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Michael Mann - a selected filmography
Micahael Mann is one of the true auteur filmmakers still making movies in Hollywood. His films are stylish, action-oriented tales of violent but sympathetic anti-heroes (whether cops, soldiers or criminals). He has total control over his work, as a writer-director-producer and sometimes even cameraman. And he is one of the few such auteurs with success both in film and TV.
1970s
He began as a TV writer (and later a director, and then creator) of 70s cop shows. He broke through with JERICHO MILE, a TV movie about a convict who becomes a distance runner. It featured the existential anti-hero protagonist who would become a staple of his work.
"Police Story" (1973) (TV Series) - writer
"Starsky and Hutch" (1975-77)(TV series) - writer
"Police Woman" (1977) (TV Series) - director
"Vega$" (1978) (TV Series) - creator / writer / director
"The Jericho Mile" (1979) (TV movie) - writer / director
1980s
In the 80s, in the wake of his successful TV work, he launched his feature film career with THIEF, which may still be his best film to date. The use of saturated color and a Tangerine Dream score gave the story of a principled jewel thief out for one last score (with a doomed dream of settling down to a normal life afterwards) a unique visual and viceral impact. Jimmy Caan's performance (like many performances in Mann's films) is one of the best of his career.
Unfortunately, the film was only a success de estime, and so he then took a directing job for the money, THE KEEP, a failed horror/war movie. He returned to TV and created MIAMI VICE, which once again used music and color in conjunction with fast-paced action and violent protagonists to great effect. MIAMI VICE impacted the culture of the time, giving him the clout to go back to features. MANHUNTER, his adaptation of "Red Dragon", was not the success of Demme's SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, but is an excellent thriller nonetheless. Back to TV, he created the terrific "Crime Story" series, but it bombed quickly. After some other inconsequential work in TV, he returned to features with a bang.
Thief (1981) - writer /exec.producer / director
The Keep (1983) - director
"Miami Vice" (1985)(TV series) - writer / exec.producer
Manhunter (1986) - writer / director (+ camera)
"Crime Story" (1987)(TV series) - writer / producer / director
1990s-present
The 1990s launched Mann's most prolonged (albeit not very prolific) period of success as a feature filmmaker with total control over his work, beginning with MOHICANS, a romantic/ epic/ period adventure that met with great success.
The Last of the Mohicans (1992) - writer / producer / director
Heat (1995) - writer / producer / director
The Insider (1999) - writer / producer / director (camera)
Ali (2001) - writer / producer / director (camera)
Collateral (2004) - producer / director
Miami Vice (2006) - writer / producer / director
Now in his 60s, the diminutive mid-western auteur has come full circle, adapting MIAMI VICE, his greatest TV success, as a big-budget Hollywood feature, with a host of projects currently in development. He's not had a prolific film career, but what he's done has been of a pretty high calibre.
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