The Coen Brothers have one of the about diverse filmographies of whatsoever filmmakers and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is another crowning precious stone in their bright body of work. The motion-picture show stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of escaped convicts searching for a subconscious treasure across Depression Era Mississippi.

The moving picture is a hilarious and unique hazard that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy only the Coen Brothers could conceive of. And like most of their films, O Blood brother Where Fine art Thou? is filled with hidden details.

10 Opening Quote

The pic forgoes the typical narration you might usually discover in a Coen Brothers moving-picture show but does offset with a quote that reads, "O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story of that human being skilled in the ways of contending, a wanderer, harried for years on stop …"

The quote is the opening line from Homer's Odyssey, the story of a warrior'due south long journey abode. The Coen Brothers based this film on the storyline of that epic tale. Though, in typical Coen Brothers fashion, they admitted that neither of them has actually read the epic verse form and but know it through pop culture.

ix The Title

While Homer's Odyssey served as the footing for the overall story structure of the film, the title was taken from another source. The 1941 moving-picture show Sullivan'south Travels follows a director who wants to make a picture show that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live similar the less-fortunate to proceeds experience. The name of the flick he aspires to make is called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

The Coen Brothers' moving picture shares a few similarities with Sullivan'southward Travels, including a similar scene in which convicts are brought into a theater to watch a film.

8 Chain Gang Chant

The film is filled with all kinds of bright music from different eras of America, which helps bring the film to life. The first song we hear over the opening credits is a dirge from a chain gang as they work on the roads.

Remarkably, the chant heard is an actual recording of a chain gang singing the song, "Po Lazarus" in 1959. Even more remarkably, the Coen Brothers were able to runway downwardly one member of the chain gang and paid him $xx,000 for apply of the vocal in the film.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might be having a fiddling fun by saying the film is based on Homer'south Odyssey, they do include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the epic poem well volition too probable run across some characters they recognize.

Ulysses Everett McGill obviously stands in for Odysseus, the hero who attempts to return to his wife who is beingness pursued past a suitor. Other characters include Pappy O'Daniel who fills in for Zeus, the one-eyes Large Dan Teague who represents the cyclops, and the three singing girls who lure the heroes, representing the Sirens.

half-dozen Singing Voices

O Brother Where Fine art Chiliad? has the rare distinction of having a soundtrack that has actually become more successful than the flick itself. And the near famous song from this soundtrack is "Man of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the picture past the three lead characters.

Clooney was given the chance to sing the lead vocals on the song and took lessons to improve his singing voice. In the end, he admits he was non the human for the task and was dubbed. All the same, Tim Blake Nelson does really provide vocals for his vocal, "In the Jailhouse Now".

5 Baby Face Nelson

I of the colorful characters that the trio of heroes run into is George Nelson, a deranged bank robber who is depressed at not being taken seriously and having the nickname Babe Face Nelson.

Baby Face up Nelson was indeed a depository financial institution robber from this era who is responsible for a number of daring crimes. Notwithstanding, Nelson was killed in 1935, two years before the events of this moving-picture show. Too, he was killed in a shootout with police rather than executed while in custody, equally is said in the moving-picture show.

4 Cows

Though a fairly elementary story, the moving picture was praised for its use of visual effects and CGI. While not overly used in the pic, the few cases are incorporated convincingly into the overall scene. In one instance, it might accept been also convincing.

The scenes in which a cop machine hits a moo-cow looked so convincing that the American Humane Association demanded proof that no real animate being was harmed. This also led to a new disclaimer being added to the moving picture that read, "Scenes which may appear to place an animal in jeopardy were fake."

three Tommy Johnson

Another memorable graphic symbol that the trio of escaped convicts meets up with is Tommy Johnson, played by Chris Thomas King. When the heroes encounter Tommy, he is standing at a crossroads where he says he met the devil and traded his soul for the power to play the guitar.

Obviously, in that location is some truth to the character or at least some existent-life inspiration. There was a famed dejection musician named Tommy Johnson who sold his soul to the devil to play the blues, according to folk legend.

2 Klan Rally

One of the nearly memorable scenes in the film finds the 3 heroes sneaking into a Ku Klux Klan rally to save their new friend Tommy. The sequence is an elaborate one with a giant burning cross and hundreds of costumed extras.

The scene as well features the Klan members performing an unusual ceremonial march of sorts. Ironically, the march is a military formation and the military machine troupe hired to clothes as Klan members and perform the scene were largely African-American.

1 The Motel

At the terminate of the film, the iii companions finally attain Everett's cabin, which is tucked away in the woods. Some horror fans might have recognized the cabin from an iconic film of the genre.

The Coens modeled the motel on the 1 featured prominently in Sam Raimi'due south The Evil Dead. This is non just a random inclusion, but rather an in-joke with their friend Raimi since Joel Coen worked on The Evil Dead with him.

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Virtually The Author

Colin McCormick (2047 Manufactures Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Author with Screen Bluster and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In improver to his work as Screen Rant, Colin is also a writer of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going dorsum to the first fourth dimension he saw The Lion King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays upwardly-to-date on the latest must-see Television receiver shows. While he loves to detect interesting projects in whatsoever kind of genre, he has a special moving-picture show of crime stories that are infused with a piffling dark humour much similar the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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