ago, Stinger390X said:

 

Last time I was in Miami I accidently stopped right next door to the old Chalk's. Sadly it was all closed down? I guess no one is island hopping like they used to?

By coincidence just last night I was reading about this in MiamiJimF's book.  Apparently, Chalk's is gone forever, but the sea plane base is still being used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Seaplane_Base

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Very cool! that's good then as I thought it would be a viable business especially in south FL? I'm glad it didn't fade away like milkmen and elevator operators.

Looking back at TGM episode, I remember when we were all back on org. I did a big expose' on the boats from the race. I thought Ferrariman had brought the stuff over from there to this board but it looks like it is all lost. I also did a big to-do on the Endeavor Sailboats and the Scarabs used in the show. I thought my info would last forever but I don't have the info anymore as way back then my desktop computer had a severe hardrive crash and I had no backup back in those days. Too bad as I had some great pics and stories.

I popped over to Offshoreonly.com and could not find the stories of the original boats and the guy who helped produce that episode. He had some great stories about all the boats and I wish I could find it again.

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  • 4 months later...

Nice Blu- Ray screen shot from the teaser of this fall 1984 episode “Great MccCarthy”. 800 Brickell, 848 Brickell and the parking garage, to the right of the picture, on SE8th St all pretty much unchanged since filming. Large parts of this episode were filmed in Key Biscayne but all areas of Miami were featured in this episode directed by Georg Stanford Brown.

F5AB3776-847C-4CA5-9A0D-4D1539AC4EA0.jpeg

Edited by Matt5
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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Good question. There are very few spots on Key Biscayne that would qualify for such background but they don´t fit (but development of waterfront has changed over the years of course). What scene was that? 

Apart from downtown there were no other filming locations in TGMC than Key Biscayne...

 

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  • 1 month later...

UNKNOWN LOCATIONS: GIFFORD OFFICE AND VANESSA´S LUXURY SHOP

the last unknown onsite locations of this episode (and 2 of the three unknown left in season 1, the other is the C&T&Noogie park meet in Give a little)

  • Giffords office only has the three unique slim windows as a clue to be seen from outside
  • Vanessa´s store is a two story luxury clothes store at a street corner and (most likely) a busy pedestrian zone outside behind Crockett. Looks like Lincoln Road Mall, but I don´t know how this area was back in 1984 when MB was sleepy and run down overall.

Both locations could be close or also the same building given some color matches.

 

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vor 40 Minuten schrieb Dadrian:

@Tom Could Gifford’s office be a part of Vanessa’s house? Or another house on/near W. Matheson Dr.?

theoretically yes. But it looks like a real office and the 4 slim windows do not look like a residential home. 28 Harbor Point that was also used has three similar slim windows (see below), but not four windows (Also, there is running car traffic behind the slim windows visible which is impossible in this case and in most villas in KB). But it was massively remodelled recently incl. the kitchen that we see in the episode, so it is hard to recognize anything.

As there is hardly anything else on Key Biscayne than residential homes and they had so many locations there anyway, I rather suspect to be these missing two in downtown or Miami Beach.

Bildschirmfoto 2020-07-16 um 14.06.58.png

Edited by Tom
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Vanessa's store:

It looks like a real men's clothing store to me.  I thought for sure this would be a shopping center on Key Biscayne, so I checked them out in person.  There is a 2-story shopping center at 328 Crandon.    It's definitely not a match now, but it's conceivable that in the 1980s there were stores with both the 1st and 2nd floors combined.  Doubtful, though.

 

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vor 3 Stunden schrieb airtommy:

Vanessa's store:

It looks like a real men's clothing store to me.  I thought for sure this would be a shopping center on Key Biscayne, so I checked them out in person.  There is a 2-story shopping center at 328 Crandon.    It's definitely not a match now, but it's conceivable that in the 1980s there were stores with both the 1st and 2nd floors combined.  Doubtful, though.

 

I think that was in Miami Beach. In the high window left of Vanessa there is a high pink neighbor house facade visible. I cannot imagine such a facade anywhere else than in MB.

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