1990 Directed by George Armitage
After Junior is released from prison, he plans on starting a new life in Miami. But when he kills a man in the airport, he flees the scene and finds Susie, a mild-mannered prostitute searching for stability. The two opposites become romantically involved, and Junior steals a badge and gun from a veteran detective. Using the officer's identity, Junior embarks on a crime spree and convinces Susie that he is the perfect man.
Alec Baldwin Jennifer Jason Leigh Fred Ward Cecilia Pérez-Cervera Georgie Cranford Edward Saxon Obba Babatundé Charles Napier Matt Ingersoll Nora Dunn Paul Gleason José Pérez Martine Beswick Wendy Thorlakson Gary Goetzman Kenneth Utt Buddy Joe Hooker Julie Caitlin Brown Nancy Duerr Shirley Stoler Carmen López Brent Armitage Jack G. Spirtos Raphael Rey Gomez Tony Paris William Taylor Anderson Jr. Maureen Fitzgibbon Steve Geng Bobo Lewis Show All…
Dan Sable Brian Vancho Tom Fleischman Bitty O'Sullivan-Smith Kevin Lee Elisha Birnbaum Michael R. Tromer
Маями блус, Le flic de Miami, 마이애미 블루스, O Anjo Assassino, Майами Блюз, Маямі Блюз, 迈阿密特别行动
USAR
Germany18
FranceU
France
France
France
Germany
USA
94/100
Took me nearly 30 years, umpteen viewings, and (especially) finally reading Willeford's novel to grasp exactly why I love this film so much. Its superficial pleasures have never been elusive: three superlative performances (including Baldwin's very finest, fueled by heedless abandon that only the young and unpracticed possess), bountiful tacky atmosphere, and a uniquely off-kilter aesthetic that pares every scene down to its lightly absurdist essence. But that doesn't readily suggest "one of the greatest films ever made" (or one of my 50 or so favorites, anyway), and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to articulate what I find so ineffably moving about this quirky doodle of a B-movie.
So I sat down with the book first, figuring…
90
Works as both a tragicomic examination of the futility of the American dream and a glowing pastel-colored GTA: Vice City speed-run. The first 30 minutes are tough to handle initially, with little to no structure, but once you understand how it moves and what the film is going after, with its high-wire act of balancing tone, it all clicks beautifully into place. Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Fred Ward are just absurdly good.
Alec Baldwin as Frederick J Frenger Jr, an ex-con kleptomaniac with a passion for haiku poetry, who kills a Hare Krishna by scaring the piss out of him in a Miami airport.(Don't laugh.) Fresh outta jail and looking to get laid; Frederick hooks up with the never aging Jennifer Jason Leigh's Susie, a southern belle hooker, who's all heart and totally naive. The airport murder case attracts the attention of Fred Ward's Sgt. Hoke Mosley, and his false teeth. The worlds of the cop and criminal collide when Alec Baldwin beats the living hell outta Fred Ward, steals his badge, takes his gun, and starts playing his own version of cops and robbers. Miami Blues doesn't belong to one specific…
god, it's like heat, but if both the cop and the thief were extremely bad at their jobs.
absolute perfection. an essential, no, MANDATORY watch. a film so far up-my-alley that it's ridiculous. it's insane to me that more people don't talk about this as one of the best crime movies of the 90s, if not of all time.
I blame the generic title and VHS and DVD covers for keeping me away from this one for way too long. That was a mistake. It’s just my kind of movie; a darkly funny crime movie with some bite.
Miami Blues, Pinks, Yellows, Lavenders and Mints. Best color palette of any movie, ever.
“This “straight” life we’ve been living gave me a false sense of security. For a second I thought I was some kind of solid citizen or something”.
Criminal behavior as a form of anarchist performance. This remains a miracle of perfect balanced shifting tones and all three leads are wonderful.
I’d been meaning to watch this for over thirty years now. It was worth the wait.
The American Breathless.
Peak Baldwin. Based on a Charles Willeford novel, it's about a recently released from prison sociopath who arrives in Miami and goes on a Vice City style crime spree with a teenage prostitute after he steals a cop's badge. Directed by the guy who did "Grosse Point Blank."
I recently read the novel so went into this not expecting too much so I was pleasantly surprised to get an enjoyable crime comedy. Alec Baldwin plays psychopath ex-con Frederick J. Frenger Jr who meets Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) a naive prostitute in Miami who falls in love with him. Soon enough homicide detective Hoke Moseley is on his case after "junior" leaves boodies in his wake one of which is a Hare Krishna.
Alec Baldwin really nails the role of Junior so much so you really do think he is an unhinged psychopath! I wasn't really sold on Fred Ward as Hoke Mosley you just don't get the sense of how truly pathetic Hoke can be at times but…
