The summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and note were written by participant Tobias Grünthal, a student at University of Washington, Seattle, with Jennifer Bean as academic advisor.

The end credits contain the following "Special Thanks to": City of New Orleans, Ernest Morial – Mayor; Louisiana State Film Commission, Phil Seifert – Director; New Orleans Police Department, Juan Woodfork – Chief of Police; Dixie Brewing Company, Inc., Kedra E. Bruno – President; Louisiana Department of Labor, Richard Castleman – Movie Coordinator; St. Augustine’s Marching Hundred, Edwin Hampton – Director; New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, Charles Gandolo – Curator; Dickie Landry; Elliott Snellings; Michael Smith.
According to a 1 Sep 1987 LAT article, the film was the second script written by Daniel Petrie Jr. on speculation after he left his job in the mailroom of the literary and talent agency, International Creative Management, in 1982. The script, which had the working title Windy City, was purchased within three days after its completion by independent producer and head of Kings Road Entertainment, Inc., Stephen Friedman. Petrie told LAT that the fast sale of Windy City led producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson to ask for rewrites on another script he was developing, Beverly Hills Cop (1984, see entry), which turned out to be Petrie’s first produced film and one of the highest grossing movies of its time. Petrie noted that he only intended to spend six weeks on Beverly Hills Cop rewrites before returning to Windy City, but the project took over a ...

The summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and note were written by participant Tobias Grünthal, a student at University of Washington, Seattle, with Jennifer Bean as academic advisor.

The end credits contain the following "Special Thanks to": City of New Orleans, Ernest Morial – Mayor; Louisiana State Film Commission, Phil Seifert – Director; New Orleans Police Department, Juan Woodfork – Chief of Police; Dixie Brewing Company, Inc., Kedra E. Bruno – President; Louisiana Department of Labor, Richard Castleman – Movie Coordinator; St. Augustine’s Marching Hundred, Edwin Hampton – Director; New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, Charles Gandolo – Curator; Dickie Landry; Elliott Snellings; Michael Smith.
According to a 1 Sep 1987 LAT article, the film was the second script written by Daniel Petrie Jr. on speculation after he left his job in the mailroom of the literary and talent agency, International Creative Management, in 1982. The script, which had the working title Windy City, was purchased within three days after its completion by independent producer and head of Kings Road Entertainment, Inc., Stephen Friedman. Petrie told LAT that the fast sale of Windy City led producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson to ask for rewrites on another script he was developing, Beverly Hills Cop (1984, see entry), which turned out to be Petrie’s first produced film and one of the highest grossing movies of its time. Petrie noted that he only intended to spend six weeks on Beverly Hills Cop rewrites before returning to Windy City, but the project took over a year to complete.
Meanwhile, Friedman was having trouble finding a director for Windy City, which had been retitled Nothing But the Truth, because the story had a "corrupt hero," according to LAT. However, as stated in various contemporary sources, including articles in Movieline on 21 Aug 1987 and WSJ on 11 Sep 1987, director Jim McBride was eager to accept Friedman’s offer after facing challenges finding work in Hollywood after his recent move from New York City. McBride was established as a director of quirky, independent pictures, and The Big Easy marked his first commercial feature film. McBride required the story’s location to be changed from Chicago, IL, to New Orleans, LA, because, according Movieline, he had previously researched projects in the city and felt that its culture would enhance the conventional plot with a greater sense of moral ambiguity. Petrie kept the basic structure of his original screenplay intact as he did rewrites, but the final draft was 139 pages in length, nearly twenty pages longer than the 120-page industry standard. Unwilling to edit the story, McBride screened Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday (1940, see entry) for the cast and crew, using the film’s fast-paced dialogue as a model for The Big Easy. McBride told Movieline that "it became a kind of competition to see how fast we could do something and still keep the integrity of the emotional changes."
As stated in production notes from AMPAS library files, principal photography began late Oct 1985 and ended at the beginning of Jan 1986. The film was shot entirely in New Orleans and the working title remained Nothing But the Truth throughout production. According to WSJ, the film was completed for 6ドル.5 million, but a 22 Jan 1987 DV news item reported the cost at 8ドル.5 million. Movieline noted that the production was non-union and therefore McBride hired various foreigners, including Brazilian director of photography, Affonso Beato.
Production notes described actor Dennis Quaid’s research for the role of police officer "Remy McSwain," which included joining New Orleans policemen on patrol for one month prior to filming, as well as two weeks during production, and the purchase of his own squad car and revolver. On one such patrol, Quaid witnessed the death of a suspect after an armed robbery. Concerned that Cajun culture had been misrepresented in previous films as exclusionary and "backwoods," Quaid studied Cajun dialect and customs with a native family. Actress Ellen Barkin also observed several police patrols and local figures in preparation for her role as "Anne Osborne," including the Connecticut-born assistant district attorney of New Orleans, Patricia Head.
During the eleven-week shoot in New Orleans, two weeks were centralized in the French Quarter and at its Germaine Wells mansion, according to production notes. The historic home, which housed over 3ドル million of antiques that were inventoried with video documentation before filming began and sealed off from the production, provided three separate locations in the film, including the interiors of both Remy and "Daddy Mention’s" apartments, as well as the exterior of Daddy Mention’s building. The location of Remy’s first date with Anne was a Cajun dance hall called Rosie’s, an establishment that closed after the film completed, according to production notes. Crew members shot video footage of live music and dancing at Cajun clubs near Lafayette, LA, and the images were replicated in the scene at Rosie’s. Although the filmmakers were offered access to the New Orleans police station as a location, the building was not well-suited for filming, but the station’s interior was recreated in the downtown Woodward Wight building.
Although the picture was completed in 1986, Friedman was unable to find a distributor. While a 20 Apr 1986 LAT news item listed Nothing But the Truth as a Twentieth Century-Fox picture awaiting release, various contemporary sources including WSJ and Movieline stated that Friedman received widespread rejection from Hollywood studios and finally made a deal with New Century/Vista and both films were set to open 13 Feb 1987. However, after screening the picture at the U.S. Film Festival in Park City, UT, in late Jan 1987, Columbia Pictures’ new chairman, David Puttnam, offered to buy the film. The deal was confirmed in a 25 Feb 1987 Var news item. As noted in WSJ, the picture had already been sold to a European distributor and was showing particularly successful box-office grosses in Paris, France, as well as winning the Grand Jury prize at the "Festival du films policiers" in Cognac, France. Movieline stated that Columbia permitted McBride to "add his own preferred ending" to the film, suggesting that an earlier version screened in Europe and at U.S. festivals depicted a different conclusion.
A 25 Aug 1987 DV news item noted that Columbia made an usual marketing decision by failing to advertise the film in the NYT on the Sunday before its release, a move that provoked controversy with industry insiders and some exhibitors, but the box office receipts were not negatively impacted. According to DV, the film’s New York City opening on sixteen screens grossed 178,766ドル in three days of release. WSJ reported earnings of over 9ドル million nationwide after eleven days. A 31 Aug 1987 HR article described Columbia’s marketing strategy which started with a limited release on thirty-two screens and then expanded the run to 1,138 screens after the film received positive reviews.
Although McBride is not credited for his contribution to the film’s soundtrack, Movieline stated that the director was highly involved in the selection of music, ensuring it was authentic to Cajun culture. Another uncredited contributor to the soundtrack was musician David Byrne, who, according to Movieline, helped McBride locate some of the local artists. While Quaid wrote and performed several songs in the film, he was assisted by Cajun musicians from the area.
Kings Road Entertainment was sued by Thorn EMI Video Ltd. for failing to use the company as the film’s video distributor, according to a 7 Feb 1986 DV news item. Kings Road had allegedly agreed in 1984 to provide seven films to Thorn, including Nothing But the Truth.
On 19 Dec 1988, LAT reported that New Orleans police lieutenant John Schluter was found not guilty on charges of collecting police wages while working on the set of The Big Easy. Although Schluter was acquitted of nineteen counts of payroll fraud, he still faced charges of "monopolizing the state’s business with the film industry."
A 3 Apr 1996 HR article announced the film’s adaptation into a television series produced for USA Network. Actors Tony Crane, Susan Walter and Barry Corbin were cast to star and thirteen episodes were set for production in New Orleans with a budget of 1ドル million each. The series ran for thirty-four episodes in 1996 and 1997.

At 2 a.m. in New Orleans, Louisiana, police lieutenant Remy McSwain arrives at the murder scene of gangster Freddie Angelo and tells his colleagues that the killer is sending a message to Angelo’s employer, mafia kingpin Vinnie "The Cannon" Di Moti. The next morning at the police station, Remy finds captain Jack Kellom chiding officers André De Soto and Ed Dodge for impounding a boat. Assistant district attorney Anne Osborne, who is heading a task force on police corruption, waits in Remy’s office. While Remy tries to charm Anne, Di Moti is guided into the station for questioning, but the gangster alleges disrespect and storms away. When Anne scolds Remy for his laissez-faire approach toward Di Moti, Remy claims he has evidence that can bring the Angelo case to court but refuses to tell Anne unless she joins him for dinner. At a Cajun dance hall, Anne becomes suspect of Remy’s underhanded dealings with the community when Chef Paul refuses to give him a bill. Abruptly ending their date, Anne gets caught in a street mugging on the way home and Remy comes to her rescue. The next evening, Remy forces Anne to have dinner with him again by placing his Angelo murder report underneath a pizza. Remy finally discloses that Angelo was storing heroin in a dock warehouse owned by Di Moti’s hitman, Carmine Tandino. Despite Anne’s anxiety, the couple makes love; however, they are interrupted by a call for Remy to appear at the scene of a triple murder. There, Kellom informs Remy that locals are in an uproar with rumors that the killers were in an ...

At 2 a.m. in New Orleans, Louisiana, police lieutenant Remy McSwain arrives at the murder scene of gangster Freddie Angelo and tells his colleagues that the killer is sending a message to Angelo’s employer, mafia kingpin Vinnie "The Cannon" Di Moti. The next morning at the police station, Remy finds captain Jack Kellom chiding officers André De Soto and Ed Dodge for impounding a boat. Assistant district attorney Anne Osborne, who is heading a task force on police corruption, waits in Remy’s office. While Remy tries to charm Anne, Di Moti is guided into the station for questioning, but the gangster alleges disrespect and storms away. When Anne scolds Remy for his laissez-faire approach toward Di Moti, Remy claims he has evidence that can bring the Angelo case to court but refuses to tell Anne unless she joins him for dinner. At a Cajun dance hall, Anne becomes suspect of Remy’s underhanded dealings with the community when Chef Paul refuses to give him a bill. Abruptly ending their date, Anne gets caught in a street mugging on the way home and Remy comes to her rescue. The next evening, Remy forces Anne to have dinner with him again by placing his Angelo murder report underneath a pizza. Remy finally discloses that Angelo was storing heroin in a dock warehouse owned by Di Moti’s hitman, Carmine Tandino. Despite Anne’s anxiety, the couple makes love; however, they are interrupted by a call for Remy to appear at the scene of a triple murder. There, Kellom informs Remy that locals are in an uproar with rumors that the killers were in an unmarked police car. When Anne arrives at the scene to investigate possible police corruption, Kellom explains that the murdered men worked for Daddy Mention, an African American drug lord. Sickened by the blood, Anne returns to Remy’s apartment and he tells her the murders were committed by Tandino in retribution for Angelo’s death. Remy asserts that Daddy Mention and Di Moti are at war and he and Anne make love. Back at work, Remy learns that Tandino has an alibi, but as he leaves the station to interview the gangster, anyway, officer Ed Dodge asks him to stop at a local club. The club owner, George Joel, resents that the police are extorting money and laundering the cash into a fraudulent "Widows and Orphans" fund. When George stuffs Remy’s pocket with money, however, Remy realizes he has been framed and a team of federal agents arrest him in an Internal Affairs sting operation. In court, Remy realizes Anne is heading the prosecution and intends to show the jury a videotape of the incident. However, Remy obtains a high-powered magnet and has a police department property room employee store the device next to the tapes, effectively destroying their content. That night, Remy is awakened by a call, informing him that Tandino was killed in an explosion and the next day in court, Anne discovers the videos are defective and indignantly drops her case. When she is unwittingly escorted to a celebration of Remy’s acquittal, Anne is serenaded by the lieutenant, but she remains unmoved and warns Remy that he is not "one of the good guys anymore." Returning to the station, Remy ends his role as a beneficiary of the corrupt "Widows and Orphans" fund. Kellom announces he will soon be retiring because he intends to marry Remy’s mother, Mama, and Remy is briefed about the recent killing of two Mexican fishermen who smuggled large quantities of heroin on their boat for Tandino. Remy determines that the high volume of drugs sparked competition with Daddy Mention and he goes to question the gangster. Meanwhile, Daddy Mention meets Anne and denies a drug war with Di Moti. When Remy arrives at Daddy Mention’s home, the gangster slips outside to avoid him, but he is shot dead by men in an unmarked police car. Realizing Anne’s claims of police corruption are credible, Remy encourages her to serve his office with a search warrant and assists her with the investigation. At Remy’s apartment, the couple reviews confiscated police files and despite their attraction, Remy sleeps on the couch. In the morning, Remy sends his younger brother, Bobby, on errands so he can make love to Anne, but once outside, Bobby is mistaken for Remy and shot. At the hospital, Remy confronts Kellom about his efforts to conceal information in the confiscated police records. Kellom admits that he seized Angelo’s 5ドル million stockpile of heroin for personal gain, but refuses to implicate his collaborators. Although Kellom offers to include Remy in the deal, Remy warns the officer to stay away from his mother and hits him. As Mama rushes outside to report Bobby’s recovery, she sees Kellom draw his gun on Remy, and Kellom drives away in shame. Back at Anne’s apartment, Remy confesses his part in destroying her videotapes and says that before they met, he assumed corruption was unavoidable. Embracing her lover, Anne suggests that they look for the Mexican fishing boat that was used to smuggle heroin and Remy remembers that De Soto and Dodge impounded a vessel on the night of Angelo’s murder. While Remy and Anne head to the dock, Kellom uncovers heroin in the boat. He orders De Soto and Dodge to destroy the evidence, but De Soto shoots him in protest. As Kellom clings to life, Remy and Anne arrive at the scene. De Soto and Dodge hold them at gunpoint, but Remy throws powdered heroin into their eyes and he and Anne jump into the water. Climbing aboard another boat, Remy arms himself with a flare gun while Anne resurfaces on the fishing boat. Although De Soto tries to kill her, Kellom shoots him dead. Meanwhile, Remy escapes Dodge’s gunfire and blows him into the water with the flare gun. As the Mexican fishing boat explodes with the heroin and Kellom inside, Remy and Anne run for their lives across the dock. Sometime later, the couple dances in their wedding clothes.