It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. In 1989, shortly after the cancellation of Miami Vice, Michael Mann wrote and directed a TV movie about a cop tracking a consummate thief and his crew as they pull one last job. LA Takedown starred Alex McArthur and Scott Plank, and clocked in at a trim 92 minutes.
Cut to six years later, and Mann shoots essentially the same script, but this time for the big screen, with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (not to mention backup from the likes of Val Kilmer and Jon Voight). The running time near doubles, but what seemed formulaic and trite in the TV movie assumes gravity and scale. Stereotypes take on unexpected shading and nuance – it dawns on us that this isn’t just about cops and robbers any more, it’s about men so dedicated to pursuit they can’t find their way home. See it for Mann’s mastery of mood, for Pacino firing on full cylinders, and for one of the iconic De Niro performances.
Staff Pick: Gabriel & Rame
Jul 24: Intro by Mike Archibald, writer and cinephile
[Mann] binds sound, music and pictures into one hypnotic triaxial cable and plugs it right into your brain. He makes this almost-three-hour experience practically glide by.
Desson Howe, Washington Post
Media Partner
Michael Mann
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Jon Voight, Val Kilmer
USA
1995
English
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Credits
Producer
Michael Mann, Art Linson
Screenwriter
Michael Mann
Cinematography
Dante Spinotti
Editor
Dov Hoenig, Pasquale Buba, William Goldenberg, Tom Rolf
Original Music
Elliot Goldenthal
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Unforgiven
Bill Munny (Clint Eastwood) is face down in pig shit when we first see him. He's a bad farmer, but has a natural facility for killing people – a vocation to which he returns in a quest that combines both profit and justice. Or so he chooses to believe.
Malcolm X
In an indelible role, Denzel Washington give us a layered, compassionate, conflicted man who finds the strength in Islam to transcend his demons and confront the inequity and racism in America head-on. Along with Do the Right Thing, this is Spike Lee's greatest film.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
A bona fide classic and arguably the greatest Canadian film of the 90s, Girard's dazzling deconstruction of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as Picasso might have rendered him, a cubist portrait combining multimedia vignettes.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
Short Cuts
Altman's adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories, Short Cuts weaves between 8 or 9 overlapping storylines and 22 characters. it's a teeming, caustic and compassionate human comedy; a singularly astringent, often cynical view of America and Americana.
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
Schindler's List
One of the most acclaimed films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark is the story of a German industrialist whose conscience is stirred to save his Jewish workers from the camps.
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Three Colours: Red
Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994
To Die For
Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote this acidic black comedy about a ruthless weather girl on the make (Nicole Kidman in her breakout role). A young Joaquin Phoenix is the dim teen she seduces on her way to achieving stardom.