Sunday, February 02, 2020

The Big Easy (1986) & Sundance


I can't recall what prompted it, but last night I was thinking about Jim McBride's 1983 remake of Breathless, which I'd recently seen for the first time on one of the free Roku channels (I think it was Tubi) and enjoyed quite a bit. I saw that The Big Easy was available on there, and decided to give it a watch. Dennis Quaid plays a corrupt cop in New Orleans who is being investigated by an agent with the DA's office (played by Ellen Barkin). The film appeared to be shot entirely on location, capturing the atmosphere of the city quite nicely with an energy and vitality characteristic of McBride's filmmaking style. John Goodman, Ned Beatty and Grace Zabriskie all put in good supporting performances.

I read that Robert Redford recalled The Big Easy to be the first film to be sold at the Sundance Film Festival. Apparently, it was thanks to Redford's insistence that the head of Columbia Pictures saw the film at the festival, which resulted in it getting picked up for distribution by the studio.

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