The Big Easy proves anything but for NYC private eye Mickey Rourke, as his missing-person case for intimidating client Robert De Niro—whose character’s name is, ahem, Louis Cyphre—takes him from 1955 Harlem into a spicy New Orleans gumbo of voodoo, drugs, and the alluring Lisa Bonet. Adapting William Hjortsberg’s novel, Alan Parker ratchets up the horrific imagery and psychological distress by placing them adjacent to the explicit sexuality.