I truly love it when screenwriters take really old source material and transform it to a modern story. This is a brilliant adaptation of The Odyssey! I read that in college some 35 years ago, but this film brought a lot of it back. The Sirens, killing the cows, the Cyclops, Penelope waiting for her husband-all there. The only one missing is Telemachus.
The story behind Clooney singing is the real voice belongs to Dan Tyminski, lead male singer from Alison Krauss and Union Station. Dan went home to tell his wife that was going to be singing on a movie, but it was going to be his voice and George Cooney's face. His wife said "oh baby, that's my dream come true!!"
I happened to be in the audience during the recording of the Alison Krauss/Union Station live CD/DVD in Louisville, KY several years ago. Right before they did this song, Dan shared that story. Fun fact: the singing voices for the Sirens were Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris.
The blind man on the hand car represents Homer himself (the blind poet). Ulysses McGill is Odysseus (Ulysses is the Latinization of the Greek name). Odysseus' wife is Penelope, in the movie Holly Hunter's character is Penny. In the Odyssey he sirens lured sailors to their death with their singing. The sirens here attempted to lure the men to turn them in for the reward, but they had only dragged Pete away when Ulysses and Delmer came to and left. Pete being turned into a frog is from Odysseus' encounter with the witch Circe, who turned many of Odysseus' men into animals. The sheriff represents Poseidon who was after Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus (the Cyclops) by stabbing him in his eye with a hot poker -- Polyphemus is represented here by Big Dan who has only one good eye. Ulysses almost blinds him with a poker (the thrown flagpole), but Big Dan catches it just inches from his eye -- but is defeated when they drop the fiery cross on him. When Odysseus finally returns home to his wife he must disguise himself as an old bearded man to get past the throng of suiters attempting to force her to remarry so one of them might replace him as King of Ithaca. Odysseus reveals his true identity by besting the other suiters in a competition of strength and precision by being able to string his own bow and shoot a single arrow through 10 axe handles, while McGill reveals himself by leading the Soggy Bottom Boys in their hit song.
This is a very sentimental film for me, because it reminds me of the best times with my mom, who has passed away now. I grew up in Indiana, but she was based out of Tennessee. During high school, I did choir for my last two years. During my junior year, my choir sang "Down to the River to Pray" for our final concert (personally, though, I prefer "I'll Fly Away" of all the songs). After that, my mom and I sang a duet together about two or three times, her on the melody and me on the harmony since I was the baritone. We played the soundtrack frequently in the car before that, including our final trip taken to Nashville during her lifetime, one year after that concert. I was a stupid teenager back then, and didn't appreciate the duets as much back then as I do now, in my mid-30s. I think back to it, and those few times we did duet, had to have been some of the happiest moments of her life. Hopefully, we'll get to sing it together again one day. :)
The Coen brothers are brilliant filmmakers. Dark comedy and drama masters. Raising Arizona, Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, True Grit, The Lady killers, Inside Llewyn Davis, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man. Few Writers, directors, producers or editors have a even a fraction of the phenomenal films these two have to their credit. I'd be surprised if you didn't end up loving most of their work too.
It's always tickled me that these two Jewish dudes from Minnesota can write the kind of dialogue and characters that they do. I'm not sure who they spent time around to be able to write stuff like this or something like The Ladykillers or even The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but surely they couldn't just KNOW how every type of person talks... right?
This is a good one with an amazing soundtrack. Loosely based in the Odessey. The girls were Sirens, followed by John Goodman, the Cyclops. In 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority really flooded homes/towns to create a power source for rural areas. Pappy O'Daniel was a popular Texas governor. Legend of Robert Johnson who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to be the greatest guitarist. The song "Oh Brother" was published in 1913, but got a new life in this movie. Sung by Union Station's, Dan Tyminski.
@@AwesomeUSMovies This was Homer's Iliad (Not the Odyssey as others have stated) The three ladies were the sirens. The bible salesman was the cyclops. Follow now? The fact that they not only set it in the south, but also tied it to true to life characters intermingled was in the spirit of Homer's epics which tell of real events intermingled with mythical figures and their stories.
Sheriff Cooley with his sunglasses and hound exactly fits Tommy’s description of the devil he sold his soul too. Hollow voice, empty eyes and travels with a mean old hound.
saw this with family in a packed theater. we were rolling in the aisles! everybody absolutely loved this movie! every time someone’s missing from a get together, we ask did they “runn oft”. after we left the theater i ordered the soundtrack. it’s still on rotation in my car.
The director of O Brother Where Art Thou admitted the Humane Society was worried about a scene in the film where a cow is hit by a car. Joel Coen eventually had to prove the cow was computer- generated. No cows were injured during filming.
It's quite a jarring and realistic scene! But that line... "oh George.. Not the livestock" is so good. High five for suggesting we do this one together!
nonsense. my cow was influenced after watching this film to commit cowacide by automobile. and 100s of cows followed suit leading to the great cowacide of 2001. people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others. he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
One of my favorite things is the Dapper Dan pomade. Everett’s hair is his point of hubris; tragic pride. He drags it around with him and that is what allows the hounds (of hell) to track him. At the end, after he prays, it is washed away. So many amazing elements in this film. Great react…keep’em coming!!
All the Coen brother movies are excellent, this is a particularly fun one. I recommend Raising Arizona as another fun movie by the Coen brothers. Tim Blame Nelson (Delmar) was the only one of the three who did his own singing, and has made a killing in royalties since the sound track took off. Since you speak of how you read so much I expected you to recognize this being a reinterpretation on Homer's The Odyssey. Being run out on a rail was a common punishment to force an offender out of town back in the 18th & 19th century.
The title of the movie comes from the movie Sullivan's Travels (1941), which is about a filmmaker who wants to make a movie called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Sullivan never did get to make the movie, so the Coen Brothers finished the job for him. The story is based loosely on Homer's Odyssey. Elements from the original story include a guy going on a long journey to get home to his wife only to find that she's taken up with someone else; a prophet who foretells what will happen on the adventure; a group of sirens who lure the men into danger; a cyclops (the Bible salesman, played by John Goodman); and a character who is punished with electricity for harming cows (in The Odyssey, Zeus punished Odysseus with lightning because his crew ate the cattle of the sun god Helios). The soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou became a best-selling CD. That wasn't George Clooney singing, by the way. His voice was dubbed by Dan Tyminski. The character of Tommy was based on blues guitarist and singer Tommy Johnson, about whom people said he got his talent by selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Over time, the legend transferred to Robert Johnson, probably because Robert was more famous than Tommy, and because Robert wrote and recorded the song Cross Road Blues. The shot where Everett, Pete, and Delmar peer out at the marching Klansmen is a reference to the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion peer out at the witch's guards marching outside her castle. When the crowd turned against Homer Stokes, they literally ran him out of town on a rail. Jimmie Davis used You Are My Sunshine as his campaign song when he ran for governor of Louisiana in 1944. It's an odd choice for a campaign song because, while the music sounds cheerful, the lyrics are quite sad.
The soundtrack was a blockbuster hit after the movie came out in 2000. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is the name of the movie that Joel McCrea's character wanted to make in 1941's Sullivan's Travels.
yes, i bring this up all the time. people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover. the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others. he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
Its in the same vein as Tar and Feathering... one of those odd things from the past that dont make much sense now days, but did to many at one point in time.
I absolutely love this movie! I bought both the movie and the soundtrack as soon as they came out. As the story goes, one of the Coen brothers saw a Bluegrass band while visiting the South, and then started talking with his brother about making a movie centered around the Bluegrass and Ol' Timey music. I don't know the inspiration for basing it on The Odyssey in 1933, but it was brilliant!
that first song, (the chain gang one). is an actual recording from 1959, recorded at the Mississippi State Penitentiary by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. its prisoner James Carter leading other prisoners from Camp B. dont know when he was eventually released, but i did read that after this movie came out, some 40 years later. he was paid $20,000 for his contributions to this soundtrack.
"Is this how they did it back then?" (re: the prisoners and the movie theater.) That scene is a direct reference to the wonderful movie Sullivan's Travels, which was already mentioned by @EricAKATheBelgianGuy. (Also, when I was young, being banished from Woolworth's would have been a real inconvenience. 🙂)
@@AwesomeUSMovies Five and dimes were ubiquitous in the US up to the 60s...Woolworth, McCrory's, W.T. Grant, Kresge, Ben Franklin and more. The first big box stores were Woolco (Woolworth corp.) and K-Mart (Kress corp.)....
The Oracle (Prophet) said they would see a cow on top of a cotton house. After it was flooded, they saw the cow on top of the cotton house. This showed that God had his hand on them the whole time. Every time they prayed, they were delivered.
I bought the amazing soundtrack for this film when it came out on CD, back in the day; one nifty thing the publishers did was to print the CD so that it looked like an old-timey 78 RPM record.
Everett didn't like "Fop" brand hair gel because proceeds from the sale benefited the Fraternal Order of Police, hence the name FOP. He preferred "Dapper Dan" brand, as it symbolized a rebel-type character.
George "Baby face" Nelson was a bank robber before becoming a partner to gangster John Dillinger. He was killed by the FBI at age 25, in 1934. Tommy Johnson, the guitar-playing hitchhiker, was supposed to be Robert Johnson, the blues musician. He wrote songs about selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. The actual intersection is hwys 61 & 49 in Mississippi & is marked with guitars. You can look it up on Google. He died in 1938 at age 27 of unknown causes. The 3 singing women are Sirens, beautiful women of the sea, who lure men to their death with their song. The old man on the handcar predicted everything of the story, including the cow on the house. A very entertaining movie. Great sound track!
I've been waiting for you to get to this movie. Thanks for the reaction... This is Homer's Odyssey told with a Christian worldview. The three women at the river represent the sirens, big. Dan is the cyclops and our hero is desperately trying to get back to his wife before she moves on George Clooney did not sing, it was Dan Tyminski who actually sang the song When Stokes admitted to being part of the KKK, they "ran him out of town on a rail"... Then tarred and feathered him The movie and it soundtrack is credited for revitalizing the country's interest in bluegrass music and resulted in millions of sales
Stokes was run out of town on a rail, but he wasn't necessarily tarred and feathered-it would be just if he was, don't get me wrong-but he could have been just paraded through the town and thrown out.
@@vincegamer I was also amazed by that too. I wonder if it's not so much the phrase being antiqued but rather actually seeing it be done-it is an odd and rare sight to be seen, for sure. I'm in my 20's and I know it fairly well, but then again my family were big history nerds, so I may have been spoiled.
the tommy johnson story is real, in that tommy johnson actually believed he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in order to acheive musical success
My favorite Coen Brothers movie. The single, Man of Constant Sorrow got a lot of airplay after the movie was released. The soundtrack was very popular, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. It surprised a lot of people when an album full of old-timey music beat out India Arie, OutKast, Bob Dylan and U2 to win the award.
George Clooney famously did not do his own singing in this movie, despite singing being a talent that runs in his family...his Aunt was the great Rosemary Clooney. The lead singing for the Soggy Bottom Boys for Man of Constant Sorrow was done by Dan Tymanski...the other two parts were sung by Harley Allen and Pat Enright. Tim Blake Nelson actually did sing the lead part for In the Jailhouse Now.
I love how there's always a mishap with a gun in almost every Coen Brothers film (the police van going off from inside is an example of that classic Coen trope).
The George Nelson featured in this movie is quite different from the historical bank robber. The real George Nelson (born Lester Gillis, a name he apparently quite disliked) was not a loner, but worked with a gang. He was called Baby Face (which he really did hate far more than his birth name) because he was small and lightly built, and still looked like he was about fourteen years old even well into adulthood. Apparently it was the prostitutes he frequented who first saddled him with that nickname, despite, or because of, the fact that he demanded they address him as Big George. The actor Michael Badalucco was in his mid-forties when he played the character here, and is last seen under arrest and being led off to be executed in the electric chair. The real Nelson died in a bloody shootout with police at age 26. Oh, and when his death was reported, every newspaper headline simply called him Baby Face or Babyface.
Fun reaction! I think you caught a lot more details in your first watch than I did! This is one of my and my husband's favorite movies to watch and quote. "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity!" "My hair" "they done loved him up and turned him into a horney toad!" And the music is so fun, for sure look up the soundtrack :)
@@AwesomeUSMovies Depression era economics, you couldn't afford to buy eggs or chicken, had to raise your own. Another grandfather ate so much bush chicken he couldn't stand the sight of it.
Hilarious movie huh! Shows how things were done back in those times. The song that was playing at the beginning was The Big Rock Candy Mountain. My two favorite lines are when they are first questioning George's right to lead "I thought it should be the one with the capability of abstract thought!" LOL The second was George was trying to buy Dapper Dan and couldn't, and he says "Isn't that a geological oddity-2 weeks from everywhere! : LOL Too funny!
Trivia: 1. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a re-telling of The Odyssey by Homer. The Coen brothers, writers and directors (Joel and Ethan), admitted they never read the book, but it was so popular they knew a lot of the story anyway. 2. Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2000: Best Adapted Screenplay for Joel and Ethan Coen, and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins). It didn't win in either category. 3. Tim Blake Nelson (Delmar) did his own singing on "In the Jailhouse Now." George Clooney (Everett) tried to do his own singing for "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," and took lessons, but decided somebody else was better for it. So, his singing voice is dubbed by Dan Tyminski. 4. Country singers Gillian Welch (hard "G," like Gilbert), Alison Krauss, and Emmylou Harris provided the singing voices of the Sirens. 5. Gillian Welch cameos as the woman with the glasses asking about the Soggy Bottom Boys record; she and Alison Krauss did a version of the song "I'll Fly Away" for the soundtrack. Dan Tyminski cameos as a mandolin player. 6. Speaking of the soundtrack, it ended up being a major success, and even won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year! I can't remember any other movie soundtrack doing so (somebody help me if I forgot any that did). 7. George Clooney sent the script to his uncle in Kentucky to help him prepare for the character. His uncle, a deeply religious man, gave Clooney a tape recording of him reading the lines, but with most of the cursing cut out of it. Clooney didn't become aware of it until filming started. 8. The title "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a reference to a movie-within-a-movie of another film, Sullivan's Travels from 1941. 9. Milford Fortenberry, the pomade salesman ("Be about two weeks...") was not a professional actor. He was a cattle farmer originally from Mississippi, based in Florida. This was his second and last major film credit. From what I understand, he passed away earlier this year. 10. The film editing is credited to Roderick Jaynes, who is not a real person. The Coen brothers not only write, direct, and produce their movies, but they also edit most of them; still, they don't like the idea of having their name featured in the credits so many times, so they invented the name "Roderick Jaynes" as a pseudonym.
I can recommend Sullivan’s Travels, although it’s 80+ years old it’s a great comedy. The scene in “Oh Brother” where the jailbirds come to watch the movie is a copy of a very similar scene in “Sullivan’s Travels”. It also stars Veronica Lake, who makes me feel funny inside!
9:56 "Tommy Johnson" is supposed to Robert Johnson who was an American blues musician and songwriter from 1929 - 1938. According to legend, as a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, Johnson had a tremendous desire to become a great blues musician. One of the legends often told says that Johnson was instructed to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. (There are claims for other sites as the location of the crossroads.) There he was met by a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The Devil played a few songs and then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him mastery of the instrument. This story of a deal with the Devil at the crossroads mirrors the legend of Faust. In exchange for his soul, Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.
The main cast: George Clooney - Everett John Turturro - Pete Tim Blake Nelson - Delmar Holly Hunter - Penny John Goodman - Big Dan Charles Durning - Pappy O'Daniel (the governor) Chris Thomas King - Tommy Johnson Michael Badalucco - Baby Face Nelson Stephen Root - Mr. Lund (the blind radio station manager; he was Milton in Office Space) Daniel von Bargen - Sheriff Cooley Wayne Duvall - Homer Stokes Ray McKinnon - Vernon
30:15 This is the proverbial "run out of town on a rail". Homer Stokes has so upset the people that they are literally running him out of town on a railroad tie/fencepost.
Thank you for another wonderful reaction and review. I have a soft spot for this film since not only was it set in my home state of Mississippi but that it was also filmed here. (Plus, it reminds me of some old family stories I used to hear about.)
This is a retelling of the Odyssey, with the voyage home from the war (prison) by Ulysses Everett McGill and his crew, via many tribulations - including Sirens, a Cyclopian Giant and suitors for his 'widow' Penelope.
So so so many quotable lines with this movie. Me and my friends use them all the time. Just the other day, my non-American in-laws mentioned a cousin getting a new boyfriend and I asked "Is he bonafide?" before I could stop myself. They didn't know at all what I meant, but I laughed and laughed.
I am sure this has been said in the comments already, but this is a loose retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey. The epic tale of Ulysses adventure. The women by the river were the sirens. The man on the railway car was the oracle. John Goodman’s character was the cyclops. There are so many great parallels!
There is a really awesome cover of Man of Constant Sorrow by the acapella group Home Free, I highly recommend giving the official TH-cam video of it a watch (would make a good little reaction too)
There used to be a Punishment called “riding the rail” or being “run out of town on a rail “,where the offender was paraded around town,or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.
LOL - "I recognized George Clooney from Friends". You crack me up James. Mr. Clooney was only on 1 or 2 episodes of Friends as a guest star while he was doing the smash hit TV show "ER". Same network so NBC/Universal asked him and Noah Wyle to do a couple guest cameos of doctors in a hospital scene to get added viewers to the new Friends show. Turns out, Friends, didn't need help becoming a smash hit TV show themselves. Mr. Clooney left ER after 5 seasons and became one of the most recognizable men in the world with his movie career.
people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others. he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
If all water is holy, then why are we buying bottles of water for more than a dollar?? 28:44 "In The Jailhouse Now" recorded originally by Jimmie Rodgers on February 15, 1928 who also died on May 26, 1933 after having Tuberculosis diagnosed at age 27, he wrote a song about it called "T.B. Blues" which was released on Victor Records catalog number 23535 on April 5, 1931
When George Clooney appears to be singing, it's really Dan Tyminski, who most commonly plays with Allison Krauss and Union Station. In this brief interview, he points out when he described his voice coming out of George's mouth. It's worth hearing. th-cam.com/video/lHx0djsA3oU/w-d-xo.html
It's a genuine pleasure to see you enjoy this movie with such open mirth, James! The Coen Bros hit it outta the park with this one. A few stretches of credulity, but that's what movies are all about! Remember James, this movie is based on Homer's Odyssey, so you'll see some references to that ancient work. The girls in the river are the Sirens luring Odysseus' ship onto the rocks. More parallels in comments below. When the crowd put the governor candidate on the long log, it was called "running him out of town on a rail."
The Odyssey plus homage to The Wizard of Oz and Sullivan's Travels (origin of the title, if nobody's told you yet)...two great movies from either side of 1940 and both ranked in the AFI top 100 of all time.
A cow, on top of a caught'en house, the house where they were caught--not a cotton house. And oh, how much Dapper Dan did that guy have that we saw so many tins in the flood water? Others already described that this is a very modern, very loose adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. I still think that if the water hadn't rescued them in the end, they should have at least said that because they were pardoned, killing them would be murder, not justice. Feel free to handcuff them until they have enough opportunity to have that pardoning confirmed.
Based on homers oddesey. The 3 women were the sirens that lured men into the sea. They ran the kill radar out of town on a rail. Bible salesman was John Goodman.
30:15 this is an old practice, contemporary with the practice of covering an offender with tar and feathers, called 'riding him out on a rail.' Essentially, they incapacitated him on the log, or rail, and ran him to the town limits, to deposit him ignominiously outside. Whether anything else unpleasant happened after that, no one may know...
Egad! This is like watching an attention deficit child, or maybe a dog or something (Squirrel !!), trying to watch a movie. Watching and reacting to all the inconsequential stuff while missing that's really going on. My mother was the same way, and she wondered why I would never watch a movie with her.
11:50 Robert Johnson was a real Blues guitar player and singer. There were rumors that he sold his soul to the Devil for musical talent and fame 🙂 A cross roads at midnight is where he or a rep. can be summoned for deals.
@@AwesomeUSMovies Tommy Johnson was a real-life Mississippi guitar player & singer too. His 1928 song "Canned Heat" was a description of his addiction to methanol and his consumption of it via the canned cooking fuel Sterno. Like all Delta Blues players at the time there has always been speculation that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads. As a half-century devotee of 1920s & 1930s blues & country music, in The Battle Of The Mississippi Johnsons, I prefer Tommy over Robert. "If canned heat don't kill me, I'll never die"
This film is a rough retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Ulysses (The Iliad) set in the 1930s deep South. It includes the meeting with the myth's purportedly blind writer Homer, the conflict with the Cyclops (John Goodman with the one good eye), the encounter with the Sirens, and Ulysses's dealings with his wife's suitors (Everette Ulysses only had the one to deal with), among other facets of the original myth including the involvement and favor of the king (in this story, the governor). George Clooney was born and raised in a small town in Kentucky and had an uncle read Clooney's lines into a tape recorder, to reacquaint him with the authentic accent. The dance he does on stage is copied from dancing he used to see back in his younger days. Clooney's singing however is lip-synced from a member of Allison Krause's band (she sings "Down to the River to Pray" played during the baptism scene and is available on TH-cam). The soundtrack won at least 4 major awards, including 2 Grammies.
10:55 You should watch a rare movie called, Crossroads. It has the Karate kid playing the guitar and studying that story about those ol' blues players... And features guitar legend Steve Vai.😮
So as many have already informed you in these comments, this movie is a modern interpretation of Homer’s ancient Greek tale, “The Odyssey” Another phenomenal film that takes an ancient greek story (this one a true story) and places it in a contemporary setting. “The Warriors” (1979) This movie is an alltime cult classic! It’s based on the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon's autobiographical account, “Anabasis”. I’d advise not looking further into this movie or the true ancient greek story it modeled its plot after. So as to not spoil it. “The Warriors” is definitely one hell of an awesome US movie!
30:15 That is what is known as being ridden out on a rail, or being run out of town on a rail; basically, to be banished from town. Being run out of town on a rail was a form of mob justice used from at least the 1700's into the 1900's. It was supposed to be used to publicly banish persons who the community (by mob rule) agreed were unfit to be in their community anymore. Persons could be simply taken out of town and left with strict instructions not to return, ever again. While some could be paraded through the streets before being banished. And, yes, depending on the area, the mob, and the suspected offense, some were dipped in tar then feathered. It's mention in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when the two con men, Duke and King, were ridden out astride a fence rail.
I truly love it when screenwriters take really old source material and transform it to a modern story. This is a brilliant adaptation of The Odyssey! I read that in college some 35 years ago, but this film brought a lot of it back. The Sirens, killing the cows, the Cyclops, Penelope waiting for her husband-all there. The only one missing is Telemachus.
Where is Circe transforming Odysseus' men into swine?
@@scipioafricanus5871They did have a pig in the car when they escaped the burning barn.
@@scipioafricanus5871 I think they combined the Sirens with Circe with the horny toad bit.
This was Homer's Iliad (Not the Odyssey)
@@autonomouspublishingincorp8241 Not even close.
The story behind Clooney singing is the real voice belongs to Dan Tyminski, lead male singer from Alison Krauss and Union Station. Dan went home to tell his wife that was going to be singing on a movie, but it was going to be his voice and George Cooney's face. His wife said "oh baby, that's my dream come true!!"
oh goodness, you go competition.
I happened to be in the audience during the recording of the Alison Krauss/Union Station live CD/DVD in Louisville, KY several years ago. Right before they did this song, Dan shared that story.
Fun fact: the singing voices for the Sirens were Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris.
Apparently, Clooney wanted to try singing it, but gave in when he heard Tyminski's performance.
It's funny considering that George is nephew to Rosemary Clooney, a super famous singer of the 50s and 60s.
Lmfao
The blind man on the hand car represents Homer himself (the blind poet). Ulysses McGill is Odysseus (Ulysses is the Latinization of the Greek name). Odysseus' wife is Penelope, in the movie Holly Hunter's character is Penny.
In the Odyssey he sirens lured sailors to their death with their singing. The sirens here attempted to lure the men to turn them in for the reward, but they had only dragged Pete away when Ulysses and Delmer came to and left. Pete being turned into a frog is from Odysseus' encounter with the witch Circe, who turned many of Odysseus' men into animals.
The sheriff represents Poseidon who was after Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus (the Cyclops) by stabbing him in his eye with a hot poker -- Polyphemus is represented here by Big Dan who has only one good eye. Ulysses almost blinds him with a poker (the thrown flagpole), but Big Dan catches it just inches from his eye -- but is defeated when they drop the fiery cross on him.
When Odysseus finally returns home to his wife he must disguise himself as an old bearded man to get past the throng of suiters attempting to force her to remarry so one of them might replace him as King of Ithaca. Odysseus reveals his true identity by besting the other suiters in a competition of strength and precision by being able to string his own bow and shoot a single arrow through 10 axe handles, while McGill reveals himself by leading the Soggy Bottom Boys in their hit song.
This is a very sentimental film for me, because it reminds me of the best times with my mom, who has passed away now. I grew up in Indiana, but she was based out of Tennessee. During high school, I did choir for my last two years. During my junior year, my choir sang "Down to the River to Pray" for our final concert (personally, though, I prefer "I'll Fly Away" of all the songs). After that, my mom and I sang a duet together about two or three times, her on the melody and me on the harmony since I was the baritone. We played the soundtrack frequently in the car before that, including our final trip taken to Nashville during her lifetime, one year after that concert.
I was a stupid teenager back then, and didn't appreciate the duets as much back then as I do now, in my mid-30s. I think back to it, and those few times we did duet, had to have been some of the happiest moments of her life. Hopefully, we'll get to sing it together again one day. :)
The Coen brothers are brilliant filmmakers. Dark comedy and drama masters. Raising Arizona, Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, True Grit, The Lady killers, Inside Llewyn Davis, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man. Few Writers, directors, producers or editors have a even a fraction of the phenomenal films these two have to their credit. I'd be surprised if you didn't end up loving most of their work too.
“The Man who wasn’t there” is one of my favorites.
@@kevinfinnerty8414 Yeah! Thornton, Gandolfini and Johansson. You can't even remember how many great films they've done.
It's always tickled me that these two Jewish dudes from Minnesota can write the kind of dialogue and characters that they do. I'm not sure who they spent time around to be able to write stuff like this or something like The Ladykillers or even The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but surely they couldn't just KNOW how every type of person talks... right?
I will make sure they are on my list. thanks
This is a good one with an amazing soundtrack.
Loosely based in the Odessey. The girls were Sirens, followed by John Goodman, the Cyclops.
In 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority really flooded homes/towns to create a power source for rural areas.
Pappy O'Daniel was a popular Texas governor.
Legend of Robert Johnson who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to be the greatest guitarist.
The song "Oh Brother" was published in 1913, but got a new life in this movie. Sung by Union Station's, Dan Tyminski.
Very catchy
"Pass the biscuits, Pappy,"
@@AwesomeUSMovies This was Homer's Iliad (Not the Odyssey as others have stated)
The three ladies were the sirens.
The bible salesman was the cyclops.
Follow now?
The fact that they not only set it in the south, but also tied it to true to life characters intermingled was in the spirit of Homer's epics which tell of real events intermingled with mythical figures and their stories.
@@autonomouspublishingincorp8241 The movie itself states that it's based on The Odyssey.
And the old man on the rail cart was Tiresias. Hera blinded him for siding with Zeus in an argument, so Zeus gave him second sight as compensation.
Sheriff Cooley with his sunglasses and hound exactly fits Tommy’s description of the devil he sold his soul too. Hollow voice, empty eyes and travels with a mean old hound.
saw this with family in a packed theater. we were rolling in the aisles! everybody absolutely loved this movie! every time someone’s missing from a get together, we ask did they “runn oft”. after we left the theater i ordered the soundtrack. it’s still on rotation in my car.
That runn oft... kills me
One of the funniest movies by The Coen Brothers and it's a retelling of Homer's Odyssey.
The director of O Brother Where Art Thou admitted the Humane Society was worried about a scene in the film where a cow is hit by a car. Joel Coen eventually had to prove the cow was computer- generated.
No cows were injured during filming.
It's quite a jarring and realistic scene! But that line... "oh George.. Not the livestock" is so good. High five for suggesting we do this one together!
Poor digital cows
@@AwesomeUSMovies The one in Twister still flies around in my head.
nonsense. my cow was influenced after watching this film to commit cowacide by automobile. and 100s of cows followed suit leading to the great cowacide of 2001.
people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
@@cjmacq-vg8um I love this
Several scenes in this one is shot like a Rockwell painting. Beautiful!
I was going to suggest this one! The delivery of "Of course that's Pete, just look at him!" always cracks me up.
Probably my favorite line too
He was really thinking that toad was him
@@AwesomeUSMovies But they looked so much alike!
people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others.
he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
One of my favorite things is the Dapper Dan pomade. Everett’s hair is his point of hubris; tragic pride. He drags it around with him and that is what allows the hounds (of hell) to track him. At the end, after he prays, it is washed away. So many amazing elements in this film. Great react…keep’em coming!!
Will do
All the Coen brother movies are excellent, this is a particularly fun one. I recommend Raising Arizona as another fun movie by the Coen brothers.
Tim Blame Nelson (Delmar) was the only one of the three who did his own singing, and has made a killing in royalties since the sound track took off.
Since you speak of how you read so much I expected you to recognize this being a reinterpretation on Homer's The Odyssey.
Being run out on a rail was a common punishment to force an offender out of town back in the 18th & 19th century.
The title of the movie comes from the movie Sullivan's Travels (1941), which is about a filmmaker who wants to make a movie called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Sullivan never did get to make the movie, so the Coen Brothers finished the job for him.
The story is based loosely on Homer's Odyssey. Elements from the original story include a guy going on a long journey to get home to his wife only to find that she's taken up with someone else; a prophet who foretells what will happen on the adventure; a group of sirens who lure the men into danger; a cyclops (the Bible salesman, played by John Goodman); and a character who is punished with electricity for harming cows (in The Odyssey, Zeus punished Odysseus with lightning because his crew ate the cattle of the sun god Helios).
The soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou became a best-selling CD. That wasn't George Clooney singing, by the way. His voice was dubbed by Dan Tyminski.
The character of Tommy was based on blues guitarist and singer Tommy Johnson, about whom people said he got his talent by selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Over time, the legend transferred to Robert Johnson, probably because Robert was more famous than Tommy, and because Robert wrote and recorded the song Cross Road Blues.
The shot where Everett, Pete, and Delmar peer out at the marching Klansmen is a reference to the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion peer out at the witch's guards marching outside her castle.
When the crowd turned against Homer Stokes, they literally ran him out of town on a rail.
Jimmie Davis used You Are My Sunshine as his campaign song when he ran for governor of Louisiana in 1944. It's an odd choice for a campaign song because, while the music sounds cheerful, the lyrics are quite sad.
An important verse was left out of The Big Rock Candy Mountains.
It's a warning to young boys who rode the rails during the great depression.
The soundtrack was a blockbuster hit after the movie came out in 2000.
"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is the name of the movie that Joel McCrea's character wanted to make in 1941's Sullivan's Travels.
yes, i bring this up all the time. people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others.
he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
You ever heard of someone being run out of town on a rail. Well now you just witnessed it.
The blind guy?
@@AwesomeUSMovies No, the guy running for governor.
Its in the same vein as Tar and Feathering... one of those odd things from the past that dont make much sense now days, but did to many at one point in time.
I absolutely love this movie! I bought both the movie and the soundtrack as soon as they came out. As the story goes, one of the Coen brothers saw a Bluegrass band while visiting the South, and then started talking with his brother about making a movie centered around the Bluegrass and Ol' Timey music. I don't know the inspiration for basing it on The Odyssey in 1933, but it was brilliant!
that first song, (the chain gang one). is an actual recording from 1959, recorded at the Mississippi State Penitentiary by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. its prisoner James Carter leading other prisoners from Camp B. dont know when he was eventually released, but i did read that after this movie came out, some 40 years later. he was paid $20,000 for his contributions to this soundtrack.
Homer Stokes was "ridden out of town on a rail".
You may also recognize George Clooney from the TV show "ER". John Goodman played the father in "Rosanne"
Another great fun reaction from one who always has fun, reacting. It's a joy watching you 🖖🏾👍🏾👊🏾
Thank you so much 🤗
"Is this how they did it back then?" (re: the prisoners and the movie theater.) That scene is a direct reference to the wonderful movie Sullivan's Travels, which was already mentioned by @EricAKATheBelgianGuy.
(Also, when I was young, being banished from Woolworth's would have been a real inconvenience. 🙂)
Also homage to The Wizard of Oz at the KKK rally...
I bet it would epecially if it's the only store.
@@AwesomeUSMovies Five and dimes were ubiquitous in the US up to the 60s...Woolworth, McCrory's, W.T. Grant, Kresge, Ben Franklin and more. The first big box stores were Woolco (Woolworth corp.) and K-Mart (Kress corp.)....
The Oracle (Prophet) said they would see a cow on top of a cotton house. After it was flooded, they saw the cow on top of the cotton house. This showed that God had his hand on them the whole time. Every time they prayed, they were delivered.
I bought the amazing soundtrack for this film when it came out on CD, back in the day; one nifty thing the publishers did was to print the CD so that it looked like an old-timey 78 RPM record.
Everett didn't like "Fop" brand hair gel because proceeds from the sale benefited the Fraternal Order of Police, hence the name FOP. He preferred "Dapper Dan" brand, as it symbolized a rebel-type character.
That's crazy, is that a real thing? Love the background
They were “running him out of town on a rail”…..something they really did back in the day….
It is amazing how much this movie ties in with Homer's The Odyssey.
George "Baby face" Nelson was a bank robber before becoming a partner to gangster John Dillinger. He was killed by the FBI at age 25, in 1934. Tommy Johnson, the guitar-playing hitchhiker, was supposed to be Robert Johnson, the blues musician. He wrote songs about selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads. The actual intersection is hwys 61 & 49 in Mississippi & is marked with guitars. You can look it up on Google. He died in 1938 at age 27 of unknown causes. The 3 singing women are Sirens, beautiful women of the sea, who lure men to their death with their song. The old man on the handcar predicted everything of the story, including the cow on the house. A very entertaining movie. Great sound track!
I've been waiting for you to get to this movie. Thanks for the reaction... This is Homer's Odyssey told with a Christian worldview. The three women at the river represent the sirens, big. Dan is the cyclops and our hero is desperately trying to get back to his wife before she moves on
George Clooney did not sing, it was Dan Tyminski who actually sang the song
When Stokes admitted to being part of the KKK, they "ran him out of town on a rail"... Then tarred and feathered him
The movie and it soundtrack is credited for revitalizing the country's interest in bluegrass music and resulted in millions of sales
Stokes was run out of town on a rail, but he wasn't necessarily tarred and feathered-it would be just if he was, don't get me wrong-but he could have been just paraded through the town and thrown out.
I'm amazed how many people don't understand being thrown out of town on a rail.
Is that not something people say anymore?
@@vincegamer I was also amazed by that too. I wonder if it's not so much the phrase being antiqued but rather actually seeing it be done-it is an odd and rare sight to be seen, for sure.
I'm in my 20's and I know it fairly well, but then again my family were big history nerds, so I may have been spoiled.
the tommy johnson story is real, in that tommy johnson actually believed he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in order to acheive musical success
My favorite Coen Brothers movie. The single, Man of Constant Sorrow got a lot of airplay after the movie was released. The soundtrack was very popular, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. It surprised a lot of people when an album full of old-timey music beat out India Arie, OutKast, Bob Dylan and U2 to win the award.
I bet
My favorite line of the movie is, "Of course it's Pete. LOOK at him" lol
You know someone doesnt watch movies when 😅
"George Clooney, he sounds familiar... John Goodman, he sounds familiar...."
I SHOULD FKN HOPE SO 🤣
I'm working on it... Lots of movies to watch
George Clooney famously did not do his own singing in this movie, despite singing being a talent that runs in his family...his Aunt was the great Rosemary Clooney. The lead singing for the Soggy Bottom Boys for Man of Constant Sorrow was done by Dan Tymanski...the other two parts were sung by Harley Allen and Pat Enright. Tim Blake Nelson actually did sing the lead part for In the Jailhouse Now.
Good info thanks
@@AwesomeUSMovies Great reaction...thanks as always for sharing your perspective...and your infectious giggles. LOL
Me and my dad loved this movie, i still remember him playing man of constant sorrows during roadtrips, i miss him
Yup, I'm with you. I've lost two dads... It hurts, I'm right there with you.
IL Quad Cities here. Towards the end of the movie. Stokes was literally "run out on a rail". FWIW. Really enjoy your reactions. 👍
I've never heard of that expression before. Weird
I love how there's always a mishap with a gun in almost every Coen Brothers film (the police van going off from inside is an example of that classic Coen trope).
The George Nelson featured in this movie is quite different from the historical bank robber. The real George Nelson (born Lester Gillis, a name he apparently quite disliked) was not a loner, but worked with a gang. He was called Baby Face (which he really did hate far more than his birth name) because he was small and lightly built, and still looked like he was about fourteen years old even well into adulthood. Apparently it was the prostitutes he frequented who first saddled him with that nickname, despite, or because of, the fact that he demanded they address him as Big George. The actor Michael Badalucco was in his mid-forties when he played the character here, and is last seen under arrest and being led off to be executed in the electric chair. The real Nelson died in a bloody shootout with police at age 26. Oh, and when his death was reported, every newspaper headline simply called him Baby Face or Babyface.
Greek mythology runs through this movie. I love the soundtrack I bought the cassette tape when it came out. Yeah I am cassette tape years old😂😂😂
A cassette?? This came out in 2000, so yeah 23 years ago.. dang
Fun reaction! I think you caught a lot more details in your first watch than I did! This is one of my and my husband's favorite movies to watch and quote. "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity!" "My hair" "they done loved him up and turned him into a horney toad!"
And the music is so fun, for sure look up the soundtrack :)
Our favorite quote I liked to use is "2 weeks from everywhere!." Me and my Dad loved this movie for yrs. and yrs. ...
That's awesome!
My grandfather was a radio pioneer in the 30s-40s. Promoted Country-Western music and baby chickens thru the mail ;-)
Baby chicken through the mail? That's funny.
@@AwesomeUSMovies Depression era economics, you couldn't afford to buy eggs or chicken, had to raise your own. Another grandfather ate so much bush chicken he couldn't stand the sight of it.
I love how the guy at the radio station depicts a blind guy. He's looking at nothing with such intensity.
Not witches, sirens.
They were yummy
Hilarious movie huh! Shows how things were done back in those times. The song that was playing at the beginning was The Big Rock Candy Mountain. My two favorite lines are when they are first questioning George's right to lead "I thought it should be the one with the capability of abstract thought!" LOL The second was George was trying to buy Dapper Dan and couldn't, and he says "Isn't that a geological oddity-2 weeks from everywhere! : LOL Too funny!
Yes!!!!!! My favorite comedy of all time. Let's go JAMES!
Trivia:
1. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a re-telling of The Odyssey by Homer. The Coen brothers, writers and directors (Joel and Ethan), admitted they never read the book, but it was so popular they knew a lot of the story anyway.
2. Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2000: Best Adapted Screenplay for Joel and Ethan Coen, and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins). It didn't win in either category.
3. Tim Blake Nelson (Delmar) did his own singing on "In the Jailhouse Now." George Clooney (Everett) tried to do his own singing for "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," and took lessons, but decided somebody else was better for it. So, his singing voice is dubbed by Dan Tyminski.
4. Country singers Gillian Welch (hard "G," like Gilbert), Alison Krauss, and Emmylou Harris provided the singing voices of the Sirens.
5. Gillian Welch cameos as the woman with the glasses asking about the Soggy Bottom Boys record; she and Alison Krauss did a version of the song "I'll Fly Away" for the soundtrack. Dan Tyminski cameos as a mandolin player.
6. Speaking of the soundtrack, it ended up being a major success, and even won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year! I can't remember any other movie soundtrack doing so (somebody help me if I forgot any that did).
7. George Clooney sent the script to his uncle in Kentucky to help him prepare for the character. His uncle, a deeply religious man, gave Clooney a tape recording of him reading the lines, but with most of the cursing cut out of it. Clooney didn't become aware of it until filming started.
8. The title "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a reference to a movie-within-a-movie of another film, Sullivan's Travels from 1941.
9. Milford Fortenberry, the pomade salesman ("Be about two weeks...") was not a professional actor. He was a cattle farmer originally from Mississippi, based in Florida. This was his second and last major film credit. From what I understand, he passed away earlier this year.
10. The film editing is credited to Roderick Jaynes, who is not a real person. The Coen brothers not only write, direct, and produce their movies, but they also edit most of them; still, they don't like the idea of having their name featured in the credits so many times, so they invented the name "Roderick Jaynes" as a pseudonym.
I can recommend Sullivan’s Travels, although it’s 80+ years old it’s a great comedy. The scene in “Oh Brother” where the jailbirds come to watch the movie is a copy of a very similar scene in “Sullivan’s Travels”.
It also stars Veronica Lake, who makes me feel funny inside!
9:56 "Tommy Johnson" is supposed to Robert Johnson who was an American blues musician and songwriter from 1929 - 1938.
According to legend, as a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, Johnson had a tremendous desire to become a great blues musician. One of the legends often told says that Johnson was instructed to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. (There are claims for other sites as the location of the crossroads.) There he was met by a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The Devil played a few songs and then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him mastery of the instrument. This story of a deal with the Devil at the crossroads mirrors the legend of Faust. In exchange for his soul, Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.
At the end of the movie, when they sat Stokes on the pole and took him out, that's what's meant when peple say, "run out (of town) on a rail."
One of my faves! I rewatch this every year or so just to enjoy the good music and zany characters! Great reaction!
Thank you for watching
The Ganges River is holy and sacred too.
I love it when Clooney gets silly.
The main cast:
George Clooney - Everett
John Turturro - Pete
Tim Blake Nelson - Delmar
Holly Hunter - Penny
John Goodman - Big Dan
Charles Durning - Pappy O'Daniel (the governor)
Chris Thomas King - Tommy Johnson
Michael Badalucco - Baby Face Nelson
Stephen Root - Mr. Lund (the blind radio station manager; he was Milton in Office Space)
Daniel von Bargen - Sheriff Cooley
Wayne Duvall - Homer Stokes
Ray McKinnon - Vernon
YES! this got me into bluegrass music even more sice my dad used to listen to bluegrass music every saturday on the way to the grocery store
That's awesome!
This is a bona fide film.
Love those little girls, too funny
the big guy with the eye patch "Cyclops" is John Goodman. im surprised he didnt pick up on the Homer's Odyssey retelling
James …this is my favorite film..up there tied with Gump & LOTR :)
Always enjoy your reactions buddy ✌️
So glad you're enjoying the channel
The country acapella group Home Free has a great cover of Man of Constant Sorrow, btw.
At one time they used to ride someone out on a rail for punishment and usually tar and feather them.
that would be very very painful
This movie is absolutely amazing, great sound track, halarious where needed, based on the odyssey, over all I love this film
30:15 This is the proverbial "run out of town on a rail". Homer Stokes has so upset the people that they are literally running him out of town on a railroad tie/fencepost.
I've never heard of that saying before. Must be a southern thing
Maybe so, for reference: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_a_rail
Homer Stokes was "ridden out on a rail". As far as i can tell, it was a way to remove someone through a crowd. The board was a fence rail.
Never heard or read that term before. Must be a southern thing
and i love this song i am a man of constant sorrow
Love the Coen Bros., Fargo was awesome as well as Burn After Reading.
Thank you for another wonderful reaction and review.
I have a soft spot for this film since not only was it set in my home state of Mississippi but that it was also filmed here. (Plus, it reminds me of some old family stories I used to hear about.)
Thanks for sharing!
This is a retelling of the Odyssey, with the voyage home from the war (prison) by Ulysses Everett McGill and his crew, via many tribulations - including Sirens, a Cyclopian Giant and suitors for his 'widow' Penelope.
So so so many quotable lines with this movie. Me and my friends use them all the time. Just the other day, my non-American in-laws mentioned a cousin getting a new boyfriend and I asked "Is he bonafide?" before I could stop myself. They didn't know at all what I meant, but I laughed and laughed.
I am sure this has been said in the comments already, but this is a loose retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey. The epic tale of Ulysses adventure. The women by the river were the sirens. The man on the railway car was the oracle. John Goodman’s character was the cyclops. There are so many great parallels!
Reading it now
There is a really awesome cover of Man of Constant Sorrow by the acapella group Home Free, I highly recommend giving the official TH-cam video of it a watch (would make a good little reaction too)
I gave it a listen, pretty good but I think I prefer the orig.
Not surprised it sounds familiar. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues by Skip James is a great song by a legendary blues man.
There used to be a Punishment called “riding the rail” or being “run out of town on a rail “,where the offender was paraded around town,or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.
That's crazy, I've never heard of it.
There’s not a lot of people reacting to this so this is fantastic. Long time watcher and subscriber
Thank you so much for your continued support. There's 7-day free trial on my patreon right now. You might want to go check it out!
LOL - "I recognized George Clooney from Friends". You crack me up James. Mr. Clooney was only on 1 or 2 episodes of Friends as a guest star while he was doing the smash hit TV show "ER". Same network so NBC/Universal asked him and Noah Wyle to do a couple guest cameos of doctors in a hospital scene to get added viewers to the new Friends show. Turns out, Friends, didn't need help becoming a smash hit TV show themselves. Mr. Clooney left ER after 5 seasons and became one of the most recognizable men in the world with his movie career.
Oh.. good to know. Thanks good info
I’m so excited to see you react to this one. I know you’re gona love it!!! It’s awesome!
Happy to hear it
people don't realize the title "o brother where art thou" is taken from the 1941 classic preston sturges comedy/drama film "sullivan's travels" starring joel mcrea and veronica lake. mcrea plays a famous director who's tired of making comedies and wants to make a serious, socially conscience film titled, you guessed it, "o brother where art thou." "sullivan's travels" is one of the best films ever made. ITS A MUST WATCH for any true movie lover.
the black guy with the guitasr is based upon the blues legend, robert johnson. myth has it he sold his soul to the devil to acquire his great guitar skills. he wrote the blues classics "crossroads," "love in vain," "ramblin' on my mind" and many others.
he died at 27 of unknowen causes starting the infamous "27 club" which includes several rock and rollers like hendrix and janis joplin who also died at age 27.
If all water is holy, then why are we buying bottles of water for more than a dollar??
28:44 "In The Jailhouse Now" recorded originally by Jimmie Rodgers on February 15, 1928 who also died on May 26, 1933 after having Tuberculosis diagnosed at age 27, he wrote a song about it called "T.B. Blues" which was released on Victor Records catalog number 23535 on April 5, 1931
When George Clooney appears to be singing, it's really Dan Tyminski, who most commonly plays with Allison Krauss and Union Station. In this brief interview, he points out when he described his voice coming out of George's mouth. It's worth hearing.
th-cam.com/video/lHx0djsA3oU/w-d-xo.html
It's a genuine pleasure to see you enjoy this movie with such open mirth, James! The Coen Bros hit it outta the park with this one. A few stretches of credulity, but that's what movies are all about! Remember James, this movie is based on Homer's Odyssey, so you'll see some references to that ancient work. The girls in the river are the Sirens luring Odysseus' ship onto the rocks. More parallels in comments below. When the crowd put the governor candidate on the long log, it was called "running him out of town on a rail."
So glad you enjoyed
The Odyssey plus homage to The Wizard of Oz and Sullivan's Travels (origin of the title, if nobody's told you yet)...two great movies from either side of 1940 and both ranked in the AFI top 100 of all time.
This movie is the Coen brothers at their finest great writing cast and directing a great movie all round loved it
A cow, on top of a caught'en house, the house where they were caught--not a cotton house. And oh, how much Dapper Dan did that guy have that we saw so many tins in the flood water? Others already described that this is a very modern, very loose adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. I still think that if the water hadn't rescued them in the end, they should have at least said that because they were pardoned, killing them would be murder, not justice. Feel free to handcuff them until they have enough opportunity to have that pardoning confirmed.
(30:16) They're riding him out of town on a rail.
Never heard of that expression before
The soundtrack is amazing! My husband and I love it
It's so good!
This movie was based on the odyssey an epic poem by Homer; who's also known for The Iliad
Reading that book now
One of my fave movies, love the soundtrack and characters and that it’s sort of a version of the Odyssey by Homer.
James is like the coolest dude from Nebraska distilled into one being
Based on homers oddesey. The 3 women were the sirens that lured men into the sea. They ran the kill radar out of town on a rail. Bible salesman was John Goodman.
Reading it now
Ralph Stanley wrote the song back in the 60s.
30:15 this is an old practice, contemporary with the practice of covering an offender with tar and feathers, called 'riding him out on a rail.' Essentially, they incapacitated him on the log, or rail, and ran him to the town limits, to deposit him ignominiously outside. Whether anything else unpleasant happened after that, no one may know...
Egad! This is like watching an attention deficit child, or maybe a dog or something (Squirrel !!), trying to watch a movie. Watching and reacting to all the inconsequential stuff while missing that's really going on. My mother was the same way, and she wondered why I would never watch a movie with her.
11:50 Robert Johnson was a real Blues guitar player and singer. There were rumors that he sold his soul to the Devil for musical talent and fame 🙂 A cross roads at midnight is where he or a rep. can be summoned for deals.
Very interesting thanks
@@AwesomeUSMovies Tommy Johnson was a real-life Mississippi guitar player & singer too. His 1928 song "Canned Heat" was a description of his addiction to methanol and his consumption of it via the canned cooking fuel Sterno. Like all Delta Blues players at the time there has always been speculation that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads. As a half-century devotee of 1920s & 1930s blues & country music, in The Battle Of The Mississippi Johnsons, I prefer Tommy over Robert.
"If canned heat don't kill me, I'll never die"
This film is a rough retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Ulysses (The Iliad) set in the 1930s deep South.
It includes the meeting with the myth's purportedly blind writer Homer, the conflict with the Cyclops (John Goodman with the one good eye), the encounter with the Sirens, and Ulysses's dealings with his wife's suitors (Everette Ulysses only had the one to deal with), among other facets of the original myth including the involvement and favor of the king (in this story, the governor).
George Clooney was born and raised in a small town in Kentucky and had an uncle read Clooney's lines into a tape recorder, to reacquaint him with the authentic accent. The dance he does on stage is copied from dancing he used to see back in his younger days. Clooney's singing however is lip-synced from a member of Allison Krause's band (she sings "Down to the River to Pray" played during the baptism scene and is available on TH-cam).
The soundtrack won at least 4 major awards, including 2 Grammies.
Lots of comments about this so I'm reading that book now
🎶"IIIIIII am a man..."🎶 😲
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See ya, brother!🤘😎
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10:55 You should watch a rare movie called, Crossroads. It has the Karate kid playing the guitar and studying that story about those ol' blues players... And features guitar legend Steve Vai.😮
Added to my list, thanks for the suggestion.
This film is set in the early '30's, during the Great Depression.
I was late to this movie myself & boy I absolutely loved it once I watched it. Another great review James can’t wait for vacation this Friday.
Great to hear, comes out on Patreon on Wed.
So as many have already informed you in these comments, this movie is a modern interpretation of
Homer’s ancient Greek tale,
“The Odyssey”
Another phenomenal film that takes an ancient greek story (this one a true story) and places it in a contemporary setting.
“The Warriors” (1979)
This movie is an alltime cult classic!
It’s based on the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon's autobiographical account, “Anabasis”.
I’d advise not looking further into this movie or the true ancient greek story it modeled its plot after.
So as to not spoil it.
“The Warriors”
is definitely one hell of an awesome US movie!
This film is based on Homer's Odyssey
this film is based on “The Oddesey “ by Homer.
the ladies were like the sirens and John Goodman’s character us like the Cyclops
Lots of comments about this, so I'm reading the book now
30:15 That is what is known as being ridden out on a rail, or being run out of town on a rail; basically, to be banished from town.
Being run out of town on a rail was a form of mob justice used from at least the 1700's into the 1900's. It was supposed to be used to publicly banish persons who the community (by mob rule) agreed were unfit to be in their community anymore. Persons could be simply taken out of town and left with strict instructions not to return, ever again. While some could be paraded through the streets before being banished. And, yes, depending on the area, the mob, and the suspected offense, some were dipped in tar then feathered.
It's mention in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when the two con men, Duke and King, were ridden out astride a fence rail.