Crisscross

Starring:Goldie Hawn, Arliss Howard, James Gammon, David Arnott (II), Keith Carradine, J.C. Quinn, Steve Buscemi, Paul Calderon, Cathryn de Prume, Nada Despotovich, David Anthony Marshall, Deirdre O'Connell, Anna Levine, Neil Giuntoli, Christy Martin, Damian Vantriglia, Derrick Velez, Frank Military, John Nesci, Annie McEnroe
Director: Chris Menges
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Comic actress Goldie Hawn takes a serious turn in the affecting coming-of-age story CrissCross. Hawn (Shampoo, The First Wives Club) plays Tracy Cross, a single mother in Key West, Florida, who turns to stripping to support her son Chris (newcomer David Arnott). Meanwhile, Chris struggles to find himself, faced with a father (Keith Carradine, Choose Me, Nashville) who abandoned him, his mother's new boyfriend (Arliss Howard, Full Metal Jacket), and the temptation of selling drugs. The plot elements may sound melodramatic, but CrissCross keeps everything real with detailed performances, attention to the mundane (but telling) aspects of daily life, and a view of human nature that goes beyond the good-guy/bad-guy simplicity of most movies. CrissCross captures some of the ambiguity of human life, and that's an impressive feat. Also featuring brief appearances by character actors Steve Buscemi, Paul Calderon, and Anna Levine Thomson. --Bret Fetzer

Description

OscarÂ(r) winner* Goldie Hawn delivers a stunning performance as a single mother struggling to raise her son in this "sharp [and] compassionate" (Los Angeles Times) drama. With a terrific cast that includes Arliss Howard and Keith Carradine, CrissCross is a powerful, "emotionally penetrating portrait" (The New Yorker) of one family's unbreakable bond.In the summer of 1969, cash-strapped Tracy Cross (Hawn) must support her 12-year-old son Chris (David Arnott) by working as a dancer in a sleazy Key West bar. Chris supplements the family's income by making local deliveries. But when his activities drag him deeper and deeper into a dangerous world of crime, Tracy must risk everything to save him.*1969: Supporting Actress, Cactus Flower

Customer Reviews:

Coming of age story falls flat.......2004-12-21

Hawn is a single mother trying to raise her 12-year-old son by bartending, waitressing, and stripping in a small coastal Florida town in the summer of 1969 (there are various mentions of the impending Apollo 11 moon landing and the war in Vietnam throughout the film). The son, struggling to deal with his mother's nightly activities and a weakening hope that his father will return, tries to raise money to help his situation by ripping off a drug smuggling scam and selling the goods on the side. The Florida scenery is very appealing and well shot by former award-winning cinematographer-turned director Chris Menges, but what might have been a touching story gets bogged down in a somewhat convoluted and hard-to-swallow plot. The talents of veteran actors Goldie Hawn, Keith Carradine, and Arliss Howard are wasted here, and young David Arnott gives a particulary wooden and at times annoying performance. Based on a novella by Scott Sommer (he also wrote the screenplay).

Add A Star If You Like Goldie Hawn.......2004-10-02

If you do, you'll be in hog heaven as Hawn portrays a piece of beach trash who tries a little late to mend her ways. The relationship between her character and that of her son, who looks to be around 11 or 12 in the film, is one of the enduring accounts in the movies of a mother trying to stay too young and a boy overcome by urges he didn't know he had. The young actor who plays the boy, David Arnott, does a fine job maneuvering between trying to be just a kid and having to deal with unexpected adult complexities. He breaks your heart as he attempts valiantly to be the father to the eternally youthful and hedonistic character Goldie Hawn plays, she should be the mother but she doesn't know how to. And Arliss Howard is in the movie too, always underrated, with killer looks and a mean streak that gives him a bit of Warren Oates-like excitement. This movie tries to stretch Goldie Hawn's acting chops a bit but I think people will always prefer her in kind of ditsy comedy roles. This one hit too close to home for her many fans to enjoy it, and there aren't really enough boy-watchers out there to have made this a huge hit on account of the then-unknown David Arnott.

It's the kind of American movie that was being made in the age of the New American Cinema of the 1970s, a character-driven study of laziness, cruelty and unexpected courage, more akin perhaps to SUGARLAND EXPRESS or SHAMPOO than to any of Goldie's other films. She and Arnott should team up for another picture today, it could be a hit, if enough marketing muscle is leveraged to get those asses into the seats as they say.

Blonde..........2003-02-21

A 'coming of age' movie of sorts, this particular feature is a tad slow for my general taste. However, David Arnott is so incredibly gorgeuos, I find myself watching this one again and again. A good and believable young actor he is as well. I've always enjoyed Goldie Hawn, which makes this one well worth owning in my book.

Crocked Chriscross.......2002-12-06

So-so movie with so-so acting - think of an unsuccessful cross between one of those many made-for-television grade-B drama films on the Lifetime Channel and an ABC Afterschool Special and you have a general idea what the film is like.

See on cable if you must, don't waste your time renting it out or buying it.

Correction.......2001-01-26

Just in case anyone is confused, Arliss Howard does not play Goldie Hawn's son. Arliss Howard is an MAN, not a teenage boy.

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