READ THIS FIRST: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Laserdisc Title: "MIAMI BLUES"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single Disc)
Directed By: George Armitage
Starring: Fred Ward, Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Production / Year: 1990 Orion Pictures Corporation
Running Time: 97 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, Dolby Surround, Stereo, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Rated R, Closed Captioned
Distributed By: Image Entertainment
Catalog / Spine Number: ID8016OR

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Very few very light to very minor hairline surface swirls or very light fingerprint marks
Jacket: Excellent - Original outer plastic shrink wrap still partially intact

Synopsis:

Alec Baldwin should have had an Oscar nomination for his cunning performance as Frederick J. Frenger Jr., the sleek sociopath and master of quicksilver improvisation who sets the pace for this deceptively breezy crime comedy. Junior's a genius in his fashion, yet not especially bright. In moments of repose, his mouth has a way of falling open slightly, like that of an animal panting in the shade, or Marilyn Monroe thinking. Miami Blues, written and directed by George Armitage, from the novel by Charles Willeford, divides its attention among Junior and two other characters who, in their respective ways, are as eccentric as he: Susie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a room-service hooker enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College who dreams of acquiring middle-class stability (say, a Burger King franchise); and Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward), a Miami P.D. detective with false choppers who gets on Junior’s trail. Junior and Susie set up housekeeping in Coral Gables, and when Hoke catches up to his quarry, he sits down in the couple's newly rented kitchen and joins them in a meal of pork chops and beer. At which point--well, see for yourselves.

Jonathan Demme coproduced Miami Blues, and the movie operates as a companion piece to Demme's black-comedy meditation on the elusiveness of contentment in these United States, Something Wild ('86). The three principal actors are all terrific, but it's through Susie--and by all means Jennifer Jason Leigh's complex portrait of this down-to-earth creature--that Miami Blues finally touches a deep, abiding sadness, and the bruised tenaciousness of the American Dream.

This is one of those buried treasures of filmdom (like Prime Cut) that gets swept aside because it's a "genre" movie. But everything about is first-rate, beginning with the performances of the 3 main leads: Baldwin, Leigh, Ward. None has ever been better, each carves a unique unforgettable performance. The direction by Armitage (whose Grosse Pointe Blank is another great treasure) is outstanding. This movie MOVES, it zips & flips & turns on a dime, it's got the momentum that only really great movies have. The writing is terrific, I read the book before seeing the film & I recommend the book to anyone, it's great, Willeford was another great unsung.This movie has loads of little details that reveal themselves in viewing after viewing & then stay with you...forever! How about the fact that Baldwin's character appropriates the billfold & consequently the identity of a fellow airline passenger & goes around for much of the movie as Herman Gottlieb, Herman Gottlieb??

THIS IS NOT A DVD!!! THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

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