Heart of Darkness (28 Sep. 1984)

Investigating a porn baron, Crockett and Tubbs become involved with an undercover FBI agent who may have gone native and become a criminal, and may have murdered an underage porn starlet. ... See full summary »

Director:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Writers:

Anthony Yerkovich (creator), Daniel Pyne

Stars:

Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Saundra Santiago

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Don Johnson	...	Detective James Crockett
Philip Michael Thomas	...	Detective Ricardo Tubbs
Saundra Santiago	...	Detective Gina Calabrese
Michael Talbott	...	Detective Stan Switek
John Diehl	...	Det. Larry Zito
Olivia Brown	...	Detective Trudy Joplin
Gregory Sierra	...	Lt. Lou Rodriguez
Ed O'Neill	...	Arthur Lawson / Artie Rollins
Paul Hecht	...	Sam Kovics
Cheryl Giannini	...	Mrs. Lawson
Suzy Amis	...	Penny McGraw
Ted Zurkowski	...	Jimmy Conway
Brent Jennings	...	Jiveman
Julian Byrd	...	Agent Dennis Doyle
Mal Jones	...	Calman Clayburn

Storyline

Investigating a porn baron, Crockett and Tubbs become involved with an undercover FBI agent who may have gone native and become a criminal, and may have murdered an underage porn starlet. Meanwhile, Zito and Switek pose as fences, and Elvis the crocodile feels unloved!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 September 1984 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael Mann Productions, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 36 min (DVD) 49 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Kovics' Cadillac limo changes into an unmarked police car, complete with flashing blue light on the dash, when it jumps the drawbridge.

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Connections

References The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

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Soundtracks

"She's a Beauty"
(uncredited)
Performed by The Tubes

User Reviews

Gripping second episode from the first season

"Miami Vice" is certainly a series that hit the ground running. Although viewers turning their television sets on during the pre-credits sequence may have wondered momentarily what they'd stumbled across (the episode cleverly opens on an "adult" film shoot with an acrobatic young lady being manhandled by a burly air-conditioning repair man!), "Heart of Darkness" is proof indeed that "Miami Vice" did not hesitate in demonstrating its high production values and top-quality scripts from the very start.

In "Heart of Darkness", there's the possibility that an undercover vice cop (played by a pre-"Married With Children" Ed O'Neill) may have "turned to the bad side." Seeing a mirror reflection of himself during his deep cover assignments, Crockett decides to give the cop a chance to prove himself. Is Crockett making a dangerous decision he will live to regret? The show reveals why the chemistry between Crockett and Tubbs works. As both cops learn about each other, there's clearly a lot of respect and trust between the two. "Heart of Darkness" is a dark episode of "Vice" but it does have its lighter moments including a great scene with Elvis the alligator and a humorous insight into the average day of Zito and Switek.

Easily an 8 out of 10, rated on my "Vice" scale. This blows most television series out of the water, displaying a scale and budget that you just don't see these days.