'Miami Vice's' Hidden Mann-power

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[h=5]By LEWIS BEALE, Los Angeles Daily News[/h] Posted: September 03, 1986 LOS ANGELES — If pastel colors and high-tech designs didn't exist, Michael Mann would have invented them. Take "Miami Vice." Take Mann's new film, "Manhunter." Take, if you will, the office of the creator-producer-director of these projects, Michael Mann himself: light gray wall-to-wall carpeting; black walls; black leather lounge chair and black stoneware lamp; kidney-shape desk in turquoise and red Memphis-Milano design style. And here's the short, kinetic, streetwise and intelligent Mann, dressed in a blousy, blue-and-black-pattern shirt; dark, stylishly full pants and aqua moccasins. "I've absorbed culture the same as everyone else," said Mann, explaining the highly stylized look of his creations, "and I've always been interested in design. But if design is doing more than helping to deliver the story, then you're in trouble." Mann was in his offices on the Universal Studios lot, putting the finishing touches to the publicity campaign for "Manhunter," his first feature film since "Miami Vice" became a mega-hit. The taut tale of a forensics expert's search for a serial killer, it is a typical Mann product: visually stylish, emotionally moody, with syntho-pop music and a bloody climax. "What attracted me to the project," Mann said, "was I thought it" - the novel "Red Dragon," upon which the film was based - "was the best detective story I'd ever read in my life. I loved it because Graham" - the hero - "solves the problem intellectually. "Women are going to respond to this movie in a big way. Our researchers think it's because women think more than men. But I think women respond to the humanity of the movie. Women are also very sensitive to the whole issue of violence against women." How about their reaction to violence against design schemes? That, at least, seems to be the primary concern of some interviewers, who are already complaining that "Manhunter" is warmed-over "Miami Vice," post-modern style ad nauseum. "I spent three years working on this movie," said Mann in response to this criticism, "and it's not a piece of fluff. It's designed to affect you, but not so that you're cognizant of the mechanism. I didn't make the picture for a look. If I wanted a look, I would have made commercials. I want the picture to be judged for its content." Poor Michael Mann. The fact is, he will always be identified with Crockett and Tubbs, music video visuals and a cool, macho style that seems to define the mid-1980s. It's the cross you bear when you create a phenomenon. Not that he doesn't have other credits to list on his resume. A Chicago native, Mann majored in English literature at the University of Wisconsin, then did graduate work at the London School of Film Technique. Working first in commercials and documentaries, he eventually drifted to Los Angeles in the '70s and wound up in TV. Mann established his credentials as a cop-show freak early in his career. He wrote the first three episodes of the "Starsky and Hutch" series, then several episodes of "Police Story." Turning to the other side of the criminal line, he wrote and directed "The Jericho Mile," a TV movie about a runner in Folsom Prison that earned him a Directors Guild of America award and an Emmy for his writing. In 1981, Mann turned to features and directed "Thief," a moody film noir- type picture starring James Caan as a safecracker. The film was, in many ways, a precursor of "Miami Vice." It featured dark, brooding, highly stylized visuals, as well as a rock score by the group Tangerine Dream. Although Mann's next feature, the 1983 horror film "The Keep," was a major turkey (he just refers to it with a shrug and a rueful smile), his style and reputation were set. His most recent film, "Band of the Hand" - which Mann produced - was dismissed as little more than an extended "Miami Vice" episode. It, too, died at the box office. These days, Mann is working hard on "Vice," which will undergo a change of color scheme, from bright pastel to darker chromatics. " 'Miami Vice' was always supposed to be permanently evolving," Mann said. "Imitating yourself is the easiest way to get old and stale. Things evolve. "Also, the stories will be a bit different. For example, we have one called 'El Viejo' " - "The Old Man" - "about a retired Texas Ranger who winds up in Miami, and everyone wonders what he's doing there. The role is played by Willie Nelson, and he's really great." Mann is nothing if not loyal to the show that made him famous. And he defends it on more than creative grounds. "When I bump into law enforcement people," he said, "we have real serious conversations about the content of 'Miami Vice.' They start out with 'How the hell did you find out about that?' Sometimes they even want to know who we based an episode on." As if all this TV and movie work weren't enough, Mann is also preparing ''Crime Story," a series for NBC that will follow a group of Chicago detectives through two decades, beginning in the early '60s. In keeping with the Mann style, the series will emphasize visuals and feature a rock score by Todd Rundgren. "It's certainly a new form for TV," Mann said of the show. "It's a continuing story, a serial, a combination of 'The French Connection,' 'The Godfather' and 'Peyton Place.' The whole first year can be seen as a 22-hour movie. "In terms of music, we start out with sort of a dirty, funky Chicago blues sort of sound," which Mann describes as a personal favorite. "Then we jump to the next time I liked cars and music, which was around 1969." So here's Michael Mann, TV and film phenomenon, waiting for the reviews to pour in. An interesting combination of the sacred and the profane - the kind of man who can use an obscenity to describe a novel by Camus - Mann has been the object of an enormous amount of attention and critical comment over the past few years. During that time, he's managed to develop a thick hide. "In a way, I'm sensitive to comment," he said, "and when I have the opportunity, I respond. I'm "Miami Vice's" harshest critic. But I'm not in the popularity business. What motivates me is making movies. My focus is on my work."