# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/81 "2009-09-29T17:54:21Z")
I absolutely love this movie. One of my favorite lines is “You two are just dumber than a bag of hammers” So many great lines! It was because of this movie that I went to see “Burn After Reading” – another funny film by the Cohen brothers. Though there are some very violent moments that kind of take you out of it… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/82 "2009-09-29T18:15:22Z")
_O Brother_ is my favorite Coen Brother movie (and I like them all). Sure, \*Lebowski \*is funnier, and \*No Country \*is more profound, but \*O Brother \*fills me with joy. I can watch it endlessly. I think it’s the most perfect movie they’ve made. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/83 "2009-09-29T18:43:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > _O Brother_ is my favorite Coen Brother movie (and I like them all). Sure, \*Lebowski \*is funnier, and \*No Country \*is more profound, but \*O Brother \*fills me with joy. I can watch it endlessly. I think it’s the most perfect movie they’ve made. This is a great observation. I love _Raising Arizona_ and _Hudsucker Proxy_ for their slapstick value, and _Fargo_ and _Blood Simple_ for the dark comedy, and _No Country…_ for the profoundity… but _O Brother_ is just sheer **joy**. Thanks Alessan. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/84 "2009-09-29T19:00:48Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > “Them syreens did this to Pete. They loved him up and turned him into a horny toad.” > > Tim Blake Nelson is a gifted actor/writer/director/producer. [Ebert](http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/09/tiff_10_philosophy_pot_murder.html) wrote very nice things about his latest film at the Toronto festival. It takes a very smart man to play a dumb guy well. On hindsight, I had a brush with celebrity in that I met Tim Nelson while he was in high school. My (late) wife graduated with Tim Nelson at Holland Hall Prep School in Tulsa. She walked with him at graduation. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/85 "2009-09-29T19:20:16Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > The blind radio station owner is Stephen Root, who also played a radio station owner in NewsRadio. He’s also the judge in _Idiocracy_, where he speaks much the same as the radio station owner. > [@Mach Tuck](#): > > I liked the terrible ideas of Pappy’s sycophants. Faced with an opponent who travels with a midget to represent the “little guy”, their idea is to get another midget for Pappy. Another beaut of an idea was to get them some of that “reform”. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/86 "2009-09-29T20:13:59Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > “No, thank you Delmar - a third of a gopher would only rouse my appetite without beddin’ her back down.” > > Up until a few months ago I thought Delmar was a cop killer, having knocked over a piggly-wiggly. Turns out Piggly-Wiggly’s some sort of supermarket chain and not the euphemism for policeman I thought it was. As for quotes, every line is golden. I grew up about seven miles from a Piggly-Wiggly. Yeah, it was a town of 530. My town was a population of 720. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/87 "2009-09-29T20:44:51Z")
Another favorite quote: “. . . I nicked the census man.” “Now there’s a good boy.” -and- “Friend, some of your folding money has come unstowed.” Delmar has a good share of the best quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/88 "2009-09-30T04:24:47Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I grew up about seven miles from a Piggly-Wiggly. > Yeah, it was a town of 530. My town was a population of 720. Wow. A smaller town than me. I grew up in Shattuck, OK. Population: 1200. My high school graduating class had 28 people. Sorry for the hijack; continue on. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/89 "2009-09-30T12:23:51Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Wow. A smaller town than me. I grew up in Shattuck, OK. Population: 1200. My high school graduating class had 28 people. > > Sorry for the hijack; continue on. But did you shop the pig? ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/90 "2009-09-30T12:40:47Z")
Growing up in SW VA we primarily shopped at the Piggly Wiggly (as a child I thought calling “Hoggly Woggly” the height of humor). After I moved away, the Food Lion chain seems to have pushed them out of that area and Food City seems to be pushing them out. In the bluegrass world there was a brief surge of popularity after this, sometimes referred to as POBWATS fans. (post - Oh Brother… Syndrome) ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/91 "2009-09-30T13:04:00Z")
I particularly loved the racist villian: _Is you is, or is you ain’t my constituency?_ Man, I’ve lived in the South for years, but have you _ever_ heard anything like that sentence before? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/92 "2009-09-30T13:47:39Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Man, I’ve lived in the South for years, but have you _ever_ heard anything like that sentence before? Yes, in the 1944 song _Is You Is, Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?_ . ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/93 "2009-09-30T14:09:19Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > [Here](http://mobile.rogerebert.com/rogerebert/db_9583/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=E710E4FBCDCE69B6CB63F69753A9E50B?contentguid=IoUnOvZh)’s an exchange between me and Roger Ebert on the subject of the film’s relationship to Sturges’s _Sullivan’s Travels_; he didn’t see the connection where I thought it was plain. It’s a fun theory, but I think you’re giving Sullivan too much credit. This is the same director who gave us _Hey Hey in the Hayloft_ and _Ants in Your Plants of 1939_. I doubt he had an _O Brother_ in him. But just like Ivan Reitman and his son Jason, the Coens may actually be Sullivan’s secret spawn, capable of making the kind of movie their dad never could. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/94 "2009-10-05T06:52:36Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > It’s a fun theory, but I think you’re giving Sullivan too much credit. This is the same director who gave us _Hey Hey in the Hayloft_ and _Ants in Your Plants of 1939_. I doubt he had an _O Brother_ in him. That’s as may be; _Sullivan’s Travels_ is definitely Sturges’s movie–i.e., the writer/director’s–not the character’s. Still, the obvious model of _Ants in Your Pants of 1939_ (_Golddiggers of 1933_), is a pretty solid film. I think the same fictional director–how many layers in are we? I’m losing track–could conceivably have come up with a post-epiphany comedy of the Depression-era slog that _Brother Where Art Thou_–the book–seemed to be. Keep in mind that if you break \*OBWAT \*into its component parts, all of them are dreary, Depression-era cliches: chain gang on the run, poverty, corrupt lawmen, etc. It’s only the style with which they’re put together that makes the film a joyous comedy. And yeah, the more I think about it, the more I see that as the Coens’ agenda: “Let’s take all the worst, dreariest possible cliches that must have made up this ‘serious’ book about poverty and the human condition, _Brother Where Art Thou_, and let’s string them together as Sullivan would’ve after his experience: shoehorn them into a comedy at any cost.” Joking that it was based on Homer’s \*Odyssey \*is perfect for the Modernist 30s; it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d’ve expected if Sullivan had hired Clifford Odets to adapt the book into a screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-o-brother-where-art-thou-for-the-first-time-wow-what-a-great-movie/511717/95 "2009-10-05T23:27:21Z")
It’s a masterwork. You have seen **Sullivan’s Travels** , right? If not, go & track it down. It’s a Preston Sturges flick with Veronica Lake & Joel McCrea. It’s very different, but the two films are closely related. [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=4)