Miami Blues (1990)

Not quite a great film, but an entertainingly odd and unique one. Full of rough violence and noir situations, but played mostly as very dark comedy.Alec Baldwin is very good indeed as a killer sociopath who somehow is also very likable when he's not robbing and beating people. Fred Ward is terrific as the scraggly cat of a cop who chases Baldwin down after Baldwin steals his badge, gun and false teeth, and starts to run around pretending to be a cop himself. And Jennifer Jason Leigh underplays to great effect as a pretty, dumb hooker, who falls for Baldwin, and doesn't figure out just what kind of dangerous, crazy guy he is until very late in the game. That said, it doesn't add up to a lot emotionally, Leigh's role is underwritten, and there are several gaping logic holes the film just ignores (Ward has dinner early on with Baldwin and Leigh, clearly knows he's a criminal, but just leaves?!?)But - those flaws noted - I've seen it twice, and fully enjoyed myself both times.

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

One of the great scenes in this movie is Jennifer Jason Leigh's defense of her husband's good qualities.I just watched the 1970s BBC drama based on Trollope's 'Palliser' novels, and there's a remarkably similar character: Ferdinand Lopez appears as an 'adventurer' who, in the end, is a victim just like Junior Frenger. Both are a bit psycho, and seduced by their dream of success. Both end in similar ways, and both are defended, at the end, in remarkably similar speeches by their wives. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Willeford read Trollope, or at least watched the television adaptation, whose success helped to put public television on the map.

"Miami Blues" is a great adaption of Charles Willeford's first Hoke Moseley novel. Willeford was well known for pitch black humor and his writing is grim to the nth degree. This isn't a very nice movie and it's easy to see that's turned off a lot of the reviewers here. On the other hand despite the violence it's genuinely quirky and funny. The scene where Fred Ward as homicide detective Hoke Moseley and his cop buddy (Charles Napier!) crack jokes over the body of a murder victim while the victim's friend weeps a few feet away is priceless.Alec Baldwin does great work as Freddy Frenger, sociopath and ex-con, who immediately after his release from prison goes right back to beating people up and robbing them. Ward may have gotten top billing but Baldwin gets most of the screen time and dominates the movie. He first hires and then moves in with a dumb but innocent prostitute Susie Waggoner played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Leigh, Baldwin and Ward all do excellent work and the movie looks like it was as much fun to make as it is to watch. Leigh's prostitute is easily the most sympathetic character of the bunch and what happens to her is quite frankly a little heart breaking. She easily deserves better, and given the way the universe works that pretty much guarantees that she's not going to get it.Speaking of Waggoner and Frenger a lot of the reviewers here are misinterpreting the nature of their relationship. They both really do want that house with the yard and the white picket fence, and they really do love each other. When Leigh's Waggoner, normally an excellent cook, deliberately ruins a vinegar pie she's cooking for desert Frenger forces himself to down every forkful while praising her culinary skills.Highly recommended.