“Coen brothers movie” to be defined here as “feature-length movie directed by Joel and/or Ethan Coen”; shorts and films they just wrote or produced don’t count here.
I’m specifying “favorite” instead of “best,” because the former is hard enough, the latter downright impossible.
Poll in a minute.
*Big Lebowski *… although Raising Arizona is in a virtual tie with it as far as I’m concerned.
Not to mention that I think The Ladykillers is brilliant and any other day I may have even picked that one.
I haven’t seen True Grit yet.
Dude
I never saw Intolerable Cruelty, it just never interested me (and I had no idea it was one of theirs).
I never saw The Ladykillers but I wanted to when it came out and it hasn’t come up on my Netflix yet.
Haven’t seen A Simple Man or True Grit yet either but I’ve heard nothing but good things.
I went with the one I’ve watched the most times, The Big Lebowski, although it was still a tough call between that, O Brother, and Fargo.
For me it was between Fargo and O Brother Where Art Thou? Went with the latter. The music tipped the scales.
*O Brother. *
Mostly because of the music. But it was a hard choice.
Raising Arizona, without a doubt.
Gotta choose between O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona…
Damn, we’re in a tight spot!
Gotta go with Miller’s Crossing. I loved many of the other choices, but for me, that movie is just…perfect.
“There’s nothing as ridiculous as a man chasing his own hat.”
Miller’s has so many unique characteristics. It’s the one I always want to see again. Maybe it’s just better acting (better being hard to qualify because the characters are all over the top). Maybe its the difficult to follow, but in the end, coherent plot. Maybe the noir characteristics. I just like it.
I’m glad I’m not alone in this. I figured there would be a big outpouring for The Big Lebowski and Fargo (both great movies), and indifference toward this most underrated film in their CV. I’m also highly fond of The Man Who Wasn’t There (Tony Shalhoub’s turn as the fast-talking defense lawyer was fantastic) and Burn After Reading, which is a great antidote to conspiracy/spy movies with preposterous conspiracies and has cemented George Clooney as the spiritual successor to Cary Grant in screwball comedy roles.
I like the way that Coen movies are instantly identifiable with noir-ish touches, and yet, they play across a wide variety of genres and themes. The only Coen films I have really been disappointed in are Intolerable Cruelty (forgettable), The Ladykillers (unnecessary remake that contributed nothing new), and A Serious Man (I got the point, just didn’t find it all that funny). The recent True Grit was a phenomenal improvement over the original film, and yet, identifiably a Coen effort that reminded me in style of Miller’s Crossing.
Stranger
No Country For Old Men is my favorite non-comedy, even above True Grit (I consider Fargo a comedy).
For comedies, as much as I think Fargo is probably their best, my favorite is O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Fargo. Real good then.
I haven’t seen enough of them to choose. I do know that of the ones I have seen, I only (sort of) liked half of them, and the other half I severely disliked quite a lot. In my personal estimation they don’t make the kind of movies that speak to me on the level they’re intending.
A list of works any filmmaker would be proud of.
I chose Miller’s Crossing over Lebowski because of the way they were able to bring real emotion and pathos from characters in a movie that has such a fun, over-the-top, almost cartoonish vibe.
I went for Miller’s Crossing. It creates this amazing, believeable 1920s world and peoples it with with an array of fascinating characters, including not one but three of the most memorably sinister villains in movie history, as embodied by John Turturro, John Polito and E. J. Freeman respectively. And of course, there’s the dialogue. Plus, it’s got weight. It’s about about friendship. It’s about character. It’s about–hell, I ain’t embarrassed to use the word–ethics.
After that, I’d say The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men, in that order.
Miller’s Crossing for me, as well. I remember seeing it in the theater and being blown away. Plus, it’s hard to top Albert Finney letting loose with a machine gun (to the tune of “Danny Boy”, no less).
The Big Lebowski and No Country For Old Men would be next in line.
I give Fargo a slight edge over O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I’m not a fan of The Big Lebowski, a long shaggy dog story with no real payoff.
Big Lebowski is my favorite movie, period. Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink would come in 2 and 3. I need to see A Serious Man again. It may take the 3 spot. Stranger, I don’t think it was supposed to be a comedy, though I’m not sure what it was, other than a skewed retelling of the Book of Job.
I was torn between Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski. For about a half-second.