''CrissCross'' is a 1992 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Chris Menges Chris Menges BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is a British cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers. Life and career Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire, the son ...

and written by Scott Sommer, based on his homonymous novel. It stars

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. 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 Go ...

Arliss Howard Leslie Richard "Arliss" Howard (born October 18, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, and film director. He is known for his roles in the films ''Full Metal Jacket'' (1987), '' Tequila Sunrise'' (1988), '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' (19 ...

Keith Carradine Keith Ian Carradine ( ; born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film, and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's film ''Nashville'', Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series '' Deadwood ...

, Steve Buscemi, and David Arnott.

Plot

Divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

d mom Tracy Cross (Hawn) raises her 12-year-old son, Christopher (Arnott), in Key West in 1969 around the time of the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

moon landing. Chris narrates the film in voiceover 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 Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. However, he became seriously disturbed after bombing a civilian hospital and burned his uniform as a "killers costume". Falling into

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

, he deserts Chris and Tracy moving into a commune separating himself from society. Chris hasn't seen his father in three years and 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

* David Arnott as Chris Cross *

as Tracy Cross *

as Joe *

as John Cross *

James Gammon James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled " good ol' boy" types in numerous films and television series. Gammon portrayed Lou Brown, the manager in the movies '' Major League'' and ...

as Emmitt * Steve Buscemi as Louis

Location

Some scenes were shot in the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

/Key West surrounding areas. The Spanish monastery in the film is in

North Miami North Miami is a suburban city located in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, about north of Miami. The city lies on Biscayne Bay and hosts the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University, and the North Miami campu ...

and was brought to Miami from Spain in thousands of numbered individual stone blocks and re-built stone by stone.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crisscross 1992 films 1992 drama films Films about drugs Films directed by Chris Menges Films shot in Florida Films set in 1969 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films scored by Trevor Jones Films about mother–son relationships 1990s English-language films