One month from today shall be the release of one of the only summer movies that I, in my wholly unhumble and even smug opinion, have any hopes for whatever: Public Enemies, a Depression-era crime drama from director Michael Mann, a filmmaker who has hardly ever strayed from the crime drama in all its myriad forms.
Mann is one of those filmmakers I think I’m supposed to like more than I do, and in an attempt to give him a fairer shake – and have the right context for one of the only summer movies I have any hopes for whatever – I’m going to be rewatching as many of his features as I can get my hands on. And that leads me to a new series: every Tuesday and Thursday in June, starting tomorrow, I’m going to be taking a look at his thirty-year career in tough guy cinema. Not quite a complete look, I’m afraid: if anyone can point me to any means of seeing his 1989 TV movie/failed pilot L.A. Takedown (alternately released as Crimewave), be those means licit or illicit, I shall count you a true friend of this blog. Sincerest thanks to Troy Olson, true friend of Antagony & Ecstasy and the further study of Michael Mann.