Best Coen Brothers movie

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Joel and Ethan, everyone loves them (don't they?), but which is the pick of the bunch? Is it a Fargone conclusion?

Poll Results

Option	Votes
The Big Lebowski	49
Fargo	26
Barton Fink	20
Raising Arizona	12
Miller's Crossing	12
The Hudsucker Proxy	10
O Brother, Where Art Thou?	10
Blood Simple	5
The Man Who Wasn't There	1
Intolerable Cruelty	0
The Ladykillers	0

― Billy Dods, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:34 (eighteen years ago)

I think you'll find far from everybody loves them. I do tho, at least up to The Ladykillers, which is pretty shitty.

― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:41 (eighteen years ago)

I rank my four faves in the following order, tho the top spot changes depending on mood.

1) Miller's Crossing
2) Barton Fink
3) The Hudsucker Proxy
4) Raising Arizona

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:43 (eighteen years ago)

law of diminishing returns seriously in effect with these guys too wtf.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:43 (eighteen years ago)

raising arizona has diminishing returns?

― cutty, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 23:54 (eighteen years ago)

i could watch the ten minute introduction to the film every day and not get tired of it. and the ending, the ending!

― cutty, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 23:55 (eighteen years ago)

raising arizona is the only great movie they ever made, and it is really, really great. i saw miller's crossing again recently and was shocked by how totally empty and just... nothing it was. that's their steez though, all portent, no payoff.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 23:57 (eighteen years ago)

Crossing/Lebowski tie for first

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:07 (eighteen years ago)

first what?

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:10 (eighteen years ago)

first favorite

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:11 (eighteen years ago)

sorry, these guys just make me pine for the good old days when insanely talented filmmakers with absolutely nothing to say had a studio system that gave them durable scripts and made them stick to the point. yes, i am hitler.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:15 (eighteen years ago)

Hudsucker may not be best, but it's definitely the most underrated.

Lebowski is awful.

― milo z, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:28 (eighteen years ago)

I love Hudsucker!

― Abbott, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:34 (eighteen years ago)

I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN BARTON.

I think I made a mistake.

― Abbott, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

Blood Simple just edging it for me. Then again, I haven't seen it in a while. Does it suck?

― Matt #2, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:40 (eighteen years ago)

the dude abides... and our cat is named nathan jr.
m.

― msp, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:41 (eighteen years ago)

they are finishing an adaptaion now for cormac mccarthy's "no country for old man".
maybe this will be their best film? the story is sooooo cohen's..
(ive chosen "barton fink")

― Zeno, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

sonnenfeld was their secret weapon

― rps, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

bar-ton fink! bar-ton fink!

― rio natsume, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:51 (eighteen years ago)

ahh fargo, obvious and safe

― deej, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:52 (eighteen years ago)

i have been killfiled, haven't i

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:14 (eighteen years ago)

1. fargo
2. raising arizona
3. lebowski

― Ms Misery, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:20 (eighteen years ago)

as much as i love lebowski & fink, fargo is the only perfect movie

― and what, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

raising arizona is basically my name is earl

― and what, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

arayghgh you did not just say that

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

these guys just make me pine for the good old days when insanely talented filmmakers with absolutely nothing to say had a studio system that gave them durable scripts and made them stick to the point.

yeah, this seems kind of otm, loath as I am to admit it. I have never been able to sit through O Brother, Where Art Thou, and I think it's because of this. still, I've never seen Fink; that one seems pretty weighty.

also, I love John Goodman so much I will forever be grateful to the Coen brothers for giving him a ton of work.

― horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:37 (eighteen years ago)

O Brother towers over everything else they done in the last 10 years. At least it's a good Christmas Day family movie and has a great soundtrack.

― milo z, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:39 (eighteen years ago)

i picked lebowski because i've seen it about a quarter billion times and i don't want to think i've wasted my time

― gff, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:40 (eighteen years ago)

"at least its a good christmas day family movie" = you think the coen brothers are complete horseshit, correct?

xpost gff otm

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:41 (eighteen years ago)

'intolerable cruelty' is awesome, somebody should pick that.

― gff, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:42 (eighteen years ago)

why do people hate Lebowski? is it just the obsessive fans? that movie makes me so happy!

― horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

obsessive fans + dull + not actually funny

― milo z, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

even if big lebowski was nothing but Jeff Bridges speaking in that amazing voice, I think I would love it.

― horseshoe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

haha i did forget last 10 years only = like past 4 flicks. still o brother where are thou is great & the man who wasnt there & intolerable cruelty are criminally underrated.

ps no i am genuinely not a coen bros fanboy

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

I remember being shocked at how boring I found Blood Simple.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:04 (eighteen years ago)

But then, I was drunk. Maybe I'll give it a sober run some time.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:04 (eighteen years ago)

people who quote big lebowski = dud. still a good film though.

― rio natsume, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:06 (eighteen years ago)

that shit was stoner's delight when i was like 14

― rio natsume, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:09 (eighteen years ago)

people who smoke a roach the dude style for jokes = totally classic

― rio natsume, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:12 (eighteen years ago)

I remember being shocked at how boring I found Blood Simple.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, April 3, 2007 10:04 PM (9 minutes ago)

this is a genuine hoosteen otm

― and what, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:14 (eighteen years ago)

Which Coen bros somebody loves/hates = some kind of Rorschach test

For me, it's The Big L all the way.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:22 (eighteen years ago)

blood simple is so intricately put together. in every scene at least one of the characters is acting based on mistaken assumptions, and only the viewer has all the pieces. it's a head trip in a low-key kind of way. unlike barton fink, which is a head trip in an AHHH WALLS R MELTING kind of way.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

I'd rank them something like this (best first):
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Raising Arizona
The Hudsucker Proxy
Blood Simple
Barton Fink
The Man Who Wasn't There

and then the ones I don't really like:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Miller's Crossing

never saw the most recent two

― abanana, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

sonnenfeld was their secret weapon

I thought Roger Deakins was their secret weapon, especially on O Brother and TMWWT.

― Billy Dods, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:08 (eighteen years ago)

i've never been able to stay awake through fargo, but there are great parts in there.

coen bros are good at characters. or possibly heavy-handed with it... but i think it's a positive thing regardless.

my wife could probably sit down and recite most of the dialogue in raising arizona. many of their movies are highly quotable. again, possibly overdone, but we're quoters, so it works for us. i mean, when there was no crawdads, we ate sand! you ate sand? we ate sand!

i kind of wonder, if some of the funnier ones aren't funny at all to some of you, what is funny?

― msp, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:16 (eighteen years ago)

I never saw Intolerable Cruelty, but when I worked in a video store I was very grateful for its existence because every time I shelved it, I got to hiss, INTOLERABLE CRU-EL-TY."

I liked to also say "A Very Loooooooooooooooooong Engagement" when I shelved that one.

― Abbott, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:19 (eighteen years ago)

I think O Brother is probably their best movie, though I voted Hudsucker as a sentimental favorite.

― I DIED, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:30 (eighteen years ago)

oh brother was so lovely to look at on the big screen. so beautiful.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:33 (eighteen years ago)

anybody ever see crimewave, the movie they did with sam raimi? it's pretty bad, but you can see all the elements of their future work in that movie.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:35 (eighteen years ago)

like, the good and the bad.

i do love miller's crossing too. again with the visual loveliness.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 04:36 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 455 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

yes

― balls, Monday, 7 April 2014 20:04 (eleven years ago)

how dare he make three different tv series in one year

― Charles, hatless (sic), Monday, 7 April 2014 22:32 (eleven years ago)

First 5 or 10 minutes of pilot are online somewhere. Martin Freeman more or less just steals the William H Macy character's mannerisms wholesale, but it looked like it could be ok

― sktsh, Monday, 7 April 2014 23:20 (eleven years ago)

Martin Freeman does American in it? Weird.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 01:16 (eleven years ago)

ten months pass...

Finally saw "Blood Simple". A thousand different things to say about it, but the recurring gag of Ray living on a dead-end street was amazing.

― pplains, Tuesday, 3 March 2015 14:38 (ten years ago)

I opened this thread and rummaged around in it a while. I noticed the love for Hudsucker Proxy far upthread.

imo the main problem with Hudsucker is that the Coens are wearing clothes they borrowed from Preston Sturges, who they obviously adore, and while this is probably the best ersatz Sturges film ever made, it never quite felt free flowing or natural to me, for the simple reason that the Coens aren't Preston Sturges, so the borrowed clothes never really fit them correctly. They had similar problems with The Ladykillers, but far more pronounced and the result fell flat on its face.

otoh, when their movies are based more directly in their own humor and invention, like their later Sturges homage O, Brother! Where Art Thou, or like Fargo and A Serious Man, the result feels much more effortless and less labored.

― Aimless, Tuesday, 3 March 2015 17:50 (ten years ago)

seven months pass...

This looks fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqeoW3XRa0

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Friday, 9 October 2015 16:39 (nine years ago)

looks great

― Οὖτις, Friday, 9 October 2015 16:43 (nine years ago)

This is just what I need right now. Been listening to the You Must Remember This podcast and learning about twentieth century Hollywood stars and moguls for the first time. This movie will dovetail nicely with that.

Also, just to repeat my plea from two years ago:

Anyone know where to find the pic of the Coen brothers where they're standing in front of the bookshelf with all of their scripts on it? I would guess it was from the mid-00s and there were a bunch on scripts for movies that hadn't been made yet. Just got to thinking that I'm sure some of them have by now.
― how's life, Monday, September 30, 2013 12:08 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think I saw it in Esquire or GQ or some other men's magazine.

― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Friday, 9 October 2015 16:54 (nine years ago)

coming out on my birthday :)

― lil urbane (Jordan), Friday, 9 October 2015 16:56 (nine years ago)

haha, hail caesar looks awesome.

― tylerw, Friday, 9 October 2015 18:13 (nine years ago)

The tone of that Hail Caesar trailer is pure farce, which is very hard to do right, but if they get pacing right, it ought to be one of their best.

― Aimless, Friday, 9 October 2015 18:24 (nine years ago)

Looks fantastic. And the Coens track record with farce is encouraging.

― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Saturday, 10 October 2015 13:30 (nine years ago)

yeah i was gonna say, are we really worried about these guys being able to do farce!?

― some dude, Saturday, 10 October 2015 14:15 (nine years ago)

although it was funny to me to watch a trailer full of glamorous movie stars, many of which have never been in a Coen film before, and at the end Clooney opens a door to a room full of the kind of funny-looking old character actors that are usually in greater supply in their movies.

― some dude, Saturday, 10 October 2015 14:16 (nine years ago)

existential terror coens >>> farce coens imo, but I guess everyone needs a break now and again

― (extremely nerds voice) (Clay), Saturday, 10 October 2015 17:36 (nine years ago)

When they mixed existential terror with farce, we got A Serious Man, which is currently my favorite of their oeuvre.

― Aimless, Saturday, 10 October 2015 17:43 (nine years ago)

The underrated Burn After Reading as well, sorta.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Saturday, 10 October 2015 17:45 (nine years ago)

yeah I'm a BAR stan as well

― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 October 2015 17:52 (nine years ago)

we should do this poll again, they've made five decent-to-killer movies since!

― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 October 2015 17:53 (nine years ago)

watched that three times and i think it was for brolin's "good lord!"

imo god came to shakespeare in a dream and showed him julius caesar (mankiewicz 1953) and shakespeare in wonderment knew at last who and what he was and blessed the bitterness of his life, so i am hyped

― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Saturday, 10 October 2015 18:16 (nine years ago)

saw big lebowski again recently, i think its insanity is part of its cult appeal but it's not that good, at all really. out of what i've seen of theirs it's maybe my least favorite, and i think i've seen everything except for intolerable cruelty and the ladykillers (which i've heard are their worst.)

― nomar, Saturday, 10 October 2015 18:42 (nine years ago)

I wonder if an older Barton Fink might make a cameo in Hail Cesar?

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Saturday, 10 October 2015 19:44 (nine years ago)

intolerable cruelty underrated imo

― balls, Saturday, 10 October 2015 21:40 (nine years ago)

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--0iPWki0E--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_200,q_80,w_200/k1t2qnzuhlnp1stwa9xz.png

Just thought this thread needed a photo of the guy who wrote the Jezebel post "The Coen Brothers' New Movie Hail Caesar! Looks Very Funny, and Very White."

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 10 October 2015 21:50 (nine years ago)

Hey at least... Robert Picardo... got in. Yeah, I got nothin'.

― Nhex, Saturday, 10 October 2015 22:28 (nine years ago)

tbf to the Coen Brothers just every film that takes place in some kind of glamorous American pre-60s time... hrm. yeah...

― Nhex, Saturday, 10 October 2015 22:30 (nine years ago)

The Coen Brothers' New Movie Hail Caesar! Looks Very Funny, and Very White

the almost-certainly-useless thinkpiece I knew was coming halfway through the trailer

― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Saturday, 10 October 2015 22:44 (nine years ago)

Man I will ride hard for Intolerable Cruelty

― bunny slopes, Saturday, 10 October 2015 22:53 (nine years ago)

Um, the Hollywood movie industry prior to 1965 was at least 99% white.

― Aimless, Saturday, 10 October 2015 23:43 (nine years ago)

Um, the Hollywood movie industry prior to 1965 was at least 99% white.

This was brought up by commenters. The response was (literally) to post the dictionary definition of the word "fiction" over and over.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, 11 October 2015 01:16 (nine years ago)

Aren't all Coen Bros movies 99% white?

― pplains, Sunday, 11 October 2015 01:24 (nine years ago)

Even the black guys in their movies like the Eagles.

― pplains, Sunday, 11 October 2015 01:24 (nine years ago)

Well, yeah.

― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 11 October 2015 02:01 (nine years ago)

Aren't all Coen Bros movies 99% white?

The Coens write almost every script they direct. Don't all the experts say "write about what you know"?

― Aimless, Sunday, 11 October 2015 03:55 (nine years ago)

Intolerable Cruelty is far from their best but it is very, very funny

― let no-one live rent free in your butt (sic), Sunday, 11 October 2015 07:38 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

The transfer on the new Criterion disc of Blood Simple is so gorgeous that it has actually made me like the film a bit better than I used to (my first viewing, some 20 years ago, was on VHS, and my second, a decade-ish later, was a TV broadcast). I mean, the difference between a high 7/10 and a low 8/10, but still.

― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Thursday, 27 October 2016 18:43 (eight years ago)

Someone needs to redo this poll. Though good luck trying to pick the best of the run from NCFOM TO Hail, Caesar! never mind the previous 25 years.

― Dan Worsley, Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:03 (eight years ago)

would NCFOM win?

― rip van wanko, Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:13 (eight years ago)

A Serious Man would win

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:14 (eight years ago)

ncfom and a serious man are two of my favorite coen bros films. none of their other films of the last decade come close for me

― harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:18 (eight years ago)

True Grit was extremely solid, imo.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:44 (eight years ago)

Ah,the only Coen bros film I havent seen

― harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:50 (eight years ago)

vvg

― the kids are alt right (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 October 2016 19:59 (eight years ago)

ya thoroughly enjoyed it and was thinking of rewatching it again actually

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 27 October 2016 20:47 (eight years ago)

True Grit would definitely be my vote if we were to poll NCfOM onward.

― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Thursday, 27 October 2016 21:02 (eight years ago)

nine months pass...

Clooney directs a Coen script from the '90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYga2m0V2O0

hard to get much of a sense of it from the trailer

― Number None, Thursday, 27 July 2017 19:57 (seven years ago)

six years pass...

Hasn't been a post on here for over six years! Does every film get its own thread? That's weird.

Drive-Away Dolls opens tomorrow. Looks kind of like a PTA-Licorice Pizza thing. Will see it soon with guarded optimism.

― clemenza, Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:00 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vy_7UGICJU

― clemenza, Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:02 (one year ago)

A newer thread has overtaken this one:

Best Coen Brothers Movie - 2017

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:03 (one year ago)

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