My Movie's Better Presents
WONDERFULLY AWFUL
#1: "ESCAPE FROM MIAMI"
COVERING
MIAMI CONNECTION
[Film/Talk] My Movie's Better Presents: Wonderfully Awful #1: "Escape From Miami"
Mild Language
This week in our pilot episode, Kevin talks about Miami Connection with special guest Jamie Lebrun from the Storyburst Podcast
Wonderfully Awful is a podcast where we examine the very best of bad, cheap, and just plain awesome b-movie cinema.
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| Miami Connection | |
|---|---|
2012 film poster for the re-release.
| |
| Directed by |
|
| Produced by | Y.K. Kim |
| Screenplay by | Joseph Diamond |
| Story by |
|
| Starring | Y.K. Kim |
| Music by | Jon McCallum |
| Cinematography | Maximo Munzi |
| Edited by | Maximo Munzi |
Production
company |
P.J.K. Group
|
| Distributed by | Manson International (original release) Drafthouse Films[1](re-release) |
Release date
| August 26, 1988 (central Florida) December 11, 2012 (re-release) |
Running time
| 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million[2] |
- Y.K. Kim as Mark, Korean rhythm guitarist of Dragon Sound, and Taekwondo instructor and father figure to the other band members
- Vincent Hirsch as John, American bass guitarist of Dragon Sound, and Jane's boyfriend
- William Ergle as Jeff, leader of a gang of hooligans which is closely associated with Yashito's gang of ninjas, and Jane's brother
- Siyung Jo as Yashito, leader of a gang of ninjas which is closely associated with Jeff's gang of hooligans
- Kathie Collier as Jane, guest vocalist of Dragon Sound, John's girlfriend, and Jeff's sister
- Joseph Diamond as Jack, Israeli-American drummer of Dragon Sound
- Maurice Smith as Jim, Korean/African-American keyboardist of Dragon Sound
- Angelo Janotti as Tom, Italian-American lead guitarist/vocalist of Dragon Sound
The film opened in August 1988 in eight theaters in Greater Orlando.[8] The film premiered in Greater Orlando and was screened in Greater Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Melbourne in Florida.[6] The film also opened in West Germany.[3] Kim said "I was so excited, and I had no doubt that we would pack every theater and it would be a blockbuster."[6] Instead Miami Connection had a poor critical reception and its run in theaters ended after three weeks. The Orlando Sentinel said that it was the worst film of 1988.[6] The film had a cost of about $1 million[2] and almost bankrupted Kim.[6]
Rob Humanick of Slant Magazine commented that the film should have been featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and that it "would have likely been seen as a prize specimen and went [sic] for the jugular".[3]
Re-release[edit]
As time passed, Miami Connection became an underground cult film. Y.K. Kim said that in a period of several years before 2012 several magazines and television talk shows requested interviews about Miami Connection, and that Kim ignored most of the requests.[6]
In 2009, a programmer at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, Zack Carlson, found the film on eBay and made a blind $50 bid, which he won.[9] Carlson screened the film in the theater in Austin, Texas and found a positive reception, so he gave the film to the creative director of Drafthouse Films, the distribution division of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas. The director, Evan Husney, called Kim, and asked to get permission to re-release the film. Originally Kim believed that his requests were jokes, so he terminated the calls multiple times.[2] Kim said "I was wondering why they wanted to distribute this movie that the public had rejected and Hollywood treated like trash 25 years ago."[6] Husney and Kim negotiated for several months, and then a deal to re-release the film was established.[2] In the summer of 2010 it was screened as part of the Alamo Drafthouse Weird Wednesdays. Rob Humanick of Slant Magazine said "The response was immense, almost transcendent, leading to encore presentations and ultimately a limited re-release."[3]
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