{"id":5703,"date":"2020-10-08T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T21:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5703"},"modified":"2023-03-27T18:10:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T22:10:06","slug":"l-a-takedown-is-the-rough-draft-for-michael-manns-masterpiece-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/l-a-takedown-is-the-rough-draft-for-michael-manns-masterpiece-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Takedown is the rough draft for Michael Mann’s masterpiece Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I finally, finally, finally<\/em> had the opportunity to cross L.A. Takedown<\/em> off my movie watchlist \u2014 a largely unavailable holy grail that I’ve been desperately curious to see for years<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If director Michael Mann<\/a> had not reworked this material into the masterpiece Heat<\/em>, L.A. Takedown<\/em> would probably be pushed so far down his IMDB or Letterboxd listings that it would get lost behind his more readily available TV work like Crime Story<\/em> and Miami Vice<\/a><\/em>. But for students of his work, L.A. Takedown<\/em> is an incredibly fascinating relic; like reading a rough first draft of a well-known novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s amazing to see how virtually the same material (plot, structure, character, and even exact dialogue) in the same order \u2014 including the deafening downtown LA shootout \u2014 can comprise the ingredients to both this and the polished near-perfection of Heat<\/em>. There can’t be many precedents for this; maybe Alfred Hitchcock<\/a> remaking his own The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"L.A.
Director Michael Mann poses with the cast of L.A. Takedown<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aside from everything it shares with Heat<\/em>, it’s just as interesting to consider what L.A. Takedown<\/em> lacks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n