मिलर्स क्रॉसिंग

There are many new movies that have been released on DVD this year. Forget them, and pick up a copy of this movie. It has only recently become available on DVD. The unavailability of this movie on DVD for so many years has been a sin. I own this movie on laser disc and it is one of the reasons that I still have a laser disc player.

I cannot do a better job than the other reviewers have in pointing out what make this film so outstanding. Just let me repeat the usual: The casting is flawless; the dialogue is on the mark, with dozens of juicy bon mots; the humor is sublime; the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous; and the plot, while complex, is still comprehensible enough not to detract from the action.

This movie is as close to flawless as a movie can be.

And one more thing, this movie has nothing in common with either "Yojimbo" (which was itself a rip-off of Dashiel Hammett's "Red Harvest") or "Fistful of Dollars". Well, OK, I'll grant that they both take place in towns dominated by two strong gangs of criminals (as if that's never been the case in any other movie,) but the other plot elements and the dialogue are completely original.

**** out of ****

When someone asks "give me a great movie to watch that I probably haven't seen," this is my go-to response. To me, this is the Coen Brothers finest movie, a brilliantly crafted mob film with incredibly witty dialogue, beautiful sets, excellent characters, and wonderful plot twists. Tom Reagan, "the man who walks behind the man and whispers in his ear," is one of the greatest gangsters ever created, and the crazy love triangle of Tom, Leo, and Verna is just one of the great sub-plots in a movie FILLED with "up is down, black is white" moments. Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, and Jon Polito are stellar, the "Danny Boy" scene is a classic ("the old man is still an artist with a Thompson"), and my only regret here is that I can't give this masterpiece the "12" it deserves. Two thumbs up, as high as I can hold them.

One of the great undiscovered gems of recent movie history. In my opinion, Miller's crossing is easily the best of the Coen brothers' films, and one of the true classics of American cinema.

On the surface, the story of warring gangsters in 1920's America is one that has been told many times before. But never before has it been handled with such artistry and precision. The (rather violent) action scenes keep the movie going along at a brisk pace, and the camera work is every bit the equal of "Fargo".

I became a lifelong Gabriel Byrne fan as a result of this movie, despite his best efforts to disappoint me since. Byrne's Tom Reagan is a compellingly amoral character, who takes more unchallenged beatings than perhaps anyone in film history. Men beat him up. Women beat him up. Collection men, bookies, gangsters, and even his boss gives him a terrible thrashing, and he hardly lifts a finger in opposition (with one notably humorous exception).

Albert Finney is tremendous as Leo, the local crime boss. His "Danny Boy" scene should go down in film history as one of the greatest pieces ever filmed. Jon Polito is at once absurdly funny and threateningly psychotic as Johnny Caspar, Leo's rival in the turf war. J.E. Freeman, John Turturro, and Marcia Gay Harden all lend strong support in a cast that was assembled and performs to near perfection.

I will never understand why this film has not received more recognition and acclaim. As an example of the modern style of Film Noir, it has no equals ("The Usual Suspects" would rate a close second). Among gangster films, only "The Godfather" can compete, and "Miller's Crossing" features superior pacing and dialog, although it lacks "The Godfather's" epic proportions. Perhaps someday this film will receive, like "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Touch of Evil", the belated accolades it so richly deserves.

... because in typical Coen brothers style, this is a very unconventional tale told in an unconventional way.

It's the Prohibition era in some big city, probably in the northern United States. It seems like it is Chicago, but the entire structure of city government is corrupt right down to the cops, so the city is unnamed. Gangster Leo (Albert Finney) is in a perpetual fight for power with gangster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). Leo has the upper hand at the moment, but Caspar is planning to make big time trouble.

Leo's right-hand man Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) is confused. He keeps having sex with Leo's girl Verna, but he's obviously in love with Leo. With Verna, Reagan seems to be "anger bedding" her - to be euphemistic about this - as a means of proving to himself that Verna isn't worthy of Leo. There's almost a jealousy there - of Leo, not Verna. This confusion explains why he is so emotionally flat about everything and everyone except when it comes to Leo. That is where he shows true passion. He uses Verna for sex and for information, but at no time does Reagan do anything that indicates it runs deeper than that with her.

So why is it hard to rate? I found the bro-mance compelling, but to see the forest for the trees you have to wade through the over complicated plot with many supporting characters that just don't make an impression so that it is hard to keep track of what is going on. And the lingo - I suppose this is trying to be like an R rated WB 30s gangster picture, except I am a fan of such films and I simply can't understand what the gangsters are saying. They are using lots of expressions that were made up for this film. Example - "What's the rumpus?". What does that even mean?

On the positive side, the art design and cinematography are wonderful as is the choreography of the more important scenes. One supporting character who actually is memorable? John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum, Verna's brother. He's both a bully and a despicable coward, depending upon whether or not he thinks he has the upper hand. And he is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is.

So I'd recommend this one, but if you want to get all of the details of the plot, you might need to watch it twice.

In my modest opinion, this film is the Coen's greatest achievement to date, even greater than Fargo. I was happy to see so many recent entries on this page, because that means something I predicted long ago is coming true: film buffs are finally "discovering" Miller's Crossing, an underground masterpiece that has dwelt in obscurity for ten years.

The central motif of the hat, and Johnny Caspar's preoccupation with the altitude thereof, brings to mind another underrated masterpiece, Drugstore Cowboy. The complex Jungian symbolism of forests, doors and especially hats is my favorite aspect of the film.

The only criticism I've heard of this film (and I think it's B.S.) has to do with the "over-acting"--a criticism that has been directed at more than one Coen film. Admittedly, Coen screenplays read more like novels than movie scripts and are not always actor-friendly. Gabriel Byrne, who appears in all but two scenes, does a great job playing an extremely complicated character. Tom Reagan is a smart guy surrounded by morons, and exists in a scenario where only muscle counts and brains don't. And he hates it. And he hates himself because he knows he's all brains and no heart. He tries to redeem himself through a selfless devotion to Leo, whom he hates. All this makes for an immensely challenging part, and the film could easily have fallen apart with a lesser actor than Gabriel Byrne playing the lead.

But the acting is great from top to bottom: Marcia Gay Harden (in her big screen debut) as the hard-boiled moll; Jon Polito as the maniacal Johnny Caspar; Steve Buscemi as the hop-addicted Mink; J.E. Freeman, who is such a marvellous screen villain you have to wonder why he's still toiling in obscurity; and Albert Finney, an actor who embodies the term "screen presence." But the Grand Prix goes to John Turturro, who carries the most powerful scene in the movie: when Tom takes Bernie out to Miller's Crossing to "whack" him.

Another criticism frequently levelled against the Coens is that they are preoccupied with "scenes" and don't focus enough on plot coherence. This too is an invalid criticism, as far as I'm concerned. Some people are irritated by a film that you have to watch a couple times to fully understand, but that's precisely the kind of film that I love, and that's why I love Miller's Crossing so much. Every time I see it I pick up on something that I didn't catch before.

Speaking of "scenes", the "Danny Boy" scene is the best. The second best is the following scene, where Tom and Terry walk through a hallway lined with goons. The third is the police raid on the Sons of Erin Club, in which Leo takes on the entire police force.

I'll resist the temptation to call Miller's Crossing "The Greatest Film of All Time"--because who has the right to say that? But I must say that it is my favorite film of all time.