The Coen Brothers have i of the most diverse filmographies of any filmmakers and O Brother, Where Art Chiliad? is some other crowning jewel in their vivid body of piece of work. The film 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 motion-picture show is a hilarious and unique adventure that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy merely the Coen Brothers could excogitate of. And like well-nigh of their films, O Brother Where Art Thou? is filled with hidden details.

ten Opening Quote

The moving-picture show forgoes the typical narration you might usually find in a Coen Brothers movie but does start 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'due south Odyssey, the story of a warrior'due south long journey dwelling. The Coen Brothers based this flick on the storyline of that epic tale. Though, in typical Coen Brothers fashion, they admitted that neither of them has actually read the epic poem and just know it through pop culture.

nine The Championship

While Homer'southward Odyssey served as the basis for the overall story structure of the moving-picture show, the title was taken from some other source. The 1941 film Sullivan'south Travels follows a director who wants to make a flick that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live like the less-fortunate to gain experience. The proper noun of the film he aspires to make is called "O Blood brother, Where Fine art M?"

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

8 Chain Gang Chant

The moving picture is filled with all kinds of brilliant music from unlike eras of America, which helps bring the film to life. The first song we hear over the opening credits is a chant 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 track down one member of the concatenation gang and paid him $20,000 for utilize of the song in the film.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might be having a footling fun by maxim the moving picture is based on Homer's Odyssey, they do include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the epic poem well will also likely run into some characters they recognize.

Ulysses Everett McGill obviously stands in for Odysseus, the hero who attempts to return to his wife who is existence pursued by a suitor. Other characters include Pappy O'Daniel who fills in for Zeus, the one-optics Big Dan Teague who represents the cyclops, and the iii singing girls who lure the heroes, representing the Sirens.

vi Singing Voices

O Brother Where Fine art Chiliad? has the rare distinction of having a soundtrack that has actually become more successful than the motion-picture show itself. And the most famous song from this soundtrack is "Human of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the film by the 3 lead characters.

Clooney was given the risk to sing the lead vocals on the song and took lessons to improve his singing vocalization. In the end, he admits he was non the homo for the job and was dubbed. Notwithstanding, Tim Blake Nelson does actually provide vocals for his song, "In the Jailhouse Now".

5 Baby Face Nelson

One of the colorful characters that the trio of heroes run into is George Nelson, a deranged depository financial institution robber who is depressed at not being taken seriously and having the nickname Baby Face Nelson.

Baby Face up Nelson was indeed a banking company robber from this era who is responsible for a number of daring crimes. However, Nelson was killed in 1935, two years before the events of this film. Likewise, he was killed in a shootout with constabulary rather than executed while in custody, as is said in the film.

four Cows

Though a adequately elementary story, the film was praised for its utilize of visual furnishings and CGI. While not overly used in the film, the few cases are incorporated convincingly into the overall scene. In one instance, it might take been likewise convincing.

The scenes in which a cop car hits a cow looked so convincing that the American Humane Association demanded proof that no existent 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 simulated."

3 Tommy Johnson

Another memorable character that the trio of escaped convicts meets upwardly with is Tommy Johnson, played past Chris Thomas King. When the heroes come across Tommy, he is continuing at a crossroads where he says he met the devil and traded his soul for the power to play the guitar.

Apparently, in that location is some truth to the grapheme or at least some real-life inspiration. At that place was a famed blues musician named Tommy Johnson who sold his soul to the devil to play the blues, co-ordinate to folk legend.

2 Klan Rally

I of the well-nigh memorable scenes in the film finds the three heroes sneaking into a Ku Klux Klan rally to save their new friend Tommy. The sequence is an elaborate one with a giant called-for cantankerous and hundreds of costumed extras.

The scene likewise features the Klan members performing an unusual ceremonial march of sorts. Ironically, the march is a military formation and the military troupe hired to clothes as Klan members and perform the scene were largely African-American.

i The Cabin

At the end of the motion picture, 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 show of the genre.

The Coens modeled the cabin on the i featured prominently in Sam Raimi's The Evil Expressionless. This is not just a random inclusion, only rather an in-joke with their friend Raimi since Joel Coen worked on The Evil Dead with him.

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About The Writer

Colin McCormick (2045 Articles 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 piece of work as Screen Rant, Colin is too a author of News, Characteristic and Review pieces at Game Bluster. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going back to the first time he saw The Lion Rex in theaters. Forth with movies, Colin stays up-to-appointment on the latest must-see Tv shows. While he loves to observe interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a little dark sense of humor much like the piece of work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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