Cocaine Cowboys (2006) User Reviews

Miami's real vice

[lastliberal · 8/10 · 28 June 2008]

Life was good in Miami in the 70s. You could blow into town with $500 dollars in your pocket, and the next things you know, you are burying millions in your bag yard, driving the hottest cars, have two or three cigarette boats, a string of race horse, and land all the way up to horse country in Marion County. You didn't think twice about dropping $20,000 on food and drink because you had so much. The Miami skyline was booming with two dozen construction cranes operating, cars were selling like hotcakes, and there was no trace of the recession that was occurring elsewhere in the US.

But, then came the 80s and there were 100,000 illegal Colombians in Miami and Castro had just flushed Cuba's toilet and dumped his criminals into the city in the Mariel boat lift. War began between the drug dealers on these two sides, and it came to the attention of Reagan and Bush that there was a problem in Miami that affected the whole country.

Long before I got attracted to Carl Hiaasen's fiction, I was reading his columns from the Miami Herald. Forget Scarface, this was the real thing. Shootouts with shotguns and automatic weapons on the streets in broad daylight. Miami had become Dodge City and Chicago during Prohibition to the tenth power.

This is the story of those two decades in Miami and the results today - a booming international city built on cocaine. The truth really is more exciting than what you see on Miami Vice.

I not only saw this documentary, I lived it.

[rlindsey-16169 · 9/10 · 11 February 2017]

I not only saw the documentary, I lived it, I became a Metro Dade county police officer in Aug of 1980 and retired in 2002, I was on the scene of at least half the drug related killings pictured in the video, and a whole lot more that were not. As if that weren't enough, I also went to High school with the quintessential Cocaine Cowboy Mickey Munday, oddly enough I didn't make the connection till I watched this video 50 something years later, I recall him as a redheaded nerd who the girls wanted nothing to do with, if they had only known that one day he would be buying entire neighborhoods and burying trash bags full of 20s and hundreds.

Spectacular!

[shorty6_1_90 · 9/10 · 13 June 2012]

I never could have guessed how intricate the cocaine industry was at this time. I was born post the cocaine era so I did not know how incredibly different the laws were during that time. This documentary gives so much insight into this high-speed world of drugs. I loved how the director allowed the members involved to tell their stories; however I wish that he had let them tell all of their stories & it was kind of jumpy when moving a narration when moving from one involved member to another would help the transition to be better understood. But now I'm hooked I wished that some of the involved members had not passed away because I have got to know more the system was so complex I want to know how it all works.

This really sums it up

[bishop24312000 · 10/10 · 6 May 2008]

This was a spectacular depiction of the life and times of Miami in it's criminal hay day. I witnessed the carnage first hand as a member of federal law enforcement and this documentary hits the nail squarely on the head. What made this really enjoyable for me is the way the director conveys the story. It is flashy and all over the place... just like Miami at that time. This was one of the few documentaries that told the stories of both sides of the struggle. The makers of this film were also able to do something very difficult. They assembled interviews from both sides of the fight. Anyone that is or was in my line of work knows how difficult it is to pull that off. Most documentaries are steeped in biased rhetoric and never give the viewer the chance to form an opinion based on all the facts. For those of us who remember those days and can be honest with ourselves and others about the gravity of that situation, it stirs up a long stored emotion. I can understand why people may find this documentary offensive or cheap, politically correct agendas have a way of skewing reason. That mentality is probably why this behavior has gone on so long. I wish I could take some of the misinformed back in time to see the reality of those times. It makes the nonsense of today look like Disney World. This documentary was an excellent depiction of the times.

Excellent documentary

[phlnthrpy · 10/10 · 15 February 2005]

Although I had the opportunity to see the unfinished version of what is sure to be an award-winning film, I was thoroughly impressed by Cocaine Cowboys. Without giving anything away, let me just say that this film refrains from the type of overly preachy or overly glorified view of the cocaine business in the late 1970's and 1980's. A nice balance of character analysis mixed with an abundance of archival data kept my interest throughout the experience...and I walked out of the theater feeling as though I really learned a great deal, not only about historical occurrences, and their impact on a few central characters or society as a whole; rather, I left the cinema with a grasp of the time period from many different perspectives: Columbian drug lords, Cocaine transporters and dealers, special task force members assigned to find the aforementioned groups, local media then and now, land developers, vacationers, car salesmen, and your average Miamian. Perspectives offered were not limited in scope. I highly recommend this film.

The real Miami Vice, or so they Claim.

[IRateFilms · 6/10 · 6 November 2006]

A very stylized documentary, for a very stylized period of time, Cocaine Cowboys takes us into the world of Miami between 1970 and 1980. Using plush diversions with still images The Kid Stays in the Picture made popular, Cocaine Cowboys shows the immense changes Miami went through as it discovered the drug cocaine. Primarily interviewing three of the main names during this drug and blood soaked era, this film delves into a world filled with money, women and more importantly cocaine. As the film informs us, the Colombian Cartel made over ten billion dollars during their escapades in the Miami area, not only for themselves, but for the Americans helping them distribute.

The characters that are being interviewed, including an inmate captured for over twenty murders, never so much as flinch as they describe in detail, brutal murders. It is truly fascinating to listen to these criminals, two of which were released from prison, reminisce their achievements within crime organizations. This documentary does lack some of the more interesting comparisons director Billy Corben does brag about in his advertising for the film. Saying that it is the true story behind Scarface and Miami Vice, Cocaine Cowboys barely touches on these comparisons, and seems to bring the most interest from these brief allegories.

Despite this small short coming, the rest of the film is entertaining and educational, especially for a native Floridian like myself. I never really knew how large this business was in Miami until I watched this true rendition of the over fantasized films it claims to be the inspiration for. Explaining allot of what the American government will look away from, due to hefty drug money profits, does put a perspective on its true intentions, be it accepting drug money, ammunition money, or any type of blood money.

Vice city

[paul2001sw-1 · 8/10 · 18 March 2010]

Prohibit a substance and its price will rise; with big profits available beyond the protection of the law, violence will follow. Concentrate the trade for an entire country through one city and an economic boom will combine with a murder epidemic. This was what happened to Miami with cocaine in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a story told exhilaratingly in Billy Corbern's fast-moving documentary 'Cocaine Cowboys'. It's a gripping tale, and the sheer quantity of money and death in it is truly horrifying. And yet, there's also a sense in which this film leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth, as essentially it's a platform for a pair of major smugglers and one psychopathic killer to wax lyrical about the good old days, relatively free of moral condemnation. Still, it's an amazing story, one that seems more fit to video games than to real life, and its epilogue was the construction of much of the modern city with the proceeds from the trade.

Documentary Film-making as Tabloid Journalism

[cineman2 · 16 November 2006]

Cocaine Cowboys is narrowly focused on how Miami became the drug capital and the most dangerous city in the United States during the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The film is lasciviously fascinated with the lavish lifestyle and the grotesque violence generated by the drug trade. Many obviously find such material quite fascinating. There's no denying that several anecdotes shared by dealers, smugglers, cops and veteran reporter Edna Buchanan are very amusing. Fans of TV's Miami Vice and Brian de Palma's Scarface are advised to rush to a theatre playing this film. They'll find that the real-life models of the fictional villains are even more flamboyant and vicious (the life of Griselda "the godmother" Blanco could be turned into a nifty fiction film). CocaineCowboys combines talking-head interviews with old TV footage in rat-tat-tat editing style. Shots of piles of cash and large stashes of cocaine are used as would-be punctuation marks; and there are more snapshots of bloody, perforated bodies than you've ever seen in your life.

Cocaine Cowboys is documentary film-making as tabloid journalism. Its cheap thrills provide a measure of entertainment but its reportage is devoid of context and thoughtful commentary. Director Billy Corben is a native, but as one born in 1979 his view of the material is decidedly second-hand. Towards the latter stages, Cocaine Cowboys strains to present Miami as "the city that cocaine built" by hyperbolically describing late-70s Miami as a "sleepy hamlet". There is some truth to the argument but it is a self-serving and simplistic one. Moreover, the content as presented here is likely to perpetuate certain ethnic stereotypes about the Colombian community and Cuban "marielitos" (Cubans who arrived when Castro allowed migration to the US through the port of Mariel in 1980).

Shocking. With only this one word you could best express the movie

[samuelsson91 · 7/10 · 27 December 2008]

Shocking. With only this one word you could best express the movie Cocaine Cowboys. This document about the beginnings of drug business in the USA is brutal, natural and informative. I really liked that the “authors” told us also numbers, strategies, trading, techniques … everything what you could join with drug mafiosos. Prisoners told us how they were laughing about films in cinema or TV (for example Miami Vice) and they characterized it as stupidity. You can see the changes of the Miami City (especially infrastructure). It is apparent that police was, is and will always be one step behind and that this functional business is unstoppable. It is interesting that you are not bored, also because brutal shots (police photos), which you can see a lot in the film. And the motive? Money! If you want to know something more about drug cartels, Cocaine Cowboys is the right movie for you.

Fast-paced and entertaining retelling of Miami's 'Cocaine Wars'

[tomgillespie2002 · 8/10 · 20 April 2017]

Anyone familiar with the story of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel will know how the mass manufacturing and distribution of cocaine turned Colombia into a war zone, with top politicians and judges routinely assassinated, and gang wars spilling violence onto the streets on a daily basis. Billy Corben's documentary Cocaine Cowboys focuses on the effect the most fashionable drug of the 80s had on Miami, which was the main entry point for masses of imported cocaine. Soon enough, the city once seen as the holiday spot for retired old folks was turned into the richest place in the world, with luxury car dealerships and expensive jewellery shops popping up all over, and of course, lots and lots of banks. The sudden boom was all down to cocaine consumption, and this came with a heavy price.

Corben tells the story using a variety of interviews, news reports, archive footage and photographs, lending a voice to everyone from smugglers, enforcers, politicians and law enforcement. The most fascinating insight is given by pilots Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday, who decided to get into the drug trade early on, making an unfathomable fortune in the process. They offer entertaining anecdotes about their experiences, and were making so much money that they lived in little fear of getting caught, even buying their own airports to import the goods in complete secrecy. Roberts and Munday were just regular guys who never dreamed that they could ever become so wealthy, and made sure to enjoy the high-life while it lasted. The main threat came from the cartel itself, which was so powerful and far-reaching that one foot out of line and you were dead, often by way of horrific torture.

The film's final third focuses heavily on the 'Cocaine Wars' that became so out-of-hand and brazen that it led to military intervention. This segment is told through the recollections of the deceptively charming inmate Jorge 'Rivi' Ayala, a former hit-man for crime family matriarch Griselda Blanco - known as the 'Godmother' - a woman capable of unspeakable cruelty and brutality. If she didn't like your face, you were a goner, and often entire families, including young children, were wiped out in order to leave no witnesses. It's a mind-blowing tale of how one drug can have such a devastating effect on a country, and it's told in a fast-paced, almost coked-up fashion, with the clever use of subtle animation to make stills feel alive, and a wealth of shocking and revealing archive footage to paint a clear picture of a city in crisis. A 'Reloaded' edition was released in 2014, which adds over 30 minutes of footage and provides updates on some of the subjects. I've seen both, and the original, shorter version tells a much tighter story.

Interesting...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 8 February 2023]

"Cocaine Cowboys" is a Documentary in which we watch the way Miami became the capital of the United States for cocaine, a lot of cash and drugs in general, during the early 1980's.

I liked this documentary because it presented very well the drug problem of Miami during the early 1980's and the way the drug barons invade to it. The direction which was made by Billy Corben was very good and he succeeded on presenting this serious and sensitive subject in a very good way. He presented it while he kept the audience curious about it and giving them plenty of information to better explain the reason behind why Miami changed so much during the 1980's. Lastly, I have to say that "Cocaine Cowboys" is a nice and interesting documentary, and I highly recommend everyone to watch it.

Gripping, unsettling and stylish in every way

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 9 September 2012]

The Miami that we know of today was built with drug money. Just reading that sentence can be downright depressing, but the story behind it is one that is oddly (maybe perversely) fascinating.

Directed by Billy Corben, "Cocaine Cowboys" examines Miami's turbulent transition from a sleepy vacation town to a beachside Metropolis, financed by cocaine revenues and victims of a truly nasty drug war. At the forefront of the war was Griselda Blanco (whose death made recent headlines), crime family godmother who ordered the deaths of countless rivals. Using testimonials from several key figures in the importing of drugs, we get a detailed depiction of the violence that spilled onto Miami streets.

What's staggering about the late 1970s (when the go-go party scene was in full swing in South Florida) is that while the rest of the United States was slogging through hard economic times, Miami was flourishing, due to the incredible infusion of cash into the city's economy. Key importers had so much money, they had no idea where to stash it, and actually buried it in piles in their backyards. Luxury cars were flying off the lots, and the scads of loose cash were eventually funneled into real estate, leading to the construction of Miami's brand-new glittering skyline. The insane materialistic excess of the time is part of what makes "Cocaine Cowboys" so seductive.

But the party couldn't last forever, and the movie now moves into its downer of a second half. The nonstop nightlife gives way to violent shootouts, bloody mob hits, and a staggering pileup of bodies. Dade County had reportedly the highest murder rate in the United States. The situation would prove dire enough to demand presidential attention, and a new ramped-up brand of law enforcement was born, taking the fight back to Blanco and the Colombians.

"Cocaine Cowboys" is one big thrill, aided (in no small part) by flashy imagery and editing, and even a score by Jan Hammer that keeps us reminded of the coastal paradise patrolled by Crockett and Tubbs. To see the insane wealth of some of these guys is both intoxicating and worrisome, and Corben never lets that sinister sense of foreboding ebb, keeping just far enough away from glamorizing these lifestyles.

A compulsively watchable documentary. 8/10

interesting story, annoying style

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 21 August 2007]

I wanted to like Cocaine Cowboys a more intriguing documentary than I did. It lacks no influence in terms of its information in the world of big-stakes crime of a period that seems long ago within a thirty-year time frame. I liked hearing details in the stories, like the car towing company the dealers had as their back-up when driving around the cocaine shipments. And the scenes involving- and properly invoking- the years of Noriega and Panama, as well as the small Mafia statistics that carry a lot of weight (no pun intended on the actual boss, more powerful than Escobar) all out of Columbia. And some of the interviews and clips shown are absorbing in their 'been-there-done-that' quality. But there's an oppressive side to how Billy Corben shoots, edits and puts the music to the film. I don't mind in the theory of it how one goes into a cocaine documentary making it a fast-pace story. But it veers more into being in a TV scope- think E! True Hollywood story more than anything- than more traditional documentaries. This may be fine for some wanting a messy rush. However it's repetitive and lacking in any creative flow, not just in how it jumps and pivots through its images of people talking or in what's going on as if it were a theatrical trailer, but to hear the same Scarface-like music over and over behind people talking who shouldn't have music going on in some of their answers. And the one guy who's interviewed most (I forget his name, he's the ex-big time Miami coke dealer with the mustache) adds to the annoyance factor after a while; somehow one might find the guy more interesting in smaller doses, not as the one blabbering and bragging for 45 minutes of the film until it gets to the gun-blazing Columbians.

It might be worth a little bit of time if on TV, where it has more of a tabloid edge on things (if whatever edge I can't say for certain). But I'd much rather take on a book two or re-watch Blow or good parts of Scarface or Miami Vice to get a better dramatized take on the facts than see it all the way through again.

Great subject, horrible directing/storytelling

[Bepina193 · 2/10 · 28 April 2019]

The subject of the documentary is shocking and definitely worth watching - however, that's the only good thing about this film. If I could give it 0 stars, I would - these 2 stars are for the subject only. It's a directing disaster, too fast, too frantic with the cheesiest possible music that goes on and on, making it hard to take what people say seriously. I mean, someone talks about murders, we have footage of dead people massacred with guns and all is accompanied with the sleaziest 80s TV Sales music.. After super fast parts of the film, we have some people talking about one event for ages, and since that event is nothing exceptional compared to the others mentioned one has to wonder why the director suddenly decided to waste so many minutes on that particular part of the story. I couldn't understand who half the people talking in the film actually were. There is no clear story telling, it's confusing, frantic and very, very, badly done, Which is a shame - if someone more skilled (and by that I mean: anybody else than Billy Corben) would decide to tell this incredible story, the result could be an excellent documentary. There is plenty to tell and having these guys that were part of the criminal milieu ready to talk to camera so openly is a winning combination. Unfortunately, Mr.. Corben was just not up to the task. I hope that one day there would be a better documentary covering this subject.

A Must See. Put it next to Scarface. Actually, put it in front of Scarface

[tommyk-9 · 10/10 · 15 May 2008]

Cocaine Cowboys is a great movie. A must see for sure. Never has a viewer gotten to experience the real cocaine world until now. Interviews with a top hit-man/enforcer, a pioneer pilot, kingpin, and tons of stock footage make this film completely unique.

The sequel, Cocaine Cowboys 2 - Hustlin With The Godmother,is going to be even better. It focuses around Griselda Blanco, Rivi (the enforcer/hit-man) and a character named Charles Cosby. There is an advance screening June 20, 2008 at the CineVegas Film Festival and this time around the documentary has worldwide distribution checkout www.charlescosby.com for some pictures of Griselda Blanco and Charles Cosby.

Miami 1980: The Real Deal

[dr-strangeprk · 9/10 · 5 May 2012]

I lived in Freeport, Bahamas from 1980-1983. All television and radio was out of Miami and West Palm Beach, and Miami was only 30 minutes away on a 747. I often attempt to describe what it was like there to friends: the Haitian boat people, the Liberty City riots, the Mariel boat lift and the Colombian drug trade. But my anecdotes fall short of the mark. Prior to seeing "Cocaine Cowboys", the best I could do was tell them "watch 'Scarface'...with the exception of the final scene over-the-top hokey shootout, it was dead on." "Cocaine Cowboys" captures the true picture of the era there. Daily you would wake up, turn on the radio and get the body count: 3 men found in the trunk of a burning car; or a headless corpse found floating in a canal; or 4 men killed in a parking lot shootout, 2 civilians wounded in the crossfire. This was followed by an ad for Lanson's, a high end men's clothier, advertising a bullet proof men's dinner jacket, "What the best dressed Miamian is wearing." Driving down Flagler St. in Miami, you see a bus stop bench with an ad on the back: "Protectar usted y su familia" punctuated with pictures of an automatic pistol and a machine gun. The movie speaks for itself just like "Scarface". I have no doubt the individual narratives are accurate and non-hyperbolic. The movie does credit the cocaine "business" with cash infusion into the area and the resulting uplift of the overall economy. However, it omits the psychological impact on ordinary citizens, who saw little of the cocaine bucks: fear of getting caught in a crossfire and the depression of living in a combat zone. Also omitted from the storyline were some of the Colombian weapons innovations: the Colombians came up with armor piercing bullets and laser sighting long before the cops had them. Then the feds showed up en mass and the tide turned. I gave the movie a "9" only because it was a documentary and had no plot, no real acting. But if you wanted to know how it really went down then and there...this is your movie!

"Must-See" if you're watching Narcos and/or El Chapo

[rsvp321 · 28 September 2017]

Great documentary, important history, ties both series, Narcos, and El Chapo together, great for getting it all in perspective.

There's no glorifying the drug smuggling, just explaining how and why they did it, and how it still affects the USA.

Having the actual smugglers speak in this type of expose is rare.

Over-rated

[guitargod2112 · 6/10 · 20 September 2021]

It's decent for its time. But compared to today's documentaries, it's not that great. It's just an onslaught of information with no breathing room. It's hard to keep track of all the players. The story itself, of course, is great. But as a documentary, it's mediocre.

What a Horror Story

[view_and_review · 8/10 · 19 October 2021]

"Cocaine Cowboys" investigates and discloses the commodity that helped make Miami what it is today. I know there are some who bemoan the fact that the Miami of today has anything to do with the drug economy of the 70's and 80's, then there are those who relish the fact Miami was built on drugs. And if you take away anything from this documentary it is that Miami was built on drugs.

There were a lot of names mentioned in this documentary, though most of them are not worth repeating. Most of the narrating was done by three people:

Jon Roberts, a wholesale drug dealer who worked with the Medellin cartel.

Mickey Munday, a drug runner.

Jorge "Vivi" Ayala, an enforcer.

They all narrate how easy it was to move drugs into the country from Colombia through Florida. They also narrate about the obscene amounts of money they made, and finally, the intense violence that led to the end of the big time drug trafficking. One person who escalated the violence was Griselda Blanco aka the Black Widow aka the Queen of Cocaine. She was a ruthless drug queenpin who would just as soon shoot you as say hi to you. Her blood lust drove the Miami murder rate up to over 500 a year by 1980, and it subsequently brought all kinds of law enforcement heat down on everyone.

Everyone narrating in this documentary speaks so casually and matter-of-factly as though they were talking about developing and selling the newest widget when in fact they're talking about bringing poison into the country as well as drug wars. I found it hard to listen to them and not have a serious loathing towards them when the millions they earned was blood money. But these are the guys in the know. They were a part of the culture and they are best suited to talk about a stage in American history that many would like to forget.

Kept me engaged

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 27 December 2021]

• There's some silly editing choices
• I think while it's good not to shy away from the violence, there may have been a tad too many crime scene photos, to the point where it could be seen as exploitative
• and for some of the runtime, there's a slight uneasy feeling as to how these events are made quite entertaining...

...but in the end, I think it worked, and came together well. The last 10-15 minutes that serves as an epilogue and details how the 70s/80s drug business changed Miami was eye opening and very interesting.

And some of those dated editing choices aside, this is tremendously engaging, with a fast pace and many fascinating stories/individuals worked into its runtime.

A few flaws hold it back, but this arguably almost reaches the upper tier of crime-related documentaries.

No Spin, Just Down and Dirty

[PartialMovieViewer · 10/10 · 13 January 2015]

This is probably one of the best documentaries I have seen. No one is pulling at your heartstrings; political agendas are absent; PC is non-existent - it is just a story about a very important and distressing period of history. I remember witnessing the drug culture during that time frame. I remember my moment of enlightenment was when some kid was popped in my high school for selling drugs his brother had brought back from Vietnam. It was amazing to watch this movie and marry the story to what I saw in my youth. I remember about when the drug of choice switched from a relatively harmless weed (debatable I agree) to such a destructive choice as cocaine, but I did not know the all the reasons. I know there were other drugs out there, but during this time-frame - these were the two recreational drugs. Anyways, after seeing this flick I was pretty much feeling speechless. To think that this kind of activity could have gone unchallenged, if so much violence was involved is a scary notion. Awesome depiction, I will watch it again...I am addicted.....ahhhhhh

Awesome!

[reneereives · 7/10 · 19 March 2019]

Fast paced from the beginning. The entire story was building up to uncover the story of Griselda Blanco. Just keep in mind that this is a little bit older. Thought I was watching a documentary made in the 90s.

They gotta make it into movie or TV series!

[filip-svacek · 9/10 · 19 September 2014]

2006 Version: What I liked most about this "documentary", is that there is no voice-over that says us what to thing and it is just testimony of people who were in "the game" at the time. But when you add great editing, fantastic 80's soundtrack and footage you get story, that puts lot of movies like Scarface to shame. I have problem calling this a documentary, because lot of testimonies, especially from the people involved in drug trafficking are pretty unreliable. But who cares? After it ends you wanna see more. You will understand what made Miami so special and you gonna see the bigger picture behind the city. 9/10

2013 Version: For start, this version is not just 30 minutes extended, it has about 5-10% original footage. It is not near as enjoyable or interesting as first version, because all aspects what made first version great are not there. Soundtrack is mediocre remake from the original, it doesn't have that movie atmosphere and it is too long. There are few interesting facts, for instance you gonna learn that John Roberts was deeper involved than you would have think from the first version. This version has more reliable testimonies and it is less "glorifying", but the charm is gone. 6/10

This is a well done and fascinating documentary that is an absolute must see

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 23 May 2023]

Cocaine Cowboys (2006) is a documentary that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows the rise of Miami from a sleepy retirement home city to a city of drugs, clubs, parties and excitement - how it got their, the methods to get it there and the crime that came with its rise.

This documentary was directed by Billy Corben (Screwball) and does a great job of pulling in so many credible interviews from the people involved. This has a Casino feel to it in how it references Italian from New York coming down and started running with the Colombians. It was also interesting how Castro and Noriega played such a big part in the rise of cocaine in the United States. I was impressed how detailed the operations overview was presented and how relatable it was to highlight the lifestyle and how people got caught up in it. The demise and fall of the empire was interesting too; and again, how Miami became a towering commercial city rising from the ashes of corruption reminded me of Vegas.

Overall, this is a well done and fascinating documentary that is an absolute must see. I would score this a strong 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

If the Sun 'newspaper' made a documentary it would be this.

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 4/10 · 28 January 2008]

Right, let me begin by saying that the tagline of this film is wrong. 'The true story that inspired Scarface'. Um...isn't Scarface a remake of a film from the 30s? And wasn't the bulk of Scarface's writing and production already complete by the time this documentary really gets to any story in it's chronological order?

If you like watching TV shows in which you're bombarded with endless montages of unsourced and random facts then this is for you. But seriously, I have seen better production values on Channel 5. Calling this TV quality stuff is an insult to TV. The editing is all over the place and it frequently looks like the filmmakers are trying to edit together a sentence that wasn't actually said. If you have seen the episode of The Simpsons in which Homer is interviewed on TV by Godfrey Jones then you'll know what I mean.

Credit must be given to the crew for actually managing to track down the majority of the drug dealing scum and murderers for honest and open interviews. But with practically no archive footage to work with the film looks incredibly bland. It's also way too long and you'll be looking at your watch by the 80-minute mark.

A sequel is in production (oh, lucky us) detailing the life of the Psycho Woman in charge of it all, but you'll excuse me if I have more interesting things to do, like licking the dust from the skirting board behind the radiator.