The Coen brothers’ films – ranked!
The Coen brothers’ films – ranked!
With the 20th anniversary re-release of The Big Lebowski, we rank the duo’s films (directing only), from their 1984 debut Blood Simple to this year’s The Ballad of Buster Spruggs
Peter BradshawFri 7 Sep 2018 01.00 EDT
With the 20th anniversary re-release of The Big Lebowski, we rank the duo’s films (directing only), from their 1984 debut Blood Simple to this year’s The Ballad of Buster Spruggs
18. The Ladykillers (2004)
What on earth was this about? A remake of the Ealing crime-caper classic (with Tom Hanks in Alec Guinness’s crackpot mastermind role) at least proves, if proof were needed, that the Coens have excellent cinephile taste. But this was pointless and baffling. A case of No Coen Do.
17. Burn After Reading (2008)
What a dog’s brunch of a film: a strained and unfunny black comic gang-show of big names, with one or two good gags and an admittedly intriguing turn from Brad Pitt as a dopey fitness freak.
16. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
This period Capraesque comedy about an ordinary guy – a rather uncharismatic Tim Robbins – who is elevated to corporate greatness as part of a share-price scam is an example of how the Coens’ comedy can sometimes lack focus: too quirky and spongy.
15. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The Coens’ love of Preston Sturges resurfaced in this film that whimsically takes upon itself the title of the desperately serious social-realist movie being planned in Sturges’ 1941 Sullivan’s Travels. It is an appealing, likable film about three runaway chaingang convicts in depression America who pass themselves off as a bluegrass trio, their record somehow becoming a hit. Silly, amiable stuff that has faded with time.
14. Hail, Caesar! (2016)
More golden age Hollywood nostalgia with this cantering comedy about tinseltown: the boozers, the fixers, the divas, the hoofers, the scribblers. It features George Clooney as a none-too-bright ageing star in a cheesy toga-wearing Roman epic. The movie reminded the world what a great dancer Channing Tatum is.
13. True Grit (2010)
Unprecedented commercial success was what the Coens found with this handsome remake of the 1969 John Wayne classic; or rather a new adaptation of the original novel by Charles Portis. Jeff Bridges was probably the only possible casting as the no-account “Rooster” Cogburn, with Hailee Steinfeld as his employer, the 14-year-old Mattie Ross. It is a good-natured, well-made movie, but perhaps without the strong taste of the original, or the Coens’ other films.
True Grit. Photograph: HO/Reuters
12. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Here is the biggest “underrating” issue in contemporary Coenological studies. On release, most critics seemed to decide that this screwball divorce comedy with Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney was no good. I disagree. The smoothie lawyer Miles Massey was a part Clooney was born to play, and Zeta-Jones’s cat-that-has-every-intention-of-getting-the-cream predator is tremendous.
11. Raising Arizona (1987)
Some Coenoisseurs regard this early comedy as one of the top three; maybe even the gold medal. For me, it doesn’t stand up that well, but it is an utterly distinctive film with twang and snap, a realist-fantasy action comedy drama with weird subplots and extraneous minor characters. Holly Hunter is the cop who falls in love with Nicolas Cage’s criminal; on discovering they can’t have kids, they get involved in the most wackily innocent child abduction imaginable.
10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Coens have created a gem with their latest film, a western portmanteau of tales from a comically picturesque old west, conceived with humour, warmth and visual flair. Some stories are better than others, but the best are superb, and Tim Blake Nelson has what must be the greatest role of his career as Buster Scruggs, the singin’, gunslingin’ cowpoke.
The Coen brothers’ films – ranked!
With the 20th anniversary re-release of The Big Lebowski, we rank the duo’s films (directing only), from their 1984 debut Blood Simple to this year’s The Ballad of Buster Spruggs
Peter BradshawFri 7 Sep 2018 01.00 EDT
With the 20th anniversary re-release of The Big Lebowski, we rank the duo’s films (directing only), from their 1984 debut Blood Simple to this year’s The Ballad of Buster Spruggs
18. The Ladykillers (2004)
What on earth was this about? A remake of the Ealing crime-caper classic (with Tom Hanks in Alec Guinness’s crackpot mastermind role) at least proves, if proof were needed, that the Coens have excellent cinephile taste. But this was pointless and baffling. A case of No Coen Do.
17. Burn After Reading (2008)
What a dog’s brunch of a film: a strained and unfunny black comic gang-show of big names, with one or two good gags and an admittedly intriguing turn from Brad Pitt as a dopey fitness freak.
16. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
This period Capraesque comedy about an ordinary guy – a rather uncharismatic Tim Robbins – who is elevated to corporate greatness as part of a share-price scam is an example of how the Coens’ comedy can sometimes lack focus: too quirky and spongy.
15. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The Coens’ love of Preston Sturges resurfaced in this film that whimsically takes upon itself the title of the desperately serious social-realist movie being planned in Sturges’ 1941 Sullivan’s Travels. It is an appealing, likable film about three runaway chaingang convicts in depression America who pass themselves off as a bluegrass trio, their record somehow becoming a hit. Silly, amiable stuff that has faded with time.
14. Hail, Caesar! (2016)
More golden age Hollywood nostalgia with this cantering comedy about tinseltown: the boozers, the fixers, the divas, the hoofers, the scribblers. It features George Clooney as a none-too-bright ageing star in a cheesy toga-wearing Roman epic. The movie reminded the world what a great dancer Channing Tatum is.
13. True Grit (2010)
Unprecedented commercial success was what the Coens found with this handsome remake of the 1969 John Wayne classic; or rather a new adaptation of the original novel by Charles Portis. Jeff Bridges was probably the only possible casting as the no-account “Rooster” Cogburn, with Hailee Steinfeld as his employer, the 14-year-old Mattie Ross. It is a good-natured, well-made movie, but perhaps without the strong taste of the original, or the Coens’ other films.
True Grit. Photograph: HO/Reuters
12. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Here is the biggest “underrating” issue in contemporary Coenological studies. On release, most critics seemed to decide that this screwball divorce comedy with Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney was no good. I disagree. The smoothie lawyer Miles Massey was a part Clooney was born to play, and Zeta-Jones’s cat-that-has-every-intention-of-getting-the-cream predator is tremendous.
11. Raising Arizona (1987)
Some Coenoisseurs regard this early comedy as one of the top three; maybe even the gold medal. For me, it doesn’t stand up that well, but it is an utterly distinctive film with twang and snap, a realist-fantasy action comedy drama with weird subplots and extraneous minor characters. Holly Hunter is the cop who falls in love with Nicolas Cage’s criminal; on discovering they can’t have kids, they get involved in the most wackily innocent child abduction imaginable.
10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Coens have created a gem with their latest film, a western portmanteau of tales from a comically picturesque old west, conceived with humour, warmth and visual flair. Some stories are better than others, but the best are superb, and Tim Blake Nelson has what must be the greatest role of his career as Buster Scruggs, the singin’, gunslingin’ cowpoke.
, i agree with pretty much the list.
