Miller's Tale

As you may remember, we quite enjoyed Lucky Number Slevin. Amongst all of its film references, I've heard that it was specifically a tribute to Miller's Crossing, which has been on my queue for a while. So we watched it.

We were a little nervous - this was an intense, serious Coen Bros. movie, not The Big Lebowski. But we'd made it through Blood Simple, so onward.

Gabriel Byrne plays Tom Reagan, lieutenant to Irish crime boss Leo O'Bannon, who is sleeping with Verna Bernbaum. The Italian mob boss, John Caspar, wants to kill her brother, Schmatta, who has been chiseling. So the harps and the eye-ties are going to get into a gang war over the sheenies.

Reagan plays the diplomat, telling O'Bannon to let Schmatta die - what's one Hebrew more or less? - and negotiating with Caspar. As you might have guessed if you have seen The Glass Key, Reagan is eventually forced out of O'Bannon's gang and into Caspar's. His initiation will be to take Schmatta out to Miller's Crossing and execute him.

The Glass Key is definitely the "key" to this movie. O'Bannon is very much Paul Madvig, Brian Donlevy's character. A rough, bold leader, with a weakness for a dame. Reagan is Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd), loyal, smarter than his boss, and with a few weaknesses of his own.

The writing in Miller's Crossing is pure tough-guy noir patter - "What's the rumpus?", "Let's dangle", "He's an artist with a Thompson". The Coens, drunk on language again. The look of the movie is more modern, say 1970s Godfather or The Sting: Tobacco-colored light through wooden venetian blinds. I can't tell if this is homage, or just what passes low-key noir lighting in color films.

I had the film figured for pretty much a pure style play - swipe the plot from a classic, write some beautiful dialog, add some action and enjoy. A little shallow, but a great surface. But Ms. Spenser saw something deeper. She reminded me of Caspar's line about Schmatta's chiseling: "It's about, I'm almost ashamed to say it, ethics." The depth of the movie is its exploration of ethics, honesty, loyalty, heart and humanity in a crooked world. Now I want to watch it again.

In conclusion, I can't believe The Glass Key isn't available from NetFlix. No USA DVD release! I'm pretty sure we have the VHS somewhere, but still. Somebody needs to get to work on this.