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The Big Easy

Catalog Number
0052
-
Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Release Year
Country
VHS | SP | Slipcase
100 mins (NTSC)
N/A | N/A | N/A
N/A | N/A
The Big Easy (1986)

Additional Information

Additional Information
Between them lies the fate of the state of New Orleans

A cop and a lady lawyer caught in an explosive truth of police corruption

Police action at its best


A film that captures the steamy, colorful essence of New Orleans, this crime thriller tells the romantic story of a classy detective whose investigation of a gangland murder lands him in trouble with the city's new District Attorney, a woman with a rigid penchant for following the letter of the law. Despite their differences, the two manage to work together and eventually fall in love. Unfortunately all of this leads them to have to fight for their lives when their investigation into the case and the corruption surrounding it gets them bumped up to the top of a hit man's list.

Remy McSwain is a New Orleans police lieutenant who investigates the murder of a local mobster. His investigation leads him to suspect that fellow members of the police force may be involved.

Anne Osborne, a state district attorney, is sent to investigate alleged police corruption. After seeing firsthand some unorthodox practices by Remy, Anne accuses him of being on the take. He argues that she does not have an understanding of how the system works in New Orleans for police.

Despite Osborne's suspicious and apprehensive feelings towards him, they form a relationship. McSwain is caught accepting payoffs in an Internal Affairs sting, and Osborne has the burden of prosecuting him. With the assistance of fellow officers within the police force, the evidence is suppressed. McSwain is cleared of the charges, at which point Anne, becoming aware of such, is faced with the conflict of her personal feelings for Remy and her duty to uphold the law.

Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, lauded the film, and wrote, "The Big Easy is one of the richest American films of the year. It also happens to be a great thriller. I say 'happens,' because I believe the plot of this movie is only an excuse for its real strength: the creation of a group of characters so interesting, so complicated and so original they make a lot of other movie people look like paint-by-number characters."[6]

Sheila Benson, writing for the Los Angeles Times, wrote, "Screenwriter Daniel Petrie Jr. sets up the conflict, and director Jim McBride fleshes it out with devastating, sexy assurance..."[7]

Film critic Vincent Canby was a bit tougher on the film, and wrote, "Remy and Anne are made for each other, or would have been if The Big Easy were the sophisticated comedy it could have been...[the film] was directed by Jim McBride who one day is going to come up with a commercial movie that works all the way through, and not just in patches."[8]

Critics Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, of the web site Spirituality & Practice, liked the film, and wrote, "The Big Easy says a lot about the peculiar problems and exhilarations which are the daily fare of law enforcement officers...The sparks fly in their volatile love affair which is kept heated throughout by director Tim McBride. Veteran cop writer Joseph Wambaugh once commented that 'an unlucky policeman's life passes through four phases — cockiness, care, compromise, and despair. The lucky ones don't reach phase four.' All of these phases — and perhaps a few more — are convincingly brought to life in The Big Easy, a movie with moral clout and dramatic spunk."[9]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 34 reviews.[10]


It opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on August 21, 1987. The first week's gross was $3,626,031 (1,138 screens) and the total receipts for the run were $17,685,307. In its widest release the film was featured in 1,219 theaters. The motion picture was in circulation five weeks

The film was first shown in 1986 at various film festivals including the Cognac Festival du Film Policier, the Davao City Film Festival in the Philippines, the Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain, and the Sundance Film Festival before being picked up for distribution. According to Robert Redford, founder of Sundance, The Big Easy was the first film sold at the festival. Redford tells of dragging David Puttnam, then the head of Columbia Pictures, to see the film. After the screening, Puttnam decided to pick up the movie for distribution

Release Date: August 21, 1987

Distrib: Columbia Pictures


Boxoffice: $17,685,307 2014: $36,003,800

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