For film lovers, the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) represent saviors of sorts. The level of quality at the good ole’ movie house has declined steeply in current years. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but with all the movies we watch, seeing something, anything, with a bit of originality in it, has become a far too rare treat.
Love or hate what they do, the Coens are always a guarantee of something different. They create highly memorable characters that often become part of the pop culture stratosphere (The Dude, H.I. McDunnough, Marge Gunderson) and they always deliver their unique blend of story, starkly detailed visuals (courtesy of their two legendary cinematographers, Barry Sonnenfeld and Roger Deakins) and comical absurdity.
No Country For Old Men is just hitting theaters, so we thought it was the perfect time to countdown some of our favorite Coen Brothers movies. We kinda like them all in their own way, but for the purposes of the following list we’ve narrowed down to the five we consider the true cream of the Coen crop.
What are your favorite Coen movies? Email Jeff and we'll discuss in a future mailbag!
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Singularly responsible for revitalizing bluegrass music (not saying that’s a good thing, but it’s still true), O Brother has a little something for everyone. Proverbial A-lister George Clooney got to show off his often overlooked comedic talents and the Coens proved that computer generated effects could be used for more than explosions and space aliens (most of the movie’s visual look, backgrounds and colorization was done “in post”).
4. Blood Simple
Their first film and still one of their best. Only restored to its original state (and original music) with the latest DVD version a few years back, if you’ve never seen this one or only seen the butchered TV re-edit, I implore you to check this one out once more. Character actors Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh deliver career-defining performances and and Frances McDormand makes her debut. A terrific, suspenseful thriller.
3. Fargo
It’s seems almost funny in retrospect, but the Coens never intended Fargo as their transition into mainstream cinema. In fact, when finished shooting, the brothers had mentioned how they felt it to be one of their most bizarre, off-kilter works. Somehow, some way, Fargo caught on, ya know? It remains their biggest Box Office success to date and even scored a couple of statues along the way.
2. Raising Arizona
The polar opposite of a sophomore slump, Raising Arizona is a bonafide masterpiece of the comedy genre. Edited to comic-timing perfection, Arizona is relentlessly hysterical. Nicolas Cage is pitch-perfect as white trash proverbial jailbird McDunnough and Holly Hunter (who became a regular Coen player) is the perfect straight “man” Ed. So many classic moments, so many great lines, but I’ll leave you with this piece of parenting advice straight from H.I. to little Jr.: “Here's the TV. Two hours a day, either educational or football, so you don't ruin your appreciation of the finer things.”
1. The Big Lebowski
Undoubtedly the most quoted movie of the past decade (or maybe few decades), the journey of The Dude (or His Dudeness) from obscurity to cult status to pop culture notoriety has been an unlikely one. A total flop at the box office when it was originally released in 1998, Lebowski has had an afterlife on video that no one could have seen coming. Now the subject of festivals, Halloween costumes and countless late night party viewings (both with and sans certain added substances) The Big Lebowski is sheer brilliance, with endless layers of subtlety that reveal themselves anew with each viewing.
What are your favorite Coen movies? Email Jeff and we'll discuss in a future mailbag!