Coen Brothers Use Of Setting A Big Part of Ther Films

When it comes to movies, I think the Coen brothers come first when it comes to their use of setting as a integral part of their films. We can go through almost every single film of theirs, and you can find much more than a trace of this statement, you can find a whole case of it. We can go from Raising Arizona, to Fargo, to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, to even the Big Lebowski. From the accents, to the common habits, to simply the way these guys carry themselves, it's evident that the Coen brothers are big on setting.

We can start with Fargo, a movie that doesn't leave home. While the accents and traits are obviously exaggerated, it's not as far off as some Minnesotans would like to believe. For example, after a heated conversation on the telephone, it ends as if it was just a regular, cheerful one. That's so Minnesotan, it's not even funny. Well, yeah it is pretty funny. And again, the setting is key. And while it isn't overly done, the mass of snow is a great touch to show how Minnesota is for the majority of the time around here. All in all, they got this one right; exaggerated, yes, but right as well.

Lastly, we can talk about Raising Arizona. They didn't do mainstream Arizona, so it's hard for me to truly gauge whether they got it right, or were just going off stereotype here, but they seemed to get what a deranged man in a trailer would do, if he was was crazy and in a comedy. The main character, played by Nicholas Cage, seemed to get it completely right, from the subtle southern accent, to the straggly hair, he really pulled this one off well. And the Coen brothers really emphasized the dessert landscape in this one, that got me laughing quite a bit.

Putting everything together, it just seems like this is one of, if not the most important issue the Coen brothers look into when making a new forum, and it shows from movie to movie.

The Long Goodbye: Altman's Best Work?

Granted I haven't seen every bit of directing great Robert Altman's work, I would have to go ahead and say The Long Goodbye, starring Elliott Gould, has to be his best work, for a few reasons. For one thing, it really gets into his idea and/or theory of making small parody-esque references throughout the films; and this one obviously pokes minor fun with the old 50s gangster movies, as Phillip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is meant to strike people as a 50s detective stuck in the 70s. The second reason behind all of this is that this movie seems to capture pieces of every generation; from that one, to twenty years prior. And the third reason would be, simply put, Marlowe is the ultimate badass (aside of Jason Bourne, of course).

Phillip Marlowe is a 50s character trapped in the 70s simply because of the way he goes about his business. Wears a suit everywhere he goes, seems to be very low key everywhere he goes, and carries around the persona of a 50s detective, which can be best seen in the scenes where he is looking for the husband of Eileen Wade in the hospital, where he stops at nothing to find what he needs to find, but in a very sly manner. When he sees the hippies, he acts very nonchalant, talks to them as if they are fully clothed. Very sly, cool guy; just like someone from a 50s detective thriller.

For the 50s, that's been covered in the previous paragraph. Marlowe and the way he carries himself gives you a great sense of the decade and the type of cops portrayed back then. For the 60s, you have Marlowe's neighbors, the naked hippie chicks. Very psychedelic, very attractive, and very, very high. They give you a great taste of the counterculture movement in the shorts stints they get in the movie. And lastly, the 70s. The movie takes place in this decade, there are plenty of things that show it off. The fashion (excluding Marlowe), the home setups, etc.

Phillip Marlowe being a badass should be self explanatory for anyone who has seen the movie. Enough said.

A Fistful Of Dollars

This movie introduced the spaghetti western to Europe, this movie is well known for being based off of a great Japenese movie (one that we have seen in class, in fact). That appellation, an insult that quickly caught on and became a label, resulted from pejorative press references disparaging the movie's Italian background. A Fistful of Dollars also jump-started Clint Eastwood's big-screen career. While this was not his first movie role, at the time when he agreed to top Leone's marquee, he was best known for the TV series Rawhide. After this film and its two sequels, the actor became a hot commodity.

A Fistful of Dollars is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, with guns replacing swords, the setting shifted from Japan to the Old West, and Eastwood standing in for Toshiro Mifune. Leonne did a great job turning this into his own, Americanized version of a foreign classic.

The strengths of A Fistful of Dollars relate to style, not storyline. There's nothing terribly complex or original in the movie's plot, as it follows similar plot lines to other spaghetti westerns before it. An American loner who goes by the name of Joe (Eastwood) enters the small Mexican town of San Miguel. As far as the audience is concerned, he has no past, and, if not for his incredible skill with a gun, he would have no future. He immediately displays his prowess with a revolver by shooting four men who have insulted his mule. Two rival families are vying for control of the virtually deserted town: the Baxters and the Rojos, both of whom are equally amoral and greedy. Joe decides to play one side off against the other, in the process reaping a financial windfall. The local bartender, Silvanito (Jose Calvo), watches Joe's double-dealings with a mixture of astonishment and amusement. When it comes to making money, Joe is virtually flawless, but he gets tripped up when his conscience becomes involved. After helping a woman, Marisol (Marianne Koch), escape from the clutches of the vicious Ramon Rojo (Gian Maria Volonté, aka Johnny Wels), Joe learns the meaning of the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" as his attempts to deceive the Rojos backfire and he is captured, beaten, and tortured. The film ends, predicatably, with a big shoot-out.

All in all, this film definitely fits a similar pattern to other westerns before it, while still having that feeling that Kurosawa gave it in Yojimbo. Leonne does a great job doing exactly what he likely set out to do in this film. It's a good example of his ability as a director, and it's one that should be seen if you like a good western.