Cocaine Cowboys: Reloaded

Yes, this is what I watched tonight. I figured I should given that the original documentary is fresh in my mind so it made sense to me. Below is the original review of the original DVD, then I'll talk about Reloaded.

Runtime: 118 minutes

Directed by: Billy Corben

Starring: A bunch of people who were a part of the Miami cocaine scene in the 80’s

From: Rakontur

Here’s another documentary (not that I plan on having most of August be documentary month here) and one that I found out on a messageboard back in the day and once I saw it, I was hooked (pun pretty much intended, given its subject matter) and I’m surprised it isn’t a much bigger film in certain cultures.

This is a fast-paced movie-appropriate given the subject matter-that is about how Miami, Florida ended up becoming a HUGE city in the 70’s and 80’s for the cocaine scene and how that resulted in it being like the wild west with an appalling number of murders and shootings and all that. Various people involved in the scene-both good and bad-are interviewed and explain how it was back then. Some of the bad guys are pretty charming… then you remember that at least one of them has murdered many people! Many archive pictures are shown to aid the stories being told. You get to hear from the likes of drug runners, police officers, reporters, and yep, murderers. It’s all told in a slick and frantic pace, which is rather strange for a documentary. Usually I can be turned off by stuff that’s so slick and quickly edited. However, it works very well here, and it goes along with all the stories told of just how bad it was in Miami at the time.

One lady who stands out in particular (yes, a lady) is Griselda Blanco, who is only seen via pictures and is told about by many of the participants. She’s one scary lady. In fact, “sociopath” is probably the best term to use. She will shock you with how bloodthirsty brutal she was. She apparently was a big reason why things got so crazy down there. Not to spoil anything, but eventually she got deported back to Columbia and amazingly, she wasn’t killed right away and as of a few years ago and as far as anyone for certain knows, she’s still alive. That’s pretty astounding once you read about all the stuff she did and how she ended up pissing off the drug lords in Columbia.

Then again, one of her sons is still alive. Michael Corleone Blanco-believe it or not, that’s the name he was given at birth-ended up appearing on an episode of Deadliest Warrior, representing the Medellin Cartel against the Somali Pirates. I was stunned to see him on there, mainly because he’s still alive and from what I hear lives in Miami and runs a record label, of all things.

By the way, if you do track down the DVD and watch it, I highly recommend watching all of the special features, including the commentary track. That way, you get to hear much more information and many more stories about the characters and the time period. It's something you MUST listen and watch if you enjoy the movie.

I'll be back Tuesday with another review.

Note that since the original review, several of the people featured in the documentary have passed away, including old Griselda; how she survived so long is quite surprising to me.

As for Reloaded, I see that Letterboxd as it as a separate film. I understand why, as while it tells the same story it's certainly different. What I mean is that you see and hear the same interviews from the participants but there are also alternate takes used, pretty much all new stock footage and photos are used to illustrate the story, and as Reloaded is 152 minutes long and the original is 118 minutes, there are additional details added, whether it's from the narrative, stock footage that further elaborates on certain topics, or the interviewees providing more information. While the pacing was not as fast as before, I was still engrossed and interested in what was going on.

Of course, the Blu-Ray only has this version and not the original version, so you should have both the DVD and the Blu-Ray versions to watch; the DVD has more special features and there's no commentary on the Blu-Ray. I hate it when crap like that happens but as I can see, it'll never stop. As the two are clearly different, you should have both versions anyhow.

I will return tomorrow night.