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Miami Blues

 
Movies:

Miami Blues

  • Director: George Armitage
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Crime
  • Movie Type: Post-Noir (Modern Noir), Police Detective Film
  • Themes: Crime Sprees, Prostitutes
  • Main Cast: Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nora Dunn, Charles Napier
  • Release Year: 1990
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 100 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: R

Plot

Based on the late Charles Willeford's series of hard-boiled crime novels featuring Miami cop Hoke Moseley, the Jonathan Demme-produced Miami Blues opens with the prison release of Frederick Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin), a deranged killer who has barely de-boarded his plane before he's killed a Hare Krishna in the airport. Checking into his hotel, Frenger meets up with Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young prostitute with dreams of domestic life, and the two quickly become romantically involved. Meanwhile, the Hare Krishna murder case is given to Moseley (Fred Ward), a grizzled vet who vows to hunt down Frenger, but may be getting too long in the tooth for the demands of his job. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Review

In the late 1980s, director Jonathan Demme achieved critical acclaim with Something Wild (1986) and Married to the Mob (1988), a pair of films remarkable for their offbeat cinematic style, characterized by a brightly lit, candy-coated look that masked an undertone of homicidal menace. Following those two projects, Demme produced Miami Blues (1990) for director George Armitage, a compatriot from Demme's days of working for no-budget genre maestro Roger Corman. The odd mixture of bubbly cheer and simmering, sexual violence was reproduced less adroitly in Miami Blues than in Demme's directorial efforts, but the film was an artistic success despite its unevenness. Most notable were stellar performances from the trio of leads, Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Fred Ward as the "hero," Sergeant Hoke Moseley. Miami Blues was based on the novel of the same name by crime fiction writer Charles Willeford, part of an ongoing series featuring Moseley. Following Miami Blues, Demme returned to directing, and his work became more dark and somber with such films as The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), and Beloved (1998). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Cast

Jose Perez - Pablo; Paul Gleason - Sgt. Frank Lackley; Obba Babatunde - Blink Willie; Martine Beswicke - Noira; Caitlin Brown - Purse Snatch Victim; Patrick Cherry - Convenience Store Robber; Nancy Duerr - Newswoman; Steve Geng - Big Fish Robber; Joe Hess - Pedro; Matt Ingersoll - Mourning Hare Krishna; Gary Klar - Head Bookie; Bobo Lewis - Edna Damrosch; Carmen Lopez - Woman in Sports Car; Shirley Stoler - Edie Wulgemuth; Ron Bozman - Senor Lerner; Gary Goetzman - Hotel Desk Manager; Buddy Joe Hooker - Shorty; Edward Saxon - Krishna Ravindra; Kenneth Utt - Ram Ba; Roy Datz - Julio; Tony Tracy - Musclehead; Howard Feuer; Georgie Cranford - Little Boy; Herb Goldstein - Eddie Cohen

Credit

William Horberg - Associate Producer, Howard Feuer - Casting, Ron Bozman - Co-producer, Jonathan Demme - Co-producer, Gary Goetzman - Co-producer, Kenneth Utt - Co-producer, Eugenie Bafaloukos - Costume Designer, George Armitage - Director, Craig McKay - Editor, Fred Ward - Executive Producer, Edward Saxon - Executive Producer, Gary Chang - Composer (Music Score), Carl Fullerton - Makeup, Don Reddy - Camera Operator, Maher Ahmad - Production Designer, Tak Fujimoto - Cinematographer, Don Ivey - Set Designer, Joe Hess - Stunts, Buddy Joe Hooker - Stunts, Gary McLarty - Stunts, Chick Bernhardt - Stunts, George Armitage - Screenwriter, William McConnell - First Assistant Camera, Charles Willeford - Book Author

Similar Movies

Kalifornia; Married to the Mob; Something Wild; True Romance; Pulp Fiction; Normal Life; The Way of the Gun; Amores Perros; The Quickie; Love the Hard Way; Amateur; The Whole Ten Yards; Brown's Requiem; Be Cool
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Miami Blues

Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Armitage
Produced by Fred Ward
Ron Bozman
Kenneth Utt
Jonathan Demme
Written by George Armitage
Starring Alec Baldwin
Fred Ward
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Music by Gary Chang
Editing by Craig McKay
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date(s) April 20, 1990
Running time 97 min. (theatrical)
Language English

Miami Blues is a 1990 film based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford. It stars Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It was directed by George Armitage.

Plot

Frederick Frenger (Baldwin), a conman and killer recently released from prison, starts a new life in Miami. He is not a changed man. Before leaving the airport, he steals luggage and kills a Hare Krishna. Fred check into a hotel and meets Susie Waggoner (Jason Leigh), a prostitute and student at the local community college. They become romantically involved, with Susie harboring fantasies of domestic life. Investigation of the Krishna murder leads police to Frenger, and Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Ward) visits the couple. Moseley is not overly concerned with the case and believes the death to have been an accident, but asks Fred to come to the police station for a line-up. Fred, not wanting to return for prison, goes to Moseley's hotel that night, assults him, and steals his gun and badge. He begins using the badge and getting in to trouble, demanding bribes and breaking up robberies, only to keep the loot for himself.

Cast

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Movies. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Miami Blues" Read more