Oh, man. Gotta reply to this one.
I’m gonna rank 'em by personal favorite, but I have to say that IMO there is not one truly bad Coen Bros. film; not a one. Anyway, here goes.
Miller’s Crossing
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Fargo
Raising Arizona
Blood Simple
The Man Who Wasn’t There
The Hudsucker Proxy
Barton Fink
Guess my ranking would be:
Miller’s Crossing
Barton Fink
Fargo
The Big Lebowski
Blood Simple
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Raising Arizona
The Man Who Wasn’t There
The Hudsucker Proxy
But there’s not a real stinker in the bunch.
I took the hats thing as an admission of the source of the story (Hammett).
The Coen Bros are my favorite filmmakers, so I’ll just cut it short and say:Raising Arizona, because that was the point they changed everything, and set the tone for steadycam zooms and odd characters. Amen.
I can’t pick. They’re all so brilliant*. And they never seem to repeat themselves.
*Except for one. Lump me in with those who dislike Hudsucker. I find it unwatchable because of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s accent. Whenever she does accents, she drives me crazy.
Well, Miller’s Crossing gets my vote as the best movie ever made, for many of the same reasons as thermalribbon mentioned. I can still vividly remember seeing it for the first time, my jaw hanging open pretty much from start to finish.
But for the others, it’s close. To rank them:
Raising Arizona
Blood Simple
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Fargo
then
The Man Who Wasn’t There – didn’t do a whole lot for me, but it was well-made.
and then the ones I really don’t like:
The Hudsucker Proxy – I really appreciate what they were trying to do, and there are some great moments. But the movie feels like a premise stretched way too far; they’ve done the screwball comedy homage much better as elements of other movies. And I hated Jennifer Jason Leigh – her performance was straight out of a high school drama club’s production of His Girl Friday. How she got to be so over-rated as an actress is beyond me.
Barton Fink – again, I appreciate what they were trying to do but hate the movie.
And vibrotronica, I know what you’re saying about Coen-bashers. A friend of mine is always saying the same thing, how they’re cold and condescending to their characters. The thing is, she says it’s especially true in Fargo, which is I think the first movie they’ve done with truly sympathetic characters!
For many years, Raising Arizona was far and away my favorite comedy.
Then along came The Big Lebowski. It kills me every time I watch it.
My faves, in order:
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Raising Arizona
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Blood Simple
Hudsucker Proxy I have only seen once. It didn’t click with me, but I’m willing to give it another chance.
I have only seen Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink once, and that was years ago in both cases. I’ll need to see them again to refresh my memory.
Haven’t seen The Man Who Wasn’t There, but am planning on rectifying that little error when I can.
To those of you with little love for Hudsucker, I must point out that it contains Bruce Campbell, which automatically adds several points to its coolness rating. You know, just in case you forgot.
Re: the OP. I like Miller’s Crossing best, but The Man Who Wasn’t There has such a great look that it scores high based on cinematography alone.
(“I didn’t know it would cause this much hoopla!”)
Agree with the above.
Barton Fink is the only CB movie I have not seen, and there isn’t really much discussion about this film in the thread.
Can anyone enlighten me?
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Raising Arizona
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Hudsucker Proxy
Barton Fink
Blood Simple
Miller’ Crossing
Maybe I should watch Miller’s Crossing again. I saw it about 10 years ago and had a hard time staying interested in watching it.
I hope I don’t get flamed, but I vote for Barton Fink.
My choice for best would be between Fargo and Miller’s Crossing, with The Man Who Wasn’t There third.
#1 Raising Arizona
Very close #2 Big Lebowski
Very close #3 Fargo
#4 Barton Fink
Distant #5 Hudsucker Proxy
#6 Blood Simple
Haven’t seen the others.
I like Hudsucker Proxy.
Also Barton Fink and O Brother, Where Art Thou, which I guess means I enjoy their period-piece movies.
The others, I either haven’t seen or don’t care much about.
What astounding choices!
This is what makes the SDMB different, you see so many #1 votes for The Big Lebowski and Miller’s Crossing. Put them tied for first on my list, followed by:
Blood Simple
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Fargo
Barton Fink
The Hudsucker Proxy
Oh Brother Whre Art Thou?
Raising Arizona
List subject to radical change as viewer tastes mature. The Coens have never made a dud, rating them seems a bit like rating your children.
Millers Crossing
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Raising Arizona
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Hudsucker Proxy
Barton Fink
Blood Simple
I really liked them all, but have never seen “The Man W.W.T.” but I will & would like to thank you fellas for teaching me a valuable lesson.
Chet!
It’s about a writer who is having an unusually hard time writing for “the common man”.
To clarify a statement I made above, the movie was written while the CBs were having a severe bout of writer’s block for Miller’s Crossing. Notice that Tom Reagen’s apartment is located in “Barton Arms”.
Stylistically, it is the polar opposite of O Brother. Bleak, spooky and very allegorical. Symbolism up the wazoo. It’s well acted but I think it’s the least accessible CB movie.
It’s hard, but I’d have to say “The Man who wasn’t there”. Probably because I’m a big fan of Noir and TMWWT is a good example of it.
Chalk me up as another Big Lebowski fan. You can call me “Dude” or “Duder” or “Duderino” or “His Royal Dudeness” if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.
I also liked Hudsucker and O Brother, but as for Fargo, I just didn’t get it.
Alphagene
That was a great encapsulation of Barton Fink. Whenever I’m asked what it is about, I can only blink and stutter. I classify it as a dark dark dark dark comedy. I love it. It is one of my favorite movies period.
Honey!? Wheah’s mah honey! 