KOOL TV CLASSIC IMAGE: 'MIAMI VICE'

Guns blazing! Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) and Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) take the heat in MIAMI VICE. Image: UNIVERSAL.

Before CSI boss Horatio Caine fought sun-soaked crime and murder with his pithy comebacks and gun toting sun-glasses wearing charisma, there were Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, principal heroic custodians of the hit TV series MIAMI VICE, an altogether different interpretation of the sun and sand of Miami: a seedy and crime ridden noir version of the popular beach and commerce resort more akin to New Wave chic meets SCARFACE than the high production valued colourful travel brochures of the kind now seen with the state in Anthony Zuiker's forensics adventures. As created and realised by show creator Michael Mann's this stylish 1980's drama meets pop video world pulled in the money and the kudos for NBC TV and UNIVERSAL for its five season running duration, capturing the imagination of the rising MTV style youth audience and launching the careers of street-smart, Armani suited stars Don Johnson (who is probably the only on-screen tough guy who could actually get away with wearing a pink T-shirt whilst chasing bad guys!) as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, whose characters, despite an uneasy pairing at first, soon became a formidable, and fashion inspiring, action duo, taking on a world of eighties glamour-shoulder pads, big hair and make-up- mixed with a high octane world of hookers, pimps, drug dealers, big time robbers and gun runners-just your average scum of the Earth types to be sorted out in the under resourced world of the MIAMI-DADE PD, as led by the duo's charismatic boss, Castille (played by BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Commander Adama to-be Edward James Olmos).

One of the most expensive series then realised for television, backed up with high quality cinematography and very commercial music scores by Jan Hammer (whose Crockett's Theme, used on and off throughout the series, would become a European success in the singles music charts of the late eighties), MIAMI VICE's early years as a raw, breakout hit would ultimately be the best-where the gritty and often compelling, sometimes quite gloomy, fast paced storytelling, fine lead series pairing and visuals were a potent and memorable mix, before eventually being swallowed up by ultimately ridiculous and very thin plots, stars egos and inflated guest star cameo appearances got in the way of it all. (Starting off well with quality talent the likes of Pam Grier, Bruce Willis, Larry Fishburne and Liam Neeson, before descending to not quite believable pop star gimmick acting inclusions like Sheena Easton and Phil Collins.). At least Crockett's pet alligator, the charmingly named Elvis, was able to stay in his master's yacht home and keep his head down whilst eating the odd discarded limb or too!

Miami Vice - Opening Titles (Season 2) - YouTube
Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme (Miami Vice) - YouTube

Seeing continued potential in the show after its 1989 demise, Michael Mann, now a hit features director, resurrected Crockett and Tubbs, now played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx (the latter having helped launch the idea of a MIAMI VICE re-make in the first place), for an all-new original movie in 2006. Die-hard fans of the show may have been disappointed that the original TV series stars were no longer involved, but the finished product did keep the same kind of tough and stylish visual techniques that had made the original weekly show so successful. Swamped under press reports of an alleged friction between the two lead stars, an escalating budget and continued script changes, the movie was ultimately only a mild success and received mixed comments from critics. If you haven't seen it, I personally think it's quite under-rated and well worth a look.

MIAMI VICE seasons are available on DVD from UNIVERSAL PLAYBACK.