Miller's Crossing [Blu-ray]

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Joel Coen

Overview

Joel and Ethan Coen's third collaboration, the gangster film Miller's Crossing, stars Gabriel Byrne as Tom Reagan, the right-hand man of big-city Irish mob boss Leo (Albert Finney). The film opens with Italian mobster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) and his second in command Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman) informing Leo and Tom that they are going to kill bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) because he has been revealing Caspar's fixed fights to other gamblers. Leo informs Caspar that Bernie pays for protection and is not to be touched. After the Italians leave in a huff, Tom informs Leo that he should give up Bernie. Tom and Leo are both involved with Verna (Marcia Gay Harden), Bernie's sister. After a failed hit on Leo starts a full-scale mob war, Tom reveals to Leo the truth about his relationship with Verna. This leads to a falling-out between the pair. Tom goes to work for Caspar, but in truth, he is still loyal to Leo. Tom figures out how to manipulate all of the situations so that Leo survives, but this may cost Tom his relationship with Verna.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/30/2011
UPC:	0024543706892
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	R
Source:	20TH CENTURY FOX
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:55:00
Sales rank:	3,103

Special Features

Shooting Miller's Crossing - a conversatino with Barry Sonnenfeld; Still gallery; Theatrical trailers; Cast interviews with Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gabriel Byrne	Tom Reagan
Albert Finney	Leo
John Turturro	Bernie Bernbaum
Marcia Gay Harden	Verna
Jon Polito	Johnny Caspar
J.E. Freeman	Eddie Dane
Mike Starr	Frankie
Al Mancini	Tic-Tac
Richard Woods	Mayor Dale Levander
Thomas Toner	O'Doole,O'Doole
Steve Buscemi	Mink
Mario Todisco	Clarence `Drop' Johnson
Olek Krupa	Tad
Michael Jeter	Adolph
Lanny Flaherty	Terry
Jeanette Kontomitras	Mrs. Caspar
Louis Charles Mounicou III	Johnny Caspar Jr.
John McConnell	Brian, a Cop
Danny Aiello III	Delahanty, a Cop
Helen Jolly	Screaming Lady
Hilda McLean	Landlady
Salvatore H. Tornabene	Rug Daniels
Kevin Dearie	Street Urchin
Michael Badalucco	Caspar's Driver
Charles Ferrara	Caspar's Butler
Charles Gunning	Hitman at Verna's
Dave Drinkx	Hitman No. 2
David Darlow	Lazarre's Messenger
Jack David Harris	Man with Pipe Bomb
Jery Hewitt	Son of Erin
Sam Raimi	Snickering Gunman
John Schnauder Jr.	Cop with Bullhorn
Zolly Levin	Rabbi
William Preston Robertson	Voices
Don Picard	Gunman in Leo's House
George Fernandez	Caspar's Cousin,Caspar's Cousin
Donna Isaacson	Actor
John Lyons	Actor
John "Spud" McConnell	Brian, a Cop
Monte Starr	Gunman in Leo's House
Robert Labrosse	Lazarre's Tough
Carl Rooney	Lazarre's Toughs
Joey Ancona	Boxer
Bill Raye	Boxer
Frances McDormand	Actor
Carter Burwell	Composer

Technical Credits

Ethan Coen

Ben Barenholtz	Executive Producer,Producer
Peter Chesney	Special Effects,Special Effects
Ethan Coen	Producer,Director,Screenwriter,Screenwriter,Director
Jery Hewitt	Stunts
Ron Bochar	Sound Effects
Lee Dichter	Sound Effects
Bill Anagnos	Stunts
Graham Place	Producer

Editorial Reviews

For their third feature, Miller's Crossing (1990), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen focused their film-literate gaze on the gangster genre, blending it with the film noir legacy they first explored in Blood Simple (1984). Set during Prohibition, the film evokes 1930s gangster film classics and Dashiell Hammett novels in its portrayal of Irish and Italian gangsters and the conflict touched off between them by a complicated web of betrayals involving a sinister crime boss (Albert Finney), his right-hand man (Gabriel Byrne), and a glib bookie John Turturro. Barry Sonnenfeld's shadowy cinematography lends a somber cast to the events, while set pieces like the forest execution and a chandelier-splintering shoot-out to the strains of "Danny Boy" revel in the Coens' talent for combining violence, drama, and high style. Though a few dissenters viewed Miller's Crossing as all surface and no substance, critics were impressed by the strong cast -- especially Turturro and Finney -- and bravura technique, declaring that the Coens had fully come into their own as filmmakers. The writer's block the Coens reportedly suffered while working on the screenplay became fodder for their next film, Barton Fink (1991).