Band of the Hand

"It's vice, Miami-style, where hot cars, fast cash, cocaine deals and cold-blooded murder are the name of the game. But when five young players decide to beat the odds, their only chance of winning is as the BAND OF THE HAND. After serving time in a grueling rehab program set in the treacherous Florida swamp, convicted felons Ruben, JL, Carlos, Moss, and Dorcey return to an even tougher turf -- the Miami ghetto. But making it on the streets becomes a brutal battle for survival against crime kingpins determined to run them off. Too cool to conform, too tough to back down, the Band fights back the only way they can -- to the death. Featuring a searing soundtrack with the title song, "Band of the Hand," written by Bob Dylan, performed by Bob Dylan with the Heartbreakers, and produced by Tom Petty. "BAND OF THE HAND grabs you and never lets go!" (Direct from the movie box.)

In 1986 as "Miami Vice" was nearing the height of its popularity, Paul Michael Glaser and Michael Mann shifted gears and brought us a movie with the same quick pace and urban chic. This time our unlikely heroes are a handful of hoodlums from the Florida juvenile detention system -- Carlos, a drug dealer; JL, a disturbed young man who killed his father after witnessing his dad beating his mother; Ruben and Moss, two Miami gang leaders; and Dorcey, who got caught trying to escape from somewhere.

These five get plucked from their juvenile-detention facility and are dumped rather unceremoniously in the middle of the Everglades. From out of the mist steps Joe, an American Indian social worker, who announces that they have been paroled to his charge. They will learn to work as a team, or they will die. If they manage to survive the swamps, they will be given the chance to apply what they have learned to life back in the city.

Once back in the city, they work to clean up the ghettos and rid the world of drugs and gangs. While they all have gained self-worth and found new purpose, Carlos feels compelled to go back to "the life"... mostly driven by his girlfriend Nikki's involvement with his old boss Nestor and his henchmen.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see where all this is going. Kids want to get rid of drug dealers. Drug dealers don't want to leave. It gets messy, but eventually it brings Carlos back to the boys in order to reunite against the bad guys.

There is a "touching" moment where they realize their common experiences have bonded them. Like the five fingers of a hand, they are... The Band of the Hand.