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James Crockett
Miami Vice character
Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett
First appearance	Brother's Keeper/Pilot
Portrayed by	Don Johnson (series) Colin Farrell (film)
Episode count	111 episodes and 1 film
Information
Nickname(s)	Sonny
Aliases	Sonny Burnett
Gender	Male
Age	Mid 30s (series) Early 30s (film)
Occupation	Metro-Dade Police (series) Miami-Dade Police (film)
Title	Detective
Family	Jack Crockett (brother, series)
Spouse(s)	Caroline (ex-wife, series) Caitlin Davies (killed in series)
Children	Billy Crockett (with Caroline)
Relatives	Jake Crockett (cousin, series)
Address	Miami, Florida
Religion	Christian
Nationality	American

James "Sonny" Crockett is a fictional character from the Miami Vice television series and film of the same name. The character is portrayed by Don Johnson in the television series, and Colin Farrell in the movie version of the show. He was introduced in the Miami Vice pilot in 1984 and appeared in all 111 episodes and in the motion picture. The character has also appeared in numerous video games as well as in various popular culture references.

Appearances

Television

James Crockett, more commonly known as Sonny Crockett, first appears in the pilot episode of Miami Vice (1984) as an undercover vice cop on the trail of a Colombian drug lord. While undercover he meets Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), an NYPD undercover officer, who too is on the trail of a drug dealer and cop killer, Calderone (Miguel Pinero). Unbeknownst to them, Calderone and the Colombian are the same person that they're looking for. Crockett and Tubbs both go undercover as Sonny Burnett and Rico Cooper respectively, to try to get close to Calderone. They are successful and in the end capture him. Just as they go to see him in jail, Calderone made his $2 million bail and is on his way out of the country. Crockett promises Tubbs, that they will get him, but as reconciliation asks him if he's interested in a career in Southern Law Enforcement. There begins their new partnership as Vice Cops for the Metro-Dade Police Department (now Miami-Dade Police Department).

Film

For the 2006 film adaptation of Miami Vice, James "Sonny" Crockett was completely reinvented and thus had no relation to the television series character. He had no backstory, like in the series where he was married and later divorced, the film version of Sonny Crockett only has a backstory for his undercover alias, Sonny Burnett.^[1] The television version of Crockett carried a lot of baggage onto the set such as divorces, dead partners, and Vietnam, and so the new Crockett, by contrast, could travel light and sleek, with no back stories to burden the picture with exposition.^[1][2]

Characterization

For the 2006 film, Colin Farrell stated, "If I was to think about the early Crockett, I would have been in trouble because I would have been arguing over the suits that I wanted to wear and no socks with my slip-ons, and all that kind of stuff". Furthermore, Farrell didn't look to Johnson's portrayal for much inspiration.^[3]

Reception

Awards and Recognitions

Impact on popular culture

In 2006, inline with the release of the feature film, a Det. James "Sonny" Crockett action figure was released. It included a figure of Crockett and a plastic aligator.^[6] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is released, and includes a character based on Crockett, who interacts with Lance Vance, voiced by Philip Michael Thomas, and Phil Collins himself,^[7] who performs a full length in-game version of "In the Air Tonight".

References