Synopsis
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
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Cast
- Denzel WashingtonEasy Rawlins
- Tom SizemoreDeWitt Albright
- Jennifer BealsDaphne Monet
- Don CheadleMouse Alexander
- Maury ChaykinMatthew Terell
- Terry KinneyTodd Carter
- Mel WinklerJoppy
- Albert HallDegan Odell
- Lisa Nicole CarsonCoretta James
- Jernard BurksDupree Brouchard
Recommendations
- 100
Los Angeles Times
It's the film's glowing visual qualities, a striking performance by Denzel Washington and the elegant control Carl Franklin has over it all that create the most exotic crime entertainment of the season. - 100
Rolling Stone
Writer and director Carl Franklin ("One False Move") scores a triumph in using the brooding atmosphere and racial tension of the sun-kissed, seedy City of Angels to reveal character and reclaim a neglected past that ace cinematographer Tak Fujimoto brings to vivid life. - 90
The New York Times
In the process of drawing audiences into the twists and turns of a knotty detective tale, Mr. Franklin and his cinematographer, Tak Fujimoto, open up an enticing and languorous lost world. - 90
Washington Post
Franklin's picture is effortlessly wise beneath its entertaining surface. - 90
Washington Post
Few films are more assured in their storytelling or build more forcefully, irrevocably toward their resolution. - 78
Austin Chronicle
On the mean streets, Devil is okay; but it's something special when it gets to Easy's street. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The movie is entertaining on its own terms, and Washington's warmth at the center of it is like our own bemusement, as together we return to the shadows of noir. - 75
ReelViews
Easy isn't much of an acting challenge, but Washington's mix of charm and intensity creates an appealing personae.
