Ghost of New Orleans, which was originally filmed back on 2011, finally received a stateside release on February 17th and is currently available on a number of VOD platforms including Amazon Instant. This latest dramatic thriller from Predrag Antonijevic is the story of a disgraced detective (Josh Lucas) trying to find his way in a post-Katrina New Orleans. The detective has a strange in encounter with the ghost of a murdered woman who wants help him identify her killer.
In celebration of the release of Ghost of New Orleans I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of my favorite films featuring cops/detectives working a case in The Big Easy.
Nightmare – 1956 – Dir. Maxwell Shane
Stan (Kevin McCarthy), a big band clarinetist, wakes up from a strange dream in which he appears to have murdered a man. Making the dream all the stranger is the fact that when he awakes he’s cover in blood and bruises and is holding a strange key. Unsure of what to do and in a panic, Stan decides to seek the assistance of his brother-in-law Rene (Edward G. Robinson), a police detective. Initially Rene just shrugs the dream off as nothing more than just a weird dream, but after some strange coincidences from the dream creep into reality Rene begins to grow suspicious of Stan and decides he must investigate further.
Nightmare is a fantastic, edge-of-the-seat thriller. With a tight runtime of 89 minutes the film flies by with the wonderful duo of McCarthy and Robinson stringing the audience along to a gripping finish.
Interestingly enough, Nightmare is a remake of sorts. It’s based off a short story by Cornell Woolrich and was first adapted in 1947 as the film Fear in the Night, which was also directed by Maxwell Shane.
Mardi Gras Massacre – 1978 – Dir. Jack Weis
Mardi Gras Massacre is a somewhat overlooked slasher, which is too bad because it’s a lot of fun. A loose remake of the Herschell Gordon Lewis classic Blood Feast, Mardi Gras Massacre is the story of a man named John (William Metzo) that prays on unsuspecting prostitutes. He offers girls a large sum of money to spend an evening with him, once they accept he takes them back to his house where he kills them as part of a Peruvian ritual. John’s plan is to build up to the ultimate ritual sacrifice to coincide with the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration.
I’m a sucker for anyone sort of holiday themed slasher, so Mardi Gras Massacre is a certified winner in my book!
No Mercy – 1986 – Dir. Richard Pearce
No Mercy stars Richard Gere as Chicago cop Eddie Jilette. After his partner is murdered Eddie seeks revenge and that leads him to New Orleans. Before he can get that sweet, sweet revenge he gets mixed up with the mistress of a crime boss with a taste for murder. That sounds bad, but when that mistress is Kim Basinger you become much more understanding of the situation. Things heat up between Gere and Basinger as they try and escape the Big Easy alive!
No Mercy took a beating from critics, currently it holds a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. I tend to think it’s pretty enjoyable, however. It’s got a nice eerie vibe, makes great use of the wonderful city of New Orleans and checks off a lot of the noir boxes that I enjoy so much. You might enjoy it too!
The Big Easy – 1987 – Dir. Jim McBride
Next up is the film that has the distinction of having the best New Orleans’ name possible. Of course that means it’s time we talk about Jim McBride’s The Big Easy! For this film our cop on duty is New Orleans police lieutenant Remy McSwain (great name!) and he’s played by the wonderful Dennis Quaid (he’s the non-crazy Quaid). McSwain’s latest case is to track down the killer of a local mobster. As McSwain pieces together the case he discovers some corruption within the police force that leads him to believe the killers are cops. Dun..dun…dun!!!!!
The plot of The Big Easy is pretty basic and nothing to get too worked up about, but the final result is still an engaging and intelligent thriller because all the characters and performances are so damn good. Quaid is awesome, per usual, but he’s not the only one. Joining him in the fun is Ellen Barkin, Ned Beatty and John Goodman and every single one of them brings their A-game.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – 2009 – Dir. Werner Herzog
And now we have the greatest depiction of a detective working in New Orleans ever placed on film. I’m talking about the Nicolas Cage-Werner Herzog collaboration, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans! This is the one where Cage plays police sergeant Terence McDonagh and he ends up getting a promotion to lieutenant after saving a prisoner from drowning in his cell after Hurricane Katrina. The rescue leaves McDonagh with a bad back and he’s prescribed Vicodin to help with the pain. Half a year later McDonagh is fully addicted to painkillers while also using a wide variety of other drugs. The film follows McDonagh’s descent into madness.
If you haven’t seen Port of Call New Orleans you should stop what you’re doing and watch it immediately. This is the type of role that allows Cage to fully explore a character and bring him to life in a way only he can. And Herzog is the perfect director to assist getting Cage to that next level, which is does and then some. Outside of Abel Ferrara I have a hard time believing anyone can watch this movie and not absolutely love it.
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