# What's you Coen Brothers "order"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642 "2004-02-11T13:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/21 "2004-02-11T19:06:47Z")
I haven’t seen Intolerable Cruelty. I am also a cinematography geek… so my choices are heavily influenced by that. 1. Hudsucker 2. O Brother 3. Fargo 4. Man Who Wasn’t There 5. Raising Arizona 6. Big Lebowski 7. Miller’s Crossing 8. Barton Fink 9. Blood Simple Hudsucker and O Brother are two of my top 25 of all time. The Man Who Wasn’t There is one of my top five best cinematography films of all time. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/22 "2004-02-11T19:08:02Z")
1. Big Lebowski - Behind Ghostbusters, my second favorite movie of all time. “You didn’t think I was rolling outta here naked?” 2. Raising Arizona - Just a great comdey. 3. Fargo - As someone else said, one of the best movies of the '90s. “End of Story” 4. Barton Fink - John Goodman is great in this. 5. O Brother Where Art Thou - Uneven, but still good. 6. The Man Who Wasn’t There - Saw it at the theater and don’t remember any of it. 7. Hudsucker Proxy - Rented it once and couldn’t make it all the way through it. Haven’t seen Miller’s Crossing, Blood Simple, or Intolerable Cruelty. And I don’t know if I can watch I.C. The commericals made it look awful. For me, Big Lebowski is a clear number 1, with 2-4 being very close, 5 is about right, and then 6-7. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/23 "2004-02-11T20:32:19Z")
Sorry to be off topic. I’ll cite “Original Poster’s Privilege”. For folks who think TBL went nowhere or was a hodge-podge, I recommend a reviewing. As those of us who have seen it many times know, the plot makes perfect sense. The thing is, there are so many characters and twists and flashbacks (both drug-induced and movie-type) that it seems like a jumble at first. It’s actually a pretty well-sctructured movie, with a sensical beginning/middle/end to the saga, with the Stranger giving a **very** funny intro, catch-up, and wrap-up that “bookend” the whole thing nicely. The flashbacks are distracting at first, but a nice interlude. It takes a few viewings to really appreciate this movie because there’s a lot going on. And technically (if you’re into that kind of thing), I think it might be their best movie – check out the alley-light fade when Donny dies, the point of view bowling ball shot, the matador music introducing Jesus as Dude blows smoke out his nose. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/24 "2004-02-11T23:34:56Z")
We did this a few months back, plus maybe another time before that, but it is always fun to revisit the Coens’. I suspect my answer has changed slightly every time as well. I like them all. Today: 1. The Big Lebowski 2. Miller’s Crossing 3. Fargo 4. Raising Arizona 5. Barton Fink 6. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 7. The Man Who Wasn’t There 8. Blood Simple 9. Hudsucker Proxy Haven’t seen IC yet. Of those I’ve seen, only TBL and HP didn’t work all that great for me on first viewing. HP grew on me a bit ( but JJL’s voice will always be an impediment for me in that film ), but TBL grew vastly in stature. It just gets funnier and funnier every time I see it. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/25 "2004-02-12T00:03:51Z")
Yet to see Intolerable Cruelty. Can I count The XYZ Murders instead? 1. Miller’s Crossing 2. Fargo 3. The Big Lebowski 4. Barton Fink 5. The Man Who Wasn’t There 6. Raising Arizona 7. Blood Simple 8. Hudsucker Proxy 9. The XYZ Murders I personally thought O Brother lacked all humour. Having had a similar experience with Eyes Wide Shut - hated it; saw it again by accident and loved it - I’ve re-sat O Brother a couple of times, desperately (maybe _too_ desperately) trying to enjoy it, because even the lame XYZ I like… but no, it’s not happening. Very VERY hard to put Coen Brother’s movies in order! If you haven’t sat through Barton Fink, I highly recommend the small effort required. ---
**Author:** ![Vezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b38774/32.png) [@Vezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vezer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/26 "2004-02-12T01:00:45Z")
1. Raising Arizona 2. Miller’s Crossing (Yer giving me the high hat!) 3. The Man Who Wasn’t There 4. The Big Lebowski 5. Fargo 6. Barton Fink (At Capitol Pictures, the writer is king!) 7. Hudsucker Proxy 8. Blood Simple (though the most important I’ll admit) 9. O’ Brother 10. Intolerable Cruelty Raising Arizona just gets me rolling. “Get me a baby Hi!” Weeeeee heeeee eeeeee Oh, and how can you rank their pictures if you haven’t seen em all? Hmph! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/27 "2004-02-12T01:06:30Z")
Hmm. 1. _Big Lebowski_ 2. _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ 3. _Raising Arizona_ 4. _Fargo_ 5. _Barton Fink_ 6. _Miller’s Crossing_ 7. _Blood Simple_ 8. _Hudsucker Proxy_ 9. _Intolerable Cruelty_ Haven’t seen _The Man Who Wasn’t There_ yet, and have only seen _Intolerable Cruelty_ once. I never get everything out of a Coen brother’s movie on the first viewing, so that one’s position is purely probationary. Right after I first saw it, _Big Lebowski_ was in similarly low in the rankings. Aside from the top two and and the bottom two, I might as well have drawn the rest out of a hat, their so close in quality. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/28 "2004-02-12T01:41:35Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > The Man Who Wasn’t There is one of my top five best cinematography films of all time. Oh hell yes. That film nearly provoked orgasms when I showed it to art students who hadn’t seen it. I’m just curious, FilmGeek - what are the other four? 1. Big Lebowski - hilarious, once heartbreaking, several times touching. 2. Fargo - the masterpiece. 3. The Man Who Wasn’t There - orgasm-inducing cinematography, beautiful plot. 4. Miller’s Crossing - one word: “Dannyboy.” 5. O Brother, Where Art Thou - fluff, but incredibly fun fluff. 6. Raising Arizona - see above. 7. Intolerable Cruelty - see above. 8. Barton Fink - intriguing, but not incredibly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/29 "2004-02-12T02:26:35Z")
1. Miller’s Crossing 2. The Big Lebowski 3. Fargo 4. Barton Fink 5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 6. The Man Who Wasn’t There 7. Blood Simple 8. The Hudsucker Proxy 9. Intolerable Cruelty 10. Raising Arizona They tend to rearrange themselves within their subgroups, but that’s the top to bottom order tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/30 "2004-02-12T04:08:07Z")
1. Fargo 2. Blood Simple 3. The Man Who Wasn’t There 4. Raising Arizona 5. Miller’s Crossing 6. Intolerable Cruelty 7. The Hudsucker Proxy 8. Barton Fink 9. O Brother, Where Art Thou I’ve seen _The Big Lebowski_, but am not going to be putting it on this list, as that might imply that I found it something other than a complete mess, which would be fine if it were actually funny, but a complete mess and dull make for a lethal combination. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/31 "2004-02-12T05:28:05Z")
1. The Big Lebowski. Originally middle of the pack but it just. keeps. getting. funnier. 2. The Man Who Wasn’t There. One of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen in Billy Bob’s Performance. Also the previously mentioned cinematographer, plus anything that deals with existenstialism gets my attention. 3. Fargo. Brilliant and heartbreaking. 4. The Hudsucker Proxy. Used to be my favourite but has slipped. It might continue to. 5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? Just a hilarious road film, again with gorgeous cinematography. 6. Blood Simple. 7. Miller’s Crossing. These two are kind of interchangable for me. 8. Barton Fink. The Coens do Lynch, to mixed results. 9. Raising Arizona. Hasn’t aged that well for me. 10. Intolerable Cruelty. I need to give this one another viewing though. Seemed very slight. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/32 "2004-02-12T07:50:00Z")
1.\*\* Fargo\*\* I’ve thought long and hard about this, but it’s my favorite movie ever, period. [_so, No ‘Citizen Kane’ etc._] It’s breathtaking. 1. Raising Arizona 2. Blood Simple 3. The Hudsucker Proxy 4. Miller’s Crossing 5. The Man Who Wasn’t there 6. Barton Fink 7. The Big Lebowski 8. O Brother, Where Art Thou 9. Intolerable Cruelty ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/33 "2004-02-12T08:29:52Z")
Argh, another list thread. I am drawn like a moth to flame. 1. **Miller’s Crossing** This is my favorite movie, ever. 2. **The Big Lebowski** I bust out laughing at a big moment in _Return of the King_ because when Gandalf is talking about Mordor and the Orcs, he says: “They believe in nothing.” 3. **Raising Arizona** I’m not allowed to watch this movie anymore, because I quote from it too much. 4. **Blood Simple** Everything a Coen Brothers movie should have, on a tight budget. I don’t care what anybody says; I think it’s funny _and_ genuinely scary. 5. **O Brother Where Art Thou?** _We thought… you was… a TOAD._ 6. **Fargo** This is kind of the anti-Coen Brothers movie for me: I loved it the first time I saw it, and have liked it less each subsequent time. 7. **Intolerable Cruelty** Just a good, stupid, slapstick comedy, and George Clooney’s great at this character. 8. **The Man Who Wasn’t There** Beautifully shot, but bored the hell out of me. 9. **The Hudsucker Proxy** I really wanted to like this one, but Jennifer Jason Leigh just ruined it. 10. **Barton Fink** I really, really hate this movie on a visceral level. Can’t explain it, but I hated it the first time I saw it and have hated it ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/34 "2004-02-12T08:36:18Z")
The ones I’ve seen: 1. The Big Lebowski - seen it a hundred times at least, still marvellous 2. The Hudsucker Proxy - surreal masterpiece 3. Raising Arizona - took me ages to realise this was a Coen brothers movie 4. Fargo - great, but vastly overrated in my tiny opinion 5. Oh Brother Where Art Thou - might like it more once I view it a second time Man, I have to see some more Coen movies. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/35 "2004-02-13T02:33:15Z")
Hard for me to rank them, too… and I haven’t seen them all yet. But I like all fo them so far. However… **Sol Grundy** , I’m definitely with you on the #1 choice. No doubt about it: 1. **Miller’s Crossing** – Simply brilliant. Repeat viewings only make it better. The others… order could change from day to day. 1. Raising Arizona 2. O Brother 3. Fargo 4. Barton Fink I just watched **Barton Fink** for the first time last week, so I’m still thinking about that one and figuring out what I think about it. John Goodman was quite good in it, though. I also picked up **Blood Simple** on video tape – but haven’t watched it yet. That one will probably be next. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/36 "2004-02-13T06:40:01Z")
Um… 1. Raising Arizona 2. The Hudsucker Proxy I’ve managed to miss the rest. But I’ll probably watch **Fun with Dick and Jane** though, since I liked the orginal. On second thought, if Jim Carrey is going to be in it, maybe I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/37 "2004-02-13T09:05:14Z")
1. The Big Lebowski 2. Fargo 3. The Hudsucker Proxy 4. The Man Who Wasn’t There 5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? As much as I love these movies, you’d think I’d have seen the rest by now. I really need to get around to that. But I am seriously amazed at how the Big Lebowski just does not get old for me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/38 "2004-02-13T09:17:24Z")
I haven’t seen Intolerable Cruelty yet. 1. Fargo 2. Big Lebowski 3. Blood Simple 4. Raising Arizona 5. Miller’s Crossing 6. Hudsucker 7. O Brother 8. Barton Fink 9. Man Who Wasn’t There Which ever one I last watched tends to top the list for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/39 "2004-02-13T12:45:50Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > I also picked up **Blood Simple** on video tape – but haven’t watched it yet. That one will probably be next. Start watching **blood simple** at like the time you normally go to bed with the lights off. It’s a good, dark, moody movie. You’ll see elements of Fargo in it, or really, vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642/40 "2004-02-13T14:50:04Z")
If you don’t like the Big Lebowski, you are out of your element. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-you-coen-brothers-order/228642.md?page=3)