Cocaine Cowboys Review - NY1

10/25/06


"Cocaine Cowboys"
Neil Rosen Review


If you've ever seen an episode of “Miami Vice” or watched the movie “Scarface,” there is a new action packed documentary that shows you the real deal and it is called “Cocaine Cowboys.”


With “Cocaine Cowboys” filmmaker Billy Corben takes you into the heart of the Miami drug business in the 1970s and 80s. Viewers get to know the American kingpins who made a fortune teaming up with the Colombian drug barons.


At first they describe how easy it was. People were making money hand over fist; the Miami cops looked the other way, while the Colombian government was in on the deal. After a while, things changed, as it started to get extremely violent and drug related murder sprees became commonplace. The end result, according to the film, "Miami was the most dangerous place on earth.”


The filmmakers show how cocaine was imported and distributed and the effect that it had on the people involved and on Miami itself. Police officers and lawyers are interviewed, but their real coup is getting first hand accounts from key players, like the drug lords and hit men who actually committed the crimes.


One particular character that is talked about extensively is Griselda Blanco, a blood thirsty Colombian woman known who was known as “The God Mother.” Blano was responsible for the grisly deaths of many people.


With rapid fire editing, music that was scored by “Miami Vice” composer Jan Hammer, and colorful characters who tell incredibly riveting stories, the documentary is not only engrossing, it is tremendously entertaining.


Neil Rosen's Big Apple Rating: 3 Apples