Miller’s Crossing

An excellently conceived noir movie with all the trimmings. The Coen brothers aren’t afraid of inserting a little humor into serious scenes and, paradoxically, this makes it more realistic. The acting is really great. From Byrne to Turturro, they all enjoy the excellent screenplay to the full. (03/03/2022)

The Coens' response to the mob movies is in the spirit of subtle exaggeration, hellish slang, witty quotes, eccentric action and precise study of the main character: an antihero and loser, but who manages to turn his disadvantage into an advantage and ingeniously manipulate the main players in the prohibition ring. Gabriel Byrne presents a masterful creation in which noir joviality mixes with the darkness of a criminal's mind. The panopticon of the characters traditionally dazzles with colors, diction and memorable faces. There is a bit of parody in it, a bit of irony and a bit of fatefulness. The central musical motif summarizes all the essentials. Miller’s Crossing is a precise film, perfectly thought out and escalated in style. (17/02/2009)

For the first hour I just shook my head in disbelief. Is this supposed to be retro? The civil and very contemporary Gabriel Byrne? The girls with the bad perms? No, you certainly can't ignore the fact that the interwar period is done here with the help of suspenders, crumpled bowler hats and a would-be gangster plot laced with intrigue. And yet it would taken so very little... (22/10/2011)

The first Coen brothers film that managed to relatively capture my interest. It’s a gangster flick with an excellently interwoven plot and good acting that takes a different direction than the classically linear Scorsese and similar directors who where supplying the film market with mobsters in very regular doses at that time. Here, most of the spotlight is taken by the brilliant Gabriel Byrne, but even Albert Finney and his “terminator” piece are worth seeing. Nothing groundbreaking, but certainly a must-see within the genre. (27/09/2007)

The young Coens are doing what they do best, demythologizing organizations and parodying established genre practices. This is particularly visible in the way they give every bone-breaker from the mafia families a certain personality, past and all. They readily let these deviations of theirs shine through with more classic than classic scenes like Albert Finney's shooting party with a tommy gun, with opera in the background, a cigar in his mouth, and a car exploding out front. Gabriel Byrne has everything in this role except a character, and his motivations completely escaped me, which means bye for now, fifth star. (12/03/2012)

Another quality gangster film. I didn't mind that it was more of an intimate affair, apart from a couple of epic shootouts. The film wasn’t lacking in atmosphere and excellent performances. Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro were both excellent and Jon Polito was sweating very convincingly. The most hilarious scene was the one in which Leo fights off the assassins. It was brilliantly done, and the embroidered slippers were a nice touch. (20/07/2017)

Quality gangster films are as rare as gold dust these days, so I couldn’t pass up this offering from the Coen brothers. The duo's style is evident from the very first shot, and those who don’t enjoy Coen films probably won’t find much to like here, but as a big fan, I savored every minute. Miller's Crossing is a typical old-school film that filled me with immense nostalgia throughout its runtime. The casting was once again perfect—Gabriel Byrne played a "good" character, but the ending showed he wasn’t really that good. I also liked John Turturro, who, as an actor, is simply and inherently tied to the films of this directorial duo. Jon Polito also gave a great performance, and I fully enjoyed his speeches. And Albert Finney shined in what was probably the best scene of the whole film, where hitmen from a rival gang were preparing to take him out. The scene with Thompson was a bit far-fetched, but the whole film was somewhat in that vein. The atmosphere was palpable. It’s not quite a five-star film because I would have appreciated a few more shootouts. But some scenes, with Carter Burwell's brilliant, flawless music, will definitely stick in my memory. This is the best you can watch in this genre. I give it 87%. (19/06/2017)