Big City Blues (1997) Bizarre Miami Black Comedy Noir

"Celestial Roulette" (Conor)

Written and Directed by Clive Fleury.  I know nothing about him other than what he wrote in his own mini bio on IMDb. 

Assume he is from the UK, he worked on TV their, and then he moved to Australia creating an award winning series about South America. before coming to the US. He's got a bunch of TV series on his direction credits that I've never heard of and  three films so far. He is now back in Australia filming.

Cinematography was by David Bridges (who worked on Sid and Nancy (Camera and Electrical Department (1986)), and the Music was by Tomás San Miguel. 

The cast includes Burt Reynolds (Deliverance) as Connor, William Forsythe (Once Upon A Time In America) as Hudson, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul) as Georgie, Arye Gross (Mother Night, Better Call Saul) as Babs, Georgina Cates (Clay Pigeons) as Angela, Balthazar Getty (Natural Born Killers, Lost Highway, Twin Peaks (TV Series)) as Walter, Michael O'Hagan as Morrisey, Donovan Leitch Jr. as Donovan, Danilo De La Torre as Christophe, Michael Nicolosi as Kyle, Madeline Lee as Kyle's Mother, Mike Kirton as Jordan, Roxana Zal, Chrissie, Bruno Ramos as Billy. Steve Parlavecchio as Arnie, Jad Mager as Phil, Roger Floyd as Gordon, and Bridgette Buttercup as Angela's Doppelganger. 

Burt Reynolds as Connor

William Forsythe as Hudson

Georgina Cates as Angela

Giancarlo Esposito lt. as Georgie, and Arye Gross rt. as Babs

Balthazar Getty as Walter

Clive Fleury mildly spoofs and pays homage Tarantino riffing off his works, there are sequences that will remind you of both Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. He also references foreign films and Sergio Leone Westerns. I see a little of John Waters in this also. There are probably other culture refs in it that may be more recognizable to generation Gen X and Gen Y's. 

This is a story of a full "Moon Over Miami" and what happens on that night to various groups of people who find themselves under it. Call them lunatics in the "wildly foolish" sense of the word. 

Our lunatics are:

Conner & Hudson - two old time professional mob enforcers who carry out assignments for an English gangster named Morrisey. These two are older versions of Vince and Jules from Pulp Fiction. And like them they enjoy bantering while driving around in their 1989 Lincoln Town Car. Connor talks about movies while Hudson talks about his woman and the retirement place he wants to buy. Conner & Hudson are in competition with two new punks Arnie & Phil. They are aware that they are getting old. One of their duties is to keep watch on the various vacant properties that Morrisey owns around Miami Beach.

Angela - a "cokey" call girl who thinks she's seen her "doppelgänger" who is in the form of her life's dream that of a blonde sophisticated model. She spend the evening servicing high class johns with whacky sexual needs. Angela does have scruples she announces to one new john that she doesn't do animals. lol

Georgie and Babs - two hilarious "cokey" trans women who are decked out for a night on the town Georgie is wearing a black jacket, gold lame pants with a leopard belt and matching leopard clutch purse, Babs is sort of channeling Boy George. Throughout the film Babs is telling Georgie bizarre parables (relating to Georgie's dilemma of whether to go through with an irreversible sex change operation) which we see in the equivalents of dream sequences. One involves Amazon tree frogs, the other involves a rustic French toilet. They drive around to the hot spots in a 1965 Ford Mustang.

Walter - a wanna be singer who wears racoon makeup around his eyes, who is squatting with friends in a vacant Miami Beach mansion, drives a  and becomes smitten by Angela and is driving a 1971 Volkswagen Campmobile.

Chrissie - A high end drug dealer coke and pills who actually has a fancy menu for all the various drugs she sells. Her house is protected by two skittish Dobermans who hide under a bed rather than attack intruders. She has a boyfriend / bouncer  / bodyguard. 

Kyle - and his goofy two man Satanic cult disciples who live in Kyle's mothers basement.  

Arnie and Phil - the new blood working for Morrisey, they are a bit on the brash and excitable side. 

All of these "lunatics" cross and re-cross each others paths in interesting and sometimes hilarious vignettes throughout the evening in what Connor calls a form of "Celestial Roulette." Of course it all goes Noirsville. 

Noirsville

One of the IMDb critics complained that "Beyond the script, the film just looks bad.  All of the scenes take place at night and the lighting is often so dark that it’s impossible to see what’s actually happening from scene to scene." I guess he never saw a Film Noir, lol.

Its a Neo Noir parody. Just like after the blockbuster success of Sergio Leone's Westerns, there were many Spaghetti Western imitations trying to catch the same lightning in a bottle. Now that we are in an era with a sparsity of Noir Films being made it's worth it to go back and check out films that may tip Noir that were eclipsed and forgotten. 

And speaking of Leone Westerns. for any of those readers who don't know. Both Reynolds and Forsyth are connected directly to Sergio Leone and the Spaghetti Westerns. Reynolds played the title character Navajo Joe in a Spaghetti Western, and Forsyth was actually in Sergio Leone's last film Once Upon A Time In America.

One curiosity is that the film is streaming in an Aspect Ratio of‎ 1.33:1. and there is no information as to why. The DVD is the same. I say this because there is a sequence where Connor and Hudson are stuck in a traffic jam and Burt Reynolds is looking downwards towards the back of the Lincoln and when he gets in the car he tells Hudson to open his door and check out the undercarriage by the trunk, Apparently there is blood dripping on the pavement from the body they got in there. If it was a wide screen shot we also would be seeing the blood. It may have been cropped for TV at some point.

It's streaming free on Youtube & also on Tubi 6-7/10.