film: Cocaine Cowboys

[DarthMom]

if there has ever been a tremendous argument for the abolishment of the criminality of drugs, this documentary is it. it focuses on miami and the cocaine scourge in the 80's.

while a bit of the film i find to be pretty ridiculous, such as the statements that everyone back then in that town carried heat (my family and i are from miami and lived there in those years, it is utter bollocks that everyone in town carried a gun.) i remember hearing a lot more about adam walsh, because i was a child that could run off and be kidnapped...and not the local cocaine cartel. why? because we weren't using drugs. it was the users and their families and associated that were being assasinated, not the average joe and judy homemaker.

anyway, aside from that slight exploitation, the doco is fabulous. massively entertaining, learning about the godmother...the female drug lordess who increased the homicides in miami in her reign of terror exponentially. thanks to the infamous mariel exile in 1980, there was a load of shit in this town and some of the worst assasins known in the drug world are born.

while parts are not watchable due to graphic pictures that will haunt you, the majority of the documentary is simply excellent. it is fascinating to realize that an entire town is pretty much born and created thanks to drug money.

 

[junctionalfunkie]

I've been meaning to see this for a while. I don't know why I still haven't. I will first chance I get.

 

[steez]

definitely one of my favorite drug based documentaries.

 

[Institutionalizer]

A couple friends recommended this one to me bigtime. And after reading about it at this place for some time i decided to see it. Expectations where skyhigh.

And it is good, fast, intense, there is not 2 seconds during the whole film where someone is not vomiting info. And this combined with the immense photo/movie archive is nothing but impressive, productionwise.

Still, when you look at certain shots or pics, you realise that the speed and the intensity of the production might actually be a reason to be able to throw in stuff that could just as well be shit that the film makers have made up themselves. On some places, there are sources (newspaper titles, mag titles, dates and such) stated, but in just as many there is none. And i actually belive somewhere around 5-10 percent is made up. (I learned their techniques watching WW2 "docus" on Discovery. that topic is like docu-makers playground. "fool around a few years with WW2 thingies and we'll see what we can do".)

Another thing that bothers me is the huge credibility that is built up around John Roberts and Mickey Munday. Im sure they where bigtime and all but still, the majority of their claims are not confirmed. Might be just a couple details here and there, but what pisses me off is the the air of raw honesty that lies over the production, and such things are dangerous + effective if you wanna do a thing like pushing public opinion.
not that i think someone would ever wanna go and do such a thing in a open and wideeyed debate like the one on drugs.


SO: Great entertainment (if you can handle the stressy tempo) otherwise, id rather watch 24.

 

[junctionalfunkie]

Finally saw it.Very intense and fast-paced.

I wonder exactly how accurate it is...

There's a sequel.

 

[catfishjake]

i thought that the parts that talked about the business aspects were the best. the second half was just a slideshow of murder victims and i started losing interest pretty quickly.

 

[thepodman]

Does the 2006 movie have anything to do with the 1979 one (other than the title)?

Also, there's a sequel to the 2006 one.

 

[DarthMom]

i *think* he sequel was supposed ot be based on th violent female queenpin

griselda blanco, and (yay wiki) it was released o dvd july 29. *adds to netflix

 

[Wolfmans_BrothEr]

Cocaine Cowboys I & II

Its a documentary about Griselda Blanco dubbed the 'Godmother of cocaine'.

i dont remember the first one as much as i do the second one, but the second one revolved around this black dude who grew up in oakland or somewhere in cali who was selling crack and then saw on the news that this woman Griselda Blanco was arrested for cocaine distribution so he wrote her a letter about how he idolized her or whatever and they tell the story of how he was accepted into this huge colombian cartel, started a relationship with their leader (Blanco), sold ridiculous amounts of coke, ended up pissing them off somehow and managed to get out alive.

Its not the best synopsis but its a great story which they claim to be 100% true

has anyone seen this?

Edit: i know there was a thread open on this a few years back, but that was only for the first one