Friday, June 10, 2011

The Coen Brothers: The Ladykillers (2004)


The is the Coen's "remake" of a British crime comedy of 1955 starring Alec Guinness.  I have remake in quotation marks because this is fully a Coen product, with only the very basic premise of the older lady being duped by a gang of thieves--the rest is pure Joel and Ethan.  They can't resist, for example, making a reference to Ryan Hurst's turn in the football film Remember the Titans (2000).  Or to make fun a things that would ordinarily be so sacrosanct that no one would dare attempt to make something humorous out of them; yet, in this film, they give us Garth Pancake, a bumbling "explosives expert" with IBS and pig-tailed girl friend name "Mountain Girl" who was a member of the Freedom Riders.  Or having the film filled with hip-hop references and the music itself, juxtaposed with memories of the civil rights movement.  When Marva Munson asked the sheriff "is that where we at now?" and he looks at her incredulously and nods "yes," it is meant to poke at the fact that civil right movement and full insistence on freedom of speech in the African American community gave rise to a musical form that using all types of swear words....and it's funny.  The contradictions continue.  They are really too numerous to list, but somehow they all fit together.







Then there is the character of Gouthwait Higgins Dorr, Ph.D. portrayed by Tom Hanks (with some great fake teeth) who is obsessed with horror/mystery author Edgar Allan Poe.  Even Mrs. Munson recognizes the name when he drops it:  "I know who he was, kinda spooky."  Dorr, of course, is the leader of the band of thieves who only takes a room in Mrs. Munson's house because her root cellar is close to a floating casino that the group plans to tunnel into.  Yet "Professor" Dorr decides to hide the group's identity by telling Marva that his group is engaged in playing music of Renaissance period on original instruments, which they carry around in hearse.






Trivia:

The Coen brothers have a bit of a reputation around Hollywood for their use of fake teeth.  When Hanks agreed to portray the charming professor thief, he stated that he spent days excitedly awaiting the arrival of his teeth.  When they finally received them, he stated that "loved them."

There is a reference to Psycho (1960) in a least two instances, first is when Lump comes running out of the root cellar after Mr. Pancake blows his finger off, he screams "Blood Professor Blood!"  The second is when The General falls backwards down the stairs, like Arborgast, after failing to kill Mr. Munson.

Just before The General's fall, there is a cinematic reference to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, when The General drinks a glass of water containing Mrs. Munson's false teeth; this is what sends him careening down the stairs "Hitchcock style."

The reference to Mrs. Munson religiously donating to Bob Jones University, which she calls a "Bible College" (which it "is"), was something that actress Irma P. Hall was pleased with, because she is a teacher my trade, and really despises the University.  She seemed to like that the character that she portrayed was basically a hypocrite.  The fact is the Bob Jones University banned the enrolled of black students until 1970's and did not allow any form of interracial dating until the year 2000.  It's pretty much the last place that an African American Christian would send money.

In another Coen joke, the character name Marva Munson makes an appearance in Intolerable Cruelty, as the judge in the divorce proceedings of Rex Rexroth.

The song that Mrs. Munson hates, "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo" was released in 1990 by A Tribe Called Quest.

All the period instruments used in the filming were made by Danny Ferrington. Instruments from the actual period were too valuable and fragile to use in such a fashion.

Finally, this is first movie that Joel and Ethan shared directing credit.  They had alsways been co-directors, but the Director's Guide would not allow them to share credit.  They had always been known as "the two headed director."






Specs:

Runtime:  104 min.
Rated:  R
Color (Camera Ariflex 535)
DTS
Language:  English/Vietnamese
Best Tagline:  The greatest criminal minds of all time have finally met their match.
The filming location of the floating casino is in Natchez Mississippi




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