Miller’s Crossing (1990) 115 Minutes

After two consecutive weeks indoors, the Movienight Gods finally smiled upon us and we were back outside for Nubby’s follow-up to ‘Near Dark.’

Our friend Kerry finally made it to Movienight, and Johnnie G. and Pat Towne joined as well. The bulk of the Membership was on hand (Tooda, Nubs, Wiener, Slim, and Buffy) but Netti missed his third Pick in a row. In other words, Netti hasn’t seen a single follow up to his exceptional ‘The Lives of Others.’ Despite his absence, having eight viewers on hand felt like old times.

Perhaps it was the size of the crowd, or Tooda’s not so bright idea about Bob, but Nubs’ preamble was a little more rambling than our stalwart SELECTOR is known for.

Before this St. Patrick’s appropriate Pick, only two directors had helmed three Picks each in our Canon - Steven Spielberg (‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ‘CEOT3K,’ and ‘Jaws’), and Hal Ashby (‘Harold and Maude,’ ‘The Last Detail,’ and ‘Being There’). With ‘Miller’s Crossing,’ we now have a third three-fer director in Joel Coen (‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’). And as the director of our first ever Movienight, it seems more than appropriate.

As far as the rule of three goes, this is also our third “Irish Mafia” Pick, joining ‘State of Grace,’ and ‘The Road to Perdition.’ On screen, John Turturro (‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘State of Grace’) goes for three here as well. Steve Buscemi now stands at four appearances (‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’). Gabriel Byrne appeared in our Guest SELECTOR program’s ‘The Usual Suspects,’ but Officially joins our Canon here. This is also the debut of Marcia Gay Harden, and the legendary Albert Finney.

After the Pick, there was some discussion of what will happen next week (and some rough housing). While it is Netti’s Pick, there is some feeling that he deserves punitive measures for not attending anyone else’s Selections this rotation. Further, the Eisenberg’s will be out of town so it was suggested perhaps Movienight takes a week off.

So Tooda suggested we see if our Twitter audience is really out there- and leave the outcome in their hands. If we get 15 responses in our Comment section from Twitterers, it will be considered a quorum. What we would like to know from them is this:

Should Movienight:

A)Give Netti (aka CaptSupermarket) his Pick despite his absence?
B)Give his Pick to a Guest SELECTOR as a punitive measure?
C)Skip his Pick altogether as he has just skipped all of ours?

If we get 15 individual replies from Twitterers, Netti’s fate will be in your hands. If not, the Crew will make a determination as to the fate of Wednesday’s Movienight.

“You ain't got a license to kill bookies and today I ain't sellin'. So take your flunky and dangle.”

Written by: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Directed by: Joel Coen

BBD Comments:

I have considered this Pick for a long time, but never pulled the trigger. Before Netti became a Member of our stalwart Crew, I had gone over the pros and cons with him about this Selection the week I rolled ‘Let it Ride.’

While I deemed this Pick not up to Movienight standards, Nubs proved me wrong this week. ‘Miller’s Crossing’ is a great Pick, and as Netti says, Albert Finney protecting his home is “worth the price of admission.” The nods to ‘The Godfather,’ the lyrical emptiness of the forest, the excellent score, and the fiercely brilliant work of Albert Finney conspire to make this film, while short of an epic, an exceptional work of art.

Where I take exception is our SELECTOR’s thread bare assertion that this film somehow picks up on the themes laid out by the previous films in our surveillance rotation. There is no connection whatsoever between the cycle we have apparently completed, and this picture. Nub’s point that because Gabriel Byrne is playing both sides against the middle makes him some sort of double agent is ridiculous.

I don’t think that that diminishes the quality of this Pick at all, I do think it makes Nubby look dumb. Had he merely stuck to the pitch perfect point that this was well timed for St. Patrick’s Day, I would leave it alone. I don’t ever think that a SELECTOR should feel bound by the previous Pick if he knows just the film to bring. But I reject the need to do some semantic two step to justify your Pick as part of a Jam when it clearly isn’t. Good Pick Nubs, and I’d call it a Slam Dunk had you not attempted to justify forcing a square peg into a round hole.

Onwards.

Brandon Comments:

This past MovieNight truly illustrated the conundrum, “Does life imitate art or does art imitate life?”

The film was ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and it was a brilliant Selection by Nubs to segue our surveillance/double-cross jam into a more open venue of the double-cross/crime/mob genre. Although the film was action packed, the real action happened after ‘Miller’s Crossing’ ended. The “action” involved a football, some alcohol, and a Marcia scene from “The Brady Bunch” TV series. The result was: two angry men, a broken pair of glasses, an argument and stare-down, four very quiet bystanders and then an early departure from Pat Towne. If that’s all it took to get Pat to leave, I would have thrown a football at him two years ago (just kidding, Pat).

But let us get back to ‘Miller’s Crossing’, shall we. A few weeks prior, Nubs and I were discussing another Coen brothers’ film: ‘Burn After Reading.’ We both thought it sucked hard. Way hard. It is just so difficult to believe that the same brothers who created a steaming pile like ‘Burn After Reading’ could make such a masterpiece like ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and almost two decades prior. Of course, ‘Miller’ isn’t without a few small problems, like any good Selection. I found it both disconcerting and a little comical that Gabriel Byrne never defended himself through all 8 or 10 altercations that came his way; he never blocked a punch, never threw a punch, he just took the hit and fell to the floor. I realize that this illustrated his character in a way that no dialogue could ever create, but you would think that a tough mobster wouldn’t take too lightly to getting his ass kicked from a half a dozen different people. And as a writer, I love good dialogue and good characters above all else, and this film had some really bright lines and charming personalities – but sometimes it relied too much on “the clever quip that Byrne would say next” instead of the actual meat of the words. I know, it’s picky and doesn’t make sense to anyone but myself, but that’s really the only flaw that I can find with ‘Miller’s Crossing.’ Albert Finney in the ambush scene, where he’s in his bed, sees the smoke in the floorboards, extinguishes his cigar and grabs the gun then proceeds to wreak havoc with a Tommy gun—that scene takes the cake as the coolest fucking shoot-em-up scene since Nubs’ other Selection ‘Children of Men.’ And Turturro is also terrific as the two-faced grifter, who cries his way out of an execution in one of the creepiest slow-paced scenes in film history. This really is a kick-ass great film with a perfect troupe of actors involved.

Nubs, good friggin’ call, man. You kept the strains of the jam alive while taking the theme to a whole different level. I just hope no one shows a football movie next week.

SELECTOR Comments:

The Coen brothers kicked off Movienight many, many Wednesdays ago, and it’s about time they join the celebrated top directors shown on our precious stucco/screen. They exemplify all the reasons I created Movienight. A passion to every element of good film making combined with a knack for the quirky, the grotesquely violent, and the over-top hilarity is why they will continue to lead our cause.

‘Miller’s Crossing’ is more than the epitome of their talents, this viewing convinced me it is their best script. This flaunts a tight plot, a believable story (unlike ‘Barton Fink,’ ‘Hudsucker,’ or ‘Lebowski’), and a care for stylistic language above any other work. The score and cinematography are breathtaking, truly it’s an under awarded gem. The amount of alcohol, smokes, and violence, combined with cranking a great addition to our Irish Mafia canon on St. Patty’s makes this a slam-dunk. Anybody who thinks different is a bitter Schmata and I’m sick of the High Hat!

I wanted to keep this brief to show Johnny G, Buffy, Pat, Kerry and anyone else how little you have to spew on the site and next Pick could be yours. Well, maybe not Pat. What’s the rumpus?

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