Miami Vice like movies/Drug movies


Den Taylor

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What movies do you know that are similar to Miami Vice in terms of drugs and drug cartels, especially tied with Central or South America.? Maybe where they go to Colombia or similar country....like they did in that episode where they flew to Cartagena.
Of course there's Scarface where the druglord resides in and operates out of Bolivia and Tony Montana visits there a couple of times. I love these kind of scenes. Thanks!
 

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Since I was just in the Bond movie thread....duh, Licence to kill! One of my all time favs. That movie plays in Latin America and Florida and has all the MV ingredients! And Robert Davi plays a great drug lord villain. (Sanchez) The truck fighting scene at the end is just amazing and very memorable. The soundtrack is also good. Come to think of it, I think they deliberately went for this MV style. I mean it was released in 89 but was probably already beeing shot in 87 and 88. And the James Bond series actually "jumped on the bandwagon" quite often....like with Live and Let Die they jumped on Shaft and the blaxsploitation movies and with Moonraker on Star Wars and the space movies. While that was sort of imitation these movies were very good in ther own rights and still somewhat unique due to the Bond flavor (IMO).

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It's not completely a "drug cartel" movie, but have you watched "Band of the Hand"? It's a 1985(?) movie by Michael Mann that has MANY mv elements--a must for any fan. 

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I think I might have a few drug related movies, can't think of them off the top of my head and I don't have my external hard drive on hand...

Sicaro (2015) - An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.

Miami Connection (1987) - Tae-Kwon-Do rock band goes up against drug dealing motorcycle ninjas

The Miami Vice movie

Bad Boys

Band of the Hand

But if you're into documentaries, there's Cocaine Cowboys. It's a movie length documentary about the history of the cocaine cartels in Miami. And to give another reason to watch it - The score for it was done by Jan Hammer.

I'm not much of a movie guy, I'm more into TV shows. There's one which used to air on USA a few years ago named Graceland. It was made by Jeff Eastin, the guy behind White Collar. It sort of fits your criteria because it's about undercover FBI, DEA agents and in season 2 they go to Mexico to take down a cartel. I really liked that show, it's a shame USA cancelled it after only 3 seasons.

There's also Narcos... 

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7 hours ago, James said:

Miami Connection (1987) - Tae-Kwon-Do rock band goes up against drug dealing motorcycle ninjas

I thought "No Retreat No Surrender" was the funniest movie of all time until I saw this one :) 

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11 hours ago, Dadrian said:

I thought "No Retreat No Surrender" was the funniest movie of all time until I saw this one :) 

After Dadrian's comment about Miami Connection I had to look it up.  Check this cult movie review.  So bad, it's good.

 

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20 hours ago, Den Taylor said:

What movies do you know that are similar to Miami Vice in terms of drugs and drug cartels, especially tied with Central or South America.? Maybe where they go to Colombia or similar country....like they did in that episode where they flew to Cartagena.
Of course there's Scarface where the druglord resides in and operates out of Bolivia and Tony Montana visits there a couple of times. I love these kind of scenes. Thanks!
 

 

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21 hours ago, Den Taylor said:

Since I was just in the Bond movie thread....duh, Licence to kill! One of my all time favs. That movie plays in Latin America and Florida and has all the MV ingredients! And Robert Davi plays a great drug lord villain. (Sanchez) The truck fighting scene at the end is just amazing and very memorable. The soundtrack is also good. Come to think of it, I think they deliberately went for this MV style. I mean it was released in 89 but was probably already beeing shot in 87 and 88. And the James Bond series actually "jumped on the bandwagon" quite often....like with Live and Let Die they jumped on Shaft and the blaxsploitation movies and with Moonraker on Star Wars and the space movies. While that was sort of imitation these movies were very good in ther own rights and still somewhat unique due to the Bond flavor (IMO).

Yep. shot july-november 1988 in florida and mexico

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3 hours ago, miamijimf said:

After Dadrian's comment about Miami Connection I had to look it up.  Check this cult movie review.  So bad, it's good.

 

Yes! "So bad it's good" is exactly right. There are some scenes that couldn't be rivaled by the greatest comedy writers ever. Same for "No Retreat No Surrender". 

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14 hours ago, Dadrian said:

I thought "No Retreat No Surrender" was the funniest movie of all time until I saw this one :) 

So did I, but after I saw Miami Connection - I was amazed. It's so ridiculous that it's brilliant. :p The most 80s movie in existence.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Am 6.2.2017 um 07:38 schrieb Dadrian:

It's not completely a "drug cartel" movie, but have you watched "Band of the Hand"? It's a 1985(?) movie by Michael Mann that has MANY mv elements--a must for any fan. 

No, I haven't. Thanks for the hint,Dadrian! Is the music any good?
 

Zitat

But if you're into documentaries, there's Cocaine Cowboys. It's a movie length documentary about the history of the cocaine cartels in Miami. And to give another reason to watch it - The score for it was done by Jan Hammer.

I have that score, James and I love it. Haven't seen the documentary yet. Thanks for your movie suggestions! 
Sounds to me like they tried to jump on the mv-bandwagon with Miami Connection and Band of the Hand. Emphasis on tried haha. :D



 

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54 minutes ago, Den Taylor said:

No, I haven't. Thanks for the hint,Dadrian! Is the music any good?

The soundtrack is great, but I don't remember about the score. The soundtrack is very MV, though!

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  • 2 weeks later...

There's also:
Deep Cover with Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum. Directed by Bill Duke. Fishburne plays an undercover cop in the Los Angeles coke scene. It also has Lt. Rodriguez himself Gregory Sierra playing a drug lord and Clarence Williams III (Papa Legba - Tale of the Goat).

Blow with Johnny Depp as real life coke trafficker/dealer George Jung. It has scenes in Colombia with Pablo Escobar. Ray Liotta plays Depp's father even though he's only eight years older than him!

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Came across this trailer on YouTube... It's called "Vice Squad", seems like a B-movie from 1982. So it's pre-Miami Vice.

 

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  • 1 month later...
Zitat

Blow with Johnny Depp as real life coke trafficker/dealer George Jung. It has scenes in Colombia with Pablo Escobar. Ray Liotta plays Depp's father even though he's only eight years older than him!

Wow, the Escobars sure get around, don't they? Punks!
(j/k)
 

Zitat


To Live and Die In LA 

One of my favorite soundtracks. The movie's pretty amazing, esepcially for its realism - though it may come off too brutal for some. (At least back in those days)

Miami Blues looks interesting. Seems like Alec Baldwin is kind of playng an Anti-Crockett.

Btw, here's a nice fan-made trailer for Licence to kill. Back when Bond was still good...
 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
14 hours ago, Marc said:

To Live and Die in L.A and Miami Blues are the best two choices. They're both absolutely amazing for completely different reasons.

 

"Miami Blues" from 1990 and starring the great Kurt Russell is very good!

:hippie:

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