Episode #51 "El Viejo"


Ferrariman

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  • 1 year later...
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I gave this one an 8.I liked the plot and the music. Bon JoviThe part that killed it for me was the drug dealer wanting his brief case back. That was over the top in my opinion, but I guess if you are using the drugs you sell, maybe his mind was a little whacked.

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drug dealers are allowed to have favourite items I suppose..? I have a school ruk-sack from the 80's that I'm quite partial to! :)great episode, with classic track from Depeche Mode with the 'flies on the windscreen' lyricsoriginal ending in the cemetry and a nostalgic look back at texas rangersOn this point, does anyone know the years that Nelson's character is supposed to have been active as a ranger?

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...On this point' date=' does anyone know the years that Nelson's character is supposed to have been active as a ranger? [/quote']I think it was 1874-1902 :p
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Guest neworder

One of my favourite episodes from Season 3 along with Forgive Us Our Death, Down for Count II and Lend Me An Ear. In addition it should have been shown first in the episode running order. This episode is simply very good from start to finish, the music is probably what tips this as a truly special episode. Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi, Flies on the windscreen by Depeche Mode and State Of Emergency by Cactus World News are all brilliant tunes, some of my favourite vice tracks in the whole series and then there's Jan Hammer's stunning score, El Viego and Texas Ranger being 2 of my favourite Hammer tunes aswell, so one could say I Love the music. In addition it has a good story, plenty of decent action, some nice views from the marina Crockett is based at and it's amusing in a couple of places. The fog at the end however is a little ridiculous. Overall then, a fantastic Vice episode that for some reason I don't think is special enough to get a 10, but it certainly qualifies for a score of 9/10

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I really love the music from this epi, and there are some great scenes too but i'm not a big fan of the story...and the fog at the end just ridiculous hehe I give this episode a 7

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I Liked this one alot...Nice to see the Daytona back again...I missed it. As already noted, wonderful music and thew intro puzzled me a little...Mr yee-haw joining up with the Bolivian, Mandez and an EMPTY marina with a beautiful back drop of Miami....How do you find an empty marina with a view as such...? Great scenery throughout this episode and the scene with Gina and Willie back at the St Vardis with the cruise ship in the backround was great...Speaking of the boat....Did it move to a different slip/marina altogether here? Curious...I loved the scene of Rico and Sonny on the boat and the power Sonny has just pointing when Rickles and his sidkick board the boat and all Sonny has to do is point and the guy pulls his hand off his gun..."You know what I like about you, Rickles?........Not a damn thing"....Classic Sonny...Also a great scene with Sonny and Willie sharing past experiences and sizing each other up on the boat too-the color of the sky was great...Gina looked awesome as usual, yet it's Trudy coming to light in season three...The lady at the apartment place cracked me up..."Is that for me?" The comment she makes towards Swi was great...Fat?...Well put together episode, yet weak in the story a little but the performances made up for it to me...Loved when Swi came crashing thru the door!! Cool...9 from me...Mike

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Guest neworder

How do you find an empty marina with a view as such...?

It looks to me like Crockett's usual Marina, I asked once on here or .org why they changed marina's in season 3 and someone said that the old one was being refurbished and done up which may explain the empty marina in this episode. The marina has different buildings at the side in season 4 eps to season 1/2 eps. Think this is the possible explanation, could be wrong though...
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The "Museum" that you see near the beginning of the episode is now the South Beach post office, and it was certainly weird to see Washington Avenue so empty in this scene. Even if that scene was filmed about 4am in the morning now, there would still be cars and people milling around.I bet Wille Nelson was flattered at playing a pensioner with a heart condition, constantly being referred to as "the old man" (El Viejo literally means "The Old one"), considering he was only 53 at the time. Interestingly, Nelson also hails from Texas so it was appropriate he should play a Texas Ranger.One thing I could never understand was why Castillo constantly refers to Mendez as "Mr Mendez"? Does Mendez have a status which commands more respect that your average Dealer?My favourite scene is definately the "Flys on the Windscreen" scene.Crockett once again shows the instinctual depths of his personality. Once he finds out that Pearson was a Texas Ranger he knows right from that point that there is something more going on that just Pearson deciding to move over to the wrong side of the law. He sums this up when Zito refers to Pearson as having now turned into a "Cocaine Cowboy", and Crockett replies "something tells me that isn't this old man's game".I also thought the ending was great. It also had a dash of black humour, when one of Mendez's hencemen gets shot dead and falls straight into a grave.You could empathise with Jake's position in this story. His mindset was revealed during his conversation with Crockett on the boat. He told Crockett that he'd "lost everyone", and he was also intensely loyal to his former partner. He knew that going head to head with Mendez and his crew might be suicidal, but as a Texas Ranger he had the balls to do it, and even if he did get killed then by that point, providing that he'd whacked Mendez first then he would have felt like there was nothing left to live for anyway. I believe that Jake was ready for death and considered that it was time to join his former comrades on the other side. "State of emergency" was relevant on so many levels as it appears to refer to death in it's lyrics "A time of rest, a time of change... sooner or later your time will come". You had the fact that the scene takes place in a cemetary, the fact that Vince Wilson was dead and buried there, the fact that there was a sense of spookiness with the darkness, smoke, and ambient light, and the fact that in my opinion Pearson was prepared to die in this shootout, all reinforced the theme of death in the finale of this episode.A very good episode. 8.5 out of 10.

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"El Viejo" just went from my top 5 episodes to my top 3 episodes. I must be in love with DJ and Willie Nelson!!! Wow, what a cool episode. The opening shot of the OCB glass block wall, the beautiful colored lights on the museum, the truck, the music, the great Miami scenes, Gina & Trudy at the hotel pool,the snake skin boots, the python or lizard skin briefcase....all make this a classic Miami Vice episode. But there's more....the acting is right on all around, even the drug dealers are cool, especially Steve Buscemi. Good wise-cracks in this one: Crockett: "Know what I like about you, Rickles...not a damn thing!" Funny lines from Stan also, & the manager of the run-down hotel. The the thing I like best is the awe & respect Sonny has for the old man when they find out he was a Texas Ranger. Rico, being from NY, doesn't know what Sonny does about them, like the monument in Dallas that has "One Riot, one Ranger." "These guys were legends" he tells Rico. I got the chills when they showed the b&w footage from the old cowboy movies, since they were my heroes. Willie Nelson was excellent as the ranger avenging the death of his partner's son. So cool the scene of him putting on his six-shooter & his badge to have the showdown at the cemetery! I shed a tear as always when Sonny says, "I'm a cop & Jake says " I knew that all along & then dies. Funny line when the manager at the hotel tells the woman that Switek is a police officer & she says "With that gut?" and he says it's probably bullet proof & she says "It better be"! Yes, this is one of my favorites and gets a 10+ from me! I don't understand why some people feel the fog was ridiculous.........it gave the cemetery shootout an eerie-old west feeling. After a Florida rain, we sometimes get fog that makes driving very hazardous.

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I don't understand why some people feel the fog was ridiculous.........it gave the cemetery shootout an eerie-old west feeling. After a Florida rain' date=' we sometimes get fog that makes driving very hazardous[/color'].

Notice that they did the same thing in that other Miami Vice cemetary scene from "Tale of the Goat"
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Guest neworder

It fitted in with the theme of the episode well, I agree.But geographically it was a bit silly. Just to clarify - I didn't give this episode a 9 instead of a 10 because of the fog, it's a very minor issue.

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My original review 10 May 2007 at 9:44pmThis is one of my favorite Vice episodes from Season III and I rate it a 9.5 Whether it would have made a good opening episode for the season I don’t know. Willie Nelson is not one of my favorite people, & I like Liam Neilson better, but Nelson’s OK and he was believable as someone who was old enough to be a Texas Ranger 50 years or so ago. I love the music in this from Jan Hammer’s El Viejo mix to the other music being used. State of Emergency is pretty good at describing the character Jake Pierson. He’s just hanging on until the last wrong is avenged and then he’s ready to rest forever. Bon Jovie’s Wanted Dead or Alive is also appropriate. I like the scenery especially the boat shots. I like the scenes in South Beach the Miami Beach Post office standing in for the Museum meet. I also like the fact that the entire OCB gang was involved in this episode. Gina, Trudy, Stan, Larry, Even Castillo. The villain was really someone you could hate and not feel an ounce of pity for. Rickles, although not technically a villain ,was not a sympathetic person either. Again we get a special moment between Sonny and Gina although it’s not as expressive as in When Irish Eyes… Gina catches Sonny as he’s coming back from the search of Pierson’s room and announces that Jake just got the call. Then as she’s calling Sonny to take a look at the briefcase her tone is somewhat flirtatious while still conducting business. Sonny’s is business but his smile is enough to make me think not only her news is making him smile but her voice did also. Notice it’s Gina that calls Sonny not Trudy. After which Sonny has one of the best lines in this episode. "You know what I like about you Rickles, Not a damn thing. Backstroke" I love the look Sonny gets on his face when he finds out Jake was a Texas Ranger. His attitude towards him begins to change a little. I also liked the talk on the boat between Jake and Sonny about the present and the past. Jake” I’ve handled more dangerous men than those fancy pants dealers you run around with.” Sonny’s patronizing attitude at first reminds me of the way he was with Rico when he first met him. “Well sir, that might have been true once, but this is Miami and you can’t tell the players without a program… or something to that effect. After he finds out Jake is a former Texas Ranger he has more respect for Jake. It looks like he even begins to trust him a little bit. So Jake was able to conk him on the head and borrow the Scarab. (also like Tubbs when they first met). The conversation between Sonny and Jake about Jake’s past and lost of his partner seems to strike a chord in Sonny as he begins to say he lost some friends in South East Asia, and Jake interrupts him saying he’s lost everybody. He then goes on to say that he knows what kind of man Burnett is a dealer with only his gun for a friend, Sonny almost looks hurt at Jake's statement,then seems to remember he's Burnett a dealer not Crockett the police detective, and that’s when Sonny accuses Jake of selling out on his badge. This makes the ending even more poignant when Sonny helps Jake in the shootout and they draw on each other and Sonny admits that he’s a cop, and just before Jake dies he says he knew that all along. It also seemed that Jake was admitting he could die in peace as he avenged his partner’s son’s death and he could turn over the law enforcement duties to Sonny a worthy successor. Rico backs his partner as always by expressing his concern about Sonny’s emotions after the Museum guard got killed, he backs Sonny up to Castillo when Castillo expresses doubts that maybe Crockett’s mind isn’t focused on the case (after having the same kind of conversation with Sonny earlier) He even listens to Sonny when Sonny tells him about the Texas Rangers. He also takes the lead about getting Jake to cut them in on dealing the product when it looks like Sonny’s frustration is going to make him do something he shouldn’t do. Rico calls Sonny out into the hallway for a conversation, and says they’ve got to play him. The car chase was kind of neat but for once Sonny and Rico seemed to be caught by surprise. What would they have done if Jake wasn’t there? Would they have continued to be shot at, or would Rico begin shooting back, and Sonny manage to step on the breaks and let the van speed ahead so he could get his gun out and shoot. I also found it amusing he took off his sunglasses and just tossed them into the car as he shot. 10/14/2009 - Not much I can add except I agree Fly on the Windshield was also a good song . Also the restraunt where Rickles is eating. Is that over by the Clay Hotel? Just curious. This remains one of my favorite episodes in Vice. and I must admit I caught something I hadn't noticed before in this viewing. In the hallway of The Excellsior hotel, When Jake goes down after he's taken care of the Bolivian's messanger, and they show the movie sequence of what was supposed to be him and his partner fighiting the Juarez brothers, I thought he was reacting to Sonny and Rico by shooting at them, but I caught him say "Watch out Roy" and then he shot at Rico and Sonny and then collasped, so he was having a flashback while he was having a cardiac episode. In my original review I rated this a 9.5 since the point system doesn't work that way here. I'll give it a 10.

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This is an excellent episode. Very well done. They should've used it for the season opener as it's much better than Irish Eyes and it would've avoided the continuity error with the Daytona. Willie Nelson did a good job. He had been in Michael Mann’s first film Thief. Mann obviously wanted to have him on Vice too. Very good early appearance by Steve Buscemi too. Very welcome inclusion of Depeche Mode on the soundtrack. 'Fly On The Windscreen' was fantastic. The whole Vice squad got good exposure in this ep, apart from Castillo who was underused a bit. Very nice scenery in this ep, good action and a good storyline so I really like this ep. 9/10

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One of my favorite episodes, and not just because of Depeche Mode's song Fly On The Windscreen. I love the plot, Jan Hammer's music in this ep is really awesome as well. This ep is pretty much the one I normally watch before I go to school. I rate it a ten.

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I thought it was because Willie knew DJ

This is an excellent episode. Very well done. They should've used it for the season opener as it's much better than Irish Eyes and it would've avoided the continuity error with the Daytona. Willie Nelson did a good job. He had been in Michael Mann’s first film Thief. Mann obviously wanted to have him on Vice too. Very good early appearance by Steve Buscemi too. Very welcome inclusion of Depeche Mode on the soundtrack. 'Fly On The Windscreen' was fantastic. The whole Vice squad got good exposure in this ep' date=' apart from Castillo who was underused a bit. Very nice scenery in this ep, good action and a good storyline so I really like this ep. 9/10[/quote']I didn't know Willie Nelson was in Thief. I've never gotten all the way through that filme (I'm always interupted when trying to watch it.). I did know that Willie Nelson appeared on 'Heartbeat' video and album on the song 'Star Tonight', so I naturally thought that's why he wound up on Miami Vice.:)
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I didn't know Willie Nelson was in Thief. I've never gotten all the way through that filme (I'm always interupted when trying to watch it.). I did know that Willie Nelson appeared on 'Heartbeat' video and album on the song 'Star Tonight'' date=' so I naturally thought that's why he wound up on Miami Vice.:)[/quote']He also turned up in "Nash Bridges" with Don as well!:D
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This is one of my favorite eps of all-time. The only "issue" I have is the placement of the music. I think "Wanted, Dead or Alive" should have been at the end of the ep, not the beginning.Minor quibble, though. 10/10 form me!

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  • 1 month later...

one of my favorite episodesopening scene in museum with bo jovi background music is a classic...watch willie nelsons eyes as he looks at crockett when he has security guard up against the wall...he knows right there he is a cop, the way he his holding him as if hes patting him down...great scene, dosnt say a word he just know...state of emergency scenes are classic also in hotel room...music was perfect all the way around...(wouldve liked a little dialogue between sonny and pearson at the end, ala sonny and evan freed)...of my favorites

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  • 4 months later...
Episode 51: El ViejoThis was a fine episode, Willie Nelson makes a good guest appearance as an ex-Texas Ranger, Steve Buscemi plays his usual weasel, only minor complaints such as no real motivation for Willie's character and the producers rediculous choice of airing this later in the season instead of before "Whe Irish Eyes Are Crying", seeing the ghost of Crockett's beloved Cor/Rarri (term I invented myself) is jarring, plus this episode feels like a better choice for a season opener than "Irish Eyes", guess it's best just to watch this before watching "Irish Eyes" for better continuation.Still scores an 8.
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  • 6 months later...

9/10

Solid summation Neworder...but I'd have to give it a 10 for sentimental reasons myself (pretty much the first Miami Vice Episode I remember watching w/ my family when it first aired). I 100% agree that this should have been the openning show from Season 3. I love how the show starts out in bright white from the glass tiles shining from behind Marty's desk. Then the camera work panning from above the Peterbuilt...heck even Stan was acting pretty darn cool giving the guy a pinch of Redman. I can't figure how it wasn't the premier for Season 3 given the music-Depeche Mode was big but Bon Jovi was HUGE at the time and Dead or Alive was iconic for that period and perfect for this episode. The fog, eh I can live with it. It adds to the aura and the mystique. Sure it was a bit camp but I have no problem with it. Great story. It was my first introduction to the Texas Rangers (well except when they came to town the Orioles used to mop the floor with them :D). I loved Jan's theme and even the reuse of an older score worked perfectly at the end. I just thought from beginning to the end this episode was a top 3 for the Season and top 15 for the season maybe even cracking the top 10. Willie was an awesome choice for the Ranger and I loved his constant use of of the Blackjack. "I'm here to brighten your miserable life puppydog." Classic
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"You know what I like about you Rickles? Not a damn thing. Backstroke." I've seen this episode 20 times and I still laugh at that line. Execatty...I believe you are dead on in your analysis of Jake sizing up Sonny at the Museum. I thought the same exact thing.

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A solid 9, despite, as ive previously discussed, the whole 'shoot at 'em from 5' w/ a tripod mounted M16 and not hitting anything' scene, I love Willie Nelson and Texas Rangers are bad boys as we all know, as well as the music and great scenes, definately a 9

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  • 1 month later...

Definitely one of the best offerings of S3 and should've been the opening eppy. Instead we got Gina suckin face with Darkman, who wanted to shoot down airplanes. :sick:8/10

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