# I saw "O' Brother Where Art Thou" for the first time - Wow! What a great movie! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717 "2009-09-27T03:02:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/41 "2009-09-27T15:38:27Z")
Cow killer! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/42 "2009-09-27T15:58:42Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Plus–Klansmen channeling Busby Berkeley, _Triumph of the Will_ & the Wicked Witch of the West’s guards. Nods to Homer & Preston Sturges. And Robert Johnson at the crossroads… Nope, it definitely was [Tommy Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_%28blues_musician%29). The later, and more successful [Robert Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_%28musician%29) traded on this confusion, but the Coen brothers got it right. Tommy was recording in the late 1920s, and Robert in the late 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/43 "2009-09-27T16:12:25Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > “Well isn’t that somethin’. You just sold yer soul to the Devil; Pete n’ Delmar here jes’ got saved; looks like I’m the only one who remains unaffiliated!” The thing that really sells the line is George Clooney’s grin while delivering it. While he’s more on the “Movie Star” side of the “Actor to Movie Star” range, he displays hilarious comic timing and delivery in this film. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/44 "2009-09-27T17:28:01Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Nope, it definitely was [Tommy Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_%28blues_musician%29). The later, and more successful [Robert Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_%28musician%29) traded on this confusion, but the Coen brothers got it right. Tommy was recording in the late 1920s, and Robert in the late 1930s. The actor is dressed like that picture of Robert Johnson in the Wiki article, down to the same tie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/45 "2009-09-27T17:44:15Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Nope, it definitely was [Tommy Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_%28blues_musician%29). The later, and more successful [Robert Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_%28musician%29) traded on this confusion, but the Coen brothers got it right. Tommy was recording in the late 1920s, and Robert in the late 1930s. I’m talking about the legend of Robert Johnson–who may have stolen the story from Tommy. Who probably stole it from some other bluesman. As I pointed out, Pappy O’Daniel was actually a Texas governor. And, as an adaptation of The Odyssey, the film was pretty non-linear… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/46 "2009-09-27T17:59:53Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > I’m talking about the legend of Robert Johnson–who may have stolen the story from Tommy. Who probably stole it from some other bluesman. One version is that Johnson took a year off and practiced; Son House began the rumor that Robert had sold his soul. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/47 "2009-09-27T19:25:29Z")
This is a [funny story](http://musiccitytv.com/2009/07/23/prez-comiserates-with-bluegrass-singer-dan-tyminski/): > [@](#): > > A few blogs back, we told you Alison Krauss performed at the White House. Well… when she was on stage, before her band started playing, she told the audience a pretty funny story about her band member Dan Tyminski. > > Dan Tyminski is the guy who sings Man of Constant Sorrow in the movie O Brother Where are Thou. George Clooney plays the lead singer of a band in the movie, but he lip-synched the songs. > > Krauss told the crowd how Dan explained it to his wife that he would be George Clooney’s singing voice: > > “Well, when you look at George Clooney, your going to hear my voice coming out.” > > Dan’s wife’s reaction: “That’s my fantasy.” > > After telling the story, Krauss laughed and said, “Now even the President knows that’s your wife’s fantasy.” > > We got a chance to talk to Tyminski before he played at the Ryman tonight. > > And apparently, Dan’s wife and the President’s wife have something in common. > > Dan says, after the show, he ran into the President in the hallway. > > “He looked over at me and walked up and grabbed my hand and said, ‘You know, my wife would have said the same about me and George Clooney. So don’t feel bad.’” ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/48 "2009-09-27T20:17:09Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The thing that really sells the line is George Clooney’s grin while delivering it. While he’s more on the “Movie Star” side of the “Actor to Movie Star” range, he displays hilarious comic timing and delivery in this film. I thought George Clooney was channeling Clark Gable in this movie. His long winded, overconfident speeches and suave but thickheaded demeanor remind me a lot of Gable in It Happened One Night. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/49 "2009-09-27T20:47:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The actor is dressed like that picture of Robert Johnson in the Wiki article, down to the same tie. 🙂 I wouldn’t put it past the Coen brothers to sow confusion. Or the costume person was thinking of Robert Johnson. But it’s definitely Tommy Johnson in the film for a reason. “If you want to learn how to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where a road crosses that way, where a crossroad is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little 'fore 12:00 that night so you’ll know you’ll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself… A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar, and he’ll tune it. And then he’ll play a piece and hand it back to you. That’s the way I learned to play anything I want.” - Tommy Johnson I’m 550 miles from my home and Robert Crumb’s biography of Tommy Johnson. But [here’s some information.](http://www.tommyjohnsonblues.com/) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/50 "2009-09-27T21:56:11Z")
Tommy Johnson first recorded in 1928. Robert Johnson in 1936. The movie was set in 1937. Make of that what you will. Given what the Coens did with “The Odyssey,” any presumption of sticking to the facts of any particular musician (or bank robber) is out of the question. “You ruined my life!” “I do apologize about that Pete.” ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/51 "2009-09-27T22:10:16Z")
Does anyone know who sings the version of “I’ll Fly Away” which we hear in the film? The soundtrack version isn’t nearly as good. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/52 "2009-09-27T22:19:56Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > "If you want to learn how to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself, I’ve seen that attributed to Robert, although it’s not the insert of _The Complete Recordings_ as I thought. 🙂 Thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/53 "2009-09-27T23:31:55Z")
For a time, the San Francisco Giants, whenever they would come to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning and trailing, would run a video clip on the scoreboard of George Clooney saying “Damn! We’re in a tight spot!” Just one of many reasons to love the Giants. I always thought Tommy Johnson was just a thinly disguised pseudonym for Robert Johnson. Ignorance fought. And I think the Allison Krauss “Down to the River to Pray” on the soundtrack (which was originally “Down to the Valley to Pray”, btw) is so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/54 "2009-09-28T00:19:05Z")
#1 on my list of all time favorite movies. If it’s on TV, everything in the house stops. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/55 "2009-09-28T00:20:09Z")
+1 who thinks it’s a good movie and a good sound track. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/56 "2009-09-28T02:31:14Z")
\*\*Pete: \*\*Wait a minute. Who elected you leader of this outfit? **Ulysses Everett McGill:** Well Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought. But if that ain’t the consensus view, then hell, let’s put it to a vote. \*\*Pete: \*\*Suits me. I’m voting for yours truly. **Ulysses Everett McGill:** Well I’m voting for yours truly too. [Everett and Pete look at Delmar for the deciding vote] **Delmar O’Donnell:** Okay… I’m with you fellas. Clooney’s double-take at that response is something to behold, a thing of beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/57 "2009-09-28T04:20:44Z")
O Brother … I’ve been away traveling, and this is my first post, post-trip. It took me a loong time to “get into” this film, but when I did - !!! Thanks to all the smart folks who pointed out the Tommy Johnson/Robert Johnson references. The whole film is so redolent of The South, the region with which I have a true love/hate relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/58 "2009-09-28T14:07:45Z")
This is my favorite movie ever. Agree with **Equipoise** about its eminent quotability. “They sang into yonder can and skedaddled.” ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/59 "2009-09-28T14:10:33Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > Does anyone know who sings the version of “I’ll Fly Away” which we hear in the film? The soundtrack version isn’t nearly as good. It sounds like the film version is also Allison Krause and Gillian Welch, same as the CD soundtrack. But I do wish I could get hold of the film version. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/60 "2009-09-28T14:49:08Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > It sounds like the film version is also Allison Krause and Gillian Welch, same as the CD soundtrack. But I do wish I could get hold of the film version. It’s not. I tracked down the [film version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZUNQvorokg), which is sung by the Kossoy Sisters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717.md?page=4)