The Search for One-eye Jimmy (1994)

The Search for One-Eye Jimmy (1994) – A Gonzo Time Capsule of Brooklyn Absurdity with a Legendary Cast

The Search for One-Eye Jimmy (1994) is a deeply chaotic, oddly poignant, low-budget masterclass in ‘90s New York weirdness — a forgotten gem that plays like a mockumentary fever dream filmed from the passenger seat of a rusted-out Chevy Caprice. This is Clerks if it did mushrooms with Spinal Tap in Bensonhurst. A young filmmaker (Holt McCallany) returns to his Brooklyn neighborhood to shoot a documentary, but instead gets sucked into a surreal, increasingly cracked-out search for the missing, one-eyed Jimmy Hoyt. And what unfolds is less of a plot and more of a parade — a cracked mirror of working-class absurdity, packed wall-to-wall with greasy delis, gym rats, philosophical bums, and neighborhood ghosts, all wrapped in a haze of unemployment, sweat, and pizza grease.

The cast is the real LSD-spiked cannoli here: Steve Buscemi as a wiry low-level hustler with delusions of grandeur, Samuel L. Jackson dropping in with preacherly intensity, Tony Sirico (pre-Sopranos) in full gravel-throated glory, John Turturro as "Disco Bean" — a man who literally dances in place for the entire movie — plus Nick Turturro, Michael Badalucco, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Anne Meara, and Jennifer Beals to balance out the testosterone fog. This film isn't just a movie — it’s a living Polaroid of a bygone Brooklyn, before gentrification steamrolled the character out of every corner bodega. A cinematic anomaly with the soul of a lost punk zine, and the swagger of a half-sober street prophet, this is essential viewing for any student of celluloid madness.

director: Sam Henry Kass
cast: Steve Buscemi, Samuel L. Jackson, John Turturro, Nick Turturro, Michael Badalucco, Tony Sirico, Jennifer Beals, Anne Meara, Ray Mancini, Holt McCallany
extra: Cult classic. No Oscars, but it should’ve won Best Ensemble of Maniacs. Quentin Tarantino called it "a movie I wish I made" (not really, but he should have).