THE BIG EASY
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Drug gang wars and police corruption in
New Orleans are the background for this story of two people
who are adversaries in public and lovers in private. The
film is a good advertisement for the easy lifestyle of New
Orleans.
Things are happening pretty fast in The Big Easy--that's the town you and I know as New Orleans. The Big Easy is called that because things go pretty slow and easy down there, at least most of the time. But just now the police are investigating a gang war that is anything but easy. Some hoods--"wise guys," they're called--are getting killed in some pretty nasty ways. The police, including Remy McSwain (played by Dennis Quaid), are investigating. But the police are themselves being investigated. The Assistant District Attorney, Anne Osborne (played by Ellen Barkin), is in there looking for signs of police corruption. Now Remy comes from a family of policeman and they are all good guys, but, like other policemen, they do take advantage of certain privileges they get for being policemen. And that's the kind of thing that Osborne want to know more about.
THE BIG EASY has three stars: Quaid, Barkin, and New Orleans. ANGEL HEART made New Orleans seem a little sinister; THE BIG EASY shows you a friendlier, happier New Orleans. With all the slap-happy fun down at the Police Department, you wonder how anyone ever gets anything done fighting crime. Everyone is just a good old boy who loves Cajun music, 'gators, and Tabasco Sauce. It is a charming picture whether or not it is true.
Quiad is likable as McSwain, though his Cajun accent seems a little forced and varies in intensity from scene to scene. The odd thing is that the plot seems fresh and original until the last ten minutes or so. Then suddenly things start looking like just about every other police film of the last five years. And that is a shame, since that last impression is the one that stays with you. THE BIG EASY is good as a travelogue and at least passable as a police story and as an object lesson in honesty. Rate the film a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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mtgzz!leeper@rutgers.rutgers.edu
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