Director: George Armitage
Screenplay: George Armitage
Based on a Novel by: Charles Willeford
Starring: Fred Ward, Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, José Pérez, Obba Babatundé, Charles Napier
Country: USA
Running Time: 97 min
Year: 1990
BBFC Certificate: 15
Charles Willeford was an author best known for his hard-boiled, noir-ish fiction. He’d been writing since the 40s but it wasn’t until he wrote ‘Miami Blues’ in 1984, the first in a series following the character of Hoke Moseley, that he found any notable success in terms of sales. Sadly, Willeford only lived another 4 years after that, so didn’t have much time to reap the rewards. He passed away in early 1988, around the time his fourth and final Hoke Moseley novel was released, which ironically was titled ‘The Way We Die Now’.
Obviously impressed by Willeford’s work, actor Fred Ward acquired the rights to Miami Blues, hoping a film adaptation would make a great starring role for himself. He approached Jonathan Demme, who he’d worked with on Swing Shift and who Ward thought would be perfect for the material. Demme felt it would be too similar to his then recent Married to the Mob though, so turned it down but instead offered to produce the film and passed on the directing duties to George Armitage.
Armitage was Demme’s old friend, as they’d both earned their chops making Roger Corman films. Demme also helped get Alec Baldwin on board, who he’d directed on Married to the Mob. Baldwin ended up getting the role Ward originally saw himself taking but Ward was seemingly content to play Moseley instead (a role that, at one point, was going to go to Gene Hackman).
I must admit, Miami Blues is a film I know by name and the poster from when it was released back in 1990 but, otherwise, I hadn’t paid it much attention. It was only when Radiance Films announced they’d be releasing it on Blu-ray that I looked it up and realised it was written and directed by George Armitage, who also directed a personal favourite film of mine, Grosse Pointe Blank, that I sat up and took notice. I’ve also recently been on a bit of a hard-boiled fiction binge and had picked up a couple of Willeford novels (though I haven’t read them yet), so my interest was further piqued.
Needless to say, I picked up a screener of the film and my thoughts follow.
Miami Blues follows the misadventures of Frederick J. Frenger Jr., a.k.a. Junior (Baldwin), an ex-con who immediately falls back on his criminal ways after being released from prison to start a new life in Miami.
Whilst he recklessly steals whatever he needs and, along the way, breaks the middle finger of a Hare Krishna that pesters him, he picks up a prostitute, the 23-year-old Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The two hit it off and start a relationship, with Susie oblivious to Junior’s aggressive, thieving tendencies and Junior seemingly attracted to Susie’s innocent wholesomeness.
However, the Hare Krishna died of shock after the earlier attack, leading to Hoke Moseley (Ward) being put on the case. Following Junior’s trail of mayhem, Moseley soon catches up with him. However, after taking the friendly route and having dinner with the couple, only dropping hints to Junior that he’s on to him, Junior pays Moseley a visit, badly beating him up and stealing his badge, gun and false teeth.
Junior whisks Susie off to a new house for them to hide in, a picture-perfect home with a white picket fence that she falls in love with, whilst Moseley recovers. Meanwhile, wielding the detective’s badge and gun around the city, Junior dishes out his own brand of ‘justice’, taking down or chasing off criminals, whilst pocketing their stolen goods and cash for himself.
When Susie finds out about (some of) Junior’s criminal past, he vows to never break the law again. This, however, proves difficult and whilst Junior struggles to walk the straight and narrow, Mosely draws ever closer to catching him.
Whilst he didn’t direct it himself, you can see a flavour of Demme here and can appreciate why Ward approached him with the project. It bears more than a passing resemblance to Something Wild with an added splash of Married to the Mob. Armitage is still clearly the director though and I could see signs of Grosse Pointe Blank developing here too.
Like all of those films mentioned in the previous paragraph, Miami Blues takes pleasure in mixing tones and playing with expectations. Blending neo-noir and crime conventions with those of romantic comedies and setting it in the unusual, colourful city of Miami, it’s a film that can only be described as ‘quirky’.
That quirkiness will prove to be a dealbreaker, on either side, depending on your taste. Personally, I enjoyed the approach. The film is very funny, but also deliciously dark and refreshingly unique.
I also appreciated the way it tackled some interesting themes through a central pair of troubled characters. Yes, Susie and Junior do love each other but they don’t know how to live like normal people. They have naively simple, childlike ideas of what it means to love and to live. Junior thinks life is about earning lots of money, getting it through any means necessary, and Susie thinks it’s merely about owning the house with the white picket fence and feeding and caring for her man. The film is about the myth of the American Dream in this sense.
Susie thinks she’s found love because her simple dreams are all quickly coming true. She doesn’t realise they’re coming at the expense of others and that it’s all a sham. Junior, on the other hand, is simply deluded and sociopathic, possibly even psychopathic.
He’s an interesting character though, on screen, as the audience doesn’t know whether to root for him or not. His giddy, childlike way of committing his crimes is often fun to watch, particularly when he’s screwing over fellow criminals. His love for Susie seems genuine too, even if you worry about his motives for being with her. Junior does, however, cross the line a few times, so you still want Moseley to ultimately catch up with him.
The cast all do a great job with the material too, with Baldwin perfectly cast and Leigh and Ward also clearly comfortable with their oddball characters and enjoying it.
The film also looks fabulous, making bold use of colour throughout. I also liked how Moseley’s accommodation and workspaces always look, by contrast, dirty and cluttered. It boasts a thoughtful combination of production design and location scouting.
The lurches in tone and occasionally unfocused narrative can make the film feel a little messy in places perhaps, but ultimately I enjoyed it a great deal. It’s an odd duck, no doubt, but the pitch-black yet quirky vibe worked a charm for me.
Film: 
Miami Blues is out on 6th February on Blu-Ray, released by Radiance Films. The picture looks great, for the most part, with lovely rich colours and a detailed picture. I did notice a couple of minor aberrations in the grain on the characters’ suits in two sequences, but this is barely noticeable. The audio is great, balanced and clear.
Limited Edition Special Features:
– High Definition digital transfer
– Original uncompressed stereo PCM audio
– Interviews with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh (2015)
– David Jenkins looks at Miami Blues and Jonathan Demme’s role in the production (2022)
– Pulp crime expert Maxim Jakubowski discusses the character of Hoke Moseley in both Miami Blues and Willeford’s novels in which he is a recurrent character (2022)
– Behind-the-scenes and promotional image gallery
– Trailer
– English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
– Limited edition 44-page booklet featuring new writing on the film by Glenn Kenny, an interview with George Armitage by critic Nick Pinkerton, critic Leila Latif on Alec Baldwin in comedy, an archival feature on Fred Ward and an overview of reviews
– Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Baldwin and Leigh give warm recollections of their experiences making the film. It was one of the former’s first lead roles and the latter was only just getting big at the time so the film seems to mean a lot to both of them.
Maxim Jakubowski talks about Charles Willeford, giving an overview of his life before discussing Armitage’s adaptation of Miami Blues. Jakubowski believes, although a lot is changed in the film, it captures the essence of the book and Willeford’s tone and style in general.
David Jenkins gives a concise but effective overview of the film’s inception, reception and qualities. It may only be a relatively short piece in comparison to a commentary, but it’s a valuable addition.
I wasn’t provided with a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
Overall then, though it’s hardly loaded with extras, the handful of featurettes we get here are all excellent and complement each other nicely. I imagine the booklet will add a lot of value too and the film is well worth a watch, so overall this is still an easy recommendation.
Disc/package: 
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