Miller's Crossing (1990) * * *

Directed by:  Joel Coen

Starring:  Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, Jon Polito, John Turturro, J.E. Freeman

Miller's Crossing at times almost plays like a sly comic version of gangster films.     The characters and the plot are multi-layered, but they sometimes speak as if they know they are making a gangster film in 1990 and riffing on 1940's dialogue.     It seems self-aware.     I don't know if that was the Coen Brothers intention, but that is how it plays.      Once the movie gets down to business, it is a tale of double crosses and power plays with characters always looking for the angles.     I admired it and enjoyed it, although it never involved me on the emotional level like a Goodfellas or The Godfather series.    

The film centers around Tom Reagan (Byrne), a deputy crime boss in an unnamed big American city circa the late 1920's.     I'll assume it's New York, even if the movie doesn't exactly identify it.     A war with rival Johnny Casper (Polito) is looming.      Tom's boss Leo (Finney) is preoccupied with wanting to marry his girlfriend Verna (Harden), whom Tom is also sleeping with.     They may even love each other.      If Tom has any moral compunction about bedding his boss' girl, he hides it behind a façade of coldness.       Tom thinks the best way to avoid an all-out war is to give up Verna's brother Bernie Bernbaum, a two-timing bookie and con man, (Turturro) to Casper.     This is not something Leo wants to do because he loves the girl and handing her brother over to be murdered might put a crimp in their relationship.

The actors do a very good job of hiding their feelings and intentions behind masks of detachment and tough dialogue.     Tom is obviously in love with Verna, Leo loves the girl and loves Tom like a son.     We sense the pain Tom's betrayal has on Leo even after putting a whooping on Tom.     Johnny Casper is a blowhard who trusts more than he should.     He is not as cool and collected as Leo and confides that the crown on his head is becoming awfully heavy.     Neither man really wants war and do what they can to avoid it.     Contrast that idea with The Godfather, when Clemenza tells Michael, "We need to have a war every 5 to 10 years or so.    Gets out all the bad blood."   

Byrne, Harden, Finney, and Polito all masterfully wade through their inner conflicts, especially when Tom himself is tasked with whacking Bernie in the middle of the deep, desolate woods.     Bernie pleads for his life and Tom lowers the brow on his hat, which is the physical manifestation of his inner conflict.     I won't say what happens, but it leads to further angst for all involved.     Leo is a crime boss with a heart, as is Casper to an extent.     That doesn't prevent either from getting their hands dirty when needed, but it provides dimensions.  

Prior to Miller's Crossing was Blood Simple (1984), another story of betrayal and murder and Raising Arizona (1987), where Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter kidnap a child because they cannot conceive one.     Miller's Crossing follows in the vein of crime undercut with humorous undertones.    They would later master this dichotomy in Fargo and No Country for Old Men.     Miller's Crossing is more successful than the Coens' earlier films and shows their progression in storytelling.