Miller's Crossing

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For the Stargate Atlantis episode, see Miller's Crossing (Stargate Atlantis).
Miller's Crossing

The movie poster.
Directed by Joel Coen
Produced by Ethan Coen
Written by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Gabriel Byrne
Albert Finney
Marcia Gay Harden
John Turturro
Jon Polito
Music by Carter Burwell
Cinematography Barry Sonnenfeld
Editing by Michael R. Miller
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) Flag of the United States September 21, 1990
Running time 115 min.
Country US
Language English
Budget $14,000,000 (est.)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Miller's Crossing (1990) is a film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Turturro. The plot concerns a power struggle between two rival gangs and how the protagonist (Byrne) plays both sides off each other. In 2005, Time magazine chose Miller's Crossing as one of the 100 greatest movies ever made since the inception of the periodical. Time movie critic Richard Corliss called the movie a "noir with a touch so light, the film seems to float on the breeze like the Frisbee of a fedora sailing through the forest".

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The film is set during the Prohibition era in an unnamed northeastern US city (most of the exteriors were shot in New Orleans, taking advantage of that city's vintage architecture and streetcar line) where two warring gangs face off. Leo O’Bannon (Finney), a headstrong Irishman, controls the town, but his power is in danger of being usurped by a rival gang headed by an ambitiously violent Italian, Giovanni Gasparo, aka Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito), and his deadly henchman, Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman). Caught between the two warring sides is Tom Reagan (Byrne), an ambivalent, enigmatic protagonist who may or may not be plotting against his boss. Either way, he ends up caught in and partly causes a bloody gang war.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Influences

Miller's Crossing contains references to many other gangster films and film noir. Many of its situations, characters and dialogue are derived from the work of Dashiell Hammett, especially his novel The Glass Key and the 1942 movie that was adapted from it. Though several important plot points are different, there are significant parallels between the two stories, and many scenes and lines are culled directly from Hammett's novel.

Another important source was Hammett's novel Red Harvest, which details the story of a violent internecine gang war in a corrupt American city, a gang war initiated by the secret machinations of the main character. In addition to a similarity in plot, the Coen Brothers lifted entire sections of dialogue from the Hammett novel.

[edit] Production

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While writing the screenplay, the Coen brothers tentatively titled the film, The Bighead - their nickname for Tom Reagan. The first image they conceived of was that of a black hat coming to rest in a forest clearing; then, a gust of wind lifts it into the air, sending it flying down an avenue of trees. (This image begins the film's opening credit sequence.) Because of the intricate, dense plot, the Coens suffered from writer's block while working on the script. They went to stay with a close friend of theirs at the time, William Preston Robertson in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the hopes that a change of scenery might help. After watching Baby Boom one night, they returned to New York City and wrote Barton Fink (in three weeks) before resuming the Miller's Crossing screenplay. They alluded to Barton Fink in the film by naming Tom's apartment, the "Barton Arms."

The budget of the film was reported by film industry magazines as $14 million, but the Coens claimed in interviews that it was only $10 million. During the casting process, they had envisioned Trey Wilson (who played Nathan Arizona in the Coens' previous film Raising Arizona) as gangster boss Leo O'Bannon, but two days before the first day of principal photography he died from a brain hemorrhage. Albert Finney was subsequently cast in the role. The Coens also cast some of their family and friends in minor roles. Finney also appears in a very brief cameo as an elderly female ladies' room attendant. Sam Raimi, film director and friend of the Coens, appears as the snickering gunman at the siege of the Sons of Erin social club and Frances McDormand, Joel Coen's wife, appears as the Mayor's secretary. The role of The Swede was written for Peter Stormare, but he could not be cast since he was playing Hamlet at the time. J.E. Freeman was cast and the name of the character was changed to The Dane, but Stormare went on to be featured two Coen movies, Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

The Coens shot the movie in New Orleans because they were attracted to the look of the city. Ethan commented in an interview, "There are whole neighborhoods here of nothing but 1929 architecture. New Orleans is sort of a depressed city; it hasn’t been gentrified. There’s a lot of architecture that hasn’t been touched, store-front windows that haven’t been replaced in the last sixty years."[1]

During filming the New Orleans Police would arrive semi-regularly to assess fines for permits the film crew had already procured. Joel Coen commented to Premiere magazine during shooting, "They are acting precisely like the cops that we're depicting in the movie, and they don't even care!"

According to "You Know--For Kids.com", Miller's Crossing made only $5 million at the box office.

[edit] Soundtrack

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Miller's Crossing
Soundtrack by Carter Burwell
Released October 17, 1990
Genre Film score
Length 28:03
Label Varèse Sarabande
Professional reviews
Coen Brothers film soundtracks chronology
Raising Arizona
(1987)		 Miller's Crossing
(1990)		 Barton Fink
(1991)

The score to Miller's Crossing is written by Carter Burwell, the third of his collaborations with the Coen Brothers.

The main theme bears a striking resemblance to "Limerick's Lamentation" an Irish slow air dating back to the 16th century commemorating the fall of Limerick in 1691 to the English.[citation needed]

Selections of the soundtrack are reflective of the American 1920s era in which the film is set, with jazz band tunes such the "King Porter Stomp" and "Running Wild". The soundtrack also includes "Danny Boy", sung by Frank Patterson, an Irish tenor, which is played during the scene in which Albert Finney's character Leo evades and then kills his assassins with a Thompson submachine gun.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Opening Titles" - 1:53
  2. "Caspar Laid Out" - 1:57
  3. "A Man and His Hat" - 0:56
  4. "King Porter Stomp" - 2:09 (performed by Jelly Roll Morton)
  5. "The Long Way Around" - 1:39
  6. "Miller's Crossing" - 2:35
  7. "After Miller's Crossing" - 0:42
  8. "Runnin' Wild" - 3:06 (performed by Joe Grey)
  9. "All a You Whores" - 0:24
  10. "Nightmare in the Trophy Room" - 1:37
  11. "He Didn't Like His Friends" - 0:24
  12. "Danny Boy" - 4:05 (performed by Frank Patterson)
  13. "What Heart?" - 0:49
  14. "End Titles" - 4:44
  15. "Goodnight Sweetheart" - 0:54 (performed by Jimmy Campbell)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Levy, Steven. ""Shot By Shot," Joel and Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings", Plexus, 2000, pp. 75. 

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Coen Brothers films
1980s
Blood Simple (1984) · Raising Arizona (1987)
1990s
Miller's Crossing (1990) · Barton Fink (1991) · The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) · Fargo (1996) · The Big Lebowski (1998)
2000s
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) · The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) · Intolerable Cruelty (2003) · The Ladykillers (2004) · Tuileries, from Paris, je t'aime (2006) · No Country for Old Men (2007) · Burn After Reading (2008) · A Serious Man (2009)
2010s
Misc