Jan Hammer Movies
In the early '80s, a new business emerged in Miami, FL, that changed the face of the city forever. That business was cocaine smuggling; as America developed a growing appetite for the drug, Colombian suppliers found that Miami was a good place to bring it into the United States, and a new breed of outlaws were more than happy to face the risks of importing cocaine in exchange for the massive profits to be made. At one time, cocaine runners were making so much money that the city's banks were running out of room to store the cash, and smugglers were developing new ways to move the product, from floating tanks with radio tracking devices dropped into the ocean to cars stashed with drugs so well-connected drivers with tow trucks could haul them away and abandon them if necessary. The profits from Miami's cocaine explosion helped to transform the city into a major American playground, but it also brought a criminal element interested in more than just dealing drugs, as bloody reprisals between competing gangs of smugglers became commonplace, and hitmen began working overtime to keep up with the demand for revenge. Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman are a pair of Miami-based filmmakers who were able persuade a number of key figures from Miami's '80s cocaine trade to speak on-camera about their exploits, as well as law enforcement officials who struggled to keep up with them. The result was Cocaine Cowboys, a true-life thriller about the underworld culture that helped spawn the film Scarface and the television series Miami Vice. Jan Hammer, who composed the Miami Vice theme song, created a like-minded score for the documentary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Roberts, Mickey Munday, (more)
- 1995
- R
Most people fall in love and then have a baby, but one woman finds herself reversing the process in this romantic comedy. Grace Rhodes (Lisa Eichhorn) is a businesswoman inching into her 40s who has reached most of her career goals, but she is having a little trouble with her biological clock, which has started ticking very, very loudly. Grace hasn't had much luck in finding Mr. Right, and her friend Elaine (Caroline Aaron), who manages the not inconsiderable feat of being even more cynical about such matters than Grace, assures her that the man of her dreams doesn't really exist. Elaine is the first to suggest to Grace that if she wants a child and can't find a man, perhaps she should consider visiting a sperm bank. In time, Grace warms to the idea and eventually chooses sample #247. Grace becomes pregnant, and is very happy...until she starts wondering what sort of man her child's father really is. With Elaine's help, Grace cracks into the sperm bank's records and learns that #247 belongs to Peter Kessler (Stanley Tucci), a gifted but lonely photographer with serious commitment issues. Elaine meets Peter at the gallery he runs, and before long, a cautious romance begins to blossom between them, but Elaine isn't sure if this relationship is destined to last -- or when or if she should tell Peter that she's carrying his child. A Modern Affair was produced, directed, and written by Vern Oakley; it was his first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Eichhorn, Stanley Tucci, (more)
- 1995
- PG
This third entry in the Beastmaster series has Dar (Marc Singer) teaming up with Seth (Tony Todd) to rescue his brother. It seems that the boy was captured by the evil Lord Agarn, who keeps youthful by sacrificing young prisoners. Along the way they meet a beautiful witch who promises to help them and a blonde warrior who goes along with them. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, Tony Todd, (more)
A veteran New York City detective's world is turned upside down when his estranged brother is suspected of murdering a powerful mob boss in this thriller starring Michael Biehn, William Petersen, and Leo Rossi. Al Scarano (Nick Vallelonga) is a Big Apple detective living the good life, but when a mobster named Tony C (Petersen) calls him to Little Italy late one night, Scarano's cozy self-contained universe slowly begins to unravel. It appears that Scarano's estranged brother Rudy was seen fleeing the scene of a high profile mafia hit, and before Tony C. sends his henchmen to find out the truth the hard way, he offers Scarano one chance to seek out his brother and get to the bottom of the matter. As Scarano's wife pleads with her conflicted husband to leave the past behind and start a new life, the detective must weigh the value of his own life against that of his troublesome bloodline. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This is the second of the Mind's Eye series of computer animation showcases. This time around, keyboardist Jan Hammer provides the dreamy, synthesized soundtrack. Segments have been pieced together from advertisements and independent and feature films (including some choice bits from The Lawnmower Man). The disparate elements have been thematically linked with titles like "Theater of Magic" and "Too Far," and it's all very cyber-psychedelic. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
Football hero Boomer Hayes (Ken Wahl) finds he is in the middle of a looting scheme in this non-stop actioner. Billionaire and owner of LA's pro football team, Bat Masterson (Robert Davi), has arranged a fake toxic chemical spill to provide an opportune situation for his group of ex-cops to plunder an evacuated community in Beverly Hills. Surprised by the state of things when he comes out of the bathroom, Boomer soon grasps the opponent's play and takes it upon his able-bodied self to tackle the situation. Luckily, he not only has the support of his girlfriend, Laura (Harley Jane Kozak), but ex-cop and bad-turned-to-good guy Ed (Matt Frewer) also decides to play on the home-team. With a plethora of explosions and stunts, it shows how the heroes semi-effectively defend their lush neighborhood. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, Harley Jane Kozak, (more)
- 1991
Michael returns to the Knight coroporation to help them build a new KITT for the 21st century. Gunrunners and evil cops provide the first crime the new Kitt foils. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Hasselhoff, Susan Norman, (more)
- 1990
In this graphically violent and taut made-for-cable actioner an aspiring photographer teams up with a sexy sculptress to take down the hit man who lives in the loft next door. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
I Come in Peace is a silly, derivative science fiction exploitation thriller which is a triumph of style and skillful direction, despite a plot that steals elements from numerous good films and mixes them with some appallingly bad acting. Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) is a not-by-the books police officer investigating the death of several people, including his partner, by a gang called the "White Boys." All the victims seemed to have died of drug overdoses, but Jack thinks that there is something more sinister afoot. His investigation reveals a plot by aliens who use the bodies to extract a chemical that is sold to addicts on their home planet. Originally entitled Dark Angel, I Come in Peace, while silly and confusing, has great production values and some excellent special effects. The main reason to see this film is because of the expert direction by former stunt-man Craig Baxley who manages to keep the action moving at a fast pace and tie up the loose ends of the threadbare story. The cinematography by Mark Irwin is outstanding and shows that imagination and a good visual sense can overcome a limited budget and a bad plot. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolph Lundgren, Betsy Brantley, (more)
This made-for-TV film was originally titled simply Clinton & Nadine when it made its debut on May 28, 1988. Andy Garcia plays Clinton, who is eager to find his brother's murderer. To do so, he enlists the aid of Nadine (Ellen Barkin), a high-priced call girl. Clinton and Nadine get sucked into a plot to smuggle guns to the Contra forces in Nicaragua. The credited screenwriter for the film, Willard Walpole, was actually Robert Foster, who wasn't happy with the film and insisted his real name be removed from the credits. Clinton & Nadine was produced for the HBO cable service. The film is unrated, but contains heavy doses of violence and sexual suggestiveness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andy Garcia, Ellen Barkin, (more)
The fifth and final season of the ultrahip crime series Miami Vice opens with a 2-parter resolving the incredible cliffhanger from Season Four. A blow on the head had caused Dade County vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) to assume the identity of his undercover alter ego Sonny Burnett, and while in this "role" he foments a deadly turf war between two crime families. Though Crockett's memory will return, his partner Det. Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) worries that Sonny has passed the point of no return--and may have to be destroyed! This of course doesn't happen, and a few episodes later it's business as usual for the two cops. However, there are more personal crises in the offing for both Sonny and Tubbs--especially the latter when, while undercover, he falls in love with the widow of a murdered drug lord. The series' trademarked utilization of offbeat guest stars has fallen off a bit this season, with the supporting players cast along more traditional lines. A noteworthy exception is the young John Leguizamo, who, after making an indelible impression during the first few seasons as the chief "wiseguy" in the vicious Calderone crime clan, re-emerges in an entirely different role in the fifth-season episode "Victim of Circumstance" Highlights this year include the two-part episode "Freefall", in which Crockett and Tubbs virtually sign their own death warrants when they agree to protect the brutal dictator of "Costa Morada" (played with a florid Latino accent by Ian McShane!). And in "World of Trouble" the detectives are confronted with a ghost from the past as mob boss Al Lombard (Dennis Farina), presumed killed in the series' first-season finale, suddenly pops up as if nothing had happened. The series officially ends it run with Episode #110, "Leap of Faith", featuring Laura San Giacomo. There was, however, still one episode in the hopper. "Too Much Too Late" was never seen during Miami Vice's NBC run, but instead made its debut over cable's USA network on January 25, 1990, six months after the series' over-the-air cancellation. This poignant episode reunites Tubbs with his former love Valerie Gordon (Pam Grier), who unfortunately must keep Tubbs at arm's length as she protects an old friend from a homicidal drug dealer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, (more)
Season Four of Miami Vice marks the first of several appearances by singer Sheena Easton in the role of recording star Caitlin Davies, with whom Dade County undercover vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) falls in love in the episode "Like a Hurricane"--and to whom he is abruptly wed in the very next episode "Rising Sun of Death." This star-crossed romance inaugurates a story thread that will eventually build to the 2-part season finale, in which an amnesiac Sonny part of an ongoing story thread that will build up to the 2-part season finale, in which an an amnesiac Sonny believes himself to be his undercover alter-ego, a drug kingpin named Sonny Burnett, and accordingly ties up with a Colombian crime boss! No, the scripters did not forget costar Philip Michael Thomas as Crockett's partner Ricardo Tubbs, even though it would be Don Johnson who commanded much of the audience's attention this season. As usual, one of the key selling points of Miami Vice (besides its hip dialogue, MTV-style editing and wall-to-wall background music) is the series' intelligent and offbeat utilization of guest stars. Examples include comedian Ben Stiller and character actor Brian Dennehy in "Amen. . .Send Money"; Miguel Ferrer, Penelope Ann Miller and a pre-CSI Paul Guilfoyle in "Death and the Lady"; the versatile Alfred Molina in "The Big Thaw"; up-and-coming Ving Rhames and soul-music icon Isaac Hayes in "Child's Play"; hard-working James Brown and brash youngster Chris Rock in "Missing Hours"; and the multitalented Harry Shearer in (and we're not making this up) "The Cows of October". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, (more)
Season Three of the too-hip-for-the-room crime series Miami Vice opens with a bang as the beloved Ferrari of Dade County undercover vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) is accidentally blown up. This, however, proves easier to take than the jolt delivered to Crockett's partner Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) in a later episode, in which Tubb's mercurial ex-partner Izzy Moreno (Martin Ferrero) frames him on a kidnapping charge. Nor are the two cops' colleagues spared anxiety this season, as witness the shock and awe experience by Det. Gina Calabrese (Sandra Santiago) is handed evidence that her current lover is an IRA terrorist, in an episode featuring a young Liam Neeson. The worst is reserved for Det. Larry Zito (John Diehl), a regular since the series' inception, when Zito is abruptly killed in the line of duty in the two-part episode "Down for the Count". This installment also upholds the Miami Vice tradition of showcasing quirky guest stars, in this instance boxing promoter Don King. Other prominent players showing up this season include Laurence Fishburne as a corrupt prison guard in "Walk Alone", Willie Nelson as the bedraggled title character in "El Viejo", which also features Steve Buscemi; Stanley Tucci as an adoption racketeer in "Baby Blues"; Wesley Snipes as a smooth hoodlum named Silk in "Street Wise"; andHang S. Ngor, the former Cambodian doctor whose real-life persecution at the hands of the Pol Pot regime were re-enacted in the theatrical feature The Killing Fields, as a Vietnamese detective in "Duty and Honor". This last-named episode also introduces Helena Bonham-Carter as Theresa, a heroin-addicted doctor with whom Crockett briefly falls in love. Also: John Leguizamo returns as the slimy head of the Calderon crime family in "The Afternoon Plane"; onetime Star Trek-er George Takei is seen along with Miami Vice star Don Johnson's then-wife Melanie Griffith in "By Hooker By Crook"; future Oscar winner Benicio del Toro pays his acting dues as a minor heavy in "Everybody's in Showbiz"; and the great Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe figures prominently in the Season Three finale, "Heroes of the Revolution." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, (more)
- 1986
In this drama a veteran cop takes in a problematic adolescent who might have seen several policemen murdered. The old cop sees his action as a way of regaining his self-respect. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Produced at the height of the teen sex comedy cinema craze in the mid-1980s, Secret Admirer (1985) was the directorial debut of David Greenwalt, who would later move from screwball comedy to horror with the television series The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. C. Thomas Howell stars as Michael Ryan, a high school student who receives an anonymous love note in his locker. Hoping that it's from Deborah Ann Fimple (Kelly Preston), a gorgeous but air-headed classmate who only dates college boys, Michael hatches a scheme with Toni (Lori Loughlin), who is friendly with both him and Deborah, to write her back. What Michael doesn't know, however is that the first letter was really from Toni, who has more than friendship in mind. In the meantime, the unsigned missives fall into the wrong hands, leading Michael's mother, Connie (Dee Wallace-Stone) to believe that her husband George (Cliff De Young) is having an affair with his night school teacher, Elizabeth (Leigh Taylor-Young), who is none other than Deborah's mother. George had better watch his back, however, as Elizabeth's husband is Lieutenant Lou Fimple (Fred Ward), a tough cop who's having a very bad week. As the romantic complications pile up, Toni becomes Michael's Cyrano de Bergerac, penning his letters but pining for him as he gets closer to winning Deborah over. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Lori Loughlin, (more)
- 1985
After their children have been murdered, two men intend to find the responsible parties in this made-for-TV movie. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), Dade County's coolest undercover vice cops, are back for more MTV-influenced adventures as Miami Vice begins its second season. Though there'd been friction between the two main characters in season one, their teaming is a fait accompli by now, and they fit together like and hand in glove. Even glowering Lt. Castillo (Edward James Olmos) has become accustomed to, and more tolerant of, Crockett and Tubbs' highly unorthodox methods. The season's two-part opener finds the pair leaving Miami's sunny climes for the chilly streets of Manhattan, in search of Colombian drug dealers. Emphasis here as elsewhere is, of course, on Crockett and Tubbs, though the other cast members will be given their moments to shine. Detective Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) is the focal point in the episode "The Dutch Oven", in which she learns that her lover's best friend is tied in with a cocaine ring; Det. Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago) devotes most of the episode "Bought and Paid For" to go after a wealthy, well-connected rapist; and Det. Stan Switek (Michell Talbott) is for all intents and purposes the star of "Phil the Shill", even though the title character is played by guest star Phil Collins. Singer Collins is but one of many offbeat guest performers who, attracted to the popularity and hipness of Miami Vice, will pop up this season in variety of colorful characterizations. Former Nixon associate and federal prisoner G. Gordon Liddy is seen as the duplicitous Captain Real Estate in "Back in the World"; 1950s pop idol and future Broadway favorite Nathan Lane show up in "Buddies"; sultry songstress Eartha Kitt shares air time with the contemporary rock group Power Station in "Whatever Works"; musician and pro-gun advocate Ted Nugent is in "Definitely Miami"; The Fat Boys do their thing in "Florence Italy"; poet Leonard Cohen is featured in "Back in the World", Torch Song Trilogy playwright Harvey Fierstein guests in "The Fix"; jazz icon Miles Davis appears in "Junk Love"; rock legend Frank Zappa delivers lines in "Payback"; celebrity spouse Bianca Jagger emotes in "Free Verse"; and iconoclastic comic actors Tommy Chong and Richard Belzer are both in "Trust Fund Pirates." The season ends with "Sons and Lovers", bringing Crockett and Tubbs face to face once more with the vicious, self-destructive Calderone crime family, whose head man is played by a young John Leguizamo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, (more)
- 1984
Miami Vice has been described as "the first cop show for the MTV generation." Brilliantly capturing the mood, the style, the rhythm, the pulsations, the bright electric colors, and the garish glitz of the early '80s, the weekly, 60-minute series was just a much an elongated music video (with a Jan Hammer score) as it was a crime drama -- and it set the standard for the scores of copycat series that followed in its wake. Set in (where else?) Miami, the series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as hard-nosed Miami-Dade PD vice detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Crockett was a Ferrari-driving fashion trendsetter (how many millions of the series' young male fans emulated Sonny's no-socks, no-shave "look"?), who lived on a sailboat called St. Vitus' Dance with his pet gator, Elvis. Tubbs hailed from New York, and had come to Florida to track down the drug dealer responsible for his brother's murder. Like most such salt-and-pepper TV detective teams, Crockett and Tubbs did not always see eye to eye on details and procedure, but when they worked together as undercover cops in the sleazy underbelly of the Florida resort community, they almost invariably got results. And the criminal element -- which on this series consisting primarily of drug lords, white slavers, and illicit arms traders -- was well advised to stay out of their way. Though Sonny and Ricardo were pretty much the whole show, a few supporting characters were also worth noting, especially Edward James Olmos as the boys' mercurial superior officer Lt. Martin Castillo, Olivia Brown and Saundra Santiago as feisty female cops Trudy Joplin and Gina Navarro, and John Diehl as Larry Zito, Crockett and Tubbs' obligatory "orthodox" co-worker Calabrese. Making occasional appearances were Belinda Montgomery as Sonny's ex-wife, Caroline, and Sheena Easton as wife number two (albeit briefly), Caitlin Davies. Except for a short 1988 story arc in which an amnesiac Sonny assumed his "undercover" identity as drug dealer Sonny Burnett, things moved at a steady and reliable clip throughout the series' four-season run. Maybe it is true that series producer Michael Mann favored style over substance -- but what style! Miami Vice was seen on NBC from September 16, 1984, to July 26, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- R
This predictable teen movie combines cheerleading and dancing but does not add a viable storyline or characterization to carry the entertainment past those activities. The plot centers on a competition between high-school cheerleading squads -- and one squad in particular, the Moline Ducks, is definitely abysmal. The competition takes place at a camp run by middle-aged Bucky Berkshire (John Karlen), who this year decides to place a bet with his best instructor Tom Hamilton (Stephen Shellen) that he cannot make the woeful Ducks into a team that can beat the top-rated Falcons. If Berkshire loses, he pays up $10,000, and if Hamilton loses, he has to work another five years at the camp. As the teams get ready for their rounds of competition, several dance sequences, various teen pranks, and the usual sexual situations weave their way through the storyline. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Shellen, Mark Keyloun, (more)
Veering off in several thematic directions at once, A Night in Heaven starts with a torrid student-teacher romance which becomes somewhat derailed by adding on a failing marriage, political allusions related to NASA, a frustrated sister of the teacher, and several additional characters, many of whom are stuffing bills into male dancer's jock straps. Faye (Lesley Ann Warren) has just flunked a student in her speech class when she goes out that night to the "Heaven" nightclub and lo-and-definitely behold, there is Rick (Christopher Atkins), the failed student in his incarnation as a successful male stripper. This was a view of the student that Faye had never expected, and before anyone can flip a $20, the two are making mad, passionate love. While this may satisfy a few fantasies, events lead to an ultimate confrontation between the teacher's husband (who worked for NASA) and Rick that is even less believable than the student-teacher sexual liaison. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Atkins, Lesley Ann Warren, (more)
The sound of the Moog Synthesizer is one of the most instantly recognizable in the musical world, and in this live performance captured at the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City a whole host of talented performers gather to pay tribute to Robert Moog and his unique invention. These are the musicians who know there way around a keyboard, and as Keith Emerson, Jordan Rudess, Jan Hammer, Bernie Worrell, and Roger O'Donnell gather onstage to show their skills, the energy is infectious. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Emerson, Jordan Rudess, (more)
