The Big Easy (1987)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Loaded with atmosphere and drenched in the sizzling chemistry between Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, The Big Easy remains one of the strongest -- and steamiest -- thrillers of the 1980s.
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Cast
as Anne Osborne
as Remy McSwain
as Jack Kellom
as Ed Dodge
as Detective DeSoto
as Detective McCabe
as Lamar
as Bobby
as Judge Noland
as Judge Raskov
as Daddy Mention
as Himself
as Uncle Sal
as Hugh Dowling
as Uniform Cop
as `Cannon' Di Moti
as Freddy Angelo
as Mama, Remy's Mother
as Dewey Piersall
as George Joel
as I.A. Cop
as I.A. Cop
as I.A. Cop
as Chef Paul
as Mugger
as Mugger
as Mugged Woman
as Foster
as Marcelline
as Patrolman
as "Silky" Foster
as Maitre d'
as Hostess
as Waiter
as Desk Sergeant
as Lawyer
as Lawyer
as Car Vandal
as Forensic #1
as Car Vandal
as Sgt. Duvivier
as Sgt. Guerra
as Proprietor
as Uniform Cop
as Justin
as Uncle Lafayette
as Hugh Dowling
as Rodney
as Cousin Terry
News & Interviews for The Big Easy
Critic Reviews for The Big Easy
All Critics (35) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (4) | DVD (3)
Until conventional plot contrivances begin to spoil the fun, The Big Easy is a snappy, sassy battle of the sexes in the guise of a melodrama about police corruption.
The Big Easy is an extremely enjoyable (and well-lubricated) vehicle for two actors who aren't quite yet stars, but should be.
The Big Easy is as atmospheric as they come, but -- surprise! -- it's also sharp and swift. Plus, it has ample amounts of chemistry -- the steamy, sexy kind.
The film's strength is director Jim McBride's seemingly easy way of presenting us with a New Orleans that is more malevolent and intoxicating than the tourist trap that some think it to be.
It's sleek, briskly paced, firmly controlled and shrewdly dosed with humor, action and romance.
Eventually the film's suspense underpinnings take over its personal story, yet that tension Quaid and Barkin generate still holds. Soldily fine as actors they're also a great pair, like two golden athletes.
Audience Reviews for The Big Easy
Hoping for solid 80s film noir (such as the excellent Body Heat, and even Mindhunter), I instead got an unfocused film with a very uneven tone. Dennis Quaid is good, and the chemistry between him and Ellen Barkin works well, but the plot of the film is predictable and often borderline silly. Many other films have done the New Orleans atmosphere better, there's much more too it than clever humor and over-the-top accents. The film shifts from romance to mystery to drama, with no real sense of what came before or after it.
Super Reviewer
Like the synopsis on here says, this movie is more of a romance than a crime thriller or drama, they could have called it cops in love. I found the whole cop romance thing really boring, and the rest of the story even more boring.
Super Reviewer
The Big Easy is an 80s noir set to the colourful backdrop of New Orleans in which Assistant District Attourney Ellen Barkin is sent to investigate police corruption only to be seduced by morally dubious detective and local lothario Dennis Quaid. The biggest weakness of The Big Easy is its over reliance on the afore-mentioned "local colour", which means that the film is wall to wall chicken bones, hillbilly music and bizarre accents (Grace Zabriskie in particular sounds like a rastafarian with special needs after a stroke). This fact combined with the workmanlike plot and gratuitous 80s pyrotechnics at the end conspire to make it feel like a made for TV pilot episode for "New Orleans Vice". What can be admired about the film however is the chemistry between the cast; Barkin's fiery girl next door paired with Quaid's believable turn as a man finally meeting a woman that makes him want to re-examine himself makes for a charming and sexy couple and the amusing squadroom antics make for a very likable set of characters. Very formulaic but it avoids the usual 80s macho excesses and is still an entertaining, if rather dated detective story.
Super Reviewer
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