Miller's Crossing | | Cast : | Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, Albert Finney | | Director : | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox Home Video | | Format : | Special Edition, Director's Cut, Collector's Edition | | Released Date : | October , 1990 | | DVD Released Date : | February 01, 2005 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | A brilliant, hard-boiled masterpiece | Content
 | It amazes me that this movie isn't better known -- it easily ranks alongside such classics as The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather (with a nice homage to that film's opening scene) and Chinatown. With a twisted, engrossing story reminiscent of a Chandler novel and dialogue ringing with a cool quotability that would make Tarantino green, Miller's Crossing is, without question, the standard of modern noir.
Although I've always liked their films, I've always thought that the Coen Brothers' movies were a little cold and distant, with more than a hint of pretentiousness. This has been a feature of everything they've done with the exceptions of Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing and Fargo -- you can enjoy their work but you really don't come away with much. Maybe it's their particular style -- foregoing the turgid melodrama that their contemporaries seem to think passes for 'real life', the Coen's rely on atmospherics and quirky characters. Sometimes their actors can overcome the quirkiness and develop a richness and intensity to the characters they're playing, sometimes they can't.
With Miller's Crossing, the Coens' were blessed with great actors possessing the talent to bring real depth to their characters -- every line of the flawless dialogue is delivered with such subtlety that it seems as though they're actually thinking about their words before speaking them. One pitfall of such snappy dialogue is that it can often become no more than bantering, the words becoming lost amidst their own coolness. In Miller's Crossing the actors transcend their own acting -- they seem to be real people, living in a real world.
Miller's Crossing is the finest movie the Coen Brothers have ever made, an unbelievable detailed, intelligently crafted film that can be watched over and over, each viewing revealing more depth and humanity than the last.
Man, I can't believe more people haven't seen this. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | A remake of the Glass Key ?: | Content
| To me, this film is an uncredited remake of Dashiell Hammett's "the Glass Key", and unlike the drippy version with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, this version deserves to be ranked right up there with 'the Maltese Falcon' and 'the Thin Man', completing the movie versions of Hammett's best novels. IF you love Hammett or these other films, this becomes a 'must own'.
I've read a number of profession reviews, and none of them has ever noted this about the film. But the relationship between the boss and his number two is the same, the rivalries over the girl and with the rival gang are there - down to the 'beating' scene in the warehouse and the shifting allegiances of the police chief and mayor. The girlfriend in the novel is a senator's daughter, but the movie's development of the Verna and Bernie characters are in keeping with the flow of the novel's story line. And if this isn't a remake of the Glass Key, then what's the thing with the hat ?
Again, this is a brilliant film. I've read many of the other reviews here, and I agree with the praise they heap on this film. I'd only add that this is the role of a lifetime for Marcia Gay Harden; no other role has ever demanded so much from her, or given her such a chance to shine. And I wish I knew where the film's version of Addagio in G comes from. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | Best Coen Movie Ever | Content
| This is a GREAT flick, those who hate it are art-house fops...and will find fault with everything. It has been 15 years, and this flick is still a fav. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 22, 2005 | | Summary | In The Best Traditions | Content
| This movie reminded me a great deal of "The Glass Key" by Dashiell Hammett. Essentially, the predicates are:
There is no part of our existence not touched by power and corruption.
We are violent and direct by nature.
Friendship and mercy can coexist with the first two.
However, ultimately, corruption based on lust or avarice will destroy our best impulses.
Great scene: Albert Finney knocks our hero down, again and again, progressively, through corridors lined with sycophants and party-goers, and no one lifts a voice or a finger.
Ah, the good old days... |
| Rating | | | Date | March 23, 2005 | | Summary | Overrated drama | Content
| Twisty script is ok, clever dialogs are ok, acting is ok.. What about the cinematography you get loads of in latter coen movies such as Barton Fink, O Brother, Fargo, Big Lebowski..? Miller's Crossing belongs to a theater play rather than cinema.. |
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