92 in the Shade

Peter Fonda and Warren Oates feature in a sweaty tale of warring Florida fishing outfits, in this quirky and long unavailable comedy-drama.

Thomas McGuane’s hot and humid tale of a drifter (Peter Fonda) caught between two rival Florida fishing gangs was barely seen in the UK until its release on BFI Player. Fonda is at his breezy best in the lead, supported by an incredible roll-call of great 1970s character actors – Margot Kidder, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, Harry Dean Stanton, William Hickey and Joe Spinnell among them.

McGuane adapted the film from his own novel, but this would be the only film he ever directed. He crafts a quirky and unusual tone, in which the plot's thriller elements play second fiddle to an emphasis on wry humour and offbeat characterisation - the closest comparator arguably being John Huston's similarly eccentric Wise Blood (1979).