The Coen Brothers accept i of the most diverse filmographies of any filmmakers and O Brother, Where Fine art Thou? is some other crowning jewel in their vivid body of piece of work. The movie stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of escaped convicts searching for a hidden treasure across Depression Era Mississippi.

The film is a hilarious and unique adventure that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy merely the Coen Brothers could conceive of. And like most of their films, O Brother Where Fine art Chiliad? is filled with hidden details.

10 Opening Quote

The film forgoes the typical narration y'all might commonly detect in a Coen Brothers motion-picture show but does showtime with a quote that reads, "O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in the means of contending, a wanderer, harried for years on end …"

The quote is the opening line from Homer's Odyssey, the story of a warrior'south long journeying home. The Coen Brothers based this motion picture on the storyline of that epic tale. Though, in typical Coen Brothers manner, they admitted that neither of them has actually read the epic verse form and just know information technology through popular culture.

9 The Championship

While Homer's Odyssey served equally the basis for the overall story structure of the film, the title was taken from another source. The 1941 film Sullivan's Travels follows a manager who wants to brand a movie that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live like the less-fortunate to gain experience. The name of the film he aspires to make is chosen "O Brother, Where Fine art Thou?"

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

8 Chain Gang Chant

The film is filled with all kinds of bright music from different eras of America, which helps bring the pic to life. The first song nosotros 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 concatenation gang singing the song, "Po Lazarus" in 1959. Even more remarkably, the Coen Brothers were able to runway downward one member of the concatenation gang and paid him $20,000 for apply of the song in the motion-picture show.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might be having a little fun by maxim the motion-picture show is based on Homer'southward Odyssey, they practise include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the ballsy poem well will also probable see some characters they recognize.

Ulysses Everett McGill evidently stands in for Odysseus, the hero who attempts to render to his married woman who is being pursued by a suitor. Other characters include Pappy O'Daniel who fills in for Zeus, the one-eyes Big Dan Teague who represents the cyclops, and the 3 singing girls who lure the heroes, representing the Sirens.

six Singing Voices

O Blood brother Where Art Thou? has the rare stardom of having a soundtrack that has actually become more successful than the picture itself. And the nearly famous song from this soundtrack is "Human of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the motion-picture show by the three lead characters.

Clooney was given the chance to sing the lead vocals on the vocal and took lessons to amend his singing vox. In the end, he admits he was not the homo for the chore and was dubbed. Withal, Tim Blake Nelson does really provide vocals for his song, "In the Jailhouse Now".

v Babe Confront Nelson

One of the colorful characters that the trio of heroes see is George Nelson, a deranged banking concern robber who is depressed at not being taken seriously and having the nickname Baby Face Nelson.

Babe Face Nelson was indeed a bank robber from this era who is responsible for a number of daring crimes. Even so, Nelson was killed in 1935, two years earlier the events of this moving picture. Also, he was killed in a shootout with police rather than executed while in custody, equally is said in the motion-picture show.

4 Cows

Though a fairly elementary story, the movie was praised for its employ of visual effects and CGI. While not overly used in the moving picture, the few cases are incorporated convincingly into the overall scene. In ane instance, it might have been too convincing.

The scenes in which a cop car hits a moo-cow looked and so disarming that the American Humane Clan demanded proof that no real animal was harmed. This also led to a new disclaimer being added to the film that read, "Scenes which may appear to place an animal in jeopardy were imitation."

iii Tommy Johnson

Some other memorable character that the trio of escaped convicts meets up with is Tommy Johnson, played by Chris Thomas King. When the heroes encounter Tommy, he is continuing at a crossroads where he says he met the devil and traded his soul for the ability to play the guitar.

Apparently, there is some truth to the character or at least some existent-life inspiration. There was a famed blues musician named Tommy Johnson who sold his soul to the devil to play the blues, according to folk fable.

two Klan Rally

One of the most memorable scenes in the moving picture finds the three heroes sneaking into a Ku Klux Klan rally to salvage their new friend Tommy. The sequence is an elaborate i with a behemothic burning cross and hundreds of costumed extras.

The scene also 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 dress as Klan members and perform the scene were largely African-American.

1 The Motel

At the end of the movie, the three companions finally reach Everett's motel, which is tucked away in the woods. Some horror fans might have recognized the cabin from an iconic motion picture of the genre.

The Coens modeled the cabin on the ane featured prominently in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. This is not but 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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About The Author

Colin McCormick (1976 Manufactures Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In addition 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 time he saw The King of beasts King in theaters. Forth with movies, Colin stays up-to-date on the latest must-see TV shows. While he loves to detect interesting projects in whatever kind of genre, he has a special movie of criminal offence stories that are infused with a piffling dark sense of humor much like the work of his favorite writer, Elmore Leonard.

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