Miami Vice's Most Famous Scene Directed by Thomas Carter

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Published May 15, 2026

Thomas Carter (born July 17, 1953) is an American actor and director, who directed the pilot episode "Brother's Keeper" in the show Miami Vice.

Despite the fairly minimal amount of plot progression it contains, the scene is set to almost the entire length of the song "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, some five and a half minutes, stretched out through the use of flashbacks to Rafael's murder and cinematic shots of the Miami night, particularly highlighting reflections of the city's lights on the polished black bodywork of Crockett's Ferrari Daytona Spyder. During the long drive towards the inevitable confrontation with Calderone and his goons, Crockett pulls over at a desolate phonebooth to call his ex-wife Caroline, asking her if their relationship was "real", knowing this may be his last chance to speak to her. She confirms that it was. As the climactic drum crash of the song kicks in, Crockett and Tubbs pull away, their minds now focussed on the impending showdown with their nemesis.

The sequence is notable for having almost all background sounds removed, leaving only selected dialogue, the sound of Tubbs loading his shotgun and the accompanying music audible. In the years since, this technique has been seen often, particularly in the feature films of series executive producer Michael Mann, and it gives the scenes to which it is applied a stark, dramatic, dream-like quality. The original sequence in Miami Vice quickly became a landmark in television history and no doubt led to the heavy integration of popular music throughout the show. The concept has also been copied outside of the series, and today it is common practice to overlay audio tracks over climatic scenes, both in film and on television.

Category: Miami Vice Remastered

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Miami Vice's Most Famous Scene Directed by Thomas Carter

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