I first saw Millers Crossing when I was 12 or 13, so watching it a decade later was like having a dream come back to me after years of faint recollections. Of course it had the recognizable faces I see in so many Coen films: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, and in maybe his best Coen role, Jon Polito.
I found violence to be one of the most varied elements when discussing how the filmmakers adapted the Glass Key. Most of the punching was very similar to a 40’s film. But there were minor deviations, such as when Tommy rejects Johnny Caspar’s first proposition. Caspar leaves him in there with the Muscle Henchman, who takes his time getting ready before he beats Tommy (Note how the camera in the scene is on the floor, very similar to many scenes in Citizen Kane, it makes the Henchman nearly double in size as he walks towards Tommy) Right when you expect to see a harsh beating, Tommy hits him with the chair and we see a seemingly one dimensional character suddenly become hurt both physically and emotionally, he stumbles out of the room, and it’s the smaller guy who comes back to punish Tommy. To me, that’s recuperation of myth as myth. We all mentally stopped when the big guy couldn’t handle the violence, and then everything managed to start right up again.
Gun violence is completely different, especially in the scenes where Leo evades assassination and manages to kill everyone involved in the attack. He marches down the street like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a tommygun and a beautiful scowl. I find this to be more than Nostalgia or Burlesque, it is an exaggerated stylized display of gangster perfection. Likewise the chaotic police raids were a throwback to the inept authority you see in Fritz Lang’s M, and visually like Seibei’s and Ushitora’s men in Yojimbo right after Sanjuro decides not to partake in the first showdown. In both, warriors run around without purpose, utterly ridiculous.
I noticed early on that Leo and Johnny, when they are behind their desks, will often sit with their body facing to the side (often with shoes up on the table). Such behavior is a subtle form of disrespect. Leo first does it to Johnny, and both Leo and Johnny do it to the mayor and the police chief. The only person they completely face is Tom.
Such action is a wonderful detail that Tom really has earned respect from both sides. (When the Dane has found out that Bernie is still alive, Johnny does not face Tom. With that body language, one could see that there was an important obstacle in their relationship, which eventually led to Johnny favoring Tom and killing the Dane
Buscemi and Turturro in a way are members of the same sort of element. They are “The Little Guy That You Can’t Trust.†Peter Lorre practically made this character a facet of
Hollywood gangster films. Buscemi seems to be playing TLGTYCT for burlesque purposes. The motormouthed bug eyed exaggeration is very humorous, but still manages to fit within the film. Turturro is more of a threat to Tom, though he may be funny at times, he definitely is not just there for comedic value.
There’s a lot to be said about Miller’s Crossing, so I hope to write a few more blogs in the next week, especially one about ethnicity being a much more overt theme in the film than in The Glass Key.