It all started one dreary Ottawa February. I was strolling down the aisles at the library, when I was drawn to a colourful book cover. I read the jacket. Two guys on a road trip in Florida. Now that sounds like something I'd much rather be doing.
Well, it's a lot more than that. The main character, Serge A. Storms is a lovable, yet undeniable insane Floridiaphile. His obsessive love of Florida history leads to madcap adventures throughout the state, often with his stoner best friend Coleman. Oh, and Serge is a serial killer, who preys on the rude, abusive or greedy. He comes up with elaborate methods of dealing out death.
The first one in Tim Dorsey's series about Serge and his sidekicks is Florida Roadkill. The writing style is sparse, witty, manic, funny. Each one of his books reads like a cool movie I would love to see. All sewn up with apt social commentary skewering all sides of the political spectrum under zany, sunny Florida skies.
Serge is like a permanent tour guide and is always sharing his knowledge of Floridian history. From Ponce to Ponzi, he knows it, and shares it.
I love to watch movies (who doesn't right?). Serge does too. During many of Serge and Coleman's road trips, or as some call them: 'police chases', or 'being on the run', they will often make a detour, or stop where a famous movie scene was based or shot. This of course infuriates the rear-seat occupants who usually aren't too thrilled, about, or even consenting, to be driving around with Serge in the first place.
So here it is, my Florida Film Festival list:
Scarface
Cocaine Cowboys
Square Grouper
Key Largo
Notorious
Miami Vice
Scarface (1983)
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/
IMDB rating: 8.3/10
Plot: When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. Among all the refugees, there is one who wants it all, his name is Tony Montana.
Best Quote "Say hello to my little friend"
Serge Connection: Serge is a proud Cuban and his heritage is often refered to. The Mariel boatlift is often referred to as well. Also, in Torpedo Juice, the vilain, who calls himself Scarface, is a psychotic drug lord obsessed with the movie.
IMDB rating: 8.3/10
Plot: When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. Among all the refugees, there is one who wants it all, his name is Tony Montana.
Best Quote "Say hello to my little friend"
Notes: This is an entertaining gangster movie. As an outsider, I don't pretend to know all the issues relating to the rise of the cocaine drug trade thru Miami in the 80s, or the Cuba/Florida issues either. But this movie serves as an entertaining start before viewing documentaries such as Cocaine Cowboys, or Square Grouper.
The drug trade has not served Florida well in many respects. Tons and tons of money were made and spent in Florida via the drug trade. However, the price is much much more that what was lost. And that is the essence of what Tim Dorsey is nostalgic about via his spokesman Serge.
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
| Directed by | Billy Corben |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Alfred Spellman Billy Corben David Cypkin |
| Starring | Jon Roberts Mickey Munday Jorge "Rivi" Ayala |
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_Cowboys
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380268/
IMDB rating: 7.9/10
Plot: In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen. Written by rakontur
Notes: There is no direct Serge connection, but it is the best documentary I could find that explains the rise of the 1980s drug trade.
Square Grouper (2011)
THE CREW
Billy CorbenAlfred Spellman
David Cypkin
Sam Rega
Amanda Herrero
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Grouper:_The_Godfathers_of_Ganja
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1466067/
IMDB rating: 6.0/10
Plot: A colorful portrait of Miami's pot smuggling scene of the 1970s, populated with redneck pirates, a ganja-smoking church, and the longest serving marijuana prisoner in American history.
Serge Connection: I remember square groupers are mentioned in one of the books. Another entertaining drug smuggling documentary but this time about the far less damaging drug, marijuana. Brought to you by the same crew that made Cocaine Cowboys.
Key Largo (1948)
| Directed by | John Huston |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jerry Wald |
| Screenplay by | Richard Brooks John Huston |
| Based on | Key Largo (play) by Maxwell Anderson |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart Edward G. Robinson Lauren Bacall |
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_Largo_%28film%29
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040506/
IMDB rating: 7.9/10
Plot: A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other as they are all stranded in the boarded up hotel riding out the hurricane.
Notes: Films of this era are always fun to watch. The quick dialogue, everyone wearing suits, even in 100 degree weather. Men's pant styles at the time seemed to require them to go way up the belly, accented by short ties. Many Bogart films are sure classics: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The African Queen, The Big Sleep. The Big Sleep by the way is based on a Raymond Chandler novel which inspired one of my best movie makers, the Coen Brotheres to make one of my all-time favourites: The Big Lebowski.
Funny how the movie poster's style is quite similar to Dorsey's book covers.
Notorious (1946)
| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Alfred Hitchcock (uncredited) |
| Written by | Ben Hecht |
| Starring | Cary Grant Ingrid Bergman Claude Rains |
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious_%281946_film%29
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/
IMDB rating: 8.2/10
Notes: It's a Hitchcock movie with Carrie Grant, I mean come on. One of the early scenes shows the Ingrid Bergman character driving drunk. That scene kind of stuck. Either because it has the Hitchcock treatment or maybe drunk driving was not as much as a taboo? She does get pulled over, but still. Anywho, a fun movie to watch.
Synonyms: While googling Notorious, I came across Notorious B.I.G. the rapper who, along with Tupac, died in the infamous East coast / West coast rapper hip-hop feud. There is a movie Notorious (2009) which I found interesting because I don't know much on the genre.
Florida Connection: The only relevant connection is that the story takes place in Florida. Hey, that would be good enough for Serge. I don't remember if he references this film. If I find a reference in the books, I'll add it here later.
Trivia: Notorious begins with the title: "Miami, Florida, 3:20 p.m., April 20, 1946," a very specific bit of information that adds little to our understanding or appreciation of the story. Hitchcock used the same time and date specificity at the beginning of Psycho (1960).
Goldfinger (1964)
| Directed by | Guy Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Harry Saltzman Albert R. Broccoli |
| Screenplay by | Richard Maibaum Paul Dehn |
| Based on | Goldfinger by Ian Fleming |
| Starring | Sean Connery Gert Fröbe Honor Blackman Harold Sakata Bernard Lee |
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfinger_%28film%29
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/
IMDB rating: 7.8/10
Notes: This James Bond movie features Miami's Fountainebleu Hotel in the opening shots. The hotel has historical and architectural significance on Miami Beach. The Black Tuna Gang ran its operations from there. For more info on the hotel's role, check out the Wikipedia entry.
Serge connection: Serge gets a murder method inspiration from Goldfinger. A James Bond girl is killed buy a villain by painting her in Gold. This kills her via epidermal suffocation.
Miami Vice (1984-1990)
| Created by | Anthony Yerkovich | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starring | Don Johnson Philip Michael Thomas Saundra Santiago Michael Talbott John Diehl Olivia Brown Gregory Sierra Edward James Olmos |
|||||
| Theme music composer | Jan Hammer | |||||
| Opening theme | Miami Vice Theme |
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Vice
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086759/
IMDB rating: 8.2/10
Notes: Ah Miami Vice. Cringe-worthy tackiness, but the 80s were like that. I might have watched back then it if there was nothing else on. Remember, this was before pvrs. Anything worth programming the VCR had to be pretty dammned good. You had to scrunch down on the floor, and punch thru little buttons to navigate thru green led menus. The kids at school talked about it, so you had to watch it a little. The show may have tackled the issues, but the constant posturing, dick waving, gun-toting, drama made it difficult to watch in my opinion.
 |
| Maybe if I wear shades no one will recognize me in the future. |
The Miami Vice Opening Theme is iconic. Quick shots that highlight Miami clichés, along with cool percussion music. It is just so good! During high school, I took a cinema class, and we spliced in a scene where someone is watching the show. Being 18 year old trolls, we of course used the 2.5 seconds of bouncing boobies.
- Palm trees shot from underneath against a blue sky, extra sun flare
- Flamingos
- Close racing shot at sea with Miami Vice logo fade in
- Miami Vice logo fluorescent lights up
- Wind surfer wets his hair by leaning back into the water while maintaining his ride
- Bouncing Caribana boobies
- Jai Alai player.
- More racing sea shot
- Horse race
- Rolls Royces
- Beach hotels
- Parrots
- Another racing sea shot
- Dog race now
- More racing sea shot
- Opulent Miami beach hotels
- Bikinis
- A dozen speed boats complete with wake trails
- Miami night skyline
Other movies filmed in Florida
The above films are direct references in Tim Dorsey's books, or paint the backdrop of why Florida has it's own Fark tag. While combing the net for references, I also came across lists of movies that were filmed in Florida, but the story doesn't necessarily take place there.
Goodfellas (1990)
| Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Irwin Winkler |
| Screenplay by | Martin Scorsese Nicholas Pileggi |
| Based on | Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi |
| Narrated by | Ray Liotta Lorraine Bracco |
| Starring | Ray Liotta Robert De Niro Joe Pesci Lorraine Bracco Paul Sorvino |
After watching Scarface, I was in the mood to watch another gangster movie, which brought me to Goodfellas. Ray Liotta is okay, but Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are at their finest in this movie. Another thing Goodfellas is famous for is Martin Scorsese. His long take is a finely crafted choreography and worth seeing. This film was shot in Florida, but most of the story does not.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
A good excuse as any to post a James Dean movie. Other of his films I like include Giant and East of Eden. East of Eden, written by a an author I enjoy: John Steinbeck. Notable mentions
Caddy Shack (1980) includes the Baco Raton Resort and the Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie. Apollo 13 (1995) for the Kennedy Space Center. The shot of Gary Sinise leaning against his corvette, watching the launch is pretty cool. Most of the early astronauts had Corvettes. The Truman Show (1998) filmed in Florida.
Midnight Cowboy (1969), filmed in Florida. It is an odd story about a naïve Texan named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) who thinks he is God's gift to women. He decides to move to New York to become a male prostitute, but you know, for women? He is in for a rude awakening. He meets up with a con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Of note is the "I'm walkin here" scene:
Speaking of movies with Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate (1967) is a fun film to watch. A must see for the classic final scene. You can say so much without using words. I recommend watching the whole movie, not just Youtubing the final scene.
Body Heat (1981) Could.Not.Watch.This.Movie
Chasing references
When a book or a song lyric refers to something, it makes me want to look up that reference. And that reference, opens up a whole other bunch of references too. I will try to update this post when I find more Florida movie references.
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