The Directors: The Coen Brothers Quiz

Answer: Frances McDormand

Frances McDormand has been a part of Joel Coen's film career nearly as much as his brother Ethan. She had lead roles in "Fargo" (1996), "Blood Simple"(1984), "The Man Who Wasn't There"(2001) and "Burn After Reading"(2008) and supporting roles in "Miller's Crossing"(1990), "Raising Arizona"(1987) and "Barton Fink"(1990).

McDormand has had a career that goes beyond the Coens. "Mississippi Burning" (1988), "Almost Famous" (2000), and "North Country" (2005), earned her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominations. Add to these many awards and nominations from various film societies, Tonys for Broadway work, Emmys for television, one might be led to believe that the trophy case in the Coen home has become quite crowded.

Answer: Michael Lerner

Michael Lerner played Jack Lipnick, a composite of film producers, such as Harry Cohn, Louis B. Mayer, and Jack L. Warner. Like Mayer, Lipnick is from Minsk. During World War Two Warner dressed in uniform as does Lipnick. Warner referred to writers as "schmucks with Underwoods", the brand of typewriter that Fink used.

Other actors who portrayed images of writers who came to Hollywood were John Mahoney (William Faulkner) and Clifford Odets may be the inspiration for Barton Fink.

Barton Fink,(John Turturro) a successful Broadway playwright, was lured to Hollywood by the promise of high salary for writing screenplays. His first assignment was to write a 'wrestling' picture for Wallace Beery. He has checked into the Hotel Earle, a dark, drab, and colorless accommodation. Lacking motivation, he succumbed to a writer's block, augmented by a noisy neighbor. He confronted Charlie (John Goodman) but instead found him to be friendly. Later, he learned that Charlie is really Karl Mundt, a notorious serial killer and that the hotel itself is an edifice of evil. A prostitute, sent by the studio, was found dead in his room and Charlie helped him to dispose of the body but he was arrested anyway and handcuffed to the bed. Charlie rescues him as the hotel is engulfed in flames. In the last scene Fink is on the beach as sees a woman shielding her eyes from the sun, a replica of a picture at the hotel.

The number of symbols in the film have been a challenge for reviewers but the Coen Brothers admit the presence of the symbols but deny any cohesive philosophical intent.

"Barton Fink" has several scenes of horror; it reflects an era when skilled writers came to Hollywood (F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner)and were asked to write formula scripts; and the setting is pre-World War Two.

John Goodman's name in the picture was Karl Mundt. Karl Mundt was a United States Senator from South Dakota who chaired the Senate investigations of the Army-McCarthy Hearings. I pumped gas into his car while in college.


Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Answer: David Huddleston

David Huddleston is a well known character actor with such film credits as "Brian's Song"(1971), "Blazing Saddles"(1974), "The Producers"(2005) as well a prolific list of television appearances.

Jeff Bridges played Jeffrey Lebowski, generally referred to as "The Dude" a pothead, slacker, and bowler. The gist of the plot is that he is mistaken for
the "Big" Lebowski, a wheelchair bound veteran who puts on a big front but actually works for his mother. Thugs enter the Dude's apartment, waterboard him in the toilet and demand he pay for his wife's debts. They also urinate on his favorite rug. When they realize they have the wrong Lebowski, they leave. The Dude looks up the big Lebowski and demands that he pay for a replacement rug and is met by a stern rejection.

Later, the big Lebowski contacts the Dude and asks him to be courier for a million dollars to foster the release of his trophy wife from kidnappers for a fee of 20,000 dollars. However, Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), Dude's best friend, gives him bad advice to keep the money and substitute Walter's dirty underwear. This sets off a chain of events with various groups who believe that the Dude has the money. These are told through dreams, fantasy, mistaken identity, and confrontations.

In spite of mixed critical reviews, the film made money and became a cult classic. Several cities have 'Dude Fests' where the film might be shown marathon style and incorporated with bowling opportunities. In 2005 the "The Church of the Latter-Day Dude" was established with over 20,000 ordained priests.

Rotten Tomatoes: 81% but a great cult favorite.

Answer: Raising Arizona

Jailhouse policewoman Edwina (Holly Hunter) develops an affection for recidivism prone convenience store robber Hi (Nicolas Cage). At his last release the two decide to marry and move to a mobile home in the desert. Their happiness is marred by Ed's infertility and they can not adopt due to Hi's criminal record. When they learn that quintuplets have been born to a wealthy couple, they figure that they would not miss just one. They then begin to raise Arizona. But their bliss is disturbed by the appearance of Hi's old criminal friends (John Goodman and William Forsythe) that initiates a series of plot twists.

Part of the charm of "Raising Arizona" is the use of stilted language but is also a source of negative criticism. Case in point, Hi describes their childlessness as "Edwina's insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase." For Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman it was considered a firm career boost.

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

Plot influences are found in several of Dashiell Hammett's works including "The Glass Key"(1931),"Red Harvest"(1929), and a 1925 short story "Corkscrew". These sources had previously been adapted in the Japanese film "Yojimbo" (1961) by Kurosawa.

Tom Reagan(Gabriel Byrne) is the underboss to mob kingpin Leo O'Bannon (Albert Finney). A gang war is about to break out over the loose cannon antics of Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro). This is complicated in that Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Gay Harden) is O'Bannon's girlfriend and is having an affair with Tom.

She is also the sister to Bernie Bernbaum. Tom Reagan must tread a narrow path to bring the warring camps into an alignment with the least amount of bloodshed.

One critic said "a superb, languid fantasia on the theme of the gangster film that repays endless viewing".

Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

Answer: Homer's "Odyssey"

The Coens might not have read the "Odyssey" but they did what good researchers do--they read everything they could on the characters and plot to incorporate into the screenplay. According to an Internet notation "Despite the fact that Ethan described the Odyssey as "one of my favorite storyline schemes" neither of the brothers had read the epic and were only familiar with its content through adaptations and numerous references to the Odyssey in popular culture"

Ulysses McGill (George Clooney) along with two others (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) escape from prison. Ulysses has two objectives. One is to recover monies that he hid prior to his incarceration; two is to prevent his wife Penny (Holly Hunter) from remarrying. Along this path they encounter dangers and adventures that parallel the original "Odyssey" but transformed into the American south and the 1930s.

In one instance the trio end up in a 1930s radio station, they call themselves the Soggy Bottom Boys, and sing "Man of Constant Sorrow". The boys do not know that the song is secretly recorded and becomes a hit on the radio circuit.

The Coens had engaged T-Bone Burnett as music coordinator before the script was completed and the emphasis was to capture the mood of the 1930s with gospel, delta blues, country, swing and bluegrass. Although the Coens had powerful sound tracks in their other films, this one exceeded expectations. Many of the songs were re-recorded by a variety of folk and country artists.

The film received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. George Clooney won Best Actor in a Comedy at the Golden Globes.

Someone I respect as a movie buff said he walked out on the film. Roger Ebert gave it two stars and said "wonderful in their different ways, and yet I left the movie uncertain and unsatisfied". Rotten Tomatoes gave it 77%.

Answer: No Country for Old Men

Some critics gushed that "No Country for Old Men" would go down as the Coen Brothers' 'masterpiece'. The screenplay was based on Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. The writing has been described as Joel at the computer and Ethan with the book open and exchanging ideas on each page. The result is a faithful rendering of the book except for minor characters and non-related subplots.

Trying to put it into a genre, the closest would be neo-western. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) accidentally comes across a scene in the desert of a drug deal gone bad. He finds two million dollars and takes it with him. Meanwhile Anton Chigurh (played by Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem) has been hired to recover the money. Chigurh is a ruthless killer. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) trails both Moss and Chigurh but never really gets a handle on either. Bell is retiring and is haunted by dreams of failure and death. Don't look for a happy ending.

The film was honored by both major and minor film societies and was appraised as 93% by Rotten Tomatoes.

The title comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats:

"That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect"

Answer: Simple

A bar owner (Dan Hedaya) suspects his wife Abby (Frances McDormand)is having an affair with Ray (John Getz), his bartender. He hires Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh)a private detective to investigate. When his suspicions are confirmed, he changes the task to murder. Thus is unleashed a series of small incidents that have major consequences, misunderstandings, and bloody confrontations

The film had modest success in theaters but was a hit with critics, achieving a lofty 94% from Rotten Tomatoes. As film critic Roger Ebert once said "No film with M. Emmet Walsh in it, can not be too bad." The Coens brought a new dimension to 'film noir'. You, the viewer, knows what is going on but the characters seem clueless.

Answer: Cosmetic surgery

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a retired CIA agent with a drinking problem. He decides to write an exposé of the agency. He loses the computer disc at his health club where it falls into the hands of Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), health club employees. Linda believes that they can make some money on the find, perhaps enough for the cosmetic surgery she is contemplating. Chad volunteers to help her as he not the sharpest knife in the drawer and resembles a laid back slacker. A blackmail attempt on Cox ends in failure. Then Litzke and Feldheimer go to the dark side and try to sell the disc to the Soviet Union who find the disc only to contain 'drivel'. George Clooney in a sub-plot has an affair with Cox's wife.

The final scene has an assistant trying to explain to the CIA Director (J. K. Simmons) what has happened. The Director uses colorful language to describe the situation, allows Clooney to go to Venezuela because the US as no extradition agreement, and pays for Linda's cosmetic surgery, and states that is a lesson to be learned but no one knows what it is.

Reviews were mixed but for the most part positive. "People Magazine" said "unrelenting dumbness and dim-witted behavior is at first amusing and enjoyable but eventually grows wearing". Roger Ebert in his review said "It's funny, sometimes delightful, sometimes a little sad, with dialogue that sounds perfectly logical until you listen a little more carefully and realize all of these people are mad". Rotten Tomatoes summarized it with a 78%.

Personally, I thought it is the most underrated Coen production.

Answer: Steve Buscemi

Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) has loans he can not repay as they were based on collateral on property he does not own. In Fargo he meets with Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and sets up a plan to have them kidnap his wife and have the ransom paid by his wife's wealthy father. "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley"(Robert Burns) applies.

On a routine traffic stop, Grimsrud ends up killing three people. This brings Sheriff Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand in an Oscar winning Best Actress performance) into the picture who begins her investigation of the case that leads her to Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesman in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, Lundegaard's father-in-law (Harve Presnell as Wade Gustafson) takes over the hostage negotiation leading to dire consequences.

Even with the violence, it is a difficult film not to like. Ethan and Joel won an Oscar for best screenplay in addition to five other nominations. The film was either nominated or won awards from a broad spectrum of film societies. Rotten Tomatoes polled 94%.

Here are some obscure facts related to the film.

1-No scenes were filmed in Fargo, North Dakota. The bar scene was a Minneapolis bar that has since been replaced with an AIDS treatment center.

2-In the opening credits it says: "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred". Upon being pressed, the Coen brothers admitted that the film was pure fiction.

3-Some people in Minnesota objected to the Scandinavian accents of several of the characters.

4-Due to a lack of snow in the filming area, outdoor scenes were near Hallock, Minnesota.

5-The Brainerd Police Station was actually the old Edina Police Station.