Episode #43 "Trust Fund Pirates"


Ferrariman

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  • 1 year later...
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This episode, despite a few darker aspects related to the villains and the crack house, has a very light hearted and pleasant feel about it. I love the intro, although it's basically an advert for Miami, it is genius because it's an advert. Song choice perfect. I enjoy the pirates, they are quite menacing and violent villains but they conduct their activities with some amusement. Hammer's music is fab in this one, Night Talk is in there which is lovely and in addition some dark Hammer tunes. Crockett & Tubbs on good form, love the scene in where they go and see jumbo and his wife pulls the gun on crockett, Tubbs getting the shotgun out and saying 'shoot him' is priceless, one of my fave bits of the whole series. HOWEVER, the bits where C&T babysit Jackson's wife are slooooow to say the least. Apart from this, and the fact that really this is another example of substantial style of substance in Season 2, this is very good episode, that gives me a good feel especially the intro and the magnificent ending with the plane flying off into the lovely lovely sunset. This episode makes me want to be in Miami....apart from the crack house bit lol.Overall 8/10

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Ok guys, you'll see my reviews getting more in depth as MV appraoches its zenith which is season 3 for me. Can already feel the gravity of it in late season 2. Anyway, I like this epiosde and rate it a 9. Kind of a continuation of "Smuggler's Blues" with a pilot trying to get out the game theme, and the timely reference to Jimmy from season 1 was welcome. Good to see Gary Cole in an early pre-Midnight Caller role too. Nice to see Noogy in season 2. Jumbo was as annoying as hell and kept saying man all the time and looked stoned 24/7. Altogether though an improvement on "Smugglers Blues" which I consider the weakest of season 1 epiosdes.Eingefügtes Bild

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The DVD's in the intro images show this woman walking out of the sea and 'popping' herself back into her costume - I always wondered where this shot came from - then I watched this ep - has someone got a screenshot? Man she was fit... Anyhow IMO this is a good ep - be back later with more.

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Entertaining episode; Noogie & Richard Beltzar rapping in unison. Nice shots of Miami in the beginning. I think Jumbo said "man" more than Stone in Back in the World! Notice Noogie didn't let on that Burnett & Cooper were cops. There's a Topic about night club names. In this episode there's : Raoul's & the Arc Light. Tubbs does some drinking in this one. A screwdriver, gin & tonic & old fashioned- & eats the cherry. Crockett uses the line "Lets blow this pop stand" Laughed at Stan with the WW1 pilot hat. Beautiful sunset. I rate it a 7. I'm raising my original score to an 8 because of the sunny Miami feel! :dance2:

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I forgot to mention the song "Miami" by Randy Newman. I never heard it before this episode. That's one I must add to my repertoire. Tubbs got me thirsty with his fancy drinks. He is really cool. I like him more & more as I re-watch all these episodes. His different accents, one-liners & clothes! :cheers:BTWay - Jumbo said 'man' 28 times ....Sonny twice & Rico 3 times! Timm.......are you sure you're a MV fan? ;):D

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About Jumbo saying Man alotWell you got to remember that Jumbo was played by none other than Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong, and Tommy was always saying Man this and Man that. He seemed to end almost every sentence or speech with man.That was just classic Tommy Chong. I was reminded of that when I watched VH1 Classic's Lords of the Revolution series Part Which discussed Cheech and Chong with comments by them. The series was narated by Richard Belzer.I'll try and post more later, but I just want to say this I loved the rantings of Richard Belzer in this one. Especially the irony of the last scenes where he talking about people hanging out at the pool and the shot shows the pirates layed sprawled out in the pool and around the pool dead.

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I consider this another pretty average episode, I like Richard Belzer and of course the "nougman" and it's funny seeing them teamed up but this one still isn't anything to get excited about, I give this one a 6.

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This episode is terrible. A complete waste of time. It's completely boring and it struggles to hold the attention. Yet another rubbish storyline. How could this happen? The reappearance of Noogie at the start of this ep was very ominous. But I had to love the montage with the song 'I Love Miami' (great title. I agree).And the the climax was undeniably good. Nice scenery and the shootout was good. But aside from that the episode was plotless, meandering, aimless, tedious. The characters were OTT and Richard Belzer was so bad and annoying. This is a bad episode. 3.5/1

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Although not one of my favourites, I thought this was an ok episode.The "Miami" montage at the beginning of the episode had to be the best promotional advert for Miami I've ever seen (especially the bit with the girl walking out of the Ocean). It's a pity that that now in Miami itself, you seen loads of "Scarface" memorabilia, yet you'd think from the complete dearth of anything Miami Vice related, you'd think it had never even existed. This is despite the fact that Miami Vice has probably done more to boost Miami tourism than anything else in history.I thought that the girl walking out of the Ocean reminded me of Debra Fueur in "Hostile Takeover" when she did the same (easy there Shill ;) )It was this episode that first made me think (like Crockett in "Out where the buses don't run"), that I may have a genuine 6th sense. This was originally one of the episodes that was shelved by the BBC in my country following the Hungerford Massacre in 1987. When you consider the gratuitous use of gun violence and the showing of the dead bodies covered in blood during the teaser, you can understand why. After Vice had finished being screened (but I'd still not seen the missing episodes), I remember idly counjuring up ideas in my imagination about other storylines that they could have used, which tragically they never did. I had an idea about a boat full of drug dealers having the **** shot out of them and their boat by modern day pirates which Crockett and Tubbs then sought to bring them down. A few years later I saw this episode and couldn't believe my eyes!My favourite scenes are the bar scene with the INXS tune playing (I can't remember it's name but it's one of my favourite INXS tunes), and also the scene on Captain Hook's boat with Crockett, Tubbs, Hook, and Noogie. This for me has to be Noogie's funniest scene. It's his jiving that amuses me and the fact that Tubbs says to him "You're not part of this conversation, Chump". Noogie acts all pantomime offended whilst Tubbs stands there motionless and stares at Noogie as if to say "Do I look scared?". I also thought the scene where Crockett and Tubbs have that bizarre conversation with Jumbo was amusing, although Jumbo's wife talked like a child and looked like she was wearing her pyjamas! I think like Nancy says, Tommy Chong has pretty much made a living out of acting stoned. That's assuming he's actually acting! His daughter, Dawn Rae Chong played Schwarzennegers female sidekick in "Commando".At least we got to find out what happened with Jimmy the pilot from "Smugglers Blues". I got the feeling that this was a deliberate inclusion because the producers may have received a lot of fan mail asking what the ultimate fate of Jimmy had been, and if this storyline could have been wrapped up. I also got the feeling that ideally they wanted to use Glenn Frey's original character again, but Glenn Frey wasn't available, so they had to use Gary Cole instead playing an almost identical role. It would have been great if they could have used Glenn Frey in his original role in this episode, and I believe that ultimately that's what the producers initially wanted. Jimmy wasn't just out for himself. He'd been through Vietnam and looked out for Crockett and Tubbs and their safety. In this episode, Jackson was exactly the same. It was basically Gary Cole playing Glenn Frey's role.I also loved Crockett's continuously bored and cynical facial expressions during the scene at the Arc Light with Jackson's girlfriend. They made a big deal about the age gap in this episode between Jackson and Lani, but in actual fact Cole was 30 when this episode was made and Nicole Fosse was 23!Mueller came across as such an arrogant Jerk that I was willing him to get killed throughout the episode.7.5 out of 10.

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There definitely is something about the style of this ep - yet again for Season 2 - which is so compulsive that you want to forgive plot weaknesses to an extent. The sunset at the end, girl out of the ocean montage, skylines in some of the background throughout the ep, the bit where C&T pull-up at Cole's warehouse was it(?) at dusk-time looks awesome, etc. Cole does well and yeah pre-Midnight Caller days this is a good advert for him. Great review again Papa - although as far as my personal preferences go with girls coming out of oceans, I think I'd rank this girl higher than Burnett's girl in Hostile Takeover :happy: I think this is worth a 7 out of 10.

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man all the time and looked stoned 24/7. Altogether though an improvement on "Smugglers Blues" which I consider the weakest of season 1 epiosdes.

Have to agree with you on two points - Smugglers Blues (against popular opinion) isn't one of my fave eps either - and this is dark in some of the material covered - quite a bloodfest, which is definitely in line with the excellent Season 3. And yes it does seem that there are some darker themes coming along in some of these late Season 2 eps - eg.Free Verse, which does lead nicely into S3 - I think I commented elsewhere that for me after watching these S2 eps (most of them for the first time) I now see that the change between S2 & S3 is not so stark as I once thought - there is definitely a gradual merge, in styling too - in fact some of the S2 eps could easily have been in S3 itself with the change to a slightly darker or more desperate ending perhaps.
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Digressing here for a minute, but IMHO I believe that Season 3 was darker in many respects. The clothes and colours were darker (pinks and whites were replaced by more earth tone colours), and there seemed to be more scenes filmed at night (Shadow in the dark being an obvious example). The storylines were darker and more serious, the endings more nihilistic, and I believe in general this reflects Michael Mann's penchant for Film Noir. Something you see in most of his films, even going as far back as "Thief". What doesn't add up is why it took until Season 3 for this to show up in Vice, particularly since I Mann had less involvement by Season 3.

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There definitely is something about the style of this ep - yet again for Season 2 - which is so compulsive that you want to forgive plot weaknesses to an extent. The sunset at the end' date=' girl out of the ocean montage, skylines in some of the background throughout the ep, the bit where C&T pull-up at Cole's warehouse was it(?) at dusk-time looks awesome, etc. Cole does well and yeah pre-Midnight Caller days this is a good advert for him. Great review again Papa - although as far as my personal preferences go with girls coming out of oceans, I think I'd rank this girl higher than Burnett's girl in Hostile Takeover :happy: I think this is worth a 7 out of 10.[/quote']X2 on this one....I actually gave it the same vote...A 7...Yep, the chicky pullin' on her top is simply HOT-the look she gives the camera let's ya know she knows it... and the mini advert for Miami...Awesome and makes me want to be there and the white bikini bottoms view....Uh,... Anyway...Vice is full of this stuff, and since it was the eighties and as a culture we were all skinnier for the most part, the scenery-people wise- and the locations, lighting-sunsets and dusk shots- were awesome. Story? Weak, yet this episode had it all and to me it was fun. One of my favorites. Not a good episode by the standards we use or acknowledge, just one of my favorites for some reason. I could pick it apart, but why? The look on Sonny's face when Rico tells 'Fluffy' to shoot him is priceless...My 2¢....Mike
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Digressing here for a minute' date=' but IMHO I believe that Season 3 was darker in many respects. The clothes and colours were darker (pinks and whites were replaced by more earth tone colours), and there seemed to be more scenes filmed at night (Shadow in the dark being an obvious example). The storylines were darker and more serious, the endings more nihilistic, and I believe in general this reflects Michael Mann's penchant for Film Noir. Something you see in most of his films, even going as far back as "Thief". What doesn't add up is why it took until Season 3 for this to show up in Vice, particularly since I Mann had less involvement by Season 3.[/quote'] I was up randomly early this morning randomly channel-hopping and BBC Four I think it was had a documentary about 'Origins of the Rules of Noir' - it was quite interesting, drawing heavily on 20's, 30's, 40's, movies and actors - from Mitchum to Bogarde, from the Maltese Falcon to the Murderers (I think it was called that). It was interesting the way they linked some of it to Nazi Germany and a world out of control - also interesting when they charted the rise of the narration voiceover technique - quite an interesting cinematic history lesson - I'm sure Mann himself would've loved the programme given his educational background! Erm, as for Season 3 - I think that perhaps Mann always intended to make it darker but perhaps the TV ratings and feedback was to keep the music and fashion and slightly 'lighter' elements in there - at least for a while. Mann going off to do Manhunter et al perhaps meant he had to go when he did - but perhaps his supervisory instruction was to make it darker and explore the darker side as he maybe always intended to do himself eventually(?) I actually love the way Season 2 isn't as dark as Season 3 - it definitely gives you something to clearly compare against - and IMO there are several endings in S2 where you have to think in retrospect 'boy that was close... but how long can Sonny's luck hold out for?... surely it's just a matter of time before things become markedly unluckier?' - and then you are answered with the gloriously dark Season 3.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I brand this story with a 7. I found the theme of this episode somewhat silly though, as a band of drug thieves are literally emulating themselves as storybook pirates. Sort of a malicious comic ambiance to this ep.

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  • 1 year later...

I love all early Miami VICE episode, its the ones from season 4 and 5 I dont like as much, it was either a soap opera or a propaganda piece for PSAs at that timeAFA this episode, i dont love it, but I dont hate it so Ill give it a 6

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This episode is terrible. A complete waste of time. It's completely boring and it struggles to hold the attention. Yet another rubbish storyline. How could this happen? How could they neglect the storylines so much in season 2? The reappearance of Noogie at the start of this ep was very ominous. But I had to love the montage with the song 'I Love Miami' (great title. I agree).And the the climax was undeniably good. Nice scenery and the shootout was good. But aside from that the episode was plotless' date=' meandering, aimless, tedious. The characters were OTT and Richard Belzer was so bad and annoying. This is a bad episode. 3.5/10[/quote'] I like Belzer on Homicide: Life on the Street and SVU, but he was annoying as hell in this episode. :sick::thumbsdown:
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  • 11 months later...

A very flashy and bright episode including good humour, strong action, gorgeous fashion and extensive music!:clap::cool:Trust Fund Pirates understands it to cover a serious mainproblem of Florida in the 80s - namely smuggling via sea - with typical VICE elements and especially excellent humour by Sonny and Rico, Stan and Larry, Noogie and Hook and Jumbo.:DAdditionally it shows wonderful colours like the sunset scene or when Jackson's plane takes off.:happy::clap:It appears to me as if VICE wants to carry the pastel-look to extremes before they it changes the style in Season 3. The teaser with all these fantastic Miami pictures, a hyped Hook and the pirates is absolutely cool! I wonder about the relatively brutal scenes on the attacked boat where blood smeared dead bodies lie around - fortunately they didn't get cut!Gary Cole as Jackson is very cool. He excellently replaces Jimmy (aka Glenn Frey) because he' completely out of touch with the real world - just like Jimmy!:)I'm really fond of the modern pirates with their weapons and extravagant clothes. There's no difference between wooden-leg-pirates and the modern ones - except the fact that modern ones hunt for cocaine or crack...I especially love the final scene when Sonny and Jackson talk about Jackson's new identity. Both are looking really cool - Sonny with a Mac 10 and Jackson wearing Aviator shades!:cool:Trust Fund Pirates offers various music.Randy Newman's Miami, Simply Red's Heaven and Steve Winwood's Still In The Game are my favourites.:radio:10 of 10 points.

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One of the factors I consider in my rating an episode is how it stands out in my memory from before the dvds came out. Regardless of reason why, did it stand out, was it an episode I consider to represent vice from my memory of the original airing. This episode stands out and to me that means it made the cut. I rate it an 8, not the best ever but far from bad. It makes me feel like I am in Miami.
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  • 5 months later...

ACTOR GARY COLE ORIGINALLY CAST AS SONNY CROCKETTI do recall reading from a paperback book about the show that Gary Cole was seriously considered for the lead role. Does anyone else recall this and were there any others that were in the running ?

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