Criss Cross - Überleben in Key West

This is one of those movies where the user rating seems strangely out of step with the comments on it. With one, barely worth the mention, exception, all those who have commented liked the film. I too found it a very pleasant diversion and a film that I have happily watched several times.

To my way of thinking young David Arnott does a terrific job and is absolutely charming. He plays Chris, a completely innocent kid who gets on the wrong side of the law, when he sees an opportunity to get enough cash to rescue his mother, Goldie Horn, from her new job as a stripper. It is a big ask to take a 12-year old lad with no acting experience to play what amounts to the lead in a movie and to narrate it too. It is also asking a lot for him to have to be filmed briefly in the buff in one scene. If he had a problem or two, it is hardly surprising. Nevertheless, it is his innocent charm which carries the film. There is also a nice chemistry between David Arnott and Goldie Horn.

I sincerely hope that this was not another case of the critics massacring a movie and with it a promising kid's career.

Criss Cross takes place in Key West, 1969. The biggest success of this movie is creating a realistic sense of time and place. You can practically feel the humidity and smell the ocean in this movie.

Goldie Hawn plays a divorced mother raising her 12 year old son, played by David Arnott. I don't know the full story, but I have read that quite a few critics made rather vicious comments about David's performance. Without even taking into consideration that this was his acting debut, I thought his acting was quite good. He was likable and charming. For once, we see a kid who actually acts and talks like a kid. When you see him working (three jobs, no less), it really looks like he is working, not just going through the motions.

It might have taken some work by the acting coaches to produce the performance we see on screen, but the end result is excellent.

David also narrates the movie. I liked his relaxed, laconic speaking style. It really set the tone for the movie.

Criss Cross is a movie that stays with me because it shows a vanished world, a place and time that can't be reproduced. It is a world of living simply. Life is hard, but there is a pervasive sense of hope. It reminded me of the first time I visited Spain's Costa del Sol in 1983. The "outside world" hadn't made a dent in many of the smaller towns. You could walk into a small, family run store and see merchandise that must have been on the shelves for many years. The pace was slow, and in retrospect the days all seemed sunny and warm.

That is how this movie will make you feel.

Young boy in the Florida Keys in late 1969 keeps tabs on his exotic dancer mom while mourning their separation from his Vietnam-scarred father. A curious choice for star Goldie Hawn, who must've seen this as an opportunity to stretch a little bit without verging too far from her proved persona; newcomer David Arnott is well-cast as Hawn's son and has an amazingly deep voice, a forthright manner and an easy gait (he's really the star who is born here). The script, which is likably littered with beach bums and hotel-residing characters, isn't particularly pointed, nor does it leave us with much at the end, but Chris Menges' direction pulls every ounce of beauty from it. When Goldie's car breaks down, it's on a concrete bridge overlooking a melancholy stretch of ocean; when Hawn and sports-writer Arliss Howard have a heart-to-heart, it's on the beach during a brilliant red sunset. This great-looking picture is a real beauty, although it is lackadaisically paced, extremely low-keyed and takes a while to expose its heart and reach its audience. *** from ****

Goldie Hawn tackles a surprising role here, as a mom from the hard side of the tracks, and carries it off with notable success.

The setting is Key West in 1969. In the film, Goldie plays a single mom who's reduced to working in strip clubs after her husband, a former Navy pilot played by Keith Carradine, succumbs to PTSD, descends into drunkennes and eventually goes off to live in a monestary. At first, Goldie just slings drinks at the strip clubs. But in order to fulfill the dream, shared by her and her son, of once again living in a house rather than a run-down hotel, she graduates to bump 'n grind to bring in more money.

The son, played very well by David Arnott, is a 12-year old who is naturally wounded by his father's absence. He also becomes deeply upset when he discovers his mother is stripping. In addition, a new man enters her life, a writer played by Arliss Howard. This generates some resentment from the son.

The son, Chris, has a busy life beyond this. He hangs out with his good friend Buggs and goes out with his sister Termina. He also does many side-jobs to help out with money. One of his jobs involves delivering fish regularly from a ship at sea to the hotel cook. On one of his delivery runs he discovers that the fish are filled with cocaine. Thus begins the true plot of the movie, as Chris devises a scheme to sell drugs in order to save his mother from stripping.

This was the most unfortunate aspect of the film. While the basic concept of the plot wasn't bad, it culminates in a scene that fails to make sense. Since the screenplay was by Scott Sommer, based on his novella, one imagines he had it this way in the source material, but then again it may have been added for cinematic effect and structural closure. Basically, it didn't work.

Aside from this, the movie was well-played and largely enjoyable. The Key West locations are beautiful and sunny. You can almost feel the heat and humidity. Goldie looks great, and she drives a '59 Chrysler Imperial that's pretty cool even though it's seen better days. The overall milieu and characters are believable. David Arnott, in his first and, unfortunately, last role, gives an understated performance that should have launched a successful career. The soundtrack was actually cool enough to include Count Five's 'Psychotic Reaction.'

The pace of the film is slow, even lazy at times. This usually serves the film well but does lead to some leaden areas that shoot the boredom factor way up. There is also a lot of voice-over narration by Arnott. While it's nice to know what's in the character's head, they go overboard with it.

In the end this is a flawed film of small scope. It won't land on your list of classics but, despite its flaws, its earnestness, emotional complexity, good performances and great locations make it a pleasant way to spend a couple hours.

Considering that the story-line sounds like the typical fodder for the women's movie networks, this film is quite well done. The characters and performances are pretty believable, the kids are fairly kid-like, and for those of you who have written off Goldie Hawn, she's quite nicely un-Goldie-Hawn-ish. This is not a great film, but it's a pretty good probability that there is nothing better on cable at that moment.