L.A. Takedown

The 1989 telefilm L.A. TAKEDOWN might've simply been relegated as a forgotten failed pilot had it not been for a theatrical movie known as HEAT that came six years later.  Both were the brainchild of writer/director Michael Mann and feature essentially the same story.  But the comparisons will not be favorable for the earlier version, which even its creator described as comparing "freeze dried coffee to Jamaican Blue Mountain".  You can call it a blueprint, a dry run, a dress rehearsal, whatever you fancy, and be on the money.  I sought it out as my curiosity had grown over time.  I expected a swift dismiss, a curiosity at best.  

To my surprise I found this, especially as far as late '80s TV movies go, surprisingly decent.  Helping immensely was the Miami Vice aesthetic Mann liberally applied to this change of venue.  It really does feel as if cut from the same cloth, as if in the same universe with its East coast cousin.  

A team of criminals led by the coldly clinical Patrick McLaren (Alex McArthur) hit an armored car in broad daylight.  The job is precision itself, but undone by the impulsive behavior of Waingro (Xander Berkeley), a recent recruit who kills one of the guards.  This will get the attention of super sharp Los Angeles homicide sergeant Vincent Hanna (Scott Plank), who will obsessively comb the city to ferret them out.  His extreme dedication to the job inevitably leads to difficulties with his wife Lillian (Ely Pouget). 

McLaren and Hanna are likewise cut from the same cloth, single minded in their respective vocations and unable to do anything else.  In a curious moment, the two men catch a glimpse of each other in a parking lot, frozen in some sort of cosmic recognition and respect, and decide to share a cup of coffee, laying out their m.o. and offering no apologies.  This scene, like everything else, was far more effective in HEAT.  Plank and McArthur, as decent as they are in these roles, just can't hold a candle to Pacino and DeNiro.

The famous post bank robbery street shootout is also here and dwarfed by its theatrical offspring, but is still intense and well staged.  Mann's patented stylistics (long shots, end of scene freeze frames, evocative use of lighting) are not shortchanged.  Uncharacteristically,  his use of music is limited to Tim Truman's period appropriate score and Billy Idol's cover of "L.A. Woman."

The highest compliment I can pay to L.A. TAKEDOWN is that it is a tighter film than HEAT, but it also feels quite rushed.  The later expansion allowed this story the ample room and scope it needed to become a masterpiece.  So many layers to this tale, not able to be explored in an hour and a half.  Had I seen this movie during its original airing on NBC I might've been sad to learn that the series was not picked up, but if it had been, we might never have gotten what I consider one of the greatest films of the 1990s.