Miami Blues (1990) User Reviews (85)

Flawed Characters, Black Humour & High-Speed Action

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 30 December 2014]

Based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford, "Miami Blues" is an account of an ex-con's crime spree that includes murder, theft and impersonating a police officer. It's also a thriller that's full of black humour, strong violence and action that's delivered at high speed. The sheer pace of this movie and the quirkiness of its characters are its strongest points and together ensure that it remains gripping from start to finish.

After being released from a California prison, Frederick J Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin) flies to Miami airport where he steals a suitcase and gets hassled by a Hare Krishna devotee before casually breaking one of the guy's fingers in retaliation. Unfortunately, his victim dies of shock and this triggers a police investigation.

Frenger, who prefers to be known as Junior, checks into a hotel and orders a hooker. The simple-minded Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) soon joins him and they quickly begin a romantic relationship. Susie who's working her way through college, wants to settle down to a conventional lifestyle and so when she and Junior set up house together, she happily spends her time cooking for him and keeping the place clean. She's unaware that he's an habitual thief and that during his time in Miami; he's been carrying on business as usual.

Detective Sergeant Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward), the veteran cop who's investigating the killing at the airport, comes to Junior and Susie's place because he says that Junior has been identified as a possible witness. The unkempt detective chats affably to the couple and shares a meal with them during which he consumes numerous cans of beer and clearly becomes convinced that Junior is an ex-con and probably the killer he's pursuing. After finishing his meal and inviting Junior to a line-up at the police station, he leaves.

Incensed by Moseley's visit, Junior goes to the detective's hotel room and brutally attacks the cop before stealing his gun, badge and false teeth. This gives him the opportunity to go on another stealing rampage during which he enjoys posing as a cop and using every advantage it gives him to relieve various people of their money and possessions. The assault on Moseley led to him being hospitalised but after being discharged, this previously laid-back cop becomes extremely determined to hunt Junior down and bring him to justice.

This movie's run-of-the-mill plot is illuminated by its characters and Alec Baldwin gives a particularly energetic performance as the violent sociopath who's also an inveterate thief and a pathological liar. Deception also features strongly in his modus operandi as he arrives in Miami under an assumed identity, indulges in a sham version of suburban life and masquerades as a cop.

Jennifer Jason Leigh makes the naïve Susie a sympathetic character and Fred Ward is great as the sleazy, unshaven and cynical cop who's really struggling to cope but remains good natured despite being humiliated by Junior, ridiculed by his colleagues and having personal problems with his false teeth, alimony and indigestion. These characters' flaws emphasise their humanity and provide an effective counterpoint to the callous ruthlessness of Junior in what ultimately proves to be a very engaging crime thriller.

Uniquely off-putting

[Mr-Fusion · 5/10 · 17 August 2016]

It's hard to peg this movie. "Miami Blues" seems to dance along the lines of black comedy, quasi-psycho thriller and pastel noir. And it's offbeat, to say the least; something like this doesn't just come along every day. But the comedic elements didn't work for me; I guess I was just never in sync with its sense of humor.

I was much more interested in Jennifer Jason Leigh's character, of the three (Ward and Baldwin are certainly no amateurs). Her character's not bright, but just sweet enough to make you feel bad when she's emotionally abused. It'd be an understatement to say she walks away with this movie.

5/10

A Random Walk Down Biscayne Blvd.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 8 January 2005]

You know what this reminds me of? Godard's "Breathless," one of the first of the shockingly original Nouvelle Vague flicks of the early 60s. I remember first seeing "Breathless" with some friends in a theater in Ithaca, NY, and emerging arguing about what it meant. I don't mean trying to identify any great load of symbolism or moral lesson it might be towing behind it. I just mean, what happened, and why? As I recall we decided that "Breathless" was an "existential" movie and didn't really need to be specific about what was going on. It was a story about a man making a life choice. You can be or do anything you want, said Sartre, and you can break all the rules -- as long as you're willing to take the consequences.

In "Miami Blues" the Belmondo part is played by Alec Baldwin, a guy fresh out of prison who has chosen a life of wilful disobedience. His girl friend (who really ought not to be in college) is a part-time hooker with aspirations that are utterly bourgeois. Jennifer Jason Lee wants to live with her husband and babies in a house with a white picket fence. Fred Ward, looking grizzled and great, is a homicide detective whom Baldwin clobbers and whose identity he steals.

I don't know why certain things happen. For instance, I have no idea how or why Baldwin manages to dig up Ward's home address, then goes there and beats hell out of him, and winds up stealing his false teeth, handcuffs and other cop accoutrements. What was THAT all about? I'll give one more example. Baldwin is in a convenience store and stumbles on an armed robbery. "I'm the police! Drop that gun and walk out of here!" he shouts -- and threatens the armed robber with a jar of spaghetti sauce.

See, in an existentialist movie like this, the characters don't really need to have motives. They do whatever they feel like doing.

There IS continuity though, even if in its details the movie makes very little sense. The characters are consistent, and there is a rudimentary plot, engaging and amusing without being in any way memorable.

I did enjoy the movie though, even the second time around, or maybe even MORE the second time around, since I'd learned not to expect an abundance of logic in the narrative.

The acting of the three principles is also admirable. Alec Baldwin had just appeared in "The Hunt for Red October," in which he struck me as not much more than a handsome leading man. Here, he's a different character entirely. Watch him as he struts down the street, arms swinging jauntily, grinning through pain, happily throwing off non sequiturs in dramatic situations. ("Do you own a suede coat?" he asks a criminal before murdering him.) Lee is more than childlike. She's positively childish with her overflowing emotions. I loved Fred Ward in this. He's full of quirks and rarely seems to be taking the role seriously. Instead of soaking his precious false teeth in -- what is that stuff, Polydent? -- he soaks them overnight in a glass of left-over booze.

Interesting exercise in style and acting.

This black comedy/quirky crime thriller is one of the most underrated movies of the 1990s.

[Infofreak · 20 September 2003]

'Miami Blues' fans nod at each knowingly like they share a secret. For some reason this super cool movie isn't all that well known by most movie buffs, but those that appreciate it see it for the highly original and quirky piece of work that it is. Writer/director George Armitage served his apprenticeship with exploitation king Roger Corman in the early 70s, as did Jonathan Demme who co-produced. If you like Demme's mid-period movies like 'Something Wild' and 'Married To The Mob' you'll love 'Miami Blues'. Armitage even uses Demme's mascot Charles Napier, the craggy faced character actor beloved by Russ Meyer nuts. The movie is based on a book by Charles Willeford which features his regular protagonist Hoke Mosely. Quentin Tarantino is a major Willeford fan, and much of 'Miami Blues' prefigures Tarantino's fresh mix of crime and comedy. Mosely is played by Fred Ward who gives one of his very best performances. Alec Baldwin also lucks out as Junior. You'll rarely see either actor as good as this anywhere else. Both of them are just brilliant in this movie, as is Jennifer Jason Leigh. The three of them together are just a joy to watch. Add to that small supporting roles by Napier, Nora Dunn ('Three Kings') and Shirley Stoler ('The Honeymoon Killers') and it's a film buffs dream. You even get a totally pointless cameo by cult favourite Martine Beswick! I don't know why she's even in the movie, but it's alright by me! I always enjoy watching 'Miami Blues' every time I pull it out of my collection. Lots of old favourites lose their appeal as the years go by, not so this one, which just gets better and better to me. Highly recommended fun!

Mmmmm vinegar pie......

[FlashCallahan · 7/10 · 16 February 2017]

When Fred Frenger gets out of prison, he decides to start over in Miami, Florida, where he starts a crime wave.

He soon meets up with amiable college student and part time prostitute Susie.

After Frenger is Sgt Moseley, a cop who is getting a bit old for the job, especially since the job of cop in late 1980's Miami is getting more dangerous all the time......

Miami Blues was one of those films back in 1990 that was advertised here, there, and everywhere. Every bus stop had the poster advertising it's release, every video cassette you rented had the trailer, and then, like most films that didn't do that well at the box office, disappeared without a trace.

27 years later, I come across it, and like a cat, I wanted to kill my curiosity. And I'm glad I did.

It's dated badly, it is set in time in the late eighties, men are begging to show their feminine side, but the old school cops are still gruff, and mocking minorities and dead hari krishnas.

When you get over the fact that this feels like Catch Me If You Can, and the fact that a young Alec Baldwin looks like Ryan Gosling, it's a pretty cool film noir with a wicked evil streak.

So Baldwin basically plays an evil Robin Hood, stops the criminals, but continues to steal from the victim. And ironically, the virginal Maid Marian is portrayed by every bodies favourite screen prostitute, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

But both are excellent in the film, and although their relationship is delusional, there is a wonderfully strange chemistry shared by them.

Ward is brilliant as the mimicked cop, and there is a hilarious cameo from everybody's favourite headmaster, Paul Gleason.

It's violent, atypically fashioned for the yuppy generation, but it's wonderfully cynical, with a wonderfully dark humour running through it.

Is she really Princess Not-so-bright or is she pretending?

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 16 January 2008]

This, to say the least, was a very interesting movie.

Alec Baldwin (The Cooler, "30 Rock") plays a psychopath who pops into Miami and starts making a name before he can even get out of the airport.

Krishna Ravindra (Edward Saxon): My name's Ravindra. What's yours? Frederick J. Frenger Jr. (Baldwin): Trouble.

He hooks up with Jennifer Jason Leigh (Short Cuts, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle), who was just perfect as the prostitute who ended up staying with him.

Susie Waggoner (Leigh): ...And you save your money... and buy a nice little house, with a white picket fence, and live happily ever after. Frederick J. Frenger Jr.: Tell you what. Let's go straight to the "happily ever after" part, OK?

With Fred Ward (Short Cuts) on his tail, Baldwin performs a series of crimes that were interesting in the fact that he stole from other criminals. No, he wasn't Robin Hood, as he didn't give to the poor.

There are a lot of laughs and Baldwin has the most chest hair I have ever seen!

Psycho savages city

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 12 February 2004]

When a simple sorta hooker becomes the lover of an insane loser her life spirals more and more into a pit. Her eyes refuse to open while her boyfriend soothes each bump in the road with another easy lie. Partly comedy, but mostly dramatic look at a man doomed because of absolutely no morals or compassion; he lives only to take and take and take. No award winner but worth seeing.

A Competent and Enjoyable Crime Film

[Uriah43 · 7/10 · 13 August 2015]

Just out of prison "Frederick J. Fringer Jr." (Alec Baldwin) travels to Miami with the idea of seizing life by the throat and getting whatever he wants regardless of the consequences. After killing a member of the Hare Krishna sect in the airport he then proceeds to a hotel where he meets a young prostitute named "Susie Waggoner" (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who has the misfortune of being extremely naive. As a result she is easy prey for a man like "Junior" who manages to manipulate her in no time flat while at the same time embarking on a crime spree which leaves more than a few victims in his wake. One particular victim is a police detective named "Sergeant Hoke Moseley" (Fred Ward) who not only has his gun and badge taken from him but also his false teeth in the process. Needless to say Sergeant Moseley wants to find him pretty bad and Junior is making it as difficult as possible. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that all three of the actors just mentioned played their parts in an outstanding manner. I especially liked the performance of Jennifer Jason Leigh who was not only quite erotic but also seemed to be the perfect balance between both of these tough and hard-willed characters. In short, I thought this was a competent and enjoyable crime film and I have rated it accordingly.

GREAT MODERN DAY FILM NOIRE WITH A COMEDIC TWIST

[CPDEXTRADT · 10/10 · 29 August 2003]

This is a great characterization of the novel detective HOKE MOSELEY. False teeth, blind "eye on the street", bust out existence and all. Fred Ward played it to the hilt. J J Leigh is a very underrated talent and played the "PRINCESS-NOT-SO-BRIGHT" role to the bone. Alec Baldwin is great as the pyscopathic, wanna be robin hood stickup man.. This movie is a small movie, but real entertainment..

weird characters but needs to be funnier

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 6 December 2014]

Frederick Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin) is a violent psychopathic thief recently released from prison. He likes to be called Junior. He flies into Miami and starts stealing. A Hare Krishna bugs him and Junior breaks his finger. The guy dies. Sgt. Bill Henderson (Charles Napier) and Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward) investigates the supposed homicide. Junior hires prostitute Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) with a heart of gold. She's clueless to his criminal ways.

Writer/director George Armitage seems intend on creating wacky characters than actually coming up with funny scenes. The actors are all putting in a great effort to do weird things. Baldwin is a psycho. Leigh is an idiot with a weird voice. Ward's got the teeth. I just wish more effort was put into making funny dialog and hilarious scenes.

Largely Forgettable

[SteveResin · 4/10 · 16 August 2015]

A below average crime thriller/comedy hybrid. Alec Baldwin moves to Miami, steals a cop's identity, falls in with a dizzy hooker and spends the rest of the movie committing a few random crimes and trying to evade capture from inept detective Fred Ward. And that's about all that happens, nothing of any real consequence or worth. The gags fall flat, the story goes nowhere and it's instantly forgettable.

Baldwin isn't convincing as the bad boy, Jennifer Jason Leigh is pretty good, and Fred Ward deserved better than this hokum. The biggest problem I had with the film is it was trying to be two things, a comedy and a thriller. Trouble is it wasn't remotely thrilling or funny.

Alec Baldwin walks away with quirky crime picture, having the time of his life

[bmacv · 8/10 · 2 March 2003]

Alec Baldwin sports a great haircut in Miami Blues and knows it. He struts and swaggers through the movie like the cock of the walk, having a high old time and giving us one, too. It's an exhilarating, watch-this performance that can't help but call attention to itself but luckily happens to fit the character.

The character isn't so much fun. He's a happy-go-lucky psycho just sprung from prison and landed in Miami, where he brushes off a Hare Krishna acolyte in the airport by breaking his finger (the poor guy dies of shock). At his hotel he orders up a hooker (Jennifer Jason Leigh); they hit it off and pair up, mainly because `Princess Not-So-Bright' has trouble with independent thought. Then Baldwin is off and running through Dade and Broward Counties, stealing wallets and identities, staging impromptu holdups, and running giddily amok.

Tired old cop Fred Ward picks up his scent, and even shares a meal of many brews and Leigh's pork chops with the couple. But Baldwin turns the tables and ambushes Ward in his ratty old residential hotel, putting him in the hospital. The upside is that now Baldwin's got a new identity – Ward's – with a gun and a badge to prove it. Flamboyant and reckless, he continues his felonious spree like an overgrown kid playing cops and robbers. But he can't keep it up forever, not even in the anything-goes milieu of South Beach....

Miami Blues is drawn from a crime novel by Charles Willeford, who wrote (he died before the picture was adapted) in the playful, inventive Elmore Leonard vein. There's not much plot, just enough to hold together the characters, which it's about (and the movie's full of quirky characters, memorably including Shirley Stoller). But, though Ward gets top billing and Leigh flashes her credentials as a graduate of the Meryl Streep Academy of Accents, it's Baldwin's movie. If you're fond of ham, you're in for a feast.

A lot better than the title might suggest.

[DennisLittrell · 7/10 · 17 April 1999]

I caught this out of KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles flipping channels. I do not like to watch movies on TV because they cut a lot and stack the commercials so heavily at the end that you can never stand to see how they turn out--although missing the inevitable chase scene is good.

But here we have some surprising play amidst the usual corrupt cops and big city decadence. Jennifer Jason Leigh, when she was still as sweet as Tupolo honey--before "Single White Female"--plays a Mississippi girl working her way through the local college by hooking. (If I had read the plot summary I'd have passed: just the title is enough to make me want to burn a leisure suit). She meets Alex Baldwin, who plays a buff psychopathic killer just out of jail. He latches on to her naivete, discovers that she can cook and has a heart of gold; so he makes love to her like he means it, rents her a furnished house and tells her they're married. She only wants white picket fences and being a mommie... He only wants to crash and burn. You can guess who gets what.

Fred Ward plays a crusty detective whose gun, badge and dentures (!) are stolen by Baldwin. Sight joke: as Ward closes in, we see him through the window of his grit mobile peeling a banana to gum.

There's enough clever stuff here to divert the mind once upon a rainy afternoon. Look for vinegar pie used as a lie detector, and a pawn-brokering momma with a mean machete.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Who's to like? What's to gain?

[whitec-3 · 4/10 · 26 August 2007]

My wife and I kept asking each other whether we wanted to continue watching this movie. At 2/3 of the way through, she bailed, and I reset the VCR to tape over the whole thing with Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra, which was coming on the next morning and is another kettle of fish.

The reasons wife and I bailed on Miami Blues is much like other films that affect an arch knowingness or a hipper-than-thou irony. In brief, there's no hero or heroine with whom to identify. Young Alec Baldwin looks great but basically overperforms everything. Yes, he develops some character tics (e. g., pulling hard on bottled beer, going shirtless, rapidly reversing tone). Maybe it's a great performance of a psychotic, but ultimately psychotics don't reward the attention they require. As for Fred Ward . . . Well, just as undoubtedly there are psychotics in this world but psychosis isn't necessarily interesting in and of itself, there are false teeth in this world, but it's not clear what pleasure or charm is derived from constantly attending to Ward's false teeth. For most of the film the detective he plays is beat-up and helpless, leaving little time for any positive character development.

Baldwin and Ward are both good working actors, but Jennifer Jason Leigh is great. (I recommend the under-regarded Washington Square.) Her scenes are easily the most luminous of the film, but her character is repeatedly denigrated and disappointed. One would follow her, but there's nowhere much to go.

The main reason we watched as far as we did was probably the film's outstanding visual quality. Each outdoor scene is shadowless, with the actors seeming ready to break or bulge out of the screen. The film was almost painfully lovely to look at, and I might have finished watching just for the sake of the cinematography--a rare film that might have been better in an unknown language. As things stood, I feared something terrible would happen to the one sympathetic character (Leigh). I'm not particularly squeamish, but I'm not going to prove how tough or cool I am when no redeeming purpose is in play. Most of the posted responses to this film are more indulgent than mine. I'm glad I didn't finish watching Miami Blues, I wish I hadn't seen what I did, and I hope writing this note helps me forget about it, without discredit to Leigh or its production values.

One of those obscure classics!

[I M D Man! · 6 October 2000]

This is one of those movies that perhaps not a lot of people saw, but for me, it's one of those 'obscure classics'. A little quirky at times, but it just looked like a fun movie to act in, and definitely a fun movie to watch. The cast does a great job, especially Alec Baldwin and Fred Ward. They just really seemed to be enjoy their characters. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives her usual solid performance in yet another offbeat role. Alec Baldwin always seems to give some 'classic scene' deliveries (Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Edge, etc.), and once again here in Miami Blues, he scores some big ones. On the bed, counting the stolen money, doing Al 'Scarface' Pacino. Rhyming while finding the 'very big' gun. The entire dinner scene with Ward's Moseley. Stopping the store burglar with a jar of spaghetti sauce. His 'raid' of the betting room ('remain silent'). -Etc. etc. These are just a few examples of some of his classic scenes or lines. They're usually hysterical!!

Anyway, there is some violence, some 'dark' comedy (e.g. Ravindra!), etc., but overall, I think this movie was very entertaining and a nice offbeat surprise with some great performances and lines. Chalk it up under one of my 'Top Ten Favorites That Not Everybody Saw'.

Bloody Blues

[Tics · 7/10 · 26 January 1999]

Miami Blues is not the best movie I've seen but it's got an attraction to it.Here we got three fine stars, Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward and Jennifer Jason Leigh.Baldwin is the main character,a hardened criminal that on a murderous journey in Miami meets Leigh's half-witted prostitute and Ward's polic eofficer who is out to get him.They are all very good in their roles.Ward is unshaven, dirty and got false teeth which Baldwin steals from him along with his gun.Baldwin is pretty good as the bad guy,not excellent but ok and Leigh makes a good performance as a dumb callgirl.It starts out fine but as it goes on it gets somewhat ridiculous, laughable and violent. It barely makes as entertainment but is also quite original in style and story.

Warrren Oates

[june-sasser · 7/10 · 18 July 2020]

Great under rated crime flick! Everyone on board was great. Fred Ward channels the amazing Warren Oates here, taking what could have been a silly goofball role in a lessor actor's hands. Ward, as Oates, completely sells it. Ward gets great support in this from Charles Napier. Jennifer Jason Leigh nails her part. An LA lady playing a simple bumpkin, a role which also could have gone south with many actresses.

Do you know any married people today? They're a team. They pull together and they get rich. They got it all.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 18 June 2013]

Miami Blues is directed by George Armitage who also adapts the screenplay from the novel of the same name written by Charles Willeford. It stars Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Charles Napier. Music is by Gary Chang and cinematography by Tak Fujimoto.

Ex-con Frederick Frenger Jr. (Baldwin) lands in Miami and quickly continues his criminal ways. Hooking up with gullible prostitute Susie Waggoner (Leigh), Frenger, by now under suspicion for the killing of a Hare Krishna man at Miami airport, steals the identity of the policeman investigating him and ups his crime spree...

This is all about the characterisations, for the story is simple and played as a darkly comic hard boiled cop picture. We are in a stripped back Miami, no gloss here, wherever the psychotic Frenger goes, there is crime that he is only too willing to enhance. Quite often with violent but humorous results. His union with Susie is a matter of convenience, as she, the gullible tart with the heart, dreams of a white picket fence house - marriage - babies, he dreams only of her cash and the comfort of cover she affords his criminal doings. Then there is Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Ward), straight out of noirville, world weary, grizzled, incapable of genuine affection, tatty and someone who soaks his false teeth in a glass of brandy! It's a wonderful character brought vividly to life by Ward, especially when Frenger steals said set of teeth! And with Leigh and Baldwin also making good on the characters as written, this is very much worth a look for the acting performances.

It's not under seen or under valued, the respective ratings on internet sites and critical appraisals are about right. There's some value in the dark comedy born out of the crime sequences, where we are dared not to smile, and the violence is impacting without hitting us over the head for the sake of it. But without Junior, Susie and Hoke holding our attention, the film would be flat and forgettable. 6/10

The Madness of Mr. Baldwin

[Spuzzlightyear · 7/10 · 17 August 2005]

I am not too sure if it's just me, or what, but I found Miami Blues to be a very strange movie. I wasn't sure if the movie wasn't a huge parody or what, but this is almost, you could say, Miami Vice played for laughs.

Alec Baldwin, featuring a very odd hairstyle, I just couldn't place my finger one what it was.. I think it was the color of it then anything else, plays Junior, an expert con-man willing to kill to prevent himself from being exposed. While settling down in Florida, he picks up a perky call girl played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and is being hunted down by one sad sack of a detective, played by Fred Ward.

I have no idea what happy juice Alec Baldwin was on at the time, but Mr. Baldwin is just plain scary in the movie. Wild-eyed, wild clothed (nice pink jacket there sir), scene chewing all he can, he's frequently hilarious, and I guess that's what makes this film so interesting to watch. Leigh is great as always, and so is Ward.

What it all boils down to, though, is that fact that this is one dated movie. My heavens! The fashions and hairstyles you'll see! Not too sure which came first, Miami Vice or this, but each compliment each other hand in hand.

Extremely Entertaining Crime-Comedy

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 24 March 2006]

This has a mean edge to it which usually doesn't excite me, but I really like this movie, because the meanness is tempered with comedy. It's pure entertainment, one of the fastest-moving 97 minutes you will find, thanks to a good combination of violence and humor.

The three main characters in here are all low-life scumbags but interesting and definitely fun to watch. Alec Baldwin plays a psycho thug and exhibits a good flair for comedy, which he has pursed several times in movies after this one. He's also a legitimately tough guy, or at least sounds like one. Jennifer Jason Leigh, perhaps the all-time female sleazoid in movies, is a lame-brained prostitute. I was very impressed with her southern accent.

Fred Ward is a strange cop in pursuit, one who has problems with his false teeth! Hey, this IS kind of an odd crime movie.

Despite the above, the violence in here can get rough with a few unpredictable happenings that will get your attention. There's also a good soundtrack, capped off at the end by Norman Greenbaum's classic "Spirit In The Sky."

Pastel Noir

[mgtbltp · 7/10 · 10 July 2016]

Miami Blues is the first film based on Charles Willeford's series of novels featuring hard boiled detective Hoke Moseley. According to Lawrence Block "Quirky is the word that always comes to mind, Willeford wrote quirky books about quirky characters, and seems to have done so with a magnificent disregard for what anyone else thought."

Miami Blues is a Film Soleil Noir that cinematographer Tak Fujimoto infuses with a bright sunny tropical pastel pallet.

The story. Freddy Frenger ex con. Petty thief. Con artist. Freelancer. Narcissist nut job. Wings to Miami. In air identity theft. Get's a Hare Krishna come on. Breaks the cultists finger. Krishna goes into shock. Kicks the consciousness bucket. Krishna croaked.

Freddy with new identity. Hermann Gottlieb. Cruises the airport. Steals suitcase. Checks into hotel. Bellhop Pedro is the man to see. Orders some local talent. Susie knocks. Young. Looks like High School. Looks like jail bait. Waifish. Okeechobee outcast. Cracker clam. Dispenses fifty dollar sucks.

Freddy asks for ID. Freddy tries to trade her the suitcase clothes. Slow on the uptake. Susy will do it for a suitcase dress. Easy to BS. Easy to string along. Just what Freddy needs, and she can cook too. A perfect pair. They get it on.

Freddy and the clueless Susie have now become part of a long tradition of various combinations of couples on the run/lam that stretch from Gable and Lombard in It Happened One Night (1934) through Classic Noirs, Out Of The Past (1947), They Live by Night (1948), Gun Crazy (1950), Where Danger Lives (1950), Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951), Roadblock (1951), right up to Classic Neo Noirs, The Getaway (1971), Kill Me Again (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), True Romance (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994).

Meanwhile back at the baggage claim crime scene the Detective Hoke Moseley and Sgt. Bill Henderson investigate the case of the dead disciple. Hoke is a rumpled, coarse, depressed boozer. He wears store bought teeth, is strapped for money and lives in rundown residence hotel. Deco decadence.

Through rudimentary detective work Hoke traces down Freddy. But Freddy coldcocks Hoke steals his badge and becomes a freelancing loose canon a perverted Robin Hood who robs from the crooks and gives to himself.

Baldwin plays the quick to take advantage ex-con with bravado. His intense bright blues spotlighting a hair trigger sociopath tendency. Ward is great as the laid back Hoke, but you wish he had even more screen time to develop his character. Leigh is adequate as the hooker with a heart of gold, she may fit somebody's idea or type of hot but to me she seems almost too plain jane and a bit retarded. She does effectively convey the storybook girl who hopes her prince charming will rescue her from a life of going down on losers.

For me Armitage made the mistake of spending too much time on the Freddy-Susie relationship (probably a box office decision) and that robs us from getting more of Hoke Moseley who should have been the main star. Music by Gary Chang. 7/10

One of the dumbest movies I've seen

[MagicStarfire · 3/10 · 13 May 2006]

Why this got high ratings I cannot begin to imagine.

This film should have been titled: Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest - with the cop being "Dumb", Alec Baldwin's character "Dumber" and the hooker as "Dumbest." The characters in this film do some rather odd things from time to time that make little sense.

The plot is pretty much non-existent--it's basically just watching these three characters do various scenes, until it reaches it's rather obvious conclusion.

I watched this film because Alec Baldwin was in it. The film was made in 1990 and Alec has actually gotten better looking as he's gotten older. I don't like his hair in this film, it's cut too short on the sides.

Alec plays this weirdo ex-convict and the film consists of him just kind of going around robbing and beating up people.

He takes up with a hooker, a rather plain-Jane girl who must have been born with the word stupid stamped on her forehead.

The cop is looking for Alec after Alec kills a Hari Kirshna who was pestering him at an airport, by breaking his finger. You read right, Alec breaks the guy's finger and he falls down dead. Why? Beats me. This was never explained.

The cop befriends Alec and Susie, the hooker, and even stays for a supper of pork chops, behavior that struck me as a little odd.

The killing and robbing continue with Alec after he manages to relieve the cop of his badge, along with his false teeth.

The only thing I can figure is that this was supposed to be some kind of comedy crime caper, only it isn't particularly funny. None of the characters in the film are even remotely likable, and I really didn't care what happened to any of them.

Three stars out of Ten.

Something WAY different

[mattymatt30 · 9/10 · 22 April 2004]

"Miami Blues' is a pretty unusual film about a charming psychopath played by Alec Baldwin(in what could be his best role yet), who beats up an outsider detective(Fred Ward),steals his badge and dentures, and shacks up with a sweet simpleton hooker(Jennifer Jason Leigh). If this sounds a little odd to you, it is, but a GOOD odd. This film is something really different, and doesn't seem to be that well known by the movie watching public. All the leads are really great, and Baldwin's character of Frederick Frenger is really interesting. He's not pure evil, even though he does kill someone for no apparent reason. It's unclear what motivates him, because he wants to be admired as a hero cop with his 'borrowed' badge, but he is also a thief that has no problem robbing people after he helps them.

This film is a hidden gem. See this movie for Alec Baldwin and the crazy character he plays, because it's a role you won't soon forget!

It's all about the beer

[elosotony · 7/10 · 22 October 2006]

If you will notice, all the beer that is served and drunk during the whole 97 minutes of the movie is Venezuela's POLAR beer. As I understand it, POLAR already had a very good 'beach head' in the South Florida import beer market and did want to make 'POLAR' an option nationally. The campaign did have some success, although it was a bit expensive and could not not compete against all the financial backing the three main imports (from Holland, Mexico and Germany, if memory serves,) had at the time. By the time the movie was filmed, POLAR had changed from 12-oz paper-labeled bottles to 12-oz pyro-labeled (fire-etched) bottles. They had also introduced 8-oz 'Pony' aluminum cans

horrible film

[hildigunnurr · 1/10 · 7 May 2008]

This is probably the worst film I ever saw, I think. Never before (or after) I've walked out of the place in the middle of the show, went to the toilet and then looked at the movie posters and walked around the place, so as to avoid going in to watch again. No,it wasn't the violence or the nastiness. Just a complete waste of time, and when Baldwins character gets his hand chopped off in the end, I cheered. The character was supposed to be likable but it just wasn't, a typical lowlife and not even an interesting one at that. To be fair, the acting is very good, all the main actors do a very good job, it's just the story and the directing I can't stand. Not saying this is the biggest load of trash there is, but for a film wanting to be taken seriously, this is the worst one I know.