Drug Wars: The Camarena Story

Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
Genre	Crime Drama
Written by	Elaine Shannon (non-fiction book) Rose Schacht Ann Powell (Part I) Mel Frohman (Part II) Christopher Canaan Michael Mann (story, Part III) Christopher Canaan Rose Schacht Ann Powell (teleplay, Part III)
Directed by	Brian Gibson
Starring	Steven Bauer Miguel Ferrer Benicio del Toro Treat Williams Craig T. Nelson Raymond J. Barry
Music by	Charles Bernstein
Country of origin	United States Spain
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Michael Mann Richard Brams (co-executive producer)
Producers	Branko Lustig Mark Allan (co-producer) Christopher Canaan (supervising producer) Johnny Lattanzio (associate producer) Ann Powell (co-supervising producer) Christine A. Sacani (associate producer) Rose Schacht (co-supervising producer)
Cinematography	Sandi Sissel
Editors	Kevin Krasny Skip Schoolnik
Running time	240 minutes
Production companies	World International Network ZZY Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 7, 1990 (1990-01-07) to January 9, 1990 (1990-01-09)

Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series that aired on January 7th, 8th & 9th 1990, based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson. It was the second most watched NBC mini-series of the year following The Kennedys and was followed up in 1992 with Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel starring Dennis Farina.

Plot

Fact-based story of undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena who, while stationed in Guadalajara, uncovered a massive marijuana operation in Northern Mexico that led to his death and a remarkable investigation of corruption within the Mexican government.

Cast

Actor	Role
Steven Bauer	Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena
Elizabeth Peña	Mika Camarena
Miguel Ferrer	Tony Riva
Benicio del Toro	Rafael Caro Quintero
Eddie Velez	Ramon Varona
Tony Plana	Pavon Reyes
Tomas Milian	Florentino Ventura
Raymond J. Barry	Jack Lawn
Everett McGill	Bob Rawlings
Treat Williams	Ray Carson
Craig T. Nelson	Harley Steinmetz
Kenny Morrison	Enrique Camarena Jr
Danny Trejo	Gabriel

Production

At least four of the principal actors in Drug Wars: The Camarena Story later starred in the Academy Award-winning film Traffic, a film that also deals with the subject of the ongoing drug trade between the United States and Mexico. In a somewhat interesting reversal of roles, in Drug Wars actors Miguel Ferrer and Steven Bauer both play DEA agents while Benicio del Toro and Eddie Velez play drug traffickers; in Traffic, Ferrer and Bauer both play drug traffickers, while del Toro and Velez play a Mexican federal narcotics agent and a DEA agent.

Reception

In his review for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor wrote, "Perhaps not surprisingly, these amoral entrepreneurs provide some of the film's juicier roles. Especially effective is Benicio del Toro as the young, illiterate and flaky Rafael Caro-Quintero". In his review for USA Today, Matt Roush wrote, "For a Michael Mann production, there's surprisingly little flash to Drug Wars. Some interesting camera work to be sure, including the video bits and some heightened use of slow motion, but the miniseries' chief strength is its grit, its anger". Craig MacInnis, in his review for the Toronto Star, wrote, "Interspersed with U.S. network news footage of the real Camarena incident in '85, the dramatic scenes in Drug Wars are never anything less than convincing - just as good propaganda should be".

DVD release

All three parts originally ran for four hours. The current DVD release features a heavily edited version that runs only 130 minutes.

External links

• Drug Wars: The Camarena Story at IMDb