Director's Series: MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)

Director's Series: The Coen Bros. MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)

After successfully Writing and Directing a Film Noir (RAISING ARIZONA) and a Comedy (RAISING ARIZONA), the Coen Bros. turned their attention to one of their favorite genres - the Mobster film - with MILLER’S CROSSING.

Set in the prohibition era 1920’s, MILLER’S CROSSING tells the tale of rival gangster mobs and the “fixer” that is trying to keep the peace - between them.

Perfectly cast (again) by the Coens', Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) stars as fixer Tom Regan, trying to keep the piece between his Boss’ Leo O’Bannon (5x Oscar Nominee Albert Finney - let’s go with…ERIN BROCKOVICH) and rival gang leader Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito, TV’s HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET). To make matters worse, Tom is having an affair with Leo’s girlfriend Verna (Academy Award winner for POLLACK, Marcia Gay Harden) who’s brother, Bernie (John Turturro who we will be seeing a lot in this retrospective, so let’s say THE BIG LEBOWSKI) is the cause of the dust-up between the 2 gangs.

Each one of those actors - along with a slew of gangster looking character actors - bring a piece of authenticity to the film, making you believe that these characters inhabit this world and aren’t just “play acting”.

Special notice should be made of Finney’s performance, for it revived his sagging career and was only given to him when the original actor cast, Trey Wilson (who played Nathan Arizona in RAISING ARIZONA) passed away a few weeks before shooting with a heart attack. Out of lemons, the Coens certainly made lemonade.

But, of course, it is the pacing, the direction, the dialogue, the production values (Set, Costumes, Hair, etc…) and the CINEMATOGRAPHY that are the real stars of this picture and one can thank, once again, the Coen Bros. for bringing their unique perspective to a genre that needed a unique perspective - but one that honors the genre as well.

This would be the last Coen Bros. film that Barry Sonnenfeld would shoot for the Coens as he would start Directing films himself (starting with 1991’s THE ADDAMS FAMILY) and he would go out with a bang as this film is rich in tapestry and depth and the scenes in the forest (the MILLER’S CROSSING of the title) is a character in and of itself.

A film that finds the Coen Bros. finding - and hitting - their stride, MILLER’S CROSSING is one NOT to miss.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)