Miami Blues
| Miami Blues | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | George Armitage |
| Produced by |
Fred Ward Ron Bozman Kenneth Utt Jonathan Demme |
| Written by | George Armitage |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Gary Chang |
| Edited by | Craig McKay |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $9,888,167 |
Miami Blues is a 1990 American neo-noir black comedy crime 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. Ward was also the executive producer.
Frederick Frenger, Jr. (who asks to be called "Junior"), a violent psychopath recently released from a California prison, starts a new life in Miami. Before leaving the airport, he steals luggage and kills a Hare Krishna after breaking his finger.
Junior checks into a hotel and hooks up with Susie Waggoner, a naive prostitute who is a student at a community college. They become romantically involved and take a house together, with Susie blissfully unaware of Junior's criminal activities and harboring fantasies of living happily ever after.
An investigation of the Hare Krishna murder leads grizzled cop Sgt. Hoke Moseley to come knocking on their door. Moseley shares a home-cooked dinner with the couple, upon Susie's suggestion, and plays it cool while seemingly indicating to Junior that he's on to him. He overtly suspects Junior has been in prison and wants him to come to the police station for a lineup. Being a proactive criminal, Junior goes to Moseley's home the next day, assaults him, and steals his gun, badge and dentures.
One interesting scene is when Junior is with Susie and she is busy taking a bath and working on a haiku. He decides to break in to a nearby apartment. He steals a Desert Eagle handgun and a steak. As he is doing this, he speaks aloud a haiku of his own, "Breaking entering. The dark and lonely places. Finding a big gun".
Junior begins using the badge, demanding bribes as rewards after breaking up robberies, only to keep the loot for himself. He's highly enjoying his new role as criminal with a badge and the perks it holds for him.
Susie happily cooks for him. While at a grocery store, Junior witnesses an armed robbery and decides to break it up. He lectures the gunman about avoiding a life of crime, but the gunman runs a truck over him. Junior complains to Susie that the "straight life" has made him too soft.
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Wikipedia