MIAMI BLUES runs 99 minutes. It came in 99th place in 1990. The gross was $9,900,000. Did anyone think to place a bet? OK, let’s get picky and spoil a decent opener. Leonard Maltin gives the running time at 99 minutes, Wikipedia and the INDB say 97 and the DVD says 96. We’re sticking with Leonard. Whichever tickd0wn is time-on-target, it fairly zips past like a brazen armed robbery, with the loot snatched by the audience. George Armitage (Grosse Pointe Blank) wrote & directed this slick rip of Charles Willeford’s 1984 novel, the first of four featuring cop ‘Hoke Mosely’.

There’s a new bad boy in town, one ‘Frederick J. Frenger Jr.’, aka ‘Junior’ (Alec Baldwin); the town is sun-kissed, target-rich Miami, and faster than you snap the fingers on a pestering Hare Krishna, Junior’s antics bring the notice of ‘Hoke Mosely’ (Fred Ward) a laid back but savvy veteran cop. Scoping out the snarky suspect at a self-invited dinner with the perp and ‘Susie’ (Jennifer Jason Leigh), his dim but sweet hooker girlfriend, Hoke ends up in the hospital and Junior walks away with Hoke’s badge and gun. A one-man-crime wave kicks off.

Rough stuff aplenty and a slew of good one-liners, with the three leads in ace form. Ward has just the right tone for a battered and crusty but doggedly resilient good guy. Baldwin is malevolent machismo in overdrive. Leigh is flawless as the poignantly unaware moll.

Ferocious and funny, with added personality seasoning from Charles Napier, Paul Gleason, Nora Dunn, Shirley Stoler, Bobo Lewis and two-time 007 playmate Martine Beswicke (blink and you’ll miss her).