Actors: Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, Ned Beatty, John Goodman
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Big Easy
Lt. Remy McSwain (Quaid) is a charming and easygoing New Orleans detective assigned to investigate what looks like a series of gang slayings. A beautiful blond attorney from the DA's police corruption task force named Anne Osborne (Barkin) starts to look into the matter as well. Sparks fly as the two get romantically involved, but Anne is very straight arrow and by-the-book, and finds Remy's casual acceptance of favors from local businesses unacceptable. Eventually he is charged with taking bribes in a police corruption sting. This 1987 film is most memorable for its colorful leads and supporting characters (such as Beatty as a beleaguered police chief and Charles Ludlam as a slick Southern attorney), and its terrific peppy soundtrack.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
Anti-hero cop (Dennis Qqaid) is forced to re-evaluate the way he runs his life and his police station having met unlikely love with Ellen Barkin - a detective investigating police corruption. Their romance is a significant part of the plot but the intrigue lies in tying to solve the semingly unrelated outbreak of gang warfare. The film is set in the Deep South to a great soundtrack of Cajun and Blues music.
--Fran, Resident Scholar
THE BIG EASY is a movie directed by Jim McBride in 1987. Winner of the Cognac Film Festival. Screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr.
New Orleans. Remy McSwain is one of the leading detectives of the New Orleans Police Department. As one of the hitmen of the N.O. mafia boss is found murdered, he suspects that a gang war is about to begin. Life goes on easy in the police department whose men accept little gifts from the various bars of the city in exchange of protection. So when Anne Osborne, a district attorney substitute, wants to closely follow McSwain's investigation about the murder, the department becomes a little anxious. But Anne is seduced by Remy's charm and accepts his gang war theory. Remy is arrested by the police internal affairs department while receiving money from a barman and must face the court with Anne as D.A.. Fortunately, the videotape is accidentally destroyed and Remy is released. Before being murdered, a gang leader informs Anne and Rémy that there isn't any gang war going on and that the murders are in fact committed by policemen.
Explosive face to face between Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. One of the best films noirs of the 80's. A must.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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Analysis of The Big Easy
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie Actual chase scenes or violence - 20% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1980's-1999
Crime & Police Story?
Yes
Crime story:
- catching/stopping killer
Criminal enemy is...
- law enforcement gone bad
- Mafia conflict
Romance
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- deluded
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn, straight
Body type
- very skinny (woman)
Unclothed?
- buttocks and chest
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Eccentric:
Yes
- deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- bald
Hair type
- (man) bald
Body type
- fat (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Deep South
City?
Yes
City:
- New Orleans
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- very happy
How many deaths in film?
- 4-8
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- actual description of sex
- seeing breasts
- seeing nude female butt
- seeing nude male butt
Kind of violence:
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- flamed
- perforation--bullets
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Jazz/r&b
