I just never get tired of watching this movie. The story, the humor, the music. the sex - all this adds up to an enjoyable package.

Dennis Quid is easily in his best role as Det. Remy McSwain. It is not hard to understand why he considers this his favorite role. He is laid back, funny, and shows a full range of emotions to the circumstances in the story. His "little boy" looks fit right in with the role of a cop in the Big Easy.

Ellen Barkin is also perfect for the role of special prosecutor Anne Osborne, looking for corruption in the police department - as if you have to look hard. She tries to be tough, but is worn down by Remy's charm.

The supporting cast has more colorful characters that you can imagine including Ned Beatty as Remy's substitute father, John Goodman as Beatty's partner in crime, Grace Zabriskie as Remy's mother, Solomon Burke as Daddy Mention and Charles Ludlam as a sleazy lawyer. They all add to the charm of New Orleans along with great music by Beausoleil, the Dixie Cups, the Neville Brothers, Dewey Balfa and Dennis Quaid himself.

This is a movie that tastes just as sweet as the city and one to visit over and over.

Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin star in "The Big Easy," a 1986 film set in New Orleans, and also starring Ned Beatty, John Goodman, and Grace Zabriskie.

I know an attorney who won a huge civil rights case in New Orleans and then had to run for her life with her family when her life was continuously threatened. The New Orleans police force has the reputation of being the most corrupt police force in the United States. That's saying something.

That corruption is visited here in this story of a mildly corrupt cop Remy (Quaid) investigating a series of murders of low-level drug people. The assigned assistant district attorney, Anne Osborne (Barkin) assumes from the get-go, because of the presence of a cop car at one of the murders, that the police are involved.

That's the background for a hot love affair between these two sexy characters who really steam up the screen. Quaid is delightful as the high-flying Remy, and he gets to show his range as an actor - going from flirtatious playboy to a grief-stricken man. Barkin is perfect as a woman trying to stay professional but finding it nearly impossible.

This film has some serious and disturbing moments, but the locale and the actors infuse it with charm and energy. Well directed by Jim McBride, who keeps up the pace.

Recommended.

This crime sexual thriller has stood the test of time because of the chemistry between its leads, Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. He's a New Orleans cop whose department is being investigated for corruption, and she's a state district attorney investigating those charges. It turns out there is corruption in the department, and after day has a steamy introduction and an even steamy are up there, he helps her out by assisting her get the evidence. It comes down to his boss, Ned Beatty, being behind the corruption that goes very deep into organized crime, and Quaid risks everything in helping her expose all of this.

There's definite heat between the two stars, and while Barkin is a take-no-prisoners kind of D. A., she's also the kind of woman with power who knows how to command it rather than demand it. Quaid is charm on a stick, and with Barkin, theis sexual chemistry is like a strong tree trunk that holds up that stick. This film is gritty, erotic, funny and romantic, and the New Orleans setting just adds to the atmosphere. Beatty's a complex villain with solid support from within the department and with the mob, among them John Goodman as one of the other officers who has been taken to the other side. Definitely a modern classic that stands the test of time, and a career highlight for both stars.