The Coen Brothers movies - How would you rank them?

[Wumpus]

1. Barton Fink
2. Miller’s Crossing
3. Blood Simple
4. Fargo
5. O Brother Where Art Thou
6. Big Lebowski
7. Raising Arizona
8. The Man Who Wasn’t There
9. Hudsucker Proxy

…thoughy I like 'em all.

[Jadis]

1. Fargo
2. Raising Arizona
3. Hudsucker Proxy
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Miller’s Crossing
6. Big Lebowski
7. The Man Who Wasn’t There
8. Blood Simple
9. Barton Fink

The first three are about evenly tied, but I forced myself to order them even though I think they’re all brilliant. O Brother is only 4th because I haven’t seen it as many times. I only recently watched Miller’s Crossing for the first time, since it just came out on DVD.

Can someone explain to me why The Hudsucker Proxy rates so low on so many people’s lists? Everyone I know who’s seen it (among my friends/family, anyway) absolutely loves it. I think it’s genius.

[Anamorphic]

*Originally posted by I Love Me, Vol. I *
**I won’t rank them all but I’d just like to state that IMO, The Big Lebowski was a very poor effort from folks as talented as the Coens. It is worse than any other Coen film by several orders of magnitude. The rest were pretty much great. **

How many times have you seen it? The first time I saw Lebowski, in the theaters, I was a bit underwhelmed. I didn’t hate it, just… didn’t love it. Thought it was okay, kinda funny, nothing more. I’ve seen it several times since, and as you can see by list a few posts above, it’s become my favorite of theirs. And I know a couple other people who have related similar stories. For some reason, it takes people a few viewings to fully appreciate The Big Lebowksi. I’m not even sure why; it’s not as if it’s real heady or anything. But now I watch it and laugh throughout the whole thing.

Anyway, if you like the Coens, I urge you to sit through Lebowski one or two more times. Watch it with some friends. I really think it might grow on you as it did me.

[Bill_H]

Miller wrote

Surprised to see how many put Barton Fink at the bottom of their list.

Yeah, it didn’t do that much for me, though there were a lot of very memorable scenes. I guess the ending in particular was too non-conclusive for my tastes.

[Manduck]

*Originally posted by Anamorphic *
**Anyway, if you like the Coens, I urge you to sit through Lebowski one or two more times. Watch it with some friends. I really think it might grow on you as it did me. **

I can confirm that Lebowski is one of those movies that, for some reason, get better with repeat viewings. I don’t know why that is.

[Miller]

I don’t know anyone who liked Big Lebowski on the first viewing.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t learned to love it by the third.

[Atreyu]

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Raising Arizona
   3.Fargo
   O Brother, Where Art Thou?
   Miller’s Crossing
   The Man Who Wasn’t There
   Barton Fink
   Blood Simple
   The Hudsucker Proxy

[SolGrundy]

1. Miller’s Crossing – my favorite movie ever
2. Raising Arizona
3. Blood Simple
4. The Big Lebowski
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
6. Fargo
7. The Man Who Wasn’t There
8. The Hudsucker Proxy
9. Barton Fink

I really hated Barton Fink. And I actually liked a lot about Hudsucker Proxy, I just hated the cast. Especially Jennifer Jason Leigh, who’s on my all-time shit-list for almost single-handedly ruining a Coen Bros. movie.

[divemaster]

*Originally posted by Miller *
**I don’t know anyone who liked Big Lebowski on the first viewing.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t learned to love it by the third. **

Ok, then I’ll give it another shot. I only saw it once, in the theater. As I was leaving I thought “Boy, that sucked.”

Not that it sucked like “Spawn” or something, but that being a Coen Brothers fan, I was expecting more.

And, as Jadis mentioned, Hudsucker does not deserve the rating it usually gets on this board every time this thread topic comes up. I love this movie! It has more quotable lines than you can shake a stick at, and the whole montage of the discovery/development of the “dingus” (You know, for kids!) set to the Katchaturian music is inspired.

I didn’t like JJL’s character the first time, but then I realized what she was doing and how it fit in with the design of the film, and it has really grown on me over many repeat viewings.

[Tamerlane]

1. Miller’s Crossing
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Fargo
4. Barton Fink
5. Raising Arizona
6. O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?
7. The Man Who Wasn’t There
8. Blood Simple
9. Hudsucker Proxy

Damned hard list to come up with. Ask me on another day and the order might shift. #1 and #2 are somewhat interchangeable, #9 is firm ( a clever failure - like Miller said, it’s good, not great ). The rest could float at almost any position.

• Tamerlane

[I_Love_Me_Vol.I]

Anamorphic-- thanks for the advice about Big Lebowski. I was definitely underwhelmed when I saw it, but I’ve only seen it once. I appreciate the Coens enough to give it another try.

I failed to make a list in my previous post-- I will try one now.

1. Blood Simple (one of my top 5 movies ever)
2. Miller’s Crossing
3. Raising Arizona
4. Hudsucker Proxy
5. Barton Fink
6. Fargo
7. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
8. The Big Lebowski

[MusicJunkie]

Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
The Big Lebowsky
Fargo

I liked all three but the only one I saw more than once was Oh Brother. I really need to watch more of their pictures and see Fargo again. I loved The Great Lebowsky on first viewing for the record.

[Gadarene]

Miller:

I don’t know anyone who liked Big Lebowski on the first viewing.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t learned to love it by the third.

Nice to meetcha. I’ve seen Big Lebowski four times, and I liked it less each time. It’s just no particularly engaging, in my opinion.

[Miller]

Hmm. This may require drastic, Clockwork Orange-style intervention.

[Yookeroo]

*Originally posted by Jadis *
**
Can someone explain to me why The Hudsucker Proxy rates so low on so many people’s lists? Everyone I know who’s seen it (among my friends/family, anyway) absolutely loves it. I think it’s genius. **

Jennifer Jason Leigh drives me crazy in this movie. I hate when she does accents; they always sound so affected.

[eunoia]

Similar thread

My choices haven’t changed all that much, but I’m still amazed at the SDMB picks vs. other netizens.

On a related note: Does anyone know if Shut The Fuck Up Donny was allowed to re-register at SDMB? “Donny” made quite an impression on me and I hope only the handle was banned, not the poster.

[Manduck]

*Originally posted by SolGrundy *
** And I actually liked a lot about Hudsucker Proxy, I just hated the cast. Especially Jennifer Jason Leigh, who’s on my all-time shit-list for almost single-handedly ruining a Coen Bros. movie. **

I think Hudsucker is one of their weakest movies overall, but some parts of it are great, and my favorite part of it is JJL’s performance.

[Monstre]

1. Miller’s Crossing
2. Raising Arizona
3. O Brother
4. Fargo

still have to see the others… But Miller’s Crossing definitely tops my list. One of my all-time favorites.

[BadBaby]

O Brother Where Art Thou
Barton Fink
Raising Arizona
Fargo
Miller’s Crossing
Big Lebowski
Blood Simple
Hudsucker Proxy

Barton Fink is the movie that upon first viewing, nearly put me off all Coen Brothers movies. A year later I rewatched it and found I enjoyed it much better. For one, I was expecting a Coen Bros. movie this time, and for another I was more familiar with the plot and saw a lot more that time.

Oh, I will also mention that Blood Simple may be ranked a little lower than it deserves. I watched the spanish subtitled version and boy did they get a bunch of stuff wrong. Makes me wonder what I’ve been missing from english subtitled movies.

[Foolonthehill]

1. Miller’s Crossing
2. Fargo
   These two are as good as movie making gets. Not a mistake in them; Great script, World Class acting, Picture Perfect cinematography. Comparable to the best movies on any list.
   All their other flics are good, but not like the those two.