Nobody knows anybody, not that well: A Look at "Miller's Crossing"

It might be easy to look at The Coens' "Miller's Crossing" and see it as an homage to the gangster films of the early thirties, or a tribute to the great hard boiled novelists Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but despite being inspired by all of those that came before it, the film stands as a true masterpiece and perhaps be the Coens' greatest film.

The scene is the 1930s during prohibition, Leo (Albert Finney) is an Irish Crime boss who runs the city, but he plays a dangerous game with a rival gang leader Johnny Caspar (Joe Polito). Caspar asks Leo for permission to kill a local grifter Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) for cheating him out of some money. Leo must decline since he seeing Bernie's sister Verna (Marcia Gay-Harden) and soon things sour between him and Caspar. Enter the main character in the film Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) who is Leo's right hand man. Tom tries to convince Leo that giving up Bernie would make the most sense, but Leo doesn't budge.

Tom doesn't believe Verna is worth all the trouble pariticularily since he's been seeing her behind Leo's back. When Leo finds out, Tom is thrown out and decides to go to the other side and join Caspar.

What makes "Miller's Crossing" so layered comes from the ambiguous way The Coens treat their lead character. We never know the motive of Tom Reagan, he's like "The Man with No Name" or "Yojimbo", he seems to be playing both sides, but unlike those characters, Tom doesn't seem to be playing for any greater good, but he does have his principles. As we have learned from other gangster films from the past, their are certain guidelines people must follow, otherwise someone dies. Johnny Caspar in the film is a gangster who believes in ethics which is why he refuses to kill Tom when his right hand man Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman) is convinced he's a traitor.

The Coens have been known for their silent characters, like the biker in "Raising Arizona" or Gaer Grimsrud in "Fargo" or Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men". Tom is different as those other characters were mostly seen as a villain, plus this time he's a main character. It's a big risk to make your main character not reveal his motives, but that's why the film works, if we knew what Tom was doing at the beginning, we would lose interest.

But also by not revealing what Tom's motives are, the Coens' are commenting at how we never really know what a person is thinking, or why they do the things that they do. Sometimes there is no reason other than the fact they feel compelled to do it. This brings about the idea that is left in many Coen movies which is human nature is too complex to fully understand why people do what they do.

There's a running gag in the film concerning Tom's hat, he talks of a dream where the wind comes and blows his hat off but he refuses to chase it as he puts it, "There's nothing more foolish than a man chasing his hat." Yet after the film there are many moments where Tom does lose his hat only to find it on his head again, and at the end we see him tighten it on his head. Perhaps figuring out what Tom's all about is about as foolish as chasing the man's hat.

I've said time and time again, that most modern gangster films have run their course, I don't think there is much more they can teach us about ourselves, "Miller's Crossing" is one of the few exceptions, it is probably my favorite gangster film. Perhaps I can relate to more of a Tom Reagan character than say a Michael Corleone or a Tony Soprano. Tom can represent who we are but not why we are who we are. It's a mystery where there isn't an answer to, which makes it all the more fascinating.