The Ladykillers (2004 film)
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- This article is about the 2004 remake. For the 1955 original, see The Ladykillers.
| The Ladykillers | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Produced by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Written by | Ethan Coen & Joel Coen William Rose (1955 screenplay) |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Irma P. Hall Marlon Wayans J.K. Simmons Tzi Ma Ryan Hurst |
| Music by | T-Bone Burnett Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Editing by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 26, 2004 |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Vietnamese |
| Budget | $35,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Ladykillers is a 2004 remake of the 1955 Ealing Studios comedy of the same name. The remake was by the Coen Brothers and starred Tom Hanks. It co-starred J. K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma (Rush Hour), Ryan Hurst (Remember The Titans), and Irma P. Hall. It is the first Coen film in which Ethan and Joel Coen share both producing and directing credit; previously Ethan had always been credited as producer, and Joel as director. The movie soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett features traditional gospel music composed by Thomas A. Dorsey and Blind Willie Johnson, inter alia, sets the tone of the film much as American roots music did for the previous Coen work O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
In sharp contrast to the original, the remake was largely a critical flop, receiving mixed reviews both in the United States and the United Kingdom [1], [2] but some positive reviews elsewhere such as in France [3]. In addition, the film was a financial failure.
[edit] Characters
- G.H. Dorr Ph.D (Tom Hanks) - The wise mastermind of the casino heist. He is the chatty southern dandy who rents Munson's apartment as a stage for the robbery. He is very articulate, charming and is somewhat pretentious.
- Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) - A well-meaning, god-fearing elderly widow.
- "The General" (Tzi Ma) - The mute owner of the Hi-Ho Donut store in the town. He is a smoker (which Munson scolds him for), and skilled in tunneling. His nickname supposedly means he is a retired general, given his knowledge of killing. The group looks to him for advice and he thoughtfully responds with short answers.
- Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons) - A demolitions expert who suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which is comically portrayed in the movie). In the movie, he is frequently bickering with Gawain MacSam.
- Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans) - The foul-mouthed janitor of the Bandit Queen Casino and the inside man. He bickers with Garth Pancake several times in the movie.
- Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst) - The brawn of the group, and a football player, who is not very intelligent. He seldom speaks, and he often refers to Dorr as "Coach". However, Lump might be the only one with some resemblence of a conscience.
In the Hollywood remake the setting is moved from London to Saucier, Mississippi, home of a riverboat casino. Hanks plays Professor G. H. Dorr a pretentious Southern Dandy who is the brains behind a gang which plans to rob the Bandit Queen, a casino. To that end the Professor rents a room in a house near to the casino from the unsuspecting, god-fearing widow Mrs Marva Munson (Hall), from there the gang plan to tunnel into the vault of the casino and steal the money. To hoodwink Mrs Munson the gang pretend to be musicians using the cellar as a rehearsal space.
After the successful theft, the real conflict of the movie begins. Mrs Munson finds out what her tenants have done and tells Dorr to either return the money to the casino and go to church to repent their sins or she will call the police. Not willing to give up the money, the gang decide to murder her and draw straws to do so. Some of the more tender-hearted criminals cannot bring themselves to follow through with the plan and eventually they double-cross each other. In the end, the gang members kill each other, or die in the process of attempting to kill Mrs Munson. All the while she sleeps through it, oblivious to the proceedings. When she wakes, the gang have 'disappeared', leaving all the money behind. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and jokingly tell her to keep the money as it was insured. Ironically, the insurance was one of Professor Dorr's justifications for the theft.
[edit] Trivia
- Echoing the original 1955 film, the piece which the gang pretend to play is Boccherini's Minuet (3rd movt) from String Quintet in E, Op.11 No.5.
- As the gang begins to dump the corpses into the river to dispose of them, a garbage barge conveniently passes underneath each fallen robber as he falls from the bridge. Replacing the freight train used in the original 1955 film.
- The judge in the previous Coen Brother's film Intolerable Cruelty is also called Marva Munson.
- The G.H. Dorr character claims to be a professor of music at the University of Mississippi which he says is in Hattiesburg. However in real life the University of Mississippi is in Oxford where there is a music professor named "George Dor".
- Bruce Campbell makes a cameo appearance in the film, as in many Coen brother films, this time portraying a Humane Society worker.
[edit] External links
- You Know, For Kids! The Ladykillers page
- The Ladykillers (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Ladykillers (2004) at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Ladykillers (2004) at Box Office Mojo
- Official site for the 2004 movie
- Coenesque: The Films of the Coen Brothers
