Blue Iguana oder der Sarg ist Himmelblau

This is one of those movies that you see, have no expectations for, and it makes you bust a gut. I had the same reaction to Strange Brew when I first saw it. I love the steamy south-of-the-border feel, the noir farce, and the over-the-top characters. This is the kind of movie, if it had had a wider audience, that could have a cult following.

When this movie came out in the theaters in 1988, I won a free ticket from the local radio station. I got to take 3 friends and we ended up walking out about 20 minutes into the movie... It was really bad! It all started with some guy showing up at a hotel, The Blue Iguana. Can't exactly say what was wrong with it, but it was just all-around terrible.

Many years later it was playing on HBO. I turned it on, watched 5 minutes, then turned the channel. It is still bad all these years later! Please don't waste your time watching this movie! I am glad that a few of the people in the movie went on to successful careers, I bet they hope this movie remains unknown...

I will always remember the first time I saw this movie. Two friends and I had traveled from Louisiana to Montana staying at nothing but campgrounds for five days in the summer of 1989. On the last day before we reached our destination, we stayed at a Motel Six in Missoula Montana. That night The Blue Iguana came on HBO. From the moment 'Floyd' stepped on the screen, all we could do was laugh and ask who in the hell is that. It took us awhile to realize that it was Flea. We were all big Chili Pepper fans so from that moment we were hooked. Till this day, I think this was Flea's best performance in film. He was hysterical. If you like Flea, this film is a must. If not, view this film at your own risk. His performance is over the top just like the way he plays Bass.

I don't know why Leonard Maltin's Move Guide gives this one a bomb. It's a quite amusing life-is-cheap movie that affords some of our favorite character actors (James Russo, Jessica Harper, Dean Stockwell, Tovah Feldshuh) the chance to chew some very fine jungle scenery. McDermott spends the whole movie with only one expression on his face (a smirk, I believe it's called) that could stand for the attitude the whole movie adopts towards what goes on therein. Maybe that's what p***ed Maltin off, but I liked it.

Harper, in particular, makes perhaps the best female crime boss since the '70s heyday of the "Mama" subgenre (Winters in Bloody Mama, Dickinson in Big Bad Mama I and II, Leachman in Crazy Mama). Stockwell's neckbrace-and-Coke-bottle-glasses-wearing, Q-tip swabbing secret agent is mighty funny too. Very enjoyable.

The Blue Iguana contains everything; action, rock'n roll, good actors, humour, a different story, lots of unexpected happenings. For me it,s one of the top ten of movies ever made, and it's the only freaky low budget B-movie on the ranking. If you haven't seen it, DO IT! Welcome to Diablo!