breakfastcowl

Miller's Crossing

Listen kid I gotta dangle, here's four stars go get yourself something nice. 🥃

BelugaJames

Miller's Crossing

Gonna start saying “what’s the rumpus.”

BigDadTyCross

Miller's Crossing

The Cohens are so great at moving parts in movies. This has a lot revolving around a single character and they make the mess work so well. Gabriel Byrne is great, Tuturro gives an incredible career highlight of a performance, and the rest of the cast does really well also. The twists and turns and cherry on top of humor make this a fun ride as well. Very well done film all around. Side Note: Gabriel Byrne gets blinded sided with punches in this film it feels like a hundred times and it gets funnier every time when you realize this guy just cannot catch a break.

BT1886

Miller's Crossing

For only their third feature, Miller’s Crossing is a testament to how quickly The Coen Brothers had managed to find their stride. It’s razor-sharp in its wit, beautiful to look at, and they take the long dead genre of the gangster movie and spin it into something uniquely their own. I’m a big fan of mob movies, but I won’t deny that I often find myself tangled in their usual web of characters, schemes, and loyalties. It’s not that I can’t keep up, it’s just a lot to take in one sitting. Miller’s Crossing manages to eschew that issue entirely. The Coens’ script is as complex as you’d expect for a gangster flick, but it’s told with such clarity that it feels effortlessly easy to follow and breezes by. The zippy 1930s dialogue is a delight, never dumbing itself down to make sure you can follow along, yet somehow is fully accessible. It’s almost like the antithesis to the mob film in how easily it handles the genre’s inherent chaos. The characters found inMiller’s Crossingare so richly drawn that even at their absolute worst, it’s impossible not to find some admirable quality in them. From Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney) and Tom Reagan’s (Gabriel Byrne) brotherhood, to Johnny Casper’s(Jon Polito)surprising sense of ethics, Miller’s Crossingis a hodgepodge of likable unlikables—a hallmark of the Coen Brothers, but especially present here. Hell, even the terrifying Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman), a man with death on his mind, shows such loyalty towards his own that you can’t help but find it at least a little bit commendable. In the end, Miller’s Crossing doesn’t just sit comfortably alongside the great gangster films that preceded it—it transcends them, carving out its own quirky, Coen-shaped hole into the genre. It’s a masterpiece, plain and simple. • Watched in 2024 — Ranked (https://boxd.it/rMle4) • The Coen Brothers — Ranked (https://boxd.it/ADwUe)