Today to celebrate the release of the new Coen Brothers movie "The Ladykillers" this is a special edition of Film Babble Blog dedicated to the work of Joel and Ethan Coen. A career re-cap of sorts with lists, quotes, and a review of "The Ladykillers" to boot. Okay then...
First up -
BASIC FILMOGRAPHY AND INITIAL GUIDE TO THIS BLOG
BS - BLOOD SIMPLE (1984)
RA - RAISING ARIZONA (1987)
MC - MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)
BF - BARTON FINK (1991)
HP- HUDSUCKER'S PROXY (1994)
F - FARGO (1997)
BL - BIG LEBOWSKI, THE (1998)
OBWAT - O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? (2000)
MWWT - MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, THE (2001)
IC - INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (2003)
LK - LADY KILLERS, THE (2004)
THE COEN BROTHERS REPERTORY ROLE CALL 1984-2004
Steve Buscemi - MC, BF, HP, F, BL
Campbell, Bruce - HP, F, IC, LK 2 small parts and 2 as "soap actor on TV" - all 4 uncredited.
Blake Clark - IC, LK
George Clooney - OBWAT, IC
Charles Durning - HP, OBWAT
John Goodman - RA, BF, BL, OBWAT
Holly Hunter - BS, RA, OBWAT
John Mahooney - BF, HP
John McConnell - MC, OBWAT, LK
Frances McDormand - BS, RA, F, MWWT
Jon Polito - MC, BF, HP, BL, MWWT
Stephen Root - OBWAT, LK
Tony Shalhoub - MC, BF, BL, MWWT
Hallie Singleton - MWWT, LK
Peter Stormare - F, BL
Billy Bob Thorton - MWWT, IC
John Turturro - MC, BF, BL, OBWAT
M. Emmet Walsh - BS, RA
COEN BROS. FUN FACT FORUM :
The line "if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its ass a-hoppin'" appears in 2 Coen Bros. flicks - RA (1987) & HP (1994)
Musicians Aimee Mann (as the nihilist's girlfriend) and Jimmie Dale Gilmore (as Smokey - the league bowler who insists that he "wasn't over the line") make brief but notable cameos in BL (1997)
In RA (1987) Nicholas Cage works at Hudsucker Industries - an obvious connection to their later film HP (1994)
In MC there's a building called the Barton Arms another obviousl connection to a later film.
F (1996) says at the beginning "This is a true story - the events of this film took place in Minnesota in 1987..." This is totally false. They meade the whole thing up! Those damn pranksters!
Editor Roderick Jaynes - a member of BAFTA - The British Academy Of Film and Television Arts and nominated for F (1996) and praised for his work on BS and BF (I know its confusing - see above code will ya?) was found out upon his Oscar nomination to being a fabrication by the Coens! That's right Jaynes never existed! They created the name because when editing BS (1984) they thought there were too many Coens in the credits already. Again - what pranksters!
In IC (2003) Judge Marva Munson played by Isabell O'Connor finds in favor of Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann) in the Divorce trial proceedings leaving his wife (Catherine Zeta Jones) literally out in the cold.
In LK (2004) Marva Munson (Irma T. Hall) is unkowingly duped into being a front for a heist. Why the same name? Are the characters related or the same person at different points in their lives? Maybe they just like the name. Who knows?
LOST OR FORGOTTEN OR OBSCURE OR JUST IGNORED COEN OR COEN RELATED FILMS :
CRIMEWAVE (1985) : Hard to find movie at most videostores and unavailable on DVD. Written by the Coen brothers but directed by Sam Raimi. "We prefer it lost" - Joel Coen to Uncut Magazine May 1998.
THE NAKED MAN (1993) : Ethan Coen co-wrote this oddity with director J Todd Anderson.
BAD SANTA (2003) : Ethan executive produced and came up with the story with Joel.
SOME COEN BROS. FAN-WEB SITES :
http://x-stream.fortunecity.com/fleetst/71/
http://www.coenbrothers.net/
http://www.ambidextrouspics.com/html/joel_and_ethan_coen.html
COEN BROTHERS ON DVD - WHAT SHOULD YOU BUY AND WHAT SHOULD YOU WAIT FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION OF?
BS (1984) - BUY IT - This currently available Universal DVD contains the director's cut that was theatrically released in 2000 plus a commentary by Kenneth Loring of Forever Young Films and a great old school trailer. I seriously doubt we'll get any more material on the Coen's debut movie so go ahead and get it.
RA (1997) - WAIT FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION This paltry disc from 2oth Century Fox has no extras and being that it is a comic masterpiece and the flick that busted the Coens into the mainstream somewhat it deserves better. Much better. Hold out until the powers that be grant this a special edition. It's got to happen.
MC (1990) - BUY IT
BF (1991) - BUY IT
HP (1994) - WAIT FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION
F (1996) - BUY IT Good new 2003 special edition was worth waiting for. It has a new documentary "Minnesota Nice", a commentary by Roger Deakins, and a cool Charlie Rose appearance by the Coens along with Frances McDormand. Shame on you if you don't already own this.
BL (1998) -WAIT FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION
TMWWT (2001) - BUY IT This contains one of the funniest DVD commentaries ever with Joel, Ethan, and Billy Bob Thorton tracking the "Ed nod" and adding lots of witty insight into an otherwise stoic dry slow film. Also contains brief inessential deleted scenes - just a couple of hair-cut examples that were rightfully cut. Definitely a strong Coen Bros film that gets better every viewing. Get it and watch it with the commentary and try not to agree.
IC (2003) - BUY IT The most commercial outting yet by our indie duo comes with a decent DVD transfer and a number of outtakes - really bloopers and unused footage. The Coen Brothers apparently don't think of "deleted scenes" in the same way that most of us do judging by their DVDs.
THE COEN BROTHERS IN THE ROUND
[Evelle picks up a pack of balloons]
Evelle: Do these blow into funny shapes and all?
Grocer: Well, no, unless round is funny.
According to the IMDB :
"The Coens frequently focus on round spinning objects. The hat in Miller's Crossing, bowling balls and tumble-weed in Big Lebowski, hair pomade tins in O Brother.. or UFO and a car wheel in Man Who Was Not There."
To that we can add the hula hoops in HP (1994). I loved the touch that when Charles Durning re-appears as the ghost of Hudsucker his halo spins like a hula hoop lit up around his head. The Barber shop pole and the contrasting haircut head-shots in MWWNT are other notable circular examples.
The bowling balls that the IMDB mentions in BL provide many oportunities for shots involving rolling roundness. The best and most unique shot comes from a montage in which we got a barrell view of a spinning bowling alley as a ball rolls down the lane. That's right - it's a point-of-view shot from the finger hole on a bowling ball! I'm still not exactly sure how they pulled that off.
Part of the Coens style in scene set-up is to display extreme close-ups of inanimate objects. In BF (1991) our protagonist rings the desk bell at the hotel and we get a shot of the bell as it boings thoughout the lobby and slowly stops vibratingly buzzing - beyond beautiful.
In the world of Coen cinema round isn't just funny - it's hilarious!
- Bertie Shafer
And finally the film babble blog review :
THE LADYKILLERS
Dir. : Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring : Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, and Ryan Hurst
The original "The Ladykillers" was of a series of British Ealing studios comedies about the frailty and manipulative nature of man. Here the story remains the same with the characters names changed and plot points altered. To get things straight - the original 1955 movie directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starring Alec Guiness and Peter Sellers (in his first full length feature role) is now redone with many liberties by the masterful Coens. I had a fear going in that this may be like the re-make of "Ocean's 11" which subtracted the ironic conclusion. No worries - no commercial concessions storywise. Casting-wise is another matter.
Tom Hanks plays Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr who shares with past Coen characters H.I. McDonnough (Nicholas Cage - RA)and Everett (George Clooney - OBWAT)a distinctive trait - his diction and command of the english language far exceeds any other skill or ambition. His plan here is to rent a room in an unassuming elderly Marva Munson's (Irma P. Hall) house and with an assembled gang of cronies including Marlon Wayans and J.K. Simmons (from the HBO series OZ) tunnel through the basement to a Riverside Casino's vault. They con Hall by masquerading as musicians who need a place to practice by playing classical music on a portable stereo to simulate their performance and cover the sound of tunneling. Marva Munson is a great Coen concoction - a Bob Jones University praising church going figure of reason who regularly converses with a painting of her late husband. In a nice touch her deceased spouse's expression changes in reaction to the twists in the farce - an effect not in the original but in many comedies since.
Many laughs come from Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans) the inside connection at the Casino speaking what Munson condemns as "hippity hop" talk. Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons) also amuses as a explosives expert who loses a finger at one point, bickers with everyone, and constantly says "it's the easiest thing in the world" about everything. The General played by Tzi Ma seems to exist in the story to fill a smoking gag - when Munson enters the room he hides his cigarette in his mouth perfectly restoring it with his toungue when she leaves. Again a variation on a gag in many a comedy but it works here so I'm not complaining.
Hanks does a good job with Prof. Dorr's ticks - his nervous laughter, his pristine babble, and his quick scheming about faces but it never made me forget Alec Guiness's Professor Marcus. But it's not really intended to. This film co-exists nicely with the 1955 version. Make sure you see that one if you haven't already. It's a classic comedy that merged black humor and silliness - 2 things the Coen brothers excel at. I doubt this 2004 remake will ever be called a classic comedy but it is an engaging funny film that hits more than misses. Now make a movie from an original script why don't you?!!?
- Edward Callistan
And of course Sarah Warner has some Coen Brothers lists. This time though the whole film babble blog staff all pitch in :
TOP FIVE LINES SAID MORE THAN ONCE IN A COEN BROTHERS FLICK :
1, "It really tied the room together" - BL (1997)
2. "I'll show you a life of the mind!" - BF (1991)
3. "I didn't expect all the hoopla" - HP (1994)
4. TIE - "Okay then!" & "they've got more than they can handle" - RA (1987)
5. "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!" - Again BL (1997)
5 COOL COEN USES OF 5 COOL SONGS
1. "The Man In Me" - Bob Dylan : The opening title sequence of BL saves a great Dylan song from obscurity and sets the ramshackle tone splendidly.
"Can I say that, even though he's 49, my husband idolises Dylan?" - Frances McDormand on Joel Coen (Uncut Magazine January 2004)
2. "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley : Talk about setting the tone! Set to an animated sequence of Cupid imagery no other song would serve better than this classic track by the King in IC.
3. "The Same Old Song" - The Four Tops : Both as background on a jukebox in a bar scene and as the closing credits song this soul pop standard does the trick in BS even if it feels like a concession to the previous year's "Big Chill" soundtrrack success. It was in the original release and the DVD director's cut but on the '80's video release it's replaced by "I'm A Beliver" - Neil Diamond version for some reason.
4. "I'm A Man Of Constant Sorrow" - John Hartford : One of the top selling soundtracks ever surprisingly came from the Coen's Homer redux OBWAT. Clooney lip-synchs to this a few times in the movie with his makeshift ex-convict vocal band the Soggy Bottom Boys and another traditional but forgotten song gets remembered.
5. "Memories Are Made of This" - Peter Gallagher : Gallagher steals the scene as Vic Tenetta - Party Singer if only for a moment in HP.
5 WEIRD CAMEOS IN COEN BROS. FLICKS :
1. Flea - as Kieffer who is one of the nihilist crew in BL.
2. Anna Nicole Smith - as Za-Za who briefly dates Tim Robbins during his character's 15 minutes of fame in HP.
3. Sam Raimi - famed director and Coen collaborator (The Evil Dead, Crimewave) puts in close to extra-like brief appearances as a snickering gunman in MC and Hudsucker Brainstormer in HP of course.
4. Jose Feliciano - F rare appearance of someone playing themselves in a Coen bros. flick. He appears on stage basically as a back drop to a scene but still resonates.
5. Gillian Welch - OBWAT was noted for it's music so it's only natural for Ms. Welch to show up as a Soggy Bottom customer and as the voice of one of the sirens. Go girl!
Contributors to this Coen themed film babble blog : Daniel Johnson, Sarah, Warner, Edward Callistan, Bertie Shafer, Anderson Moran, Alyson Bowers, Steven Adeff, and Clay Dumas.
More later...
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