The Big Easy

Said with a great big satisfied sighhhhh.

When there's nothing worth watching on our paltry eight television channels, we usually stick a movie in the VCR or the DVD, and Robert usually chooses. I know entire sections of "The Hunt for Red October" and "U.S. Marshals" and "Top Gun" by heart (though I draw the line at "Super Troopers" -- absolutely not, no way, Jose).

Anyway, last night, with nothing else on, he put in a movie . . . and it was "The Big Easy"!!!! I LOVE that movie. Love New Orleans. Love Dennis Quaid as Remy McSwain. Love the music. It is the PERFECT romantic suspense.

The film's about twenty years old, I think, but as I was watching it last night, it hit me that it doesn't look TOTALLY dated like so many movies. The clothes and the hair styles are fairly classic; other than the lack of newer models of cars, it seemed as if it could have been made last year. (And come on, who doesn't think that big ol' gas-guzzling convertible of Remy's suits him better than a Toyota or SUV ever would?)

The one thing that caught my attention, though, was the beginning of the love scene. Remy's been coming on to Anne hot and heavy through the whole show, she's finaly giving in, they adjourn to her bed, both fully clothed. (Great scene, with Dennis Quaid singing a sexy song in the background.) He slides his hand up her leg, raising her skirt, and we see . . . Well, if it were a recent movie, we'd see a bit of lace, a strip of fabric, and a whole lot of butt. Every female character in movies today, whether repressed or not, has a collection of lingerie that would make a Victoria's Secret model blush. But we didn't see a little bit of nothing and skin in this movie. Anne's panties cover her entire derriere. Sheesh, when's the last time you saw THAT in a romantic lead in a movie?

Then it struck me that that caught my attention. When I was a kid, there was no swearing on television. Married TV couples slept in separate beds or twin beds pushed together. The only kissing was without tongues, and the only person whose butt we saw was the Coppertone kid. Now language, nudity and situations that used to be reserved for movies show up on prime time regularly, and an awful lot of people don't realize that it hasn't always been that way, that some things used to be considered inappropriate for the world at large.

Twenty years ago I used to do a doubletake when I saw or heard something on TV that had once been banned. Last night I did a doubletake at what I DIDN'T see. That's really kind of sad when I think about it. Rachel10:32 AM