Rating: 
Summary: The Coens are Geniuses
Review: After Jonathan Glazer's SEXY BEAST, the Coen bros.' Miller's Crossing is the best gangster film ever made. Complex characters, brilliant story, and wonderful dialogue. This is a pitch-perfect film about how gangsters are not always the smartest people, but that they are incredibly persistant. Watch it!Other great films from the Coens: Blood Simple; Fargo (if you're reading this review you've probably seen it); Raising Arizona; Barton Fink - See them! P.S. - All of Coen films are great. The ones above are just their best. See all of them if you wanty to see filmmaking at its best.
Rating:
Summary: Lo Tom, what's the rumpus (with the damn DVD)?
Review: By far the best Coen outing to date, and just possibly one of the best movies ever made, but where's the damn DVD? If anyone has any info or has heard any news of a release date please let me know. (Please note: I'm giving the DVD 5 stars in the hope that it will have a decent anamorphic transfer along with a DD 5.1 soundtrack - a commentary from the bros. would be an excellent addition but will be about as likely as them making a bad film).
Rating:
Summary: Neither rain nor snow...
Review: This is probably one of the smartest gangster films ever. Incredibly well-shot, each set and scene is masterfully done. The double-cross plot is deftly laid out, and Tom's machinations and recoveries from set-backs is great strategy to watch. Byrne's portrayal of a character of mixed-motivations and passions -loyalty and spite towards his boss, enrapturement and disgust towards the woman, steely self-control and compulsive gambling- all interplay to create a complex anti-hero. In the end you know he wins, but you are still not sure what he was fighting for or what he has gained. His weaknesses are brought out just as strongly as his strengths. Although they oversimplify and caricature the mayor and the police chief, the Prohibition-era ethics and hypocrisy are masterfully portrayed. The competing mob bosses, each beset by his own romanticism and bizarre idealism along with their ruthlessness, also provide a backdrop for Tom's manipulations. Simply a well-written, well-shot, well-acted, totally masterful work.
Rating:
Summary: "Look into my heart? What heart?"
Review: Deviating from their usual comedic stints of hilarity, the Coens go back to their dark roots from their first film (Blood Simple), and take mob, murder, and mayhem a few steps further in 1990's Miller's Crossing. Tom (a dashing and coolly intense Gabriel Byrne)a mobster lietenent, always has a smarter, better idea for things. Sadly, on one hand, these ideas seem to backfire on him, making him look like a renegade fool, but in dark, bizarre twists, things seem to work out even better for him, finally proving him right in the eyes of all. I'll stop there as further information would ruin the magical unfolding of this thrilling, dark ride. Just believe this "reversal of fortune" story is worth seeing the frustrating demise Tom initially undergoes. The usual suspects of many a Coen film are all here: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, and John Turturro. New to the company include a very potent Albert Finney and recent Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden. Besides the cast, the Coens' rely on the craftspeople of many of their other works to solidify their amazing visuals and production values. If you are a normal Coen viewer, you may be thrown by the switch in genre. No, this is not a comedy, but it has its charming, ironical moments. If, however, you want to find out how a noir would be done with their brand of flavor, see this classic "lost" work from their oeuvre.
Rating:
Summary: fargo
Review: I've seen the entire "Godfather" trilogy, excellant! I've seen "Goodfellas", also excellent, but "Miller's Crossing" is perhaps the best "mob" movie ever created. Gabriel Byrne's role is enought for 300 years worth of "understanding".
Rating:
Summary: Full of Surprises
Review: This is not just another mafia movie. It is interesting and full of surprise twists throughout the movie. The main character is a gutsy loner type. The music in the movie is quite good. There are several interesting characters in the movie and I like it because it shows strategy and development of character, not just shooting like other movies of this type sometimes do. This movie will excite you, amuse you and is one I highly recommend to watch over and over.
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Summary: The thinking man's gangster
Review: This was one of the first in the 90's wave of slick, reconstructed gangster/crime films (the Tarantino/Ritchie oeuvre, Usual Suspects, et al), and really the best. Gabriel Byrne's Hamlet-like advisor plays against Albert Finney's Sonny Corleone-like boss, double- and triple-crossing his way through threats, fists, gunfire, and Marcia Gay Harden's right hook into a big payday and said Ms. Harden's arms. A classic noir-style protagonist, Byrne's Tom Reagan is hard-boiled and gets harder as the film progresses. Though supposedly loosely based on "The Glass Key" by Dashiell Hammett, there is a lot of James Cain's "Love's Lovely Counterfeit" thrown in, including much of the sparkling dialogue ("Hey, Tom, Bernie's been lookin' for ya." "Well, I'm right here, I'm not made of glass."). It definitely has the Coen touch with some quirky characters and wait-for-it humor, but these touches only add to the charm and texture of the Prohibition-era story. Watch closely for cameos (Sam Raimi) and Coen-world continuity (is Tom really the Barton Fink?). The only Coen Brothers film not currently on DVD are Barton Fink and this one. Someone needs to do something about this.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Film
Review: Everyone has a movie that they see for the first time and it speaks to them in such a way that it is firmly entrenched in their psyche for all time. Miller's Crossing is that film for me. From the first time I watched this movie in 1990 to my 50th viewing a couple of months back the film has always seemed fresh, vibrant & undeniably a true Coen brothers movie. Filled with the usual oddball characters (from the sleazy Bernie Bernbaum to our quiet Anti-Hero Tom), hilarious dialogue & twisted plotline we enter the dark heart of 1930's Gangland America. Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne, in probably his best role) is the right hand man to Irish underworld boss Leo (Albert Finney) and also lover to Leo's moll Verna (Oscar Winner Marcia Gay Harden, in her first role). All is well until fellow gangster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) tells Leo that he wants to whack Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) for selling out his fixed fights. Unknown to Johnny however is the fact that Bernie is Verna's brother and when Leo refuses permission to kill him a gang war erupts. Tom finds himself torn between his loyalty to Leo and his love to Verna and thus begins a spiral into deceit, betrayal & death. The major theme of this movie however lies within loyalties, truth and as Johnny Caspar puts so eloquently at the beginning of the film "it's about ethics"--funny coming from a deranged killer & mob boss. In this world of gangsters, it is misguided loyalties which kill and words of truth that cause trouble. Only Tom and Johnny Caspar's muscle The Dane (J.E. Freeman) seem to know which way is up and the two clash constantly throughout the film. Tom always seems in control as the movie progresses, even as his world falls down around him, and we wonder if his brillant Machiavellian-like plan will come to fruition. I'll stop here and let the film do the rest. Every one of the performances is top-notch and it is hard to see character actors like Freeman & Polito in any other movie--it's almost like they were born for these roles. Byrne is solid as the stoic Tom, Finney is a marvel as Leo and you can see why Marcia Gay Harden's career florished after this role. But really Turturro turns this film into a masterpiece with his classic portrayal as Bernie. He definitely deserved a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role but the Academy ignored this movie as they would all Coen Bros. films until Fargo. In closing, Miller's Crossing is a film for fans of film, with beautiful cinematography, Carter Burwell's brillant soundtrack, excellent acting and tour de force directing by the Coens. It begs repeated viewings and never fails to deliver. A Masterpiece of Cinema and my all-time favorite film.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: I really do love this movie. From the first time I saw it - alone in a theater in 1990 or 1991 - to the 30th, it never fails to present something new. Set design is impeccable, costumes and (especially) hair are great, dialogue is without peer. And take note: Although NO ONE ever mentions it in their reviews, this movie is notable for the wierd gay love triangle which drives much of the story within this gangster period piece, a really unusual plot device for the genre. (Just watch the J.E. Freeman/John Turturro/Steve Buscemi story - closely.) Again, I love this movie; its spot at the top of my list is set in stone.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie
Review: I've been singing the praises of this movie for years, and it placed the Coen brothers at the top of my list of Movie-Producing Geniuses, from which none of their subsequent movies has given them cause to topple. While I rate Barton Fink and Fargo alongside this movie, I feel there's a slightly greater seriousness of purpose with Miller's Crossing which I appreciate. Their latest two movies, The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou, while brilliant, are both lighter and more purely comedic. Several things attract me to Miller's Crossing: 1) I am not a particularly visual person, but this movie is so visually beautiful as to be conspicuous for this feature. The composition of each shot, the lighting of the scenes and particularly their wondrous use of a rich color palette--all of these things conspire to make an extraordinarily beautiful viewing experience. It is a color movie which does the Film Noir genre proud. 2) The character of Tom Regan (wonderfully underplayed by Gabriel Byrne) is a delicious enigma. He seems motivated by a strong (but unspoken) code of ethics, and he seems to be unable to lie even when it gets him into trouble (the exception to this rule is his efforts to rid the world of Johnny Caspar, though even then it's not so much lying as maneuvering). It is also striking to me that every single character in the movie who interacts with Tom emphatically says "Jesus, Tom" or "Christ, Tom" to him at some point (usually as a reaction to some uncomfortable truth he has just spoken). The movie is supposedly an adaptation of Dashiel Hammett's story The Glass Key (though it's a stretch to my mind--maybe inspired is a better word than adapted), and Hammett virtually invented the hard-boiled detective. Tom, while not a detective, is of that hard-boiled cast, saying very little but making his words count. There's something very appealing about his seeming singleness of purpose. 3) I'm drawn to movies which, like a Bach fugue, cannot be grasped after a viewing or two. I think great movie art keeps revealing itself, paying dividends for effort. This is a movie where one needs to pay attention. Multiple interconnected plots unfold simultaneously, and alliances are constantly shifting; one never knows just how much a person can be taken at their word. While I adore other mob movies like The Godfather and Goodfellas, neither introduces an element of mystery and intrigue the way Miller's Crossing does, and certainly neither is more finely crafted than this movie. I give it my highest rating!
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