Director Appreciation: Michael Mann

1979 The Jericho Mile (TV)
1981 Thief
1983 The Keep
1986 Manhunter
1989 L.A. Takedown (TV)
1992 The Last of the Mohicans
1995 Heat
1999 The Insider
2001 Ali
2004 Collateral
2006 Miami Vice
2009 Public Enemies


Mann's best 4 films IMO:

(NOTE: OCCASIONAL STRONG LANGUAGE)




Anyone else think The Insider was a bloody great film and deserves far more attention & recognition than it gets...? Pacino and Plummer were superb, as were pretty much everyone else involved. A great, patient, interesting and intelligent actors movie.

A bit disappointed with his last 4 films though. I'd love him to work with Pacino or DeNiro again.

Lazenby. wrote:

Anyone else think The Insider was a bloody great film and deserves far more attention & recognition than it gets...? Pacino and Plummer were superb, as were pretty much everyone else involved. A great, patient, interesting and intelligent actors movie.

Absolutely one of his best, and one of the best to come out of that decade. Agree that it was more of Pacino and Plummer show, whereby Crowe get to be a bit showy, not that I am complaining. Interesting how Mann took what would otherwise be an ordinary story and made it into a gripping thriller.

Lazenby. wrote:

A bit disappointed with his last 4 films though. I'd love him to work with Pacino or DeNiro again.

Agreed, while I liked them, they are nowhere with his earlier ones. Hope to see the magic return. Oh yeah, am with ya with the Pacino/De Niro thing too.

I've recently become a Mann convert. Hated those movies for years and then SUDDENLY found myself flip-flopping on my Manhunter vs. Red Dragon position, loving Manhunter, and then the rest fell into place.

Still don't like Public Enemies -- but that doesn't stop me from watching the Miami Vice pilot over and over.

Manhunter is one of the greatest films ever made. Few film have integrated visuals and sound so seamlessly. I love the scene at the dentist and I don't say that very often:

Lazenby. wrote:

Anyone else think The Insider was a bloody great film and deserves far more attention & recognition than it gets...? Pacino and Plummer were superb, as were pretty much everyone else involved. A great, patient, interesting and intelligent actors movie.

I remember years ago, taking a cursory look at the list of films nominated for Best Picture or something on Wikipedia, and thinking "Wait... a Michael Mann film? What the hell is this? Why have I never heard of it?"

It's very good, no doubt.

Bruce McGill at his most badass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNKmmA6_oTQ

...outside of Animal House.

Apart from Collateral, which I'm quite fond of despite some of the third act shenanigans, you can keep his post-Insider output.

The only one I haven't seen is The Keep... I'm guessing I'm not missing anything.

I haven't seen Red Dragon yet, so I can't participate in that debate, but I have a hard time believing that Brett Ratner made anything half as atmospheric.

Indeed, MANHUNTER is one of the greatest films of all times. An elaborate piece of thriller filmmaking. It is an emotionally gripping, very tense film.
I think all of his films are very good, but THIEF, MANHUNTER, HEAT, and THE INSIDER stand out particularly.
This is certainly going to be my favourite thread, and I am intent on contributing to it in the years to come. 8)

Can us Mann-haters please have our own 'Director Remonstration: Michael Mann' thread?

k thx bye.

HEAT is one of my absolute favorite films. COLLATERAL is also a lot of fun. LAST OF THE MOHICANS and THIEF were good, but not great. I'm still on the fence about PUBLIC ENEMIES. I can appreciate it for what is is, which is a rather stagnant but extremely stylish little flick. ALI didn't do much for me.

So yeah, I love the style and workmanship of Mann's films. I really need to see THE INSIDER and MANHUNTER before I can more accurately critique his work as a director.

I must be one of the very few people on here who genuinely enjoyed Public Enemies then.

Very atmospheric, a terrific cast and managed to keep the tension even though every single person knew - or should have known - how it would end for Dillinger.

Collateral however is trite unworthy of Mann. The only thing that makes it even remotely clear that you're watching a Mann thriller is the choice of locations and the use of light.

Public Enemies has many qualities but it's also one of the ugliest films I've seen. For all the hype about digital, sometimes it looks disgusting.

I've seen homemade porn on xtube with better quality.

ambler wrote:

Public Enemies has many qualities but it's also one of the ugliest films I've seen. For all the hype about digital, sometimes it looks disgusting.

Less and less so these days.

PUBLIC ENEMIES was very deliberately designed with that low-grade digital look in mind. Why that look appeals to Mann is beyond me, but someone I know once suggested that Mann was attracted to the flatness inherent to that look, that Mann had been seeking after something similar in his films before that, but had tried to develop that flatness through other means.

Mann has been experimenting with digital effects since The Keep nearly 30 years ago. Unfortunately, nothing seems to date a film more than 'cutting edge' technology, which may be why he seems intent on preventing its DVD release.

I'm on record as not being much of a Michael Mann fan, but I will say this for him: his films are very earnest.

Earnest but naive.

The recurring themes in Mann's work interest me: - honour, masculinity, and purpose. He seems to be the only director not sneering at these traditional virtues. Mann also seems to have a very European sensibility for an American director.

Less profoundly, I share his interest in electronic music.

The Insider

In this pretty innovative 90s drama, a close-to-life story unfolds of a man struggling hard to not lose his integrity when he sets out to make public the unethical, life-threatening practices of a tobacco concern while at the same time he has to stop his family’s disintegration which is triggered by the risky circumstances.
All of the themes Mann handles, and also the character motivations and changes are presented in a non-obtrusive, non-flashy way. The threats to the family, the interpersonal relations and dynamics between Bergman and Wigand, but also between the former, Wallace and their superiors are well written and presented. With his diverse filmmaking techniques, Mann creates some intense scenes, such as Wigand being stalked by a shadowy figure when he is trying to soothe his mind practicing tees. The growing pressure and misery Wigand is exposed to culminate in an emotionally stirring sequence in which a concerned Bergman phones the hotel personnel in order to reach Wigand, who he fears may set an end to his life. The combination of fine acting, intriguing set design, lighting and cinematography, the suddenly occurring pictures of Wigand’s kids at play, who have been taken away from him by his wife, and the marvellous Meltdown by Gerrard/Bourke, which also thankfully concludes the film, make this part a piece of sublime cinema.
Overall, a convincingly told, emotive, and visually stunning film.

I've read elsewhere that the reason for the continued non-appearance of The Keep on DVD or BR is a contractual dispute between the film owners and Tangerine Dream over the soundtrack. Anyone able to confirm?

I'll simply copy the thoughts on PUBLIC ENEMIES from the "Last Movie..." thread.
No need to read them again, I just thought they belonged here (and they sure will be added to in the future).

PUBLIC ENEMIES

I've had two small issues with what the film presents - they're gone now. The scene in which Dillinger beats up the guy (an exaggeration) who demands his coat is straight and makes sense; people in the cinema laughing made me mistake that scene for an attempt at comedy or something close to it, but Mann does not include silly moments in his films. One has to accomodate to this fact, I'm afraid. :)
The restrained story-telling which leaves away any possibly distracting sub-plots, the highly involving cinematography, aided a lot by the splendiferous sets, the all-out excellent performances right to the smallest supporting actors, the unobtrusive, most of the time very adequate score make this one hell of an enjoyable film.
The love story is appropriately free of kitsch and melodrama; as all the right things in the Mann films, it is subtle and feels real. I used to feel a bit uneasy being moved by the very last scene in which Winstead tells Billy Dillinger's last words, because being sad about a criminal's death perhaps seemed inappropriate; but it is actually the Billy character whom I sympathize with (even if Mann invested Dillinger with at least some minor likeable traits, which is perfectly acceptable, if historically inaccurate, presumably at least); she clearly felt a lot for Dillinger, obviously the only man she came across who made her feel being loved, and giving her a hopeful outlook on her future - even if it was doomed to fail from the beginning, which she couldn't know. Before this surprising and moving scene in the end, the whole cinema/Dillinger's death sequence is so horribly well made, it is, regarding construction, cinematography, detailed period sets, acting, scoring so utterly brilliant, it's most definitely one of the best sequences in cinema history.


I'd also like to point out how surprisingly great the so often wooden Bale plays Purvis; the nuances in his facial expressions in many a scene are admirable. It's weird what Mann can do to some actors' abilities.
I'd also like to mention the perfectly realistic and admirably filmed action scenes.
There is many a visual and emotional highlight in this film. But I hope to elaborate on it after future viewings.



Here an attempt at a ranking of the Mann films:

MANHUNTER
THIEF
HEAT
THE INSIDER
PUBLIC ENEMIES
ALI
COLLATERAL
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
MIAMI VICE



Never seen THE KEEP; never will.
Ranking the first four is hard, but MANHUNTER is safely on top. One of the best films ever, to be sure.

I caught up with Public Enemies again on HBO when I was in the States a week ago. Seemed to work much better on the smallscreen.

Speaking of which, hoping I've finally got both seasons of Mann's Crime Story. Paid for, but I'll believe it when the sets arrive.

I seem to remember you did not care much for it upon your first viewing.

I wouldn't consider it part of his very best work, obviously.
But I liked the screenplay. And the cast was excellent.

What I said was:

Guest wrote:

Public Enemies has many qualities but it's also one of the ugliest films I've seen. For all the hype about digital, sometimes it looks disgusting.

More of a complaint about the look of the film than the content, though I don't think it's one of Mann's strongest works.

Well no, it reminds me more of Scorcese's recent work. Adequate, but rarely reaching his former heights.

Love MANHUNTER and HEAT. Probably gonna watch THIEF tonight. I'll watch all of the films of his that I haven't seen, for completists sake. I've seen a little of the MIAMI VICE series, but it didn't impress me. What I want to catch is CRIME STORY with Dennis Farina. Sounds interesting at least. I'd also like to see LA TAKEDOWN, the rehearsal for HEAT, just cuz.

Random: Years ago, I had thought Mann was English. Same with Kubrick.

don't forget his best of the 80s:

Band of the Hand (he was Producer) and also The Keep