| L.A. Takedown | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime Thriller |
| Distributed by | NBC |
| Directed by | Michael Mann |
| Produced by | Patrick Markey |
| Written by | Michael Mann |
| Starring | Scott Plank Michael Rooker Alex McArthur Vincent Guastaferro Daniel Baldwin Xander Berkeley |
| Music by | Tim Truman |
| Cinematography | Ron Garcia |
| Editing by | Dov Hoenig |
| Language | English |
| Release date | 1989 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
L.A. Takedown is a crime/thriller made for TV movie that aired on NBC on August 27, 1989 at 9 pm. It was written and directed by Michael Mann, and its ensemble cast includes Scott Plank, Alex McArthur, Michael Rooker, Daniel Baldwin, and Xander Berkeley. Takedown starred Plank as Det. Vincent Hanna and McArthur as Patrick McLaren. It was released on home video as a region 2 DVD.
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Detective Vincent Hanna is on the trail of a gang of ruthless professional criminals, led by the methodical Patrick McLaren. But Hanna is soon surprised when he discovers that he and McLaren have quite a lot in common. While McLaren and his gang plan another heist, Hanna and his colleagues keep surveillance. But McLaren also faces a personal problem when he finds himself falling in love, which he personally condemns due to the commitment required to his profession. Things then take a turn for the very worst, when the details of McLaren's planned heist are betrayed to the police. When they (including Hanna) arrive on the scene unexpectedly, McLaren and his crew engage them in a mid-street shootout, in which most of McLaren's crew are killed. After making an escape, McLaren is torn between a new life with his girlfriend and seeking revenge on those that betrayed him.
The majority of the main cast appeared as guest stars in episodes of one or both of Michael Mann's two shows produced in the 1980s, Miami Vice and Crime Story:
After making The Last of the Mohicans, Mann returned to a 1986 draft of L.A. Takedown, viewing the TV movie as a dry run for the film he had originally written, which was intended as a much more complex and elaborate story.
In late 1995, Mann released Heat, which he directed from his original script. Heat was made with an ensemble cast including Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer. Heat was met with critical acclaim[1] and became a financial success[2].
Nowadays, L.A. Takedown is best known for being the basis of Heat, often compared in an unfavorable light to the latter.
Michael Mann's original script was written in the early 1980s, and spanned 180 pages. For L.A. Takedown, he cut the script down to 110 pages so it would fit in a TV-movie timeslot. Using the original script, Mann decided to remake LA Takedown as it was originally intended; a complex, multi-layered crime drama.
Whereas LA Takedown was produced in just a month, with 10 days on pre-production and 19 days of shooting, Heat took over 9 months to produce, with six months of pre-production and 107 days of shooting. Takedown was also made on TV film budget, while the budget of Heat is estimated at over $50 million.
Besides having bigger stars, a bigger budget and better effects, the most significant difference seen in Heat is the storyline. Whereas L.A. Takedown told a simple, straightforward story of a robbery and those directly involved, Heat fleshes this out, branching off into several subplots and including numerous twists. Because of this, Heat runs nearly twice the length of L.A. Takedown.
Differences in the plot include:
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