Miller's Crossing ( * * * * * )
The Coen Brothers have made a lot of great movies over the years (and only since Hudsucker Proxy have any of them been stinkers) but to me this is the greatest. Because no two Coen brothers movies are alike--and most seem to exist in a genre of their own--they have become their own genre. That's a neat trick, if you can pull it off.
The Acting: Everybody's great. Really. Especially Gabriel Byrne, who is cooler than cool.
The Story: To describe this as a mob movie doesn't really do it justice, but that's basically what it is. It's like a mob movie from an alternate universe, though, with its own physics and terminologies ("high hat", "Yegg" and "twist" come to mind). I had to watch this a few times as a kid to figure out who did what to whom. Rarely are such complex character interrelationships found outside a novel.
The Direction: Joel and Ethan made a manly movie about men and their hats. The name comes from the central location of the movie--both chronologically, emotionally, and possibly geographically as well--where a key hit doesn't take place. The characters are all distinctly different, original, and motivated by their internal drives, not by the phony requirements of the plot.
Overall: For the record, the scene where Albert Finney's house is attacked and he defends his life with a Thompson Gun to the tune of "Danny Boy" is my all-time favorite scene in any movie, but that's only one reason Miller's Crossing ranks so high on my list. There just isn't a not-great scene in the whole movie.
Tredekka Rules:
The Acting: Everybody's great. Really. Especially Gabriel Byrne, who is cooler than cool.
The Story: To describe this as a mob movie doesn't really do it justice, but that's basically what it is. It's like a mob movie from an alternate universe, though, with its own physics and terminologies ("high hat", "Yegg" and "twist" come to mind). I had to watch this a few times as a kid to figure out who did what to whom. Rarely are such complex character interrelationships found outside a novel.
The Direction: Joel and Ethan made a manly movie about men and their hats. The name comes from the central location of the movie--both chronologically, emotionally, and possibly geographically as well--where a key hit doesn't take place. The characters are all distinctly different, original, and motivated by their internal drives, not by the phony requirements of the plot.
Overall: For the record, the scene where Albert Finney's house is attacked and he defends his life with a Thompson Gun to the tune of "Danny Boy" is my all-time favorite scene in any movie, but that's only one reason Miller's Crossing ranks so high on my list. There just isn't a not-great scene in the whole movie.
Tredekka Rules:
- Rule 6: Over The Top Acting Award--to John Polito as ethics-obsessed psychopath Johnny Caspar. +2 stars. He follows the line "ALWAYS PUT ONE IN THE BRAIN!" with genial advice about shaving in cold water in the very next scene. Also, +2 stars to Gabriel Byrne, who plays with astonishing honesty a character who does nothing but lie.
- Rule 16: The Paul Verhoeven "More Blood!" Award--goes to the Danny Boy scene, and the dude with the chandelier. You know the one. +1 star.
Tredekka Score: ( * * * * * )
posted by Tredekka at 10:29 AM
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