cult film freak: WALTER HILL PRESENTS THE BRAT PACK NOIR OF 'BLUE CITY'

year: 1986 rating: ***1/2

This dark horse Brat Pack outing was up for a few Razzie Awards, but for what exactly? BLUE CITY is actually a decent action/thriller about the son of a beloved slain mayor returning to a Florida town, Blue City, now run (from inside a roadhouse bar) by seedy Scott Wilson...

Seeking clues, Nelson gets back in touch with his old drinking buddy David Caruso, who is sober, paranoid, and running a fishing boat. And what makes this Brat a Pack in our love interest: Caruso's pretty sister, Ally Sheedy, who becomes smitten with Judd... a former crush resurfaced. She works at the local jail he was thrown into after a brawling bar fight.

Straight Shooter

The best scenes are his gun-toting revenge against a bevy of Wilson's thugs. In the usual action flick fashion, the underdog is in over his head, and yet his lack of experience makes him cocky, reckless and assertive. "I'm new at this," Judd quips after kicking in the door of a racetrack office during a heist. And he soon learns how to get around, eventually finding out who killed his father... which isn't such a shocker... but there's always a cost.

BLUE CITY is colorful action Neo Noir directed by Michelle Manning, who makes this a Brat Pack trifecta being she produced both THE BREAKFAST CLUB and PRETTY IN PINK for John Hughes. And in this departure from teen melodrama are plenty of old school cinema stuff to keep you entertained like fist fights, gun fights, explosions, and a nifty side cast including sexy Anita Morris as his lush stepmother and the always watchable Paul Winfield. But it's Scott Wilson's grimacing villain who really stands out like bad guys often do in Walter Hill films, this one produced and co-written, not directed by, and in many ways, CITY feels like his project, although more STREETS OF FIRE than 48 HRS. Even his stock musician Ry Cooder provides a beach-breezy score with more synth than slide.