The Coen Brothers - Ranked

When the podcast Blank Check with Griffin and David started covering the filmography of the Coen Brothers, I decided to make it a little project that I would inevitably fall behind on and possibly abandon entirely, and that nearly happened. I kept up for the most part, writing articles about every film I hadn’t already written about over the years, but when they got to the solo projects of Macbeth, Drive-Away Dolls, and Honey Don’t! I knew I was in trouble. I toughed it out for Macbeth, and I eventually re-watched Dolls, but when it came to Honey Don’t! I couldn’t bring myself to rewatch it, much less write about it. After finally listening to their episode on the latest Coen film, I decided to give up the solo part of it and just focus on the collaborative films. 

As stated above, I’ve written about every one of their films now (feel free to use the search bar if you want my extensive thoughts on any of these), so the ranking will commence. Just know that the solo projects, even the one I like (Macbeth), would be at the bottom of the list if I included them. These arbitrary rankings I do are just for me, and they are largely based on which films I want to watch again and again. With the Coens, I don’t want to watch any of their solo films again. As for the rest, I plan on watching nearly all of them again. Hell, some of them I’ve already re-watched since going through the entire filmography. 

The Coens are among my favorite filmmakers, and the amount of their films that I unabashedly love is ridiculous. There is not a single film on this list I dislike; there are just a handful near the bottom that I don’t feel like revisiting any time soon. For the ones at the top, these are among my favorite comfort films of all time that I could put on no matter what my mood is. Enough of my rambling; here’s the list. I felt obligated to write something for each entry, I just kind of free-formed it when it came to that.

Not-that-fun fact: When I realized I picked two milk-related pics for the collage at the top, I spent about ten minutes trying to find milk pictures for all five films. Raising Arizona was easy enough, and I even found a moment in Llewyn Davis when he’s pouring milk for the cat, but I would have had to take a picture of a screen for that one, and it looked like shit, so I stopped there. Not sure if there’s a milk moment in Miller’s, but there might be. Did I discover some weird milk thing with the Coens?

1. Miller’s Crossing

Jesus, Tom! I’m just going to use this spot to remind people that in the Vinny Veducci skits on SNL Bobby Moynihan’s son character is based on Jon Polito’s son in this film. That’s some deep Bill Hader shit, I’m sure.

2. Raising Arizona

Originally, I thought this would be lower, but the part when Glenn’s kid writes “Fart” on Hi’s wall came up in a random conversation the other day, and it occurred to me how much this movie has infiltrated my very soul. Just kidding, but I do think about this movie a lot.

3. Inside Llewyn Davis

As I become a bigger and bigger Dylan fan as I get older, this movie just seems to get better.

4. The Big Lebowksi

I recently watched Cutter’s Way for the first time, and it made me realize this was kind of a silly version of that film, which made me like this even more.

5. No Country for Old Men

Of all the scenes to revisit with this one, I keep returning to the part when Jones visits his cousin at the end and he says, “I always figured when I got older, God would sorta come into my life somehow. And he didn’t.” That has always stuck with me.

6. A Serious Man

This is where I need to remind you that I love all of these, and if nearly any other filmmaker had made this movie, it would be their best film by a long shot. With the Coens, it’s not in my top five, and that’s crazy.

7. True Grit

This was the biggest revelation for me upon a rewatch. I just thought this was a good one, but not elite until I watched it again, and again. This is the Coens at the peak of their powers.

8. Fargo

This is a masterpiece or whatever, but it took me many viewings over the years to feel that. Still, it’s one I need to be in the right mood for to revisit.

9. O Brother, Where Are Thou?

I used to teach high school English, and I used this movie when we covered The Odyssey. So I’ve watched this a lot, and I’ve had to read a lot of mediocre essays about it, too. And it’s still a movie I love to watch once every couple years.

10. The Man Who Wasn’t There

Deakins in black and white. That’s all.

11. Barton Fink

Maybe one day this will click with me like it has with a lot of cinephiles. But so far it hasn’t. John Goodman is on fire in this, though. See what I did there?

12. Blood Simple

I like this more each time I watch it, but it’s not a very fun one. Not that it has to be. But it does have to be to make it rewatchable for me.

13. The Hudsucker Proxy

It’s fun just for capturing the Raimi-ness of their early careers. But just a little too silly at times for me.

14. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Just feels too much like a limited series rather than a film, and if I’m rewatching a Coen western, it’s going to be True Grit.

15. Hail, Caesar!

Another that gets better each time, but something still isn’t clicking with me like the rest of their filmography does. Maybe it’s because I’m not that into the golden age of Hollywood stuff.

16. The Ladykillers

I know most people would put this at the bottom, but I have a soft spot for it mainly due to Hanks’s weird ass performance and J.K. Simmons talking shit with Marlon Wayans.

17. Burn After Reading

Ah, we’ve reached the “what the fuck?” spot on the list. This is where I need to remind anyone reading this that I like every single one of these movies. It’s just that some of their straight up comedies don’t hit for me. Though that last scene makes the movie.

18. Intolerable Cruelty

Something had to be at the bottom. If there’s a movie in their filmography that feels like a director-for-hire job, it’s this one. There are still plenty of great moments, and Clooney is great, but yeah, I don’t plan on watching this ever again, and I’m a little annoyed that I’ve watched it twice now.

There you go. Agree? Disagree? Who cares? If you read this whole list, it probably made you want to rewatch at least one of these, so go do that.

Miller's Crossing - "Jesus, Tom!"

My favorite films of all time all share one quality: they can be studied deeply and have numerous theories applied to them, or you can shut your brain off and just enjoy the world of the film. And both styles of viewing are equally enjoyable. Miller’s Crossing is one of those films, making it one of my favorite Coen Brothers movies, possibly my overall favorite (I’ll post my ranking once I get to the end of their filmography in a few months). Most of the films in the Coen filmography can be viewed this way, but what sets Miller’s Crossing apart is that it almost dares you to analyze it.

“Jesus, Tom!”

The phrase “Jesus, Tom” is said eight times in the film (seven, if you’re watching the Criterion cut), along with a single utterance each for “Tom, Jesus,” and “Christ, Tom” along with countless variations of “Jesus” as an exclamation. It happens too many times to be ignored. Much like the focus on hats, it begs you to find meaning, even if the Coens don’t necessarily mean anything by it. 

For the record, I don’t buy their bullshit in interviews when they claim most of their potentially symbolic elements are just random. But I also don’t like filmmakers flat out telling audiences what things mean, so good for them. There’s probably a more solid theory to be worked out with the hats along the lines of them representing order and control. But the hat stuff never interested me that much. Tom as Jesus on the other hand…

Like most theories applied to Coen films, this isn’t clear cut or perfect by any means. This is not a one to one story of Christ. But the dialogue and Tom’s sacrifice for Leo make it worth thinking about. 

I don’t find Tom all that Christ-like beyond taking on other people’s problems and “saving” them. Instead, I like to think of Tom as Jesus if Jesus Christ was kind of a dick who didn’t give a shit. Tom is a bit of a drunken smartass asshole throughout the film, but you still root for him because he still seems better than those around him. It’s as if this world operates on a set course and only Tom’s actions can alter that course.

Tom is a selfless person, but not in a holy way. He’s self-destructive with his drinking and gambling, and though others offer to save him throughout the film, he insists on taking care of things himself, even if it means taking a beating or even dying. 

So when Leo sets a course for destruction by protecting Bernie, Tom realizes he must ruin his relationship with Leo (and Verna) to save Leo. But he doesn’t do this in a kind savior way. He’s a dick about it, because it’s annoying to him. He knows there are beatings in the future, all because Leo fell in love.

When Leo pronounced his love for Verna, Tom knew he could not salvage his friendship. First off, he’s in a relationship of his own with Verna, which is bad enough. But he also wants Leo to be happy more than he wants happiness for himself. 

You would think committing adultery would be enough to discredit a Jesus theory, but Tom is also a murderer. Killing Bernie might appear to be a cold-blooded moment of revenge for Tom, and it most likely is to a degree, but it’s also what saves Leo and Verna’s relationship. Tom knows there’s no going back to Verna after killing her brother. She’s now free to return to Leo, who Tom knew would always take her back because he’s a sap.  

Between all the supposed or real double crosses and the affair and the murder, Tom has created an untenable situation. By the time the smoke clears, his actions have led to Leo being back on top with no real threats, but he can’t be a part of it. Like Jesus, now that his mission of salvation is complete, it’s time to move on.

Obviously, it’s easy to poke holes in this theory, but it’s fun to think about it when you’ve watched a movie a dozen times and want to add new meaning to it. I still prefer to let the music of the dialogue of Miller’s Crossing wash over me (it’s really hard not to ask people “What’s the rumpus?” after watching this) rather than do the homework of counting how many times a character says “Jesus.” And the Coens would probably utterly dismiss any comparison between Jesus and Tom. But they know what they’re doing when they put that phrase in the script so many times. It’s there for humor (especially when they have Steve Buscemi say it), but they also like laying little theory traps in their movies for dorks like me, and I’ll gladly take the bait from time to time. And other times, I’ll just “let it drift.” With the Coens, both options are great.

Random Thoughts / Favorite Quotes

It is absolutely insane that Jon Polito was 38 when they filmed this. I would've guessed 50 at the youngest. In fact, Gabriel Byrne was born six months earlier than Polito, yet Polito calls him “kid” multiple times. He’s an all time young old dude.

“Youse fancy pants, all of youse.”

“Friends is a mental state.”

J. E. Freeman is giving an all-time sneering performance in this.

I always liked the Vinny Vedecci skits on SNL in which Bill Hader as Vedecci would interview celebrities for his Italian talk show but the guests don’t speak Italian. Every skit would include a moment when Vedecci’s son, played by Bobby Moynihan would interrupt, dressed in an old-timey sailor outfit. He asks a question and the guest’s response makes him cry, and Vedecci has to calm him down with cigarettes and wine. It’s random as shit, unless you’ve seen Miller’s Crossing. Johnny Caspar’s son first appears in a sailor outfit, and later in the film Caspar hits him, causing him to have a crying fit (though he doesn’t give him a cigarette or wine). Hader, a known cinephile, clearly decided to pay homage to Caspar’s son in the Vedecci skit. He’s never acknowledged it in any interview that I could find, though Moynihan’s Wikipedia page states that the character is based on Caspar’s son, but there isn’t a citation for this. Either way, I think it’s pretty clear that this is the source of the SNL character. It’s just one of those great, random things Hader injected into his comedy.

Mike Starr really looks like his feelings are hurt after Tom hits him with the chair. His “Jesus, Tom,” is the best in the film, and it’s crazy that the Coens cut it out of the Criterion version of the film. I’m fine, I guess, with them “tightening things up” or whatever with these releases, but cutting that line baffles me.

“You got a lip on you. That’s all right. I don’t generally care for it. But that’s all right.”

“I forgive you.”

“I didn’t ask for that, and I don’t want it.”

This film presents the violence of gangster films so commonplace that it’s comedic. First, characters just treat it as part of the life, as evidenced by Tom and O’Doyle’s reaction to gunfire erupting during the raid on Caspar’s club. They don’t duck and cover; they just shrug it off as the typical bullshit you deal with in this world. 

Then there’s the attempted hit on Leo, in which he’s granted infinite ammo when he retaliates. If the amount of ammo wasn’t a clear indicator of the humor, then the way the goon dies in the window should solidify it as he goes all herky-jerky and shoots a complete circle around himself (including his own toes). And there’s the Sam Raimi cameo with the twitching body and the ridiculous firepower in that scene which rivals something out of a Naked Gun movie. 

The treatment of violence in Miller’s Crossing as both brutal and comic is one of the many reasons why I love it. The Coens have this rare ability to ride this line between sincere gangster noir and a parody of it. It’s a bit of having your cake and eating it, too, but why the fuck shouldn’t you eat cake if you have it? That saying is stupid as shit, as is the criticism it implies.