Miami Vice Fun Facts and TV Trivia |
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The new Miami Vice movie is on it's way.
Here's the official site
with trailer and other downloads.
Michael Mann is heading up the new movie, but Don Johnson and Philip Michael
Thomas are nowhere to be seen, instead Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx will be
taking over the lead roles of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.
Trivia Facts:
The "Miami Vice" soundtrack LP went to number one and stayed there for 11 weeks, making it the most successful TV soundtrack of all time. Jan Hammer received a congratulatory phone call from Henry Mancini, whose "Music from Peter Gunn" was the previous record holder (it was number one for 10 weeks in 1959).
Crockett's Ferrari Daytona was actually a modified Corvette. Ferrari executives were so upset that this ersatz Ferrari was gaining such popularity that they offered to provide the series with their new flagship car, the Testarossa.
In order to help get the potential cast members more into character, they were taken on stakeouts by the real Miami Vice unit. While auditioning for the role of Sonny Crockett, Don Johnson came into a script reading for the producers directly from an all night stakeout. He appeared tired, his hair a mess, and he had not shaved that morning. That look showed the producers what a real life vice cop would look like following a long night of work, and he was hired immediately.
Larry Wilcox from Chips was a finalist to play Sonny Crockett.
All technical advisors for the show served with the real-life Miami Vice unit, and required that the cast members first pass the Florida Department of Law Enforcement firearms test before they could handle weapons on the set.
Sonny Crockett owned three boats on the show: a Cabo Rico 38 sailboat in the pilot and later, an Endeavour 42 sailboat - both called "The St. Vitus' Dance" and a Wellcraft 38 Scarab KV "cigarette" speedboat.
Martin Ferrero played Trini DeSoto, the hit man who was killed in the pilot. He then played a recurring character, Izzy Moreno, during the remainder of the series.
In the last scene of the final episode, Sonny Crockett is seen wearing a University of Kansas Jayhawk t-shirt. Don Johnson was a student at the University of Kansas.
Sonny's undercover alias was "Sonny Burnett." Ricardo's became "Rico Cooper" except for the pilot episode, when his alias was "Teddy Prentiss," and some early first season episodes when he used "Richard Taylor."
Crockett's first gun in the pilot was a Browning BDA (it was a sig sauer P220 imported into the US by Browning at the time it has the Euro style heel mag release). Then he had the BrenTen and so on. His ankle gun was a Detonics Combat Master. The BrenTen was actually chambered to fire .45 blanks because 10mm blanks were not readily available.
The idea for the look and tone of the show originated from NBC Exec Brandon Tartikoff whom, after seeing the success of the cable music network MTV, pitched an idea of cops who looked like they'd just walked out of an MTV video. "Miami" Vice" was the result.
The show was originally to be called "Gold Coast" (as shown in advance TV promos), but with the characters shouting "Miami Vice!" so much in the show, it seemed a better choice for the title.
Miami tourism officials credit the series for transforming the impression of the city from a retirement community to a fun and exciting place for young people to visit.
During pre-production, Don Johnson wanted Sonny Crockett to be "more of a cowboy", and suggested "a lot of denim, V-neck sweaters and cowboy boots". He was really unsure about how the heavy use of pastel and bright colors would fit the macho, no-nonsense persona of his character, but producer Michael Mann and costume designer Jodie Lynn Tillen managed to convince him. They saw Crockett more in the lines of a beach bum. Johnson relented and as a result became one of the biggest fashion symbols of the 1980s.
To maintain Sonny Crockett's perpetual two-day stubble, Don Johnson shaved with a sideburn trimmer.
The Story
Miami Vice started in the fall of 1984 with a 2-hour movie. When the summer of 1985 hit it seemed as if everyone had just suddenly discovered Vice. Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas were seen everywhere. They received attention usually reserved for rock stars. The show was consecutively in the top ten that summer.
The show had a great premise. Two cops from different backgrounds and totally different attitudes were thrown together in a rock and roll fantasy on steroids! Tubbs was the street smart cop from New York, and Crockett was the tough guy from the South who had severe guilt about his ex-wife and son. Tubbs was rock and roll and Crockett was country even though he dressed like a drug dealer heavily into the Miami scene. The show weaved pop music into the story lines in a way that hasn't been seen before or since! It worked perfectly. You could almost feel what the characters felt including the intense heat of Miami. Several guest stars were seen in the first season including Bruce Willis before Moonlighting. The first season was given more Emmy nominations than almost any other show that season.
And then the second season started with a huge amount of hype. The 2- hour season opener had Crockett and Tubbs going to New York. It included a guest appearance from Gene Simmons from Kiss and was jam packed with pop hits. The second season was more of a visual spectacle than a emotional roller coaster like the first season, but it was well worth watching. The best episodes from the second season included an episode with Ted Nugent as the bad guy of the week!
The rest of the show's history was a little hit and miss as far as quality goes with the fourth season being the worst. But no show is perfect and this show created a very high standard for itself in the very first season which I think caused it to have too high of expectations from its fans.
One of the remarkable aspects of the show was the soundtrack which reached number one. The show's theme went to number one and in the same week, Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City" from the soundtrack was in the top five as well. Jan Hammer composed the theme and other tracks as well. Jan Hammer's music was an essential ingredient for the background mood of the show for four seasons. Two more soundtracks from Miami Vice would also be released, and Don Johnson would go on to record a very successful album featuring the hit "Heartbeat".
Pepsi Commercial
Crockett and Tubbs next to the Ferrari