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A troubled production history notwithstanding, BIG TROUBLE remains a lighthearted updating of the classic film noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Alan Arkin stars as Leonard Hoffman, an insurance salesman and father of triplets. When it becomes apparent that his dream of sending his three sons to Yale is financially impossible, opportunity presents itself in the form of Blanche (Beverly D'Angelo), sexy wife of Steve Rickey (Peter Falk), who convinces Leonard to trick her husband into signing an obscure life insurance plan that promises a huge payoff if he dies while falling from a train. After the mission is seemingly accomplished, Steve reappears, confusing matters, and thereby sending Leonard's life into an official tailspin. Director John Cassavetes's is credited as the director of BIG TROUBLE; he actually stepped in as a replacement. Although the film is therefore not a unique Cassavetes document, it manages to breeze along, guided by the performances of Falk (a Cassavetes standby) and Arkin, stars of 1979's THE IN-LAWS.
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