Producer/director Michael Mann, kappelmeister of the trendy TV series Miami Vice, tried to impose his MTV mentality on Tinseltown with L.A. Takedown. Los Angeles cop Scott Plank is on the trail of master thief Alex McArthur. After McArthur pulls off "the score of a lifetime," the crook and the cop spend the rest of their screen time in a deadly game of one-upsmanship. The usual Michael Mann trademark of style over substance prevails throughout L.A. Takedown. But the vogue had passed, and this TV pilot film failed to graduate into a series.