Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

10/03/2022

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - Much to love in fabulous Coen music yarn

♥♥♥♥

Three convicts flee a chain gang with part of the chain still attached on this neat poster for Ethan and Joel Coen's O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Three escaped convicts in Mississippi in 1937 venture out on an adventure after a buried treasure, which will soon get flooded, and they record a country single on their way.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is written and directed by Minnesotan master filmmakers, brothers Ethan and Joel Coen (Blood Simple (1984)). Ethan Coen also produced the film. It is a very loose adaptation of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey (8th/7th century BC).

It is an enthusiastic yarn full of fun, speed, visual panache (cinematography by Roger Deakins (Shadey (1985))), a delicious color scheme, - and energetic actors: Tim Blake Nelson (Dallas & Robo (2018, TV-series)) especially as the simple-minded Delmar, and George Clooney (Red Surf (1989)) as vain idiot Ulysses McGill are terrific.

Clan members and politics get mixed into the bargain, and towards the end things get a bit thick and contrived. But O Brother, Where Art Thou? is still a good and fun film that could only have come from the inimitable Coen brothers.

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) or, The Man Who Wasn't Dylan
True Grit (2010) - The Coens' grand western present

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
A Serious Man (2009) - One of the Coens' best; a philo-religious serio-comedy
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008

No Country for Old Men (2007) - Undigestible McCarthy adaptation lets you hang in midair
Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Big Lebowski (1998) - The stoner comedy to reign over all

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Fargo (1996) - The Coen brothers make movie magic with dark-humored crime thriller

Top 10: Best films about filmmaking
Barton Fink (1991) or, The Writer's Hell

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 26 mil. $

Box office: 71.8 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.76 times its cost)

[O Brother, Where Art Thou? premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 107 minutes. Neither of the Coens have ever read the Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941). Clooney was paid 1 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from June - August 1999 in Mississippi and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #27 to a 195k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 847 theaters (different weeks), grossing 45.5 mil. $ (63.4 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, lost to Stephen Gaghan for Traffic, and Cinematography, lost to Peter Pau for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was also nominated for 4 BAFTAs, a European Film award, won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and 2 Grammys, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The Coen brothers returned with The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). Clooney returned in The Perfect Storm (2000); John Turturro (Somewhere Tonight (2011)) in Two Thousand and None (2000); Nelson in The Good Girl (2002); and John Goodman (In the Electric Mist (2009)) in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000). O Brother, Where Art Thou? is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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10/03/2022

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - Much to love in fabulous Coen music yarn

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