Miami Blues (1990)
Directed by George Armitage
Nervy, hilarious and anarchic, this underseen jaw-dropper winningly transplants source author Charles Willeford’s laconic detective Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward) and feel for lived-in Florida color from page to screen, and adds two wild cards (or jokers) in the forms of Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh at their freest. Co-producer Ward shrewdly cedes the spotlight to Baldwin’s psychotically androgenic murderer-conman Junior, simultaneously scary and funny whether breaking Krishna fingers, slugging Polar beers or forcing down his slow but loving prostitute-wife’s potent vinegar pie. Ward is able to toddle into his scenes and steal them quietly, as in a miracle of a dinner at which he’s an unwelcome, over-staying guest (“You sure you don’t have another beer ratholed around here someplace?”). Justin Stewart (Dec 3, 7pm at BAM’s “Overdue”)