Miller’s Crossing (1990)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Miller’s Crossing (1990) – J. Coen & E. Coen

I’m a fan of the hard-boiled school from way back. I’ve read and re-read Dashiell Hammett numerous times over the years and I reckon the Coen Brothers have too. Miller’s Crossing takes place in the same sort of lawless burg that Hammett’s Continental Op worked (worked both sides, that is, as in Red Harvest, 1929), although the film also distinctly resembles The Glass Key (1931) with its protagonist, Ned Beaumont, a hopeless gambler who does the thinking for a tough guy political boss. Here we have Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) working for boss Leo (Albert Finney) who makes the mistake of protecting grifter Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) the brother of his love interest Verna (Marcia Gay Harden) who herself isn’t exactly pure as the driven snow. Unfortunately, another up-and-coming boss/gangster Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) wants Bernie’s head for butting in on a fixed fight. Caspar and his strongman Eddie the Dane (J. E. Freeman) think Tom can convince Leo to give up Bernie to avoid a gang war. But when Leo discovers Tom has been sleeping with Verna, this seems impossible. Tom changes over to Caspar’s side – or does he? Some of the crooked characters make a big deal about ethics but Tom isn’t one of them – he plays his cards close to his chest. In the end, the knots in the plot are tied pretty tightly and they seem impossible to unravel in your head after only one viewing – even watching this repeatedly years apart doesn’t necessarily lead to lucidity. But I can’t think of another film that has successfully captured the hardboiled ethos (and casual violence) of Hammett’s fiction on screen. The Coens (and cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld), with their notorious attention to detail (and eccentric anecdote), have pulled it off with panache.