With a great crime-fighting romantic couple and a fast-paced action script set in New Orleans The Big Easy from 1986 still charms and thrills with a story about cop corruption and a great cast including Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin and Ned Beatty.

In the New Orleans Police department Detective Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid) is trying to find out what's behind the recent assassinations of local Mafia tough guys.  Believing it is related to a large shipment of drugs that have gone missing from the local dealers, McSwain is hampered in his investigation by the presence of the new District Attorney Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) who is involved because she believes that the police themselves are involved in the drug dealing and murders.  McSwain and Osborne are immediately attracted to each other partly for their common interest in fighting crime and seeing justice done, but as opposite types of characters they simultaneously rebuffed and excited by each other.  Things become even more complicated when McSwain is arrested for taking bribes and is tried by Osborne herself.  When a key piece of evidence is destroyed thus forcing the case to be dismissed Osborne manages to convince McSwain to stop taking bribes and the two decide to work together to find out who is dealing the drugs and murdering the locals.  When they discover that the culprits are closer than they think a showdown ensues and as the smoke clears some new truths are discovered about their future together.

You can't take anything away from Quaid in this police thriller.  His Remy McSwain is a good ol' boy who is on the take along with rest of the New Orleans Police Department, it seems.  Quaid creates in McSwain a loose-jointed, Cajun puppy-dog of a man with a sweet accent that at times almost collapses into stereotype, but because of an excellent ability to use character goals, McSwain remains an icon of southern public-servant corruption, and one seldom seen.  Quaid allows the vulnerable qualities of his McSwain to guide his actions, and this shows in small touches like the way he handles telephone conversations with his lawyer gal pal Osborne and the way they make sweet love for the first time in the half-light of Osborne's apartment. 

For her own part Ellen Barkin plays Osborne as a slightly self-conscious professional who knows her job inside and out, but whose personal life is less than fulfilled.  Barkin plays these roles pretty well (she plays a similar role in Ocean's Thirteen), but also can play hard-edged characters as she does in one of my favorite movies Sea of Love.  Together Quaid and Barkin do a great Nick and Nora impersonation in the final scenes which actually show how the female of the species can be deadly to the male criminal.

It is well-cast film with some special actors who bring a depth to the movie that make it special.  Grace Zabriskie as Mama, Remy's mother is a treat.  Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, so the accent she has is the real thing and she is best remembered as Sarah Palmer from the TV series "Twin Peaks".  When Zabriskie is onscreen she is captivating with her clear blank stare, and her delivery is always authentic.

Ostensibly The Big Easy is a love story and although the script shows signs of perhaps too many hands involved in the final draft, Jack Baran, Gordon Greisman, and Daniel Petrie, Jr. all have produced a screenplay that keeps the plot moving forward while injecting new action and keeping the viewer uninformed enough so that we hang onto the personal relationship between Remy and Anne to keep us grounded.  This makes for some slightly forced scenes as a police officer arrests Osborne to deliver her to Remy's house for a barbecue where Mama has a chance to inject a moment of motherly advice to the young lawyer.  But we overlook these slightly clunky plot points because they always lead us to Remy and Anne and their incipient love affair.

There are some key scenes that are shot during daylight hours that might have worked better as night scenes as when Remy and Anne visit Daddy Mention played by Solomon Burke and walk into a shoot out.  We can see everything clearly and I wonder why it wasn't shot as a night scene.  It still works well as it is when we learn Anne's true motives and see her in action as her proactive spirit attempts to stop the killers from shooting McSwain.

We can forgive director Jim McBride his earlier stumble with his remake of Breathless in 1983, although we have to admire anyone who believes he can equal what has been accomplished by anyone of Jean-Luc Godard's stature.   McBride keeps the focus on Remy and Anne as a mis-matched couple, in love with the good in each other and bound by a singular motivation to see justice prevail.  McBride also uses a good deal of the available New Orleans cityscape and surrounding areas to support his visual tapestry, shooting in a child's playground, in the French Quarter, in back alleys, and smoky strip bars- you can practically taste the scenery.  The Big Easy will thrill you for the 90 minutes it takes to deliver the sweet final image of a cop and lawyer in love.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older