We watched The Big Lebowski again last night. I’m starting to think that overall, it’s the best movie the Coen brothers have made up to this point. I’ve liked others better at first viewing, and certainly Fargo is a serious contender, but there’s just so many little things in The Big Lebowksi that make it an incredible movie. Every time I watch it, I giggle at the absurdity of it all.
For reference, here’s the list:
Blood Simple
Raising Arizona
Miller’s Crossing
Barton Fink
The Hudsucker Proxy
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Man Who Wasn’t There
I haven’t seen Blood Simple yet. I haven’t seen Miller’s Crossing or The Man Who Wasn’t There, either. And to think I call myself a Coen Bros. fan!
I don’t know what my favorite Coen Brothers movie is. I reallly liked Fargo. Rasing Arizona is so funny! I quote O Brother, Where Art Thou? on an almost daily basis (hell, they ain’t even old timey!..tee hee). It’s down to those three, though.
The other movies mentioned, Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski, were good but they’re not in the top three.
Their best movie is Miller’s Crossing. It is a literate, complex, layered movie that reveals itself more and more with repeated viewings. It is my favorite movie and I cannot recommend it more highly. The dialog is impeccable. The characters very well-developed, a feat that is hard to do within a framework that is so obviously sending up and paying tribute to the genre and the archetypes found within. A great movie. The fact that it hasn’t been re-issued on DVD is a crime, but most likely a result of the fact that it hasn’t been widely viewed. It isn’t their most accesible picture, but their most rewarding.
The rest of the list goes like this:
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Big Lebowski
Barton Fink
Fargo
Raising Arizona
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Blood Simple
Hudsucker Proxy.
Now keep in mind, the floor for the Coen is the ceiling for most others in the movie business these days. Only Wes Anderson really compares. So, with the exception of Hudsucker, which is pretty much an all-around failure, these other pictures are terrific.
Not a true Cohen Bros movie. It was half them and half Sam Rami, who also makes fantastic films.
As for the best CB movie: I don’t think there is one. They’re incredible in their own unique way. If i had to pick a favorite though, I would definately go with The Big Lewbowski, which if I recall is based on the film The Big Chill.
I’ll second Miller’s Crossing where else will you find a movie that makes such a big deal about hats just to get the film critics to search for meaning.
The dialogue is the best of any of their films, quick bright and at times hilarious.
My list of the films I have seen:
Millers Crossing
Big Labowski
Fargo
Raising Arizona
O Brother Where Art Thou
Barton Fink
The Man Who wasn’t There
Blood Simple
While not their best, I’ll defend Hudsucker Proxy. It has some great lines (“You know, for kids”), good chemistry between Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and some great gags. Sure, it kind of falls apart at the end, but taken together it’s not a bad movie.
My favorites are the comedies. Raising Arizona (which may be the best comedy screenplay ever written) and Big Lebowski. I’ve got a soft spot for Barton Fink because I saw it at an impressionable age, and The Man Who Wasn’t There for the Hiesenberg Uncertainty speech.
I’d also like to take a second to bash the Cohen-bashers. Some film critics, including a friend of mine who writes for the local alternative weekly, claim to hate the Cohens. The common argument is that they are too cold and intellectual, that they condescend to their characters, and that they are only doing cynical post-modern genre manipulation. I cannot disagree more. Can you think of a more sympathic pair of characters in modern cinema than Hi and Ed from Raising Arizona? Are the characters in O Brother, Where Art Thou? treated in a condescending fashion? Sure, they have funny accents, but guess what? It’s FUNNY! Was Chaplin condesending?
Personally, I think most of the Cohen-bashers are just doing it to earn their critic bona-fides. After all, you don’t get to be a well-known critic by liking things, but rather by writing scathing, fun to read rebukes.
[ol][li]Raising Arizona[/li][li]Fargo[/li][li]O Brother Where Art Thou?[/li][li]Miller’s Crossing (under-appreciated)[/li][li]The Hudsucker Proxy (underrated)[/li][li]The Big Lebowski[/li][li]The Man Who Wasn’t There[/li][li]Blood Simple (overrated)[/li][li]Barton Fink (overrated)[/ol][/li]
Those of you who haven’t seen Miller’s Crossing need to rush right out and do so. You’ll never shave with hot water again.
They are like my children, they are all equally beloved. (Except for “Hudsucker” which is the ungrateful deliquent child that we will never speak of again.)
Another defender of the Hudsucker Proxy. There are so many great lines and scenes in this movie. The whole montage of the invention of the “dingus” set to the Khachaturian music is inspired.
Great: Hudsucker Proxy and Blood Simple
Very, very good: Raising Arizona, Fargo, and Miller’s Crossing
Enjoyable but not their best: Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski
Here’s my list, roughly. Really, it’s whatever I’m watching at the time, usually. And I love Hudsucker, which is listed last only because something has to be listed last.
**
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Raising Arizona
The Big Lebowski
Miller’s Crossing
Fargo
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Blood Simple
Barton Fink
The Hudsucker Proxy
**
FMC (whatever that is, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Movie Classics?) is going to be showing Miller’s Crossingin LETTERBOX TONIGHT (Wednesday, 10-09) at 10:00 (that’s Central time). I’ve got my Tivo set to get it, since it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it. I too wish it would be released on DVD.
The Big Lebowski
Raising Arizona
Miller’s Crossing
Fargo
Barton Fink
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Blood Simple
The Hudsucker Proxy
Haven’t seen The Man Who Wasn’t There yet.
I second the sentiment that this is like picking my favorite child, except that Hudsucker isn’t the juvenile delinquent, but the mildly retarded kid that I love just as much as the others despite the fact that it keeps putting its pants on backwards.
Another vote for Miller’s Crossing. I don’t really care for gangster films, but this one grabbed me in ways the Godfather couldn’t. And it’s got Gabriel Byrne, too. Yay!
I’m happy to see so many Miller’s fans. It’s my favorite too.
Seems like the people I talk to either assume the best CB flick is one of two. Your normals think Fargo is the best since it so accurately portrays the way every person in a cold climate east of the Appalacians talks. Sick twists.
And your stuffy film students tend to like TMWWT because of the fantastic cinematography and homages to film noir movies I’ve never heard of.
My dad and I always argue over Lebowski. He thinks that Goodman should have played Buschemi’s role and vice versa. Anyway, it’s my second favorite. Although it was made when the movie industry was for some reason Philip Seymour Hoffman crazy! A bizarre phenomenon not seen in the industry since Parker Posey mania! Plus it has the odd combination of appearances by Flea, Aimee Mann and Asia Carrera.
I have a soft spot for Arizona since it was the first movie in which a deeper meaning was pointed out to me. My sister told me that Evelle’s feet-first removal from the muddy ground signified a breach birth. Coooool.
I really liked O Brother and am always amazed at how many people were immediately put off when they saw that it was based on the Odyssey, which most people don’t care for. The CBs, IMO, should have left that fun fact out of the opening credits.
I can tell Barton was made for therapeutic reasons. Apparently Miller’s was causing a lot of blockage.
I can sum up Blood Simple in four words: ceiling fans and vomit.
I’ll give Hudsucker credit for casting a pre-grotesque Anna Nicole Smith.