Miller's Crossing (1990)

Miller’s Crossing, what a great film! Released in 1990 and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers who directed No Country For Old Men, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and so much more, the film stars Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden (Who’s birthday happens to be today), John Turturro, and Steve Buscemi in one of his earliest roles. Set in 1930s Prohibition America, the film tells the story of Tom Reagan (Byrne), the chief advisor to Leo (Finney), the Irish mob boss who primarily runs the city. Leo is locked in a power struggle with the Italian mob boss, Caspar (Jon Polito). Caspar wants bookie Bernie Bernbaum (Turturro) killed, however Leo refuses to hand him over due to the fact that Bernie is the brother of Leo’s girlfriend, Verna (Gay Harden). Tom is caught between allegiances due to his disagreeing with the handling of the Bernie problem and the fact that he’s sleeping with Verna, and that’s only the beginning. The film’s plot is compelling, has good cinematography, and has interesting characters. One very interesting plot point in the film is the homosexual subplots between some characters. Homosexuality is implied and isn’t very relevant to the film’s plot, but the reason I bring it up is the fact that this is a film set in the 1930s, where homosexuality was extremely taboo. I would recommend this film to absolutely anyone, it’s one of my favorites. The film is a grossly underrated Mafia and Coen brothers film, it’s a damn shame that this isn’t a better known film. I rate this film: GREAT on the scale.