From fans of the original television show to movie critics, the 2006 “Miami Vice” motion picture based on the wildly popular mid-1980s TV program managed to disappoint pretty much everyone who saw it. That was especially true for high-performance powerboat enthusiasts who expected long sequences of go-fast boats in action from the Michael Mann-directed film, as Mann is known for delivering nonstop action in his projects.
TNT Custom Marine’s John Tomlinson (right) as Don Aronow struck a pose with actor/stuntman Mike Mass as offshore racer Knocky House at recent movie shoot in Puerto Rico (click image for full frame).
But not so with Miami Vice—the film flopped, though in all fairness the greatest boating sequences imaginable couldn’t have saved what was for all intents and purposes a cinematic disaster.
Why this stroll down bad movie memory lane? John Tomlinson, who co-owns TNT Custom Marine in Miami with his longtime business partner Mike Thomas, spent four months of his life working on the “Miami Vice” set. More recently, last week he worked for a day—and into the early morning hours—teaching actor Matthew McConaughey how to drive a boat for his leading role in The Beach Bum, which was shooting up the coast in Hollywood, Fla.
and then