CrissCross

Last updated
CrissCross
CrissCross (1992).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Chris Menges
Written by Scott Sommer
Produced by Anthea Sylbert
Starring
CinematographyIvan Strasburg
Edited byTony Lawson
Music by Trevor Jones
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
United Artists
Release date
  • May 8, 1992 (1992-05-08)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$14 million [1]
Box office$3,052,738 (USA) [2]

CrissCross is a 1992 American drama film directed by Chris Menges and written by Scott Sommer, based on his homonymous novel. It stars Goldie Hawn, Arliss Howard, Keith Carradine, Steve Buscemi, and David Arnott.

Contents

Plot

Divorced mom Tracy Cross (Hawn) raises her 12-year-old son, Christopher (Arnott), in Key West in 1969 around the time of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Chris narrates the film in voice-over and talks about his "screwed up" life living with his mother in a cheap hotel. Chris' father (Carradine) was an Annapolis trained fighter pilot who had served in Vietnam. However, he became seriously disturbed after bombing a civilian hospital and burned his uniform as a "killer's costume". Falling into alcoholism, he deserts Chris and Tracy moving into a commune separating himself from society. Chris hasn't seen his father in three years but still loves him deeply.

Chris delivers papers and fish to help support his mother who works as a bartender and waitress. He unwittingly discovers that there are drugs hidden in the fish he is delivering and becomes a small-time drug dealer out of desperation when he finds his mother, Tracy, has resorted to working as a stripper to support them. She is ashamed when he confronts her with this, but she tells him that sometimes in life one has to do what is not good to get what is. Chris visits his father in the commune and attempts to get him to reconcile with Tracy but to no avail.

A stranger, Joe (Howard), comes to town and strikes up a relationship with Tracy. This further disturbs her son. Joe turns out to be a law-enforcement undercover agent, working to bring down the drug ring. His relationship with Tracy and her son complicates matters as the time comes to make the arrest. Chris narrowly escapes being killed when he delivers the drugs and it degenerates into a shootout. In the end, he spends the night in jail and is put on probation learning a valuable lesson. He and Tracy move into a mobile home park and she retires from stripping.

The Apollo Moon landing is mentioned throughout the film as a sort of metaphor and Chris mentions in the end how happy the astronauts must have been to have returned to the Earth no matter how screwed up it is.

Cast

Location

Some scenes were shot in the Miami/Key West surrounding areas. The Spanish monastery in the film is in North Miami and was brought to Miami from Spain in thousands of numbered individual stone blocks and re-built stone by stone. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Demme</span> American film director (1944–2017)

Robert Jonathan Demme was an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter whose career spanned more than 30 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldie Hawn</span> American actress (born 1945)

Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cactus Flower (1969).

The year 1992 in film involved many significant film releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Buscemi</span> American actor (born 1957)

Steven Vincent Buscemi is an American actor. Buscemi is known for his work as an acclaimed character actor. His early credits consist of major roles in independent film productions such as the AIDS drama Parting Glances (1986), Mystery Train (1989), In the Soup (1992), and his breakout role as Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992).

<i>Private Benjamin</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Howard Zieff

Private Benjamin is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Howard Zieff, written by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, and Harvey Miller, and starring Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, and Armand Assante.

Criss Cross and variants thereof may refer to:

<i>Housesitter</i> 1992 film by Frank Oz

Housesitter is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Oz, written by Mark Stein, and starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. The premise involves a woman with con-artist tendencies who worms her way into the life of a reserved architect by claiming to be his wife.

<i>The First Wives Club</i> 1996 film by Hugh Wilson

The First Wives Club is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson, based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. The film stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton as three divorcées who seek retribution on their ex-husbands for having left them for younger women. The supporting cast comprises Stockard Channing as Cynthia; Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, and Stephen Collins as the three leads' ex-husbands; and Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Berkley, and Marcia Gay Harden as their respective lovers. Supporting roles are played by Maggie Smith, Bronson Pinchot, Rob Reiner, Eileen Heckart, Philip Bosco, and Timothy Olyphant in his feature film debut; cameo appearances include Gloria Steinem, Ed Koch, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Ivana Trump.

<i>Seems Like Old Times</i> (film) 1980 film by Jay Sandrich

Seems Like Old Times is a 1980 American comedy film starring Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Charles Grodin, directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Neil Simon. It was the only theatrical film directed by Sandrich, who was best known for his television sitcom directing work.

<i>Overboard</i> (1987 film) 1987 film by Garry Marshall

Overboard is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, written by Leslie Dixon, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and produced by Roddy McDowall, who also co-stars alongside Edward Herrmann and Katherine Helmond. The film follows a demeaning, wealthy socialite who suffers from amnesia after falling from her yacht while vacationing on the Oregon coast, only to be taken in by a working-class carpenter whom she mistreated.

Chris Menges BSC, ASC is a British cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers.

<i>Dollars</i> (film) 1971 film by Richard Brooks

$, also known as Dollar$, Dollars or $ (Dollars), and in the UK as The Heist, is a 1971 American heist comedy film starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, written and directed by Richard Brooks and produced by M.J. Frankovich. The supporting cast includes Gert Fröbe, Robert Webber and Scott Brady. The film is about a bank security consultant (Beatty) who develops a scheme with a prostitute, Dawn Divine (Hawn), to steal several criminals' money from a bank vault.

<i>The Girl from Petrovka</i> 1974 film by Robert Ellis Miller

The Girl from Petrovka is a 1974 American comedy-drama film starring Goldie Hawn and Hal Holbrook, based on the novel by George Feifer. It is about an American journalist, Joe (Holbrook) who goes to the Soviet Union and meets Oktyabrina (Hawn), an undocumented ballet dancer, which attracts the attention of the authorities.

<i>Bird on a Wire</i> (film) 1990 film by John Badham

Bird on a Wire is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by John Badham and starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. It was shot mainly in British Columbia, Canada. The title refers to the Leonard Cohen song "Bird on the Wire". The alley motorcycle chase scene was filmed in Victoria's Chinatown, in Fan Tan Alley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Hudson (singer)</span> American musician and actor (born 1949)

William Louis Hudson Jr. is an American musician and actor. He was a vocalist in The Hudson Brothers, a band he formed in 1965 with his two younger brothers, Brett and Mark. He later had a brief acting career, appearing in supporting roles in Zero to Sixty (1978), Hysterical (1983), and Big Shots (1987). He also appeared in a recurring guest role on the series Doogie Howser, M.D..

<i>Snatched</i> (2017 film) 2017 American film

Snatched is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Katie Dippold. The film stars Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, with Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, and Christopher Meloni in supporting roles, and follows a mother and daughter who are abducted while on vacation in South America.

<i>Hope</i> (1997 film) 1997 television film directed by Goldie Hawn

Hope is a 1997 American historical drama television film directed by Goldie Hawn. The film stars Christine Lahti, Jena Malone, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey D. Sams, and J. T. Walsh. It is set amid the early 1960s paranoia manufactured by the Cuban Missile Crisis and the growing restlessness of the Civil Rights Movement.

<i>Slice</i> (film) 2018 film

Slice is a 2018 American horror comedy film, written and directed by Austin Vesely. The film stars Zazie Beetz and Chance Bennett, with Rae Gray, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Katherine Cunningham, Will Brill, Y'lan Noel, Hannibal Buress, Tim Decker, Joe Keery, Chris Parnell, and Paul Scheer appearing in supporting roles. It follows the murders of several pizza deliverymen in the Ghost Town neighborhood of Kingfisher, and various townspeople's efforts to solve the crimes.

<i>The Christmas Chronicles</i> 2018 American Christmas comedy film

The Christmas Chronicles is a 2018 American Christmas comedy film directed by Clay Kaytis from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman. The film stars Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Lamorne Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Oliver Hudson. It is the first installment in The Christmas Chronicles film series. The film was produced by 1492 Pictures and Wonder Worldwide and was released on November 22, 2018, on Netflix.

<i>The Christmas Chronicles 2</i> 2020 American Christmas comedy film

The Christmas Chronicles 2 is a 2020 American Christmas comedy film directed and produced by Chris Columbus, who wrote the screenplay with Matt Lieberman. A sequel to the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles, it features Kurt Russell reprising his role as Santa Claus. Also reprising their roles are Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, with new cast members Julian Dennison, Jahzir Bruno, Tyrese Gibson, Sunny Suljic, Darlene Love, and Malcolm McDowell. The film had a limited theatrical release before moving to Netflix on November 25, 2020.

References

  1. "AFI|Catalog".
  2. CrissCross at Box Office Mojo
  3. "History".