L.A. Takedown

1989 television film directed by Michael Mann

L. A. Takedown, also called L. A. Crimewave and Made in L. A., Mann, who collaborated with Adamson on Miami Vice and Crime Story and several minor projects, was told of an investigation Adamson partook in. In 1963, he was investigating Neil McCauley, a professional robber. According to Mann, "one day they simply bumped into one another. [Adamson] didn't know what to do: arrest him, shoot him or have a cup of coffee." In 1979, Mann wrote an early 180 page draft for the screenplay. After making his first feature film, Thief, he re wrote the draft. In a 1983 interview, he mentioned he was planning to make a film based on the draft and was looking for someone to direct it. He later offered the director position to Walter Hill, but Hill refused. However, the new series was not picked up by the network. Instead, it was released as a television film entitled L. A. Takedown. The soundtrack also featured the song "L. A. Woman" performed by Billy Idol. In 1990, it was released on VHS in Finland, with several other European countries following in the early 1990s. On March 19, 2008, a DVD of the movie was released in Germany, featuring several scene selections as bonus content. L. A. Takedown received mixed to positive reviews from film critics, with its acting being the most poorly received. On its first airing, The Globe and Mail gave the film a two star rating. Hal Erickson of AllRovi compared the film to Mann's cult TV series Miami Vice, but felt it emphasized style over substance. Dragan Antulov for Movie Reviews in Croatian , in comparing the film with its remake, Heat, praised Mann's choice to hire unknown actors for L. A. Takedown, which contrasted with big stars in Heat. Although he derided Berkeley's performance as Waingro, he concluded that it was "a fine companion piece to Heat." A reviewer from Lexikon des Internationalen Films of Germany was less enthusiastic, citing routine action sequences and a confusing plot due to the overly large cast. Lol Frost of Empire gave L. A. Takedown two out of five stars, acknowledging the worthiness of the plot, but citing lack of Mann's typical filming style. Frost concluded that the film was "a bit of a dud, but a noble effort."

After directing The Last of the Mohicans, Mann decided to remake L. A. Takedown into a wide release cinema feature. He viewed the film as a dry run for the original story, which was a complex, multi layered crime drama edited out of the script for the television film. He consulted a longer 1986 draft to work on the remake. Having made L. A. Takedown, Mann felt he had a much better idea of how he wanted to structure the remake, saying: "I charted the film out like a 2 hr 45 min piece of music, so I'd know where to be smooth, where not to be smooth, where to be staccato, where to use a pulse like a heartbeat." and grossed $187 million, becoming a financial success. Not only featuring a bigger budget and well known actors, Heat also had significant storyline differences when compared to L. A. Takedown. Among other things, the remake included Chris Shiherlis' gambling addiction, the subplot concerning Roger Van Zant and his attempt to double cross the crew (in this film Waingro plots against the crew by himself), and Hanna's troubled stepdaughter—plot elements not present in the original film.