The Big Easy (1987)

In director Jim McBride's romantic, neo-noir crime and romantic mystery-thriller - it told about a suspected deadly drug war in the "Big Easy" city of New Orleans, LA between Mafia mobsters and African-American drug lords. During an uptick in gangland murders involved in the drug peddling trade, two officers or representatives of the law became both intrigued and at odds with each other over the issue of police corruption, as reflected in the film's two taglines: "He's got to hide the truth. She'll stop at nothing to find it. But tonight everything's off the record," and "It's easy to make a killing in New Orleans..."

On a budget of $8.5 million, the film successfully grossed a total of $17.7 million. About a decade later, the film was developed into a spin-off TV series of 35 episodes for two seasons (from August 1996-October 1997), airing on the USA Network.

• the film's title sequence consisted of a helicopter aerial shot over the New Orleans bayou, accompanied by the lively "Zydeco Gris Gris" - played by the cajun band BeauSoleil featuring duelling fiddles
• as the film opened, Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid), a brash but easy-going, talkative and good-natured New Orleans Cajun police lieutenant-detective in the Homicide Division was investigating a murder, occurring during a deadly drug war in the city; at 2 in the morning, he was at the scene of the murder of local mobster-gangster Freddie Angelo (Jim Chimento) (a "wise-guy scumbag"), whose body was found floating in a fountain at Piazza D'Italia in downtown New Orleans; Angelo's employer was Mafia kingpin and Italian-American Vinnie "The Cannon" DiMotti (Marc Lawrence); Remy conferred about the crime hit with fellow officer McCabe (Lisa Jane Persky) and his boss Police Captain Jack Kellom (Ned Beatty)

Assistant DA Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) - Head of a Special Task Force to Investigate Police Corruption

• the next morning, after Remy entered his homicide office, Captain Kellom was playfully berating two of his officers, detective Ed Dodge (Ebbe Roe Smith) and Andre DeSoto (John Goodman), for wasting their time during a boat impoundment at the police dock - an important throwaway line but crucial in future developments
• Remy was informed that the state's crusading ADA Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin), from "out of town," was waiting in Remy's office to speak to him; he responded with two words: "Nice neck!"; she was a straight-arrow outsider in charge of an official task force on police corruption and reports of bribery and money laundering; she was investigating a possible case of crooked cops - officers who were secretly on a murder spree to take over the burgeoning heroin drug market; she had been summoned after the shooting death of "wise-guy" mobster Freddie Angelo
• in his office, after Remy's light questioning and quick release of mob boss Vinnie DiMotti about Freddie Angelo’s murder, Anne challenged Remy's tactics with the high-ranking Mafia boss ("You kissed his ass"); she revealed her uncompromising viewpoint and challenged his ineffective methods; he rationalized that she didn't understand how the system operated: ("You're not from here, are you?")
• Remy bargained with the uptight but sexy prosecutor Anne - he would take her to dinner and tell her more about how he would bring justice to the mobsters in the Angelo murder case; on their first dinner date at Tipitina's - a Cajun dance hall-restaurant, she realized how the unorthodox Remy was taking advantage of "perks" through his job - parking at a fire hydrant outside the restaurant, cutting into the line, and no charge for dinners; she implicity accused him of being on the 'take,' and clearly admitted: "I'm not embarrassed to put bad cops behind bars"
• after leaving the restaurant, Anne was apprehensive about him and asserted herself, asking about his perks: ("You honestly don't see the harm in any of this?"); Remy attempted to defend himself: "This is New Orleans, darlin'. Folks have a certain way of doin' things down here. People like to show their appreciation"; he deliberately ran a red-light to aggravate her; she kept criticizing his way of doing things: "How far does all this stuff go, huh? What, is everything for sale? What's it cost to beat a murder rap these days?...I've never seen one person break so many laws in such a short space of time" - although he regarded himself one of the "good guys," who was fighting the "bad guys"
• she abruptly ended their date; he dropped her off at a corner market to pick up a few things; and then as she walked home, Anne became involved in an attempted mugging of an elderly woman by two black assailants, and Remy came to their rescue
• the next day, she phoned him, and confidently insisted that they should keep their relationship "strictly professional" and avoid any possibility of a "conflict of interest"; it marked the start of an antagonistic love-hate relationship; at the end of the work-day, he drove by her place of work and told her that he had his report on Angelo - but it was sitting underneath a large pepperoni pizza in a box he was holding: ("You got to eat the pie to get to the report")
• in the next scene after the two had consumed the pizza at her place, she complimented him on his report; as she asked for more details, he informed her how the deceased victim Angelo's car was parked across the street from a wharf warehouse owned by DiMotti's hitman Carmine Tandino; Remy suspected that Angelo was storing millions of dollars worth of smuggled heroin in Tandino's dockside warehouse (the drugs had been transported by water); she was impressed, but he still felt she didn't trust him: "You think I'm a rotten, don't-give-a-s--t, dishonest, no-good, dirty cop. Is that what you think of me?"
• due to Remy's persistence and despite Anne's resistance, the two unlikely and uptight romantic partners began to develop a volatile love affair; they unexpectedly came together and kissed; the detective let down Anne's blonde hair and caressed her under her clothes; it was a clumsy and awkward, but realistic sex scene (praised by critics) in his bedroom - to the tune of "Closer to You" (performed by Quaid himself), even though they were fully clothed

First Sexual Experience - Anne: "I'm too nervous. I can't relax"
Remy Interrupted by His Beeper: (Anne: "I never did have much luck with sex anyway"

• but after a few moments, the highly-repressed Anne nervously confessed that she was very anxious: "I'm not very good at this....I can't do this now, Remy, I'm too nervous. I can't relax. I'm very embarrassed"; he tried to calm her: "Just relax, darlin'. This is the Big Easy. Folks have a certain way of doing things down here"; they had a short and humorous back-and-forth about his approach as he touched and kissed her, ultimately causing her to moan: Anne: "Oh, stop that!" Remy: "Stop what?" Anne: "That." Remy: "What?" Anne: "That." Remy: "What, that, or that?"; he climbed up over her and laid atop her, as she helped lower his pants as they began to have sex, but the sex was unconsummated and aborted when his pager beeped
• Remy learned over the phone that he must report to the scene of a triple murder in the neighborhood of Storyville; when he apologized, she admitted: "It's okay. I never did have much luck with sex anyway"; he passionately responded with a kiss: "Your luck is about to change, cher. (after a parting kiss) Oh boy, ooo-la-la!"; she said she would await his return in a few hours
• at the crime scene where upset black locals had gathered, Remy's boss Captain Kellom heard rumored street talk from some black dudes that Angelo's killers were seen in an unmarked police car; there were three bloody victims in the Storyville house - both Remy and Kellom reported that the three drug-running victims were employed by African-American drug crime lord and voodoo priest Daddy Mention (Solomon Burke, a soul/blues singer), a rival to the white drug-dealing by DiMotti
• due to allegations of police officer involvement (specifically, two unknown white male suspects in an unmarked police car), Anne also unexpectedly appeared on the bloody scene; however, according to the cops on the scene, it looked like intensifying gang-warfare between the rival white Mafia and black drug lords; the victims were allegedly members of Daddy Mention's black gang of drug-dealers; Remy believed that the cops weren't involved: ("Because if they were cops, they would have stayed right here. When we arrived, we would have found plants: guns, knives, all kinds of evidence that they resisted arrest. Something every cop in the world knows how to do")
• from a closet, during a timely coincidence, Lt. Dodge (with an ill-fitting toupee) pulled out a kilo package of Mexican brown heroin; Remy hypothesized that the three murders were committed by DiMotti's vengeful Mafia hitman Tandino as payback for Angelo’s death, based upon the MO: "Shotguns are his signature"
• afterwards, Remy and the squeamish Anne returned to his apartment to continue where they left off, although she was sickened and nauseated by the sight of the bloody killings, and was puking into his toilet bowl; they continued to speculate about the motives and participants in the murders, as Remy continued to insist that the cops weren't involved: "Cops don't do that sort of thing. Not even the rad cops. You're always accusing the cops of everything"; however, Anne was much more uncertain and suspected police involvement
• Remy warned: "Look out for the gator, baby!" (referring to his green stuffed animal) and playfully chased after her as she fled to the bedroom, and he pulled off her clothing
• the next morning, she was half-draped and covered her nakedness in a blue sheet from their empty bed and approached 'McSwain' from behind, as he bent down in front of the refrigerator; she grabbed him from behind between his legs, causing him to jump - and realized with shock and embarrassment that it was Remy's younger brother Bobby (Tom O'Brien) instead!; she hurriedly fled from his 2nd floor apartment, and passed Remy returning with a bag of breakfast groceries, with the excuse that she was late for work

The Next Morning - An Embarrassing Incident With Remy's Younger Brother Bobby (Tom O'Brien)

• the next day at work, Remy was informed that Freddie Angelo's stolen driver's license ID was found in the pocket of one of the bloodied black victims in Storyville - possibly confirming Remy's theory of racial gang-warfare; and then Officer McCabe also told Remy that suspected hitman Tandino had an "airtight" alibi for his whereabouts at the time of Angelo's murder; he also received a phone call from Anne apologizing for running off: "I'm just sort of confused....Things like last night don't happen to me"; she abruptly hung up on him; his co-workers suspected that Remy was being 'used' by Anne to gather evidence against the cops in the office
• shortly later - during a major frame-up or set-up to derail Remy and Anne's fact-finding efforts, co-worker detective Ed Dodge sent Remy (in Capt. Kellom's place) to the Club Sho-Bar on Bourbon Street to speak to the new but uncooperative bartender/owner George Joel (Eliott Keener), who openly resented the police's regular shakedowns of his business; he complained about being pressured to contribute to the police's so-called corrupt and fraudulent "Widows and Orphans Fund" - a way for the cops to illegally cover-up their extortion and laundering of cash from local businesses
• Remy was handed an envelope with a payoff of $400 cash stuffed into his hand by Joel, and suddenly realized that he had been set-up; he threw the 8 $50 bills into the air as he fled outside, where he was arrested during an FBI Internal Affairs sting operation for extortion and bribery, and told: "We've got everything on video tape"
• Remy's boss Police Captain Jack Kellom, who was the real target of the sting operation, briefly tried to reassure Remy and promised him that he would be fully defended in court by his unscrupulous defense attorney Lamar Parmentel (Charles Ludlam) and wouldn't suffer the consequences: "We take care of our own, remember that"; it appeared Remy would be tried for bribery, but there were grounds for charging that Remy was improperly set-up: ("It skirts the edge of entrapment")
• during an arraignment before a Judge (Carol Sutton), Remy's bail was reduced from $50,000 to $500, and his case was given a priority hearing in two days before Judge Garrison (Jim Garrison as Himself); in the meantime, Remy (in disguise) acquired an industrial nickel magnet from a Magnet Salesman (Peter Gabb)
• [Note: Remy justified his illegally-acquired funds to pay for his younger brother's college tuition, but also admitted to him: "I've been on the take in little-bitty ways since practically the first day on the job."]

Judge Garrison (Jim Garrison as Himself)

Defense Attorney Lamar Parmentel (Charles Ludlam)

Prosecuting Attorney Anne Osborne

• after the first day of testimony in which Prosecuting Attorney Anne faced off against Remy in court, news arrived that DiMotti's hitman Carmine Tandino had been incinerated after a violent explosion inside his own warehouse at the wharf (where it was rumored that drugs were being stored by Angelo); all of the principals ended up at the night-time crime scene, where it was apparent that Tandino's heart had been ripped right out of his chest, suggesting a voodoo ritual and pointing at drug rival Daddy Mention, a black magic voodoo priest
• during the second day of testimony, a frustrated Anne was unable to proceed when it was discovered that the videotape evidence had been tampered with, by the accidental placement of a high-powered magnet next to the tapes in the police property room; Remy had received cooperative help from his colleague - police property manager Dewey Piersall (Steve Broussard); Remy was cleared of the charges against him and released; in celebration of the acquittal, Captain Kellom organized a Cajun BBQ and Dance-Music Fest for the department, where he announced: "Every once in a while justice triumphs"

Captain Kellom at Remy's Acquittal BBQ-Party and Dance-Music Fest	Anne Brought to the Acquittal Party, Under False Pretenses
"Why don't you call me anymore?"	Anne to Remy: "You're not one of the good guys anymore"

• Anne was picked up (kidnapped) and charged with arrest while jogging - but under false pretenses, and was brought to accompany Remy at the dance and music fest, although she was miffed at being brought there; she listened as he played lead guitar in the band, and directed the lyrics of "You Used to Call Me" toward her: "Why don't you call me anymore?"
• after being talked into a brief dance with him, Anne expressed how angry she was that he was enjoying favors in the city due to his position; she chastised him after he had been unjustly acquitted, for not being very convincing as a 'good guy': "You're a cop, for God's sake. You're supposed to uphold the law, but instead you bend it and twist it and sell it. I saw you take that bribe and, and resist arrest and tamper with evidence and perjure yourself under oath...Why don't you just face it, Remy? You're not one of the good guys anymore"; she departed from the party in a taxi; with a twinge of conscience, the next day at work, Remy requested to be removed from the 'Widows and Orphans Fund'
• during a meeting with other officers in Remy's office, it was announced that two convicted drug smugglers - Mexican deep-sea fisherman from Vera Cruz - had been found floating dead in the New Orleans canal, after suffering from acute lead poisoning [Note: They were related to the impounded Mexican boat in the opening scene]; the Mexicans' last phone call was from Freddie Angelo who was in Vera Cruz three days before he was killed; Remy was suspicious why the drug warfare was getting bloodier and more competitive between the two groups for the drug business led by DiMotti and Daddy Mention, since they had only found one kilo of heroin at the Storyville crime scene; he asked: "One kilo of heroin always seemed kind of small time for all these people to get killed over. But 20 or 30 kilos, that makes a lot more sense. So where's the rest of it, huh? Anybody talk to Daddy Mention?"; Remy began to conclude that Anne's intuitions about police corruption were uncannily accurate: "Daddy Mention is trying to move in on Vinnie's action. That sounds neat, but I don't buy it no more"
• both Anne and defense attorney Lamar were able to speak to Daddy Mention at his church before Remy arrived; Mention referenced the two Italian murders (Angelo and Tandino) and the three blacks killed in Storyville; however, he firmly disavowed the idea that there was gang warfare: ("The police are putting out this story that there is a gang war going on...My people didn't kill no Freddy Angelo or no, what's his name Tandino, and cut his heart out... I know they're killing my people too")
• Remy also arrived to speak to Daddy Mention and was surprised to see Lamar and Anne there; suddenly, there was the sound of gunfire, and Mention was murdered outside his property by shots from two men in an unmarked police car that sped away; both Anne and Remy failed in attempting to stop the vehicle
• Remy reached out to Anne about her assumptions that there was no gang warfare; she explained her evidence - an eyewitness had reported that two cops (in an unmarked car - with a blue light and radio in the front seat) were also responsible for the murder of Angelo ("The police are the suspects!"); he finally agreed with her: "There isn't no gang warfare, is there?"); it was clear to both of them that the cops' goal was to divert attention and blame away from their own illegal heroin drug thefts
• Remy encouraged Anne's efforts to investigate his own colleagues; with his support, she submitted a search warrant to Captain Kellom in the police station, and an exhaustive search commenced; the two located the unmarked getaway police car in the lot that was used for the Daddy Mention murder; late into the night in Remy's apartment, the two perused boxes of papers confiscated from the department; since it was late, she was talked into staying for the night in his place - without any "cha-cha"; as he settled for sleeping on the couch, he asked: "If I can't have you, can I have my gator?"
• the next morning, Remy realized he was being targeted as retribution for turning against his own, when his brother Bobby was mistaken for him - and shot in the chest outside the apartment
• at the hospital while awaiting word on Bobby's condition, Remy had a heart-to-heart talk about "police business" with his boss Captain Kellom; Remy confronted his boss about evidence of tampered logs: "Vehicle logs, patrol logs, arrest logs. All different departments....Only someone in command has access to the files"; it was an awkward conversation because the Captain was engaged to marry Remy's Mama (Grace Zabriskie); Remy accused Kellom of criminal activity: "You've been behind this thing all the way from the beginning, weren't you, huh?"; Kellom admitted to Remy that he had taken Angelo's $5 million stockpile of Mexican heroin in Tandino's warehouse for himself, but wouldn't implicate anyone else in the department; Remy refused to be bribed by accepting a "fair slice" of the "very big pie"
• after Kellom ran off in disgrace, Remy explained his guilty confession to Anne, who asked: "Somebody is pulling that trigger for him. Don't you have any idea who it is?"; to finally come clean with Anne, Remy also confessed that he had destroyed the videotape evidence against himself; and he also finally admitted that he had been duped by "the system" and had been "a bag man for Kellom" - he rationalized and justified for himself taking small amounts of cash "here and there" in exchange for doing "a dirty job" as a cop and deserving "a good life"
• the two decided to join together to confront and end the corruption within law enforcement; they proceeded to the dock to check on an impounded Mexican fishing boat located there (used by Angelo to smuggle heroin for DiMotti's gang from Vera Cruz) [Note: This was the same fishing boat that had been impounded by DeSoto and Dodge in the opening sequence, with its two fisherman found dead in the water.]

Impounded Mexican Fishing Boat with Smuggled Heroin in Its Hold	(l to r): Two Corrupt Cops: Ed Dodge (Ebbe Roe Smith) and Andre DeSoto (John Goodman)	Captain Kellom Lethally Shot in the Hold With Bags of Heroin
Remy and Anne Held at Gunpoint by Dodge and DeSoto	Remy Firing a Flare Gun at Dodge	Conclusion: Remy and Anne Married

• in the film's conclusion, an intense shoot-out broke out on and around the deck of the boat between Captain Kellom and his two corrupt 'bad-guy' detectives Andre DeSoto and Ed Dodge, who were involved in the theft of heroin and were planning to leave town; in the ship's hold with bags of heroin, Kellom suggested that they destroy the drugs ("We're dumping it"), but they disagreed and protested; shot-gunfire from DeSoto lethally injured Kellom in the chest, just before Anne and Remy arrived
• the two survived being shot by jumping into the water and climbing onto different vessels, and playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the two shooters; with his last dying breath, Kellom shot and killed DeSoto when he attempted to shoot at Anne next to him; Remy avoided Dodge's gunfire and shot back with a flare gun to propel him into the water; an earlier flare shot by Remy had set the boat on fire and caused the Mexican boat to explode, just after Remy and Anne had fled onto the dock; the blast destroyed the stash of heroin
• afterwards, Anne reconciled with Remy and in the film's tacked-on conclusion, they danced in their wedding garb with each other in a hotel room, as the credits scrolled