Other than some noteworthy names attached to the project (Judd Nelson, David Caruso, Ally Sheedy, Paul Winfield, Scott Wilson and filmmaker Walter Hill), "Blue City" is a by-the-numbers, but unscrupulous dramatic thriller that involves a lot of bruising beat-ups and heated confrontations as it has Judd Nelson as a real rebellious young drifter returning back to his home town to find out his well-regarded father was murdered and the police had done little about it because of the lack of evidence. So with the help of a friend or two he takes it upon himself to stir up a ruckus with the local heavies to hopefully to find his father's killer. Nelson's disruptively brooding character spends most of the time instigating conflicts and getting into tit for tat situations by waging a criminal war to get some point across. Questionable methods indeed, but it provides constant brutality and a furiously nippy edge over the use of growing suspense and mystery. Nearly every character involved with the exception of Ally Sheedy is quite nasty or have shades… even our supposed heroes. As for Sheedy's character, she felt nothing more than a padded distraction in the usual love interest angle and in the end could have been rubbed out. There are some good performances. Scott Wilson provided some sparks in his villainous local mob role with Tommy 'Tiny' Lister as one of his henchman. A stoic Paul Winfield is solid and Anita Morris brings a nervous energy. Walter Hill's co-written screenplay is uneven (some things making little sense) and foreseeable in its plot twists (where it seems like easy come, easy go), but the script keeps the dialogues blunt and simple. The choice of setting is ideal with some scenic Florida shots, as the humidity goes down well with the tension that's boiling over between the parties involved. Director Michelle Manning handling is rather tight, but pretty cut and dry. Ry Cooder provides the upbeat music score that embellishes the environment and ordeals, although it can be rigid and overwrought. Reasonably mindless fodder

The film got quite bad reviews mainly because it hasn't got a lot to do with Ross McDonald's brilliant novel about a veteran returning to his home town and finding it completely corrupted. This adaptation is more aimed at a teen audience, so the veteran becomes an young man who left as a teenager and the prostitute he befriends becomes a childhood sweetheart. The story is extremely simplified. However, the film is actually quite well made. The storyline and the way it's told resembles more a Budd Boetticher western about the cowboy who cleans up town. The acting/casting is pretty good, the film is fast paced and well told and Ry Cooder's soundtrack is absolutely amazing. There is of course a lot of violence, some of it rather mindless but in the end the cocky avenger gets his come-uppance. I found it a very entertaining and really well put together film and also pretty stylish in a Miami Vice kind of way.

I saw this movie in the theaters in 1986 as a freshman in college when I was really in to bad movies. "Good movies are a dime a dozen, but bad movies are forever" I used to say. This film changed my mind. It's poorly acted, and directed, and written, and utterly unlikable. It is not, however, bad enough to be truly remarkable (like, say, "Crush Groove"), nor bad enough to serve as a cautionary example (Like, say, "Psycho Girls") it's simply a vanity piece with two over-paid, under-talented stars phoning in a "Performance" to get money to spend on coke. Judd and Ally were a couple during the filming of this movie, and yet have less onscreen chemistry than Adam West and Max Gail pretending to be gay in a recent episode of Drew Carey. In the end, this movie set out to leave a dead 90 minutes in my memory, and it succeded. This is not a movie for watching, it is a movie for lying down and avoiding.

This movie has always been lambasted but I have seen it a few times over the years. It has some exciting action scenes and captures the seedy atmosphere of a corrupt Florida town very well. Judd Nelson does his usual smirk acting job but nice supporting roles by David Caruso and Paul Winfield help compensate.