Crocevia della morte

... 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.

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.

It's the Prohibition era. Leo O'Bannon (Albert Finney) is an Irish mob boss who controls the city. Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) is his right hand man. Verna (Marcia Gay Harden) has the boss wrapped around her little finger. Only Leo doesn't know that Verna is also sleeping with Tom. Italian rival Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) wants to kill bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) who's been taking advantage of him. Tom tries to get Leo to give up Bernie but he's Verna's brother and Leo refuses. Leo and Johnny go to war. Leo kicks Tom out when he reveals his affair with Verna. Tom goes to work for Caspar and he's commanded to execute Bernie in the woods at Miller's Crossing.

It's the third big great movie from the Coen brothers and they show a real mastery of the cinematic arts. It is beautifully shot, ultra violent, and the actors are some of the best around. It is hard-boiled gangster noir and one of the best for fans of the genre. The mannerisms and dense dialog can put off some people and may lose some who don't pay enough attention. There are no good guys in this story. It is strictly anti-hero stuff. That may also put off some people. The audience is asked to pull for Gabriel Byrne even though he's still a gangster, just a more reasonable one.

In my opinion, "Miller's crossing" is by far the top work of the Coen brothers, and one of the best movies in the history of cinema. The huge Coens' talent being now fully recognized, I hope that this masterpiece will get the credit it deserves.

The plot deals with the war between Irish and Italian gangsters, caused by the Jewish crook Bernie (the Coens like to joke with the rivalry of different ethnic groups). The crook's affectionate sister Verna is the mistress of Leo O' Bannion, the boss of the Irish gang, who consequently opposes to have him killed by the Italians. But Tom Reagan, the old mate and factotum of O' Bannion, has different plans... The story is extremely interesting, exciting, entertaining. There are no flaws in the development of the plot, despite its complications (a homage to the intricate classic film-noirs of the Golden Age). The script is sharp, cynical, sarcastic, full of memorable lines and of black sense of humor, with many delightful subtleties: the celebrated Coens' wit at its best. The photography is magnificent and very original. The music is great. The action scenes are superbly filmed: violence explodes suddenly and unexpectedly. The finale is perfect and splendidly crowns the movie.

Tom Reagan, played by Gabriel Byrne, is one of the most memorable characters I have seen on the screen. A gangster who tries to use intelligence instead of violence (with alternate success), following a peculiar moral code. Cynical but devoted to friendship. A systematic liar, but capable of generosity. Despite his skills, he is not ambitious, he prefer to be subject to a big-shot. And then, with all his smartness, he strangely chooses to destroy himself with alcohol and gambling. A magnificent psychological design. With this sober, brilliant, subtle performance, worth of a Bogart in great shape, Byrne just shows that he is the best actor in the world (my opinion, of course).

The aged Irish boss O' Bannion - Albert Finney is the opposite of Reagan: naive, sometimes dumb, with a strong love and childish attachment for his girl-friend, he is confident only in his own charisma and in brutal force. Speaking of brutal force, he will show in a gun-fight that he's still the number one, in spite of years passing (incidentally: this is one of the best action scenes I've ever seen).

Also the other characters are shaped with outstanding intelligence and care, from the main ones (Bernie, his sister, the Italian boss, his right-hand Dane) to the last of the thugs. The whole cast is fantastic: Finney, Turturro, Marcia Gay Hayden, Polito, Freeman and all the other excellent supporting actors. A special mention for the scaring gangster Eddie Dane - J.E. Freeman: he really makes you shriver. Turturro is a bit histrionic for my taste, but this is his style of acting, suited for the role of the crook, mean and coward, but cunning and dangerous as a snake.

To summarize, in "Miller's Crossing" fun, drama, action, suspense, mystery are masterly blended with deeper themes such as love, friendship and human loneliness. This movie is splendid, magnificent, unique, don't miss it.

To be honest, I did not truly understand or rightfully digest Miller's Crossing until hours and even days after I watched the film for the very first time. Going into the film, I knew it was a Coen Brothers film and was about gangsters. That's all I knew. Would it be compared to Goodfellas (which ironically was released the same weekend in 1990) or The Godfather? The opening scene where the two gang (Irish versus Italian) rivals met actually was an homage to the Francis Ford Coppola classic. In hindsight, I learned what a powerful film this was. It is a Coen Brothers film in every sense. That means sharp, lyrical dialogue, impressive if slightly oddball characters, and a style unique to the Coen Brothers. The cinematography from Barry Sonnenfeld is very impressive. The sequence with Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro in the forest is a sweat-inducing example of how Sonnenfeld shot the film. Being labeled as a gangster film, I was mildly surprised about the lack of action sequences. There are some, yes, including a fiery shootout with Albert Finney, but the Coens used their words to craft the story. Do be warned. When violence occurs, it is abrupt and sudden. That adds to the power of the story. When you have the head of the Italian gang talking about "business ethics," you might want to put your thinking caps on. The Coens have their obvious gangster film influences, particularly from those made in the 1930's, but they also have their film noir influences. If anything, this film is a film noir packaged up as a gangster film. The film goes at its own pace and the Coens embellish in their style. People expecting something a la Goodfellas should prepare for disappointment. I originally felt let down, but the power of the Coens got to me in hindsight.

The Coen Brothers last film was the delightfully quirky Raising Arizona. If anyone can maintain that level of quirkiness despite a complete 180-degree genre shift, it is Joel and Ethan Coen. I would not necessarily say humor is prevalent, but it has a similar tone. These characters are more oddball than one would expect in something like...The Godfather. Yet, there are scenes of tension that rank with the best of them, especially that forest scene. I was ready to say goodbye to John Turturro's character immediately. But the Coens, of course, are smarter than that. Goes to show how masterful they are at writing and directing scenes. It is impressive they were able to complete this dense script. They had to put the script aside because of writer's block. Before they came back to this script, they wrote their next movie about a guy who has writer's block in a span of three weeks. I know some people were irked but I liked how the film's location was unknown. It was shot in New Orleans given its Prohibition-era architecture. In addition, this is a fine character study. It is about one man, Tom, who has no ambition or drive. It is about a man who plays both sides because he wants to. He uses intelligence rather than violence. He has an ambiguous moral code. And, of course, a woman is involved. A woman that drives the deeds of the Irish boss.

In this unknown city, all we know is that there is the gang war that takes place in the 1930's. Leo (Albert Finney) and his lieutenant Tom (Gabriel Byrne) control the city. Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) heads the Italian gang and drives for power. He approaches Leo to ask to kill lowlife swarm Bernie (John Turturro). Leo says no which upsets Tom. From Leo's viewpoint, Bernie is Verna's (Marcia Gay Harden) brother. Verna is Leo's girl, so we see the conundrum here. It turns out that Tom was fooling around with Verna and is kicked out of the mob. Because of boredom, he decides to join Caspar's gang. He arouses Caspar's right-hand man, Eddie Dane's(J. E. Freeman) suspicion when he discovers he still contacts Verna and Bernie. Dane grows even more suspicious when Tom is personally ordered to kill Bernie. But did that really happen?

The Coen Brothers are able to make sharp, cynical screenplays but the actors need to breathe the words to life. They do more than that here. Gabriel Byrne never has been better. The film revolves around his character, and he has some fascinating arcs. His character is not out of place in a Humphrey Bogart film-noir. In a sense, this role reminded me of some of Bogart's more complex roles. Thankfully, Byrne is surrounded by a competent supporting cast. Bernie is written for John Turturro's capabilities! He is swarmy, a coward, and an important humor source. I did like Albert Finney's charismatic performance, even if his character is a little too naïve for my liking.

Coming off a successful picture in Raising Arizona, the Coen Brothers shifted gears to create a compelling gangster drama that requires patience. They maintained their style that gotten them popular in Hollywood. The cinematography is important for the storytelling (that forest scene, I tell ya). Let's not forget Carter Burwell's musical contributions. His score is based off traditional Irish music. Yes, you will hear "Danny Boy." I originally had a sense of disappointment because it is not a quick, right-in-your-face epic like Goodfellas. This is a slow burn that will capture you in a different way.

My Grade: B+