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Cocaine Cowboys

Rated - 2.5 stars

The Drugs. The Money. The Violence. The Incredible true story that inspired Scarface and Miami Vice hits cinemas this week.

The cocaine trade of the 70s and 80s had an indelible impact on contemporary Miami. Smugglers and distributors forever changed a once sleepy retirement community into one of the world's most glamorous hot spots, the epicentre of a $20 billion annual business fed by Colombia's Medellin cartel. By the early 80s, Miami's homicide rate had tripled and made it the murder capital of the country, for which a Time cover story dubbed the city "Paradise Lost."

Cocaine Cowboys is a fast-paced, adrenaline fuelled journey inside the world of the South Florida drug trade and its henchmen known as "Cocaine Cowboys". The film explores the business of how cocaine was imported and distributed, the insanely copious amounts of money being made and its impact on the city's economy, and the violence that consumed the city during this era.

Award winning filmmaker Billy Corben paints a dazzling portrait of a cultural explosion that still echoes as Hollywood myth. Corben's first feature Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent, was a sensation at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. While composer of the original "Miami Vice" theme, Jan Hammer, provides the score for the film.

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Critics' Reviews

Rating of 2 
	  stars out of 5 Dave Calhoun, Time Out

Why even put this in a cinema when its intended to be devoured on DVD by potheads, 17-year-old Pablo Escobar... read more on www.timeout.com

Members' Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 1 starNo No No

A customer from Sheffield , 29/02/2008

dont waste your time or DVD allocation on this awful doc o rama.

  10 out of 14 people found this review helpful

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Rated - 3 starsA Documentary on Speed!

ADN from London , 11/02/2008

The kind of documentary thats shown on Channel 5 on a Wednesday night this film is not for those of you who like your documentaries well-rounded, incisive and sensible.

It tears through at an amazing speed and doesnt pause for breath as several insiders to the Cocaine trade of the 1980's tell tales or the damn right obsurd.

Enjoyable, but should have been half an hour shorter and without the interview with the braying child killing hitman and endless close up photos of dead people.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

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Rated - 5 starsMiami or Bust

A customer from Lanark , 03/03/2008

A really informative and powerful documentary. There are easily several good Hollywood movies that could be made on the information contained in this film. The film is really in two parts, the first being about the general logistics/tranportation of the business. The second being about the ensuing brutal turf wars and eventual near collapse of the city of Miami.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

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Rated - 1 starbored

scorpion [Highly rated reviewer] , 28/03/2008

I GOT FEED UP WITH THIS DVD NOT 4 ME

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 1 starNOT A FILM A DOCMENTARY

A customer from EAST MIDLANDS , 06/04/2008

NOT MY TYPE OF FILM HAD TO SWITCH IT OFF, THIS IS NOT A FILM.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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Rated - 5 starsCOLOMBIANO STYLE

OSo OSo from KT15 Addlestone [Highly rated reviewer] , 08/03/2009

NOW THIS IS REAL GANGSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A VERY DETAILED AND WELL DONE LOOK AT MIAMI IN THE 70's TO NOW

THE COLOMBIANS RULE MIAMI!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T RECOMEND THIS DVD ANY MORE

IT IS SICK

GIVE IT A GO

OH ITS NOT FOR BABIES, WIMPS, LOOZERS AND GENERALLY SAD PROPLE

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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