Synopsis
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
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Cast
- Gabriel ByrneTom Reagan
- Marcia Gay HardenVerna
- John TurturroBernie Bernbaum
- Jon PolitoJohnny Caspar
- J.E. FreemanEddie Dane
- Albert FinneyLeo
- Mike StarrFrankie
- Al ManciniTic-Tac
- Steve BuscemiMink
- Richard WoodsMayor Dale Levander
Recommendations
- 100
USA Today
Cold and cut to the bone, the film is a primer in screen virtuosity. Standard action film clichés, like a face getting hit with a chair, get turned inside out; both film and actors somehow manage to seem realistic and stylized at the same time. [21 Sept 1990, Life, p.6D] - 100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
A masterpiece, but of a unique kind... A gorgeously filmed, supremely well-acted, intricately written film noir about now. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
If, however, you're looking for compelling characters, all the lights are blazing here but nobody's at home. - 80
Washington Post
Crossing should be watched not because it's their finest achievement (that's still to come), but because the brothers are keeping things refreshingly different and building a career, their minds still very much fixed on originality. - 80
Time
The Coens are artists too, and their cool dazzler is an elegy to a day when Hollywood could locate moral gravity in a genre film for grownups. [24 Sept 1990, p.83] - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
What it doesn't have is a narrative magnet to pull us through - a story line that makes us really care what happens, aside from the elegant but mechanical manipulations of the plot. - 60
Los Angeles Times
Heart may be what the movie needs most, but a bit of clarity wouldn't hurt either. Even here in gangsterland, where random characters are cherished and non sequiturs are considered wisecracks, there is a difference between complications and impenetrability, and this plot is a bloody thicket.. [5 Oct 1990, Calendar, p.F-10] - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
An elegant-looking picture, carefully made and beautifully put together, but when the gloss wears off, you're left with an experience that doesn’t quite satisfy. [5 Oct 1990, Daily Datebook, E10]
