1._Miller’s Crossing  

Friendship. Loyalty. Ethics.

In 1990, while all eyes were on Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, another gangster drama came and went from the multiplexes without fanfare. While their early works gained critical and cult success, Joel and Ethan Coen were not yet the recognizable names they’d soon become later in the decade, and so their Miller’s Crossing wasn’t much of an event. It wasn’t until its run on home video that a small number of movie buffs began to take notice of the Coens’ mob masterpiece, realizing that Miller’s, not Goodfellas, was the best gangster flick of the decade. That small number has been growing strong ever since.

The film contains all the Coen staples: stunning photography (courtesy cinematographer and future director Barry Sonnenfeld), a haunting musical score from Coen regular Carter Burwell, a story that’s heavy on plot and heavier on characters, a solid dose of wicked humor mixed with sudden bursts of violence, and dialogue that crackles so deliciously it feels like a privilege to hear it.

Just listen to how effortless the movie’s dialogue sounds, and how elegantly the lines roll off the actors’ tongues. Every character speaks like they learned English from watching nothing but old 1930s crime pictures, and to hear Albert Finney tell a flunkie to "dangle" or Jon Polito gripe about getting "the high hat" is to hear the poetry of slang at its finest.

As for the plot, well, it’s like something out of Shakespeare, turned on its ear and handed a tommy gun. There are double-crosses, dirty dealings, power plays, sexual shenanigans, murder, blackmail, and mystery, and at the center of it all, there’s Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne), the right hand man to prohibition crime lord Leo O’Bannion (Finney). Tommy’s loyalty gets the best of him, as does his gambling, his smart mouth, and his feelings for Verna (Marcia Gay Harden), a feisty twist who -- wouldn’t ya know it -- is Leo’s dame.

John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, J.E. Freeman, and Mike Starr also turn up in snappy supporting roles, with each character adding another layer onto this complex, gripping, highly entertaining picture. This is the Coens at their very best (no small feat), a brilliant spin on gangland thrills that crams so much into its two hours that to catch every last detail, repeat viewings are pretty much mandatory. But then, that’s no problem, as repeat viewings are a tasty treat, another chance to visit with a rogues’ gallery of colorful characters and their unending tussles with the finest of virtues. Friendship. Loyalty. Ethics. (David Cornelius)