Screenplay by Michael Mann
Based on "Miami Vice" created by Anthony Yerkovich
1st draft. 9/22/04 104 pages
The Miami of the 80's, that twilight-zone frontier built on coke-fueled cash flow, is over. The frontier development stage is passed. It has BECOME Casablanca. Anything goes; everything has a price.
And that pretty much sets the stage for the film out from 80's pop culture tv show to a modern day contemporary crime film. And a very good one at that. Most of the T.V. shows from back in the day being made into movies today come out over the top and corny. Not this one. It will stand out. Mann is in top form here. Having the eye for detail, the first draft of Miami Vice reads like a police manual. Full of prose and detail. If you never seen the T.V. show, not to worry. It is not necessary here. This is not an origin film like the pilot episode when Tubbs is a cop from New York down in Miami investigating a murder. In this draft Tubbs and Crockett are already partners. Who is in it from the old show?
Crockett and Tubbs of course. Gina Calabrese (who is romantically involved with Tubbs and plays a major role in the story), Trudy Joplin (WHO IS NOT ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED AS ERRONEOUSLY REPORTED ON ANOTHER WEBSITE), Switek, Zito, and Lt. Castillio.
I will try to keep it spoiler free as possible but Crockett's love interest is ISABELLA, Afro Cuban. She also has a major arc in the story, which I won't divulge.
Spoiler Warning!
Here is the basic setup of the film:
ALONZO STEVENS is a CI (confidential informant) for Tubbs whose wife and kid are brutally murdered by these Aryan Brotherhood Nazi Low Rider White Supremacist Types bad guys. Upon hearing the bad news after Crockett and Tubbs intercept him, Stevens committs suicide (INCITING INCIDENT). Because Stevens thought that the goons would let his wife and kid go, he gave up a bunch of FEDS who work undercover as Russian gangsters. The Aryan Brotherhood (bad guys) cream the Feds posing as Russian Gangsters. It becomes personal for Tubbs because he had a thing with Steven's wife before Alonzo hooked up with her. The Feds operational security is blown. There is a mole. Miami Dade PD wasn't involved in the Joint Interagency Task Force of JIT for short. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE: AGENT JAMES FUGIMA of the FBI intervenes --
FUJIMA
But Miami PD wasn't part of the J.I.T. And from what Alonzo said, he didn't give you up.
CROCKETT
So what do you want?
FUJIMA
To recruit you
CASTILLO
...I didn't want you around the crime scene because it's crawling with federal law enforcement. We don't know who's straight up, who's not...
CROCKETT
Recruit us to do what?
FUJIMA
Get into business with this crew, identify them. Illuminate their network. If you're lucky, discover their source, how they penetrated us. We'll indict and take it from there...
In order to do that, Crockett and Tubbs have to infiltrate, build trust and drop loads for a Colombian Drug network run by a cat named (and as a Latino I think this name is very unrealistically corny) Archangel de Jesus Montoya-Londono from the North Valle area.
It is very dangerous. Later in the scene --
FUJIMA
You need to consider a few issues.
CASTILLO
(to Crockett + Tubbs)
...you'd be operating outside territorial United States. Your badges do not count. You have no authorization to carry weapons. If you're busted, it could take a long time to get you re-patriated. And there's no backup...
(To Fujima)
And you will share with them all your Intel on Montoya...
When Fujima leaves the scene --
CASTILLO
(To Tubbs)
About the Stevens family, I'm sorry. I know you were close to them.
TUBBS
I was the kids' godfather.
CASTILLO
(intuits)
And...?
TUBBS
"And" what?
CASTILLO
I got to know. There is never any room for "personal"...
CROCKETT
(for Tubbs)
He is fine. And we know the jokes. When it gets vengeful, things get messy. When they get messy the wrong people die...
(beat)
Everybody gets it.
CASTILLO
Good.
TUBBS
And the answer is "yes."
(beat)
Before she met Alonzo, once upon a time, a long time ago.
(beat)
You bet it was personal.
Oh **** look out because here comes Crockett and Tubbs!
Two other players other than Montoya that will fit into the story later that we meet in La Perla district of San Juan Puerto Rico --
JOSE "COCHI LOCO" YERO
He's a former right-wing Colombian paramilitary from the North Valle near the Pacific coast. He runs operations, communications, and security. He has cold eyes in a corpulent face. He's notorious for using torture to ferret-out informants.
Later in the scene --
As Crockett sits, he notices that at a table a few to the side is a woman. This is ISABELLA. Behind glasses, she seems immobile, filled with intelligence, well-dressed in subdued Tom Ford and staring at him. Reading him. Crockett holds the look that extra beat and turns back to business...
Who is Isabella besides the love interest to Crockett and what does she do and how she fits in to the story?
Well ya'll gonna have to find out and go see the movie. I pretty much gave you what I think you are gonna see in a trailer for this movie later in the year.
But the description and the action are that densely written as the character descriptions above. Mann has an eye for detail. He just doesn't write bullets, he writes what's kind of bullets and millimeters. He goes into details on police procedural, tactics, firearms, drugs, and the works. The structure is tight and the story moves pretty fast. The script is a fast 104 pages. There isn't much of a character arc but there is a love story in there. Aryan Brother hood and Colombian bad guys. Looks like Crockett and Tubbs are in over their heads, and trust me they are. The story is very much in the vein of Mann's other crime stories like Thief and Heat.
Overall, a good and entertaining read.
I was just about to post that!
