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Cocaine Cowboys


     

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The cocaine trade of the 70s and 80s had an indelible impact on contemporary Miami. Smugglers and distributors forever changed a once sleepy retirement community into one of the world’s most glamorous hot spots, the epicenter of a $20 billion annual business fed by Colombia’s Medellin cartel. By the early 80s, Miami’s tripled homicide rate had made it the murder capital of the country, for which a Time cover story dubbed the city “Paradise Lost.”

With COCAINE COWBOYS, filmmaker Billy Corben – whose first feature Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent, caused a sensation at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival – paints a dazzling portrait of a cultural explosion that still echoes as Hollywood myth, evidenced by the latest manifestation, NBC/Universal’s Miami Vice, opening July 28th. Composer of the original “Miami Vice” theme, Jan Hammer, provides the score.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director/Producer - Billy Corben
Producer - Alfred Spellman
Executive Producers - Bruno del Granado
Daniela Manas
Music Composer/ Performer - Jan Hammer
Director of Photography - Armando Salas
Editors - Billy Corben
David Cypkin

CAST






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“AN INCREDIBLE STORY, WILDER THAN ANY EPISODE OF MIAMI VICE.” – Dennis Dermody, Paper Magazine

“FASCINATING AND GENUINELY ENGROSSING. The tales of ‘the Godmother’ make even Tony Montana’s antics in ‘Scarface’ seem like kiddie fodder.” – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

“MOVE OVER “MIAMI VICE’ and ‘SCARFACE’ – THIS IS HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED. Exhilarating.” – Dan Hudak, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

***1/2 If ‘The Godfather’ movies were based on real gangsters and some of them were still around to talk about the good old days., they might be as fascinating as the characters in ‘Cocaine Cowboys’.” – Jack Matthews, New York Daily News

"A hyperventilating account of the blood-drenched Miami drug culture in the 1970’s and 80’s, the movie overflows with cops and coroners, snitches and smugglers, reporters and importers. Most resemble refugees from “Scarface,” and all talk a mile a minute — except for the dead bodies, of course." – Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times


“FORGET MIAMI VICE. FORGET SCARFACE. For the real drug-traffic-out-of-control-in-Miami story, check out the compulsively watchable Cocaine Cowboys.” – Jay Carr, AM New York

“THE ‘GODMOTHER’, NO LIE, MAKES TONY MONTANA LOOK LIKE MOTHER TERESA.” – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“SUCH A BUZZ TO WATCH! Kinetic and absorbing, the doc equivalent of ‘Goodfellas’.” – Noel Murray, The Onion

“TREMENDOUSLY ENTERTAINING! Action-packed, with rapid –fire editing and colorful characters who tell riveting stories.” – Neil Rosen, New York 1 News

“An exhaustive and exciting history of how that white powder transformed Miami.” – Andrew O’Hehir, Salon

“**** AN UNCOMMONLY WELL-RESEARCHED DOCUMENTARY WHICH ACHIEVES AN ADRENALIZED, ALMOST COKED-UP MOMENTUM.” – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“FASCINATING.” – Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice

“A PULSE-POUNDING DOSSIER OF CRIMINAL HIGH LIFE (AND LOWLIFES).” – Time Out New York

“EXUBERANT, OFTEN HILARIOUS, AND SUCH FUN. Director Corben nails his history with vintage footage, death counts and headline busts. This vigorous, energetic doc captures the allure of a business that never thrived on subtlety.” – Logan Hill, New York Magazine

“ALL RUSH AND NO CRASH. Fascinating and edited for maximum impact, it packs the furious momentum and dramatic punch of a riveting feature film.” – KJ Doughton, Film Threat

“The definitive documentary about how Miami became the drug capital of the United States.” – Lou Lumenick, New York Post

“COMPULSIVELY ENTERTAINING.” – Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

“MAKES TONY SOPRANO LOOK LIKE A GIRLIEMAN. It’s all way more thrilling – and authentically terrifying – than anything from Miami Vice.” – Very Short List.com

 
Date for DVD release subject to change.