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GANGSTER'S PARADISE, PART I: MILLER'S CROSSING

© Sean Gallagher

As we all know, Hollywood is a town which relies on trends. In 1990, that trend was the gangster film. Six of them were released that year: Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER PART III, Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS, Abel Ferrara's KING OF NEW YORK, Peter Medak's THE KRAYS, the Coen brothers' MILLER'S CROSSING, and Phil Joaunou's STATE OF GRACE (and you could also sort of argue for Andrew Bergman's THE FRESHMAN and Herbert Ross' MY BLUE HEAVEN were gangster films, even though they were essentially spoofs). What made this trend interesting is, with the possible exception of THE GODFATHER PART III, cashing in wasn't the initial motivation for any of these films. These were all singular films by singular filmmakers, and they just happened to come out the same year. So even as critics recognized the gangster film might be over-saturated that year, they appreciated each film on its own terms. In separate articles, I alreay covered GODFATHER PART III and GOODFELLAS, so I'll continue the series with what I feel was the best of all of these movies, MILLER'S CROSSING.

Ethan and Joel Coen have been among the most debated filmmakers of our time (Joel is the director, Ethan the producer, and they co-write each film) ever since their 1984 debut BLOOD SIMPLE. Either you see them as smart and daring filmmakers, or smart-ass, narrow-minded intellectuals who only know how to make paper-thin pastiches of old movie genres. And except for THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, their films have also been characterized by graphic violence and profanity, which also has not made them friends. I, on the other hand, have always been a fan of theirs, and for me, they put it all together with their serious-minded film MILLER'S CROSSING.

Supposedly, it's set in New Orleans in the 1920's, and though some have debated how accurate it all seems, it's surprising nonetheless how easily you get sucked in. The city is ruled by Leo O'Bannion (Albert Finney), the chief mobster, and his right hand man is Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne). At the beginning of the film, Leo is visited by his chief rival Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). Johnny has a beef with the city's main bookie, Bernie Birnbaum (John Turturro). Whenever Johnny fixes a fight, Bernie leaks that fact out, so the odds go way down, and Johnny ends up not collecting as much money as he should (he says, "If you can't trust a fix, what can you trust?"). So Johnny wants Leo to know he's going to kill Bernie. Leo, however, won't allow Johnny to do that, because, unbeknownst to Johnny, Leo is seeing Bernie's sister Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). Tom thinks Leo is crazy, and should kill Bernie, even though, unbeknownst to Leo, he's seeing Verna as well.

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