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Miller's Crossing
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Actors: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, and J.E. Freeman
Rated: R (Restricted)
Retail Price (not our price): $9.98
Release Date: 2003-05-20
Theatrical Release Date: 1990-10
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 115 minutes
Format: Array
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Discs: 1


Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com essential video
Arguably the best film by Joel and Ethan Coen, the 1990 Miller's Crossing stars Gabriel Byrne as Tom, a loyal lieutenant of a crime boss named Leo (Albert Finney) who is in a Prohibition-era turf war with his major rival, Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). A man of principle, Tom nevertheless is romantically involved with Leo's lover (Marcia Gay Harden), whose screwy brother (John Turturro) escapes a hit ordered by Caspar only to become Tom's problem. Making matters worse, Tom has outstanding gambling debts he can't pay, which keeps him in regular touch with a punishing enforcer. With all the energy the Coens put into their films, and all their focused appreciation of genre conventions and rules, and all their efforts to turn their movies into ironic appreciations of archetypes in American fiction, they never got their formula so right as with Miller's Crossing. With its Hammett-like dialogue and Byzantine plot and moral chaos mitigated by one hero's personal code, the film so transcends its self-scrutiny as a retro-crime thriller that it is a deserved classic in its own right. --Tom Keogh

2) Description
Leo is the benevolent Irish gangster and political boss who rules an Easter city with the help of Tom, his trusted lieutenant and counselor. But their control of the town is challenged by an over-reaching Italian underboss and his ruthless henchman. Just as this threat erupts, Leo and Tom have a falling out over the same woman. Tom, caught in the jaws of a gangland violent outcome.

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

1) Superb Gangster Flick: Head shots in plain view, shoot-outs, Tommy Guns!   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
As for the story, we have a rather intricate one here involving a man by the name of Tom, played brilliantly by the Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, who jumps with his loyalty between two of the biggest crime bosses in the city. Tom is dissected with each scene, and for this we are excited to see who Tom will really become at the end of the movie. There were great shoot-out scenes in the movie, particularly when Albert Finney's character takes on a whole group with one single Tommy gun. Taking place during Prohibition, this movie comes alive with corrupt Irish police, mayors shifting allegiance to crime bosses, speakeasies springing up left and right, and blood; blood spilling, blood pouring, and head shots in view of the camera.This was the Coen Brothers' third movie and the third and final movie in which Barry Sonnenfeld worked as the cinematographer. As Sonnenfeld says in a special feature on the DVD, this is a handsome movie. The shots are long and artfully paced. The colors are dark and smooth. For lover's of cinematography: the hats, trees, long shots, vomit color, and police clothing are sure to please.

2) This was great!   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I watched this for the first time yesterday, and I have to say that I can't believe that I've gone all these years without watching it. I've always loved the Coen Bros. work, and this is no exception. I would rank it up on the list of some of the best gangster/noir flicks of all time. It is most definitely one of the best films of the '90s. The performances are all great, especially Albert Finney who is simply amazing in his role. The score by Carter Burwell is haunting, and one of the best. I will be buying this DVD along with the soundtrack very soon. Recommended, especially for those who have not seen it yet. Please do not miss this one!

3) GREAT COEN BROS FLICK   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOBSTER FILMS EVER MADE.GABRIEL BYRNE IS RUTHLESS.GOTTA LOVE THE COEN BROS

4) One of my favorite films   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I am fan of the gangster film genre, and this ranks way high on that list (along with Goodfellas and City of God). It definitely has that Coen bro'squirky touch, and with the great characters. It's very well acted, especially John Turturro, who has the most memorable scene (still frame of the is shown on front of the DVD cover). The story is very well layered, and like most Coen films it unfolds in an unorthodox manor, which will probably need more than one viewing to get the full narrative. This film isn't those for those looking for a violent shoot em up gangster movie (though it does have its moments, including a memorable tommy gun scene with the great Albert Finney), you will actually have to pay attention to the conversations and every action to get it. If you like Coen Bro's films, you must watch it.

5) Cinematic miracle - the Coen's fuse many audio/visual opposites into a coherent whole   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
"Miller's Crossing" Is best described as that "stylish Coen Bros. Gangster Movie". Instead of the southwestern types populating "Raising Arizona" and "Blood Simple", we have the "Dapper Dans" and fast-talking molls of some nameless Prohibition-era metropolis. Seething with an endless array of illicit dealing (speakeasies, bookmaking, fight-fixing), the city is barely held together by boss Lee O'Bannon (Albert Finney). Even the Police Chief and the Mayor pay unquestioned deference to O'Bannon who, when times get desperate, proves he's still an artist with a Tommygun. Nobody gets big without O'Bannon's permission, but the crime boss has a weakness - Verna Birnbaum (Marcia Gay Harden). Lee's obsession with Verna proves fatal because he feels obligated to protect her no-good brother Bernie, an utter creep marked for death by lower crime boss Johnny Caspar. Gabriel Byrne is Tommy Regan, Lee's right-hand man and also his conscience. Regan cautions his boss to dump Verna - he knows that both she and her brother aren't worth going to war over. But he's also fallen for Verna. When O'Bannon ignores Tom, he sparks a mob war that soon threatens his primacy and catapults Caspar to the ultimate power. Tom must navigate an uncertain path as Caspar's new confidante, one that brings him to blows with Caspar's right-hand man, and will see him realize his true feelings for Verna.This was a great movie, with an uncommon sense of sound and visual artistry. Putting aside the plot, full of characters with shifting motives, the Coens display their great ear for unforgettable dialog and expression. Their never-named city manages to be more cartoonishly realized than those that appeared in the many Batman-clones that appeared in the early 1990's when "Crossing" was released. The Coen's rely on their gift for visual irony - their city is populated with Cops who strut proudly even though conscious that they are tools of the bosses. (In my favorite scene, Tom takes a chair to an oversized enforcer sent to rough him up; his "victim's" expression - like a child on the verge of tears - is priceless.) At its heart, "Crossing" is an impossible mix of contradictions - with action both fast and slow, rough and smooth, heavy and light, best shown in a scene where Finney single-handedly turns the tables on would-be assassins, and the rat-a-tat of his submachine gun shares our attentions with the poignant sounds of "O Danny Boy". Not quite the collection of sight-gags familiar in stock Coen fare like "Intolerable Cruelty" or "O' Brother", the film is best compared to a dream that Gabriel Byrne's character describes to Verna, of chasing his hat through the wind. Byrne calls the sight of a grown man chasing something pathetic, but Verna thinks that hat an image that will change into something beautiful. Even if you don't buy the story, the film's mix of imagery will prove unforgettable.