Gabriel Byrne

Marcia Gay Harden

John Turturro

Jon Polito

J.E. Freeman

Albert Finney

Mike Starr

Al Mancini

Steve Buscemi

Richard Woods

Tom Toner

Mario Todisco

Olek Krupa

Michael Jeter

Lanny Flaherty

Jeanette Kontomitras

Louis Charles Mounicou III

John McConnell

Danny Aiello III

Helen Jolly

Hilda McLean

Monte Starr

Don Picard

Salvatore H. Tornabene

Kevin Dearie

Michael Badalucco

Charles Ferrara

Esteban Fernández

George Fernandez

Charles Gunning

Dave Drinkx

David Darlow

Robert LaBrosse

Carl Rooney

Jack Harris

Jery Hewitt

Sam Raimi

John Schnauder Jr.

Zolly Levin

Joey Ancona

Bill Raye

William Preston Robertson

Frances McDormand

Michael P. Cahill

Joel Coen

Ethan Coen

Carter Burwell

Barry Sonnenfeld

Michael R. Miller

Dennis Gassner

Donna Isaacson

John S. Lyons

Todd Kasow

Michael Berenbaum

Thomas Johnston

Patti Perret

Larry McConkey

Allan Byer

Skip Lievsay

Lee Dichter

Nancy Haigh

Richard Hornung

Leslie McDonald

Mark Silverman

Ben Barenholtz

Graham Place

Alma Kuttruff

Peter Chesney

Michael F. Burke

Russell Engels

Angelo Di Giacomo

William 'Fleet' Eakland

Earl R. Hurst Sr.

Terri Clemens

Katherine James

Cydney Cornell

Gregory Jacobs

Jane Brody

Tony Grocki

Sonny Burke

Marissa Littlefield

Douglas Fox

Gail Showalter

Nic Ratner

Norman Douglass

Roy Farfel

Bill Anagnos

Gary Tacon

Drama

Thriller

Crime

Miller's Crossing

Circle Films

20th Century Fox

United States of America

The answer my friend is a hat blowing in the wind.

The Coen brothers craft a loving homage to gangster pictures of yore with splendid results. Essentially the plot has Gabriel Byrne as a good - bad guy caught between two rival gangster factions. It's a standard story line that is still providing cinematic water for many a film maker these days, but shot through the Coen prism, with literary astuteness holding court, it's a genre piece of considerable class. A picture in fact that gets better and better with further viewings.

When the Coen's are on form they have the skills to make a grade "A" thriller and blend it with a sort of dry irony. It's like they bite the hand that feeds whilst praising said genre influences to the rafters, but it works as damn fine entertainment. On a narrative level Miller's Crossing molds the byzantine with the labyrinthine, keeping the complexities just on the right side of the street from that of art for arts sake.

Visually the film is superb, the hard working sweat of the city dovetails impudently with the mother nature beauty of Miller's Crossing the place, a place home to misery, a witness to the dark side of man. All the while Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro and Jon Polito bring an array of characterisations to the party, each one his own man but each craftily proving the folly of man. Marcia Gay Harden, in one of her first mainstream roles, slinks about making the two main boys sweaty, and wonderful she is as well. While Carter Burwell provides a musical score that has a smug (in a good way) self awareness about it.

Style over substance? Yes, on formative viewings it is. But go back, look again, see and sample what is not being said. Pulpers and noirers will I'm sure get the gist. 8/10

CinemaSerf

Gabriel Byrne is "Reagan", the enforcer for the pretty ruthless mob kingpin "Leo" (Albert Finney). He is caught in the middle of a battle between his boss and the man who would take his place "Caspar" (John Polito) over the antics of a rogue bookie "Bernie" (the scene-stealing John Turturro) who also happens to be the brother of "Verna" (Marcia Gay Harden) - the girlfriend of Leo, oh - and the mistress of "Reagan" too. "Reagan" tries to be a bit of an honest broker between them all, but when his efforts fail, he is cast aside by his former boss and left to fend for himself... On the face of it, this is just a run-of-the-mill gangster film. People are killed and the vicious circle of revenge continues. Quite cleverly, though, the Coen brothers have done quite a bit to present more complex characters and to give the plot a little more quirkiness - and that makes this an interesting two hours to watch. Finney's accent is a bit hit or miss, and I'm afraid Byrne just isn't a strong enough actor to carry his substantial part so well - he is no Edward G. Robinson or George Raft, but this is still a superior delve into the murky world of organised crime that does bear watching.