Scenes We Love: Miller's Crossing
Filed under: Classics, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Scenes We Love
In the Great Coen Debates that occur among film fans, there's one that I never feel gets enough love: Miller's Crossing. It's probably my favorite next to The Big Lebowski. The film is deliciously dark and dreary (you can watch this in summer and still feel cold), but punctuated by that startling Coens humor. The dialogue and character quirks are not as exaggerated as they are in other Coen films, and when a character does get theatrical, it's appropriate to the setting. These are thugs who find themselves in positions of great wealth and power, after all, and they'll never know quite how to behave in the real world.
The film has a level of tension I don't think the Coens matched until No Country For Old Men. Tom's white-knuckle walk into Miller's Crossing is probably my favorite scene (actually, it's difficult to pick just one), but it doesn't appear to be on YouTube. So, here's another moment of violence that just doesn't go the way you think it will, and features the best use of Danny Boy in history. I really want to believe that the gramophone is a nod to Sean Connery's death scene in The Untouchables, but I suspect it's a noir standard that ushered many a mobster and cop into his grave.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-06-2009 @ 2:22PM
Rick Bman said...
Miller's Crossing is my second favorite Coen Brothers film, falling just short of the greatness of No Country for Old Men. Everything about Miller's Crossing is just amazing.
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11-06-2009 @ 2:37PM
Premaximum said...
This is also one of my favourite Coen Brother's films.
Again, probably behind No Country For Old Men, but it's very, very close.
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11-06-2009 @ 3:07PM
Taylor said...
Amazing scene! For me, it's a tie between this one and the scene where Tom takes Bernie out to Miller's Crossing to kill him.
The dialogue and vocabulary of this film is some of my favorite ever. Great choice.
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11-06-2009 @ 3:51PM
Mike said...
Definitely one of their most underrated films and certainly one of my most favorites (Raising Arizona, No Country For Old Men, Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski). It is an amazing scene, but I'm with Taylor on Tom taking Bernie out to Miller's Crossing.
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11-17-2009 @ 9:21AM
David Taylor said...
I love this scene too. It's more haunting than any other Coen Bros. scene for me b/c of the perfect counterpoint between the music and the mayhem. And the music is completely within the scene, coming from the Victrola.
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12-24-2009 @ 9:39AM
Scott Rones said...
For the longest time the scene that stuck with me the most was the Bernie at Miller's Crossing scene. Now, years later, the Danny Boy scence is absolutely my favorite scene in the movie. Might be my favorite in any movie. Leo is as bold and sure as the folks who created the scene. And that is to say that no matter the actual degree of boldness, of sureness, it undoubtedly come across as such.
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