Miller’s Crossing: A Gangster Drama in Stylish Hats
In “Miller’s Crossing,” gangster Tom finds himself caught in a complex web of allegiances and betrayals. He’s pressured from all sides: by his former Irish boss, his fiancée, her brother, and a particularly unpleasant little guy.
The Coen brothers kicked off a five-year period of elegant retro filmmaking with “Miller’s Crossing.” Borsalino hats, cufflinks, and double-breasted pinstripe suits meticulously recreate the myth of the 1930s and 40s. In this film about Jewish-Irish-Italian conflicts, the brothers wink at the classic pre-Hayes Code gangster films. This was followed by the Hollywood Golden Age nightmare of “Barton Fink” and the corporate fantasy “The Hudsucker Proxy.”
Adding the homicidal barber from the 1950s (“The Man Who Wasn’t There,” 2001) and the trio of escaped convicts (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, 1999), we get an epic of the degradation of the average American. “Miller’s Crossing,” with its corrupt cops, Tommy gun shootouts, and furniture-smashing brawls (all the hallmarks of the crime genre are present, and the style is impeccable), appears as merely a prologue to the great Coen brothers’ History of 20th Century America. This culminates in a decade of human folly and irreparable cruelty – the borderline territory of the 1980s. “Blood Simple,” “Fargo,” and “No Country for Old Men” are comprehensive reports on the dangers of everyday idiocy.
Elegance Amidst the Criminal Underworld
But for now, in “Miller’s Crossing,” the 20th century is in full bloom. The criminals are still smart and elegant, and the biggest fool is the man who chases after his hat.