Drama

Action

Crime

Mystery

The Big Easy

Kings Road Entertainment

United States of America

English

Dennis Quaid

Ellen Barkin

Ned Beatty

John Goodman

Lisa Jane Persky

Ebbe Roe Smith

Tom O'Brien

Charles Ludlam

Grace Zabriskie

Marc Lawrence

Solomon Burke

Gailard Sartain

Jim Chimento

Edward Saint Pe'

Robert Lesser

Jim Garrison

Carol Sutton

Daniel Petrie Jr.

Mia Goldman

Brad Fiedel

Affonso Beato

Mort Engelberg

Stephen J. Friedman

Jim McBride

Steve Kelso

Buddy Van Horn

Jeannine Oppewall

Tracy Tynan

Lisa Fischer

Tony Tagliere

David Rubin

Jack Baran

Enid Arias

Julie Purcell

Sharon Jones

Decent enough mystery-thriller-romance features good performances from Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. It is on the predictable side but still entertaining enough. **3.5/5**

**_Good ol’ boys on the take in New Orleans with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin_**

A new DA assistant (Barkin) arrives in town and zeroes-in on corruption in the force. While the head detective (Quaid) cozies up to her, they try to solve a curious mob-oriented slaying. Ned Beatty, John Goodman, Lisa Jane Persky and Ebbe Roe Smith are on hand as members in the agency. 

"The Big Easy" (1987) has the office camaraderie of Burt Reynolds’ “Fuzz” from fourteen years prior meshed with the milieu and more serious tone of “Cat People,” Eastwood’s “Tightrope” and Gere’s “No Mercy,” the latter of which came out just months before this. “Cop Land” was obviously influenced by it a decade later. 

It’s rich with the ambiance of NOLA, including Cajun, zydeco, R&B, and gospel music in the soundtrack. Many praise Quaid’s thick Cajun accent while others view it as overdone. I side with the latter but, then, I tend not to care about accents in movies, so it’s all good (for me). It just seems Dennis’ head detective comes across too convivial, but this can be explained by the fact that Quaid later admitted to being coked-up during the shoot in which he was only sleeping one hour a night. Nevertheless, both Dennis and Ellen consider this the favorite of the many films they've made.

While it was overpraised at the time of release and I’d watch “Cat People” and “Cop Land” over it any day, it’s superior to “Fuzz” and certainly worth checking out for those interested. Aside from the amusing (and sometimes grisly) dramatics, not to mention Barkin’s beauty, I liked the insightful commentary on legalism: If you want to get technical about it, people break laws every day, like jaywalking. But what if you ARE the Law? Where do you draw the moral line? How much is too far? Where is the proverbial point of no return?

It runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in New Orleans.

GRADE: B-

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The Big Easy

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Cast

Dennis Quaid

Ellen Barkin

Ned Beatty

John Goodman

Lisa Jane Persky

Ebbe Roe Smith

Tom O'Brien

Charles Ludlam

Grace Zabriskie

Marc Lawrence

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