COCAINE COWBOYS

A Maxim endorsed documentary worth its weight in kilos.

Cocaine Cowboys sheds a blinding light on the industry that brought Miami, Florida to the rest of the world. Watching this movie feels like watching a documentary in your old high school history class, but this time it’s packed with drugs, money laundering, violence and reigns of absolute power. It is just as appealing as it is appalling.

The film was created on a very low budget and with seemingly only one goal in mind; to tell the story of Miami’s birth into the world. Cheesy overlapping and rough camera shots are a couple things that continually remind you of the low budget, but what makes this film so good is the characters and the stories they tell. They are sequenced very nicely and the movie flows eloquently as one big story. Anyone who is not very familiar with the story of Miami as a worldly city can learn a lot from this film. It is so full of information and shocking facts that there is almost never a dull moment.

Miami as we know it now was created with drug money. Cocaine ruled the entire city in the early 1980’s. Everyone was doing it and everyone was involved in the trade. Hundreds of people died, billions of dollars were spent and the entire city was affected. The lifestyles of drug dealers became so lavish and out of control that they eventually caved in on themselves and self-destructed. It was a beautiful disaster that Cocaine Cowboys portrays with a sense of style and professionalism that wraps the audience up in the story.

Cocaine Cowboys is set up like an old-school documentary from your childhood, but a really good one that you could watch again and again. The story’s told are almost unbelievable, and the facts are astounding. The characters are first hand participants in the drug heyday of Miami and bring a personal view to this enormous story. If you enjoyed Scarface or Miami Vice you will want to see this chronicle that started it all. Cocaine Cowboys is one hell of a ride and absolutely fascinating if nothing else.


GRADE: B+
TRAILER: http://www.cocainecowboys.com/