Miller's Crossing

1990 1h 55m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.4TMDB · 1,924🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●66Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 148,793

DramaThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Gabriel Byrne
Tom Reagan
Marcia Gay Harden
Verna
John Turturro
Bernie Bernbaum
Jon Polito
Johnny Caspar
J.E. Freeman
Eddie Dane
Albert Finney
Leo
Mike Starr
Frankie
Al Mancini
Tic-Tac

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joel Coen
Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Languages: English, Irish, Italian, Yiddish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 36% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Irish, Italian, Yiddish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joel Coen, shot by Barry Sonnenfeld. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael R. Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gabriel Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0100150 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joel Coen directs. Barry Sonnenfeld behind the camera. Carter Burwell scores. Michael R. Miller cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Irish, Italian, Yiddish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 36% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
236 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Irish, Italian, Yiddish.
4Directed by Joel Coen, shot by Barry Sonnenfeld. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Michael R. Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gabriel Byrne and Marcia Gay Harden and John Turturro carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt0100150 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 17 themes, including "street gang", "corruption", "prohibition era", "gun".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Barry Sonnenfeld
Original score: Carter Burwell
Editing: Michael R. Miller
Production design: Dennis Gassner
Costume design: Richard Hornung
Makeup / hair: Cydney Cornell
Sound: Lee Dichter
Stunt coordinator: Jery Hewitt
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $5,080,409
Return: 36% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Miller's Crossing (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 66/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 148,793 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

4 wins & 16 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joel Coen

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-11-13
★ 8/10
The answer my friend is a hat blowing in the wind. The Coen brothers craft a loving homage to gangster pictures of yore with splendid results. Essentially the plot has Gabriel Byrne as a good - bad guy caught between two rival gangster factions. It's a standard story line that is still providing cinematic water for many a film maker these days, but shot through the Coen prism, with literary astuteness holding court, it's a genre piece of considerable class. A picture in fact that gets better and better with further viewings. When the Coen's are on form they have the skills to make a grade "A" thriller and blend it with a sort of dry irony. It's like they bite the hand that feeds whilst praising said genre influences to the rafters, but it works as damn fine entertainment. On a narrative level Miller's Crossing molds the byzantine with the labyrinthine, keeping the complexities just on the right side of the street from that of art for arts sake. Visually the film is superb, the hard working sweat of the city dovetails impudently with the mother nature beauty of Miller's Crossing the place, a place home to misery, a witness to the dark side of man. All the while Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro and Jon Polito bring an array of characterisations to the party, each one his own man but each craftily proving the folly of man. Marcia Gay Harden, in one of her first mainstream roles, slinks about making the two main boys sweaty, and wonderful she is as well. While Carter Burwell provides a musical score that has a smug (in a good way) self awareness about it. Style over substance? Yes, on formative viewings it is. But go back, look again, see and sample what is not being said. Pulpers and noirers will I'm sure get the gist. 8/10
CinemaSerf2023-08-26
★ 7/10
Gabriel Byrne is "Reagan", the enforcer for the pretty ruthless mob kingpin "Leo" (Albert Finney). He is caught in the middle of a battle between his boss and the man who would take his place "Caspar" (John Polito) over the antics of a rogue bookie "Bernie" (the scene-stealing John Turturro) who also happens to be the brother of "Verna" (Marcia Gay Harden) - the girlfriend of Leo, oh - and the mistress of "Reagan" too. "Reagan" tries to be a bit of an honest broker between them all, but when his efforts fail, he is cast aside by his former boss and left to fend for himself... On the face of it, this is just a run-of-the-mill gangster film. People are killed and the vicious circle of revenge continues. Quite cleverly, though, the Coen brothers have done quite a bit to present more complex characters and to give the plot a little more quirkiness - and that makes this an interesting two hours to watch. Finney's accent is a bit hit or miss, and I'm afraid Byrne just isn't a strong enough actor to carry his substantial part so well - he is no Edward G. Robinson or George Raft, but this is still a superior delve into the murky world of organised crime that does bear watching.