Episode 23: Prodigal Son

[airtommy]

In the "You Belong To The City" scene, one unknown clip is findable.

We see "Burberry" in the background.  I looked for Burberry store listings in NY but couldn't find anything matching this.

 

 

[Dadrian]

1 hour ago, airtommy said:

In the "You Belong To The City" scene, one unknown clip is findable.

We see "Burberry" in the background.  I looked for Burberry store listings in NY but couldn't find anything matching this.

 

 

All I can say is:

You can feel it
You can taste it
You can see it
You can face it
You can hear it
You're getting near it
You're wanna make it
'Cause you can take it

 

[TylerDurden389]

I used to work right around the corner from West 18th street. Saw a lot of famous people almost everyday in that neighborhood. The pay sucked and there was no way I could've kept the job forever, but I still miss it a lot.

[daytona365]

On 7/3/2021 at 4:56 AM, airtommy said:

In the "You Belong To The City" scene, one unknown clip is findable.

We see "Burberry" in the background.  I looked for Burberry store listings in NY but couldn't find anything matching this.

I would say this likely is the Burberry flagship store at 9 East 57th Street. Burberry opened it's first store in NY in 1978 at this address. They used to have an entrance canopy which looked exactly like what's visible behind Crockett in this shot.

 

[Tom]

vor einer Stunde schrieb daytona365:

I would say this likely is the Burberry flagship store at 9 East 57th Street. Burberry opened it's first store in NY in 1978 at this address. They used to have an entrance canopy which looked exactly like what's visible behind Crockett in this shot.

 

Another great find! That makes a lot of sense, as this walking scene during the Frey song was a short "convenience location" that needs to be close to other locations and BINGO .... the scene where Crockett&Tubbs arrive in NYC and Crockett stares after a woman was filmed at 56&Madison just around the corner from the Burberry shop! 

And the neighbour building Crockett is walking in front of (was a Breitling shop, now is another brand) at 5 E 57 fits too - see below.

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

with @daytona365s latest find, we have now found all locations of Prodigal son! @C Glide (not counting the exact location of the Everglades scene in the opening credits of course which would even not findable with the production notes as no address possible).

Another big one checked off completely. Nice team work!

[king77]

6 hours ago, Tom said:

with @daytona365s latest find, we have now found all locations of Prodigal son! @C Glide (not counting the exact location of the Everglades scene in the opening credits of course which would even not findable with the production notes as no address possible).

Another big one checked off completely. Nice team work!

@Tom

Check out Amelia Earhart Aquatic Park.

Close to the Opa Locka airport to truck a carcass of a plane over, and it has a small area that could pass for the Everglades with some help.

Parking and plenty of space for a crew to shoot. 

Thoughts?

 

[Tom]

vor einer Stunde schrieb king77:

@Tom

Check out Amelia Earhart Aquatic Park.

Close to the Opa Locka airport to truck a carcass of a plane over, and it has a small area that could pass for the Everglades with some help.

Parking and plenty of space for a crew to shoot. 

Thoughts?

 

That´s a good idea, but I doubt it that this was the location. What we see in the episode is a typical Everglades setting with lot of reed. There is nothing like that in AE Park which has some lakes of different sizes but no reed areas anywhere.

I believe that thes filmed this close to Tamiami Trail close to Krome Ave. There are plenty of sites where you can film such a scene very close to Tamiami Trail to keep equipment logistics to a minimum and also some sites where you can find an old plane body as a prop in order not to bring it all the way from Miami.

[daytona365]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

I believe that thes filmed this close to Tamiami Trail close to Krome Ave. There are plenty of sites where you can film such a scene very close to Tamiami Trail to keep equipment logistics to a minimum and also some sites where you can find an old plane body as a prop in order not to bring it all the way from Miami.

Coopertown Airboat Tours claims to have been employed by Miami Vice:

https://coopertownairboats.com/film

[Tom]

vor 4 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Coopertown Airboat Tours claims to have been employed by Miami Vice:

https://coopertownairboats.com/film

Could be Indian Wars or Prodigal Son.

[airtommy]

IMDB says the swamp scene in Bad Boys II was filmed at Oleta.  Oleta would be convenient for the Vice crew.

 

[daytona365]

 

9 hours ago, Tom said:

Could be Indian Wars or Prodigal Son.

The Miccosukee have their own airboat operations, so I assume they have been used for "Indian Wars"

[daytona365]

Same boat maybe?

[Tom]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Same boat maybe?

could be. Although airboats are pretty much the same, this significant detail is a strong indicator that we see the same boat type (and airboat base used?) in both episodes.

[Tom]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb airtommy:

IMDB says the swamp scene in Bad Boys II was filmed at Oleta.  Oleta would be convenient for the Vice crew.

 

given the looks of the swamp scene (lots of reed!) and the airboat, I would rather assume that this was filmed in the Everglades (most likely around the Coopertown address daytona365 has provided above, as the Indian Wars Miccosukee location is far more out) and not in Oleta. I see no reed area there and to bring an airboat over there?

[Tom]

I enhanced the lightning: to me this looks like a typical everglades area, lots of reed and no background whatsoever. Not something we would expect to see in Oleta or other Miami area parks where there are lakes or waterways but usually no reed.

The boat registration number of the boat C&T are on is interestingly from New Jersey and will not help to pinpoint anything via the boat.

The number of one of the airboats is a Florida registration number but came up empty from the Florida State database.

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Tom

[daytona365]

Coopertown Airboat Tours states on their website that they have been involved in the production of "Invasion U.S.A.", a 1985 movie starring Chuck Norris. I've found a few clips from that film on youtube, and lo and behold:

there are the boats from both "The Prodigal Son" and "Indian Wars" in the same scene. That still doesn't give us the exact filming location but it certainly points to Coopertown (probably not named after Richard Cooper ) as the boat operator and narrows the filming location down to "somewhere in the swamps close to Coopertown airboat marina". While many airboats do look alike, I would say that these two designs are rather distinct and I don't believe it's a coincidence, given that their operator has been involved in the filming of quite a few movies and tv shows.

Edited July 9, 2021 by daytona365

[Dadrian]

Nice work @daytona365!

I saw Invasion USA. Pretty terrible, but it does have a scene with Florence Italy (Marilyn Romero)! 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Dadrian

[Tom]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb daytona365:

Coopertown Airboat Tours states on their website that they have been involved in the production of "Invasion U.S.A.", a 1985 movie starring Chuck Norris. I've found a few clips from that film on youtube, and lo and behold:

there are the boats from both "The Prodigal Son" and "Indian Wars" in the same scene. That still doesn't give us the exact filming location but it certainly points to Coopertown (probably not named after Richard Cooper ) as the boat operator and narrows the filming location down to "somewhere in the swamps close to Coopertown airboat marina". While many airboats do look alike, I would say that these two designs are rather distinct and I don't believe it's a coincidence, given that their operator has been involved in the filming of quite a few movies and tv shows.

Coopertown Tours is quite close to Krome Ave and the beginning of the Everglades and far away from the Miccossukee village where most of Indian Wars was filmed. Despite of that the airboat design match is no coincidence and points to Coopertown in both episodes with the possibility that most airboat scenes in Indian Wars might have been filmed far away from the Indian reservation.

P.S. Prodigal son is a night scene, but the Indian Wars action/explosion scenes seemed to be filmed south of Tamiami Trail given the direction of the sun and the fact that most airboat trails are south of it. There are also some significant high hammocks in that day scene that should enable to pinpoint the exact spot for someone who knows the area.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Tom

[Matt5]

Nice current day shot of Robert H Wagner pier and park / Battery Park (bottom centre) where Crockett ran south at the end of the episode.

[Tom]

Now we have 100% proof that Club 21 in Hallandale was in fact Club Delirious. @C Glide@airtommy@Dadrian@miamijimf@daytona365

I was able to find around 50 photos in the Facebook group for Club 21 in Hallandale, mostly close ups, but one of them shows the stage and the 3x8 glass-block window, the door next to it and part of the wooden dancefloor we see in the episode.

See my comparison below. Another old mystery solved!

Click to enlarge! ENJOY!

Edited July 12, 2021 by Tom

[Matt5]

Nice old shots of the World Trade Centre Plaza seen in the final meet/ shootout in this fine episode.

Both photos show the area well and our hero’s would have walked in between the two smaller black buildings (1st picture) with Greenwich street in the background (upper picture to centre). You can see the steps they walked down (mid picture). The centrepiece is on display in Battery Park today.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Matt5

[Matt5]

A current day shot of the buildings we see in Midtown East along FDR Drive N as the “You Belong to the City” montage starts on Roosevelt Island from the East River. 
We see this stretch also but in close up above the buildings in Midtown East, not from across the river, in fall’s 1986 “Better Living Through Chemistry”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Matt5

[Matt5]

A really interesting shot of the key Miami Vice location seen in “Prodigal Son” of the Battery Park landfill in Lower Manhattan from the 58th floor of the World Trade Centre down West street looking to the small pier (Pier Harbor House at Robert F. Wagner Jr park)  we also saw in the helicopter shoot down.

Photo- circa March 1975 ten years before filming.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Matt5

[Matt5]

Lower Manhattan skyline circa 1985 from Brooklyn - as we saw in “Prodigal Son”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Matt5