The Coen Brothers have one of the well-nigh diverse filmographies of any filmmakers and O Brother, Where Fine art Thou? is another crowning precious stone in their brilliant body of work. The film stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of escaped convicts searching for a hidden treasure beyond Depression Era Mississippi.

The film is a hilarious and unique take a chance that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy only the Coen Brothers could excogitate of. And like most of their films, O Blood brother Where Fine art Thou? is filled with hidden details.

10 Opening Quote

The moving-picture show forgoes the typical narration y'all might usually notice in a Coen Brothers flick simply 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 terminate …"

The quote is the opening line from Homer'south Odyssey, the story of a warrior's long journey home. The Coen Brothers based this film on the storyline of that epic tale. Though, in typical Coen Brothers fashion, they admitted that neither of them has actually read the ballsy poem and just know it through pop culture.

9 The Title

While Homer's Odyssey served equally the footing for the overall story structure of the film, the title was taken from another source. The 1941 film Sullivan's Travels follows a director who wants to make a picture that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to alive like the less-fortunate to gain feel. The proper name of the film he aspires to make is called "O Brother, Where Art M?"

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

8 Chain Gang Chant

The film is filled with all kinds of bright music from different eras of America, which helps bring the film to life. The commencement song we hear over the opening credits is a chant from a chain gang every bit they piece of 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 rail downwards 1 member of the chain gang and paid him $xx,000 for utilise of the song in the film.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might be having a footling fun past proverb the pic is based on Homer'south Odyssey, they do include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the epic poem well will besides likely see some characters they recognize.

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

6 Singing Voices

O Brother Where Fine art M? has the rare distinction of having a soundtrack that has actually become more successful than the movie itself. And the most famous song from this soundtrack is "Man of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the film past the three lead characters.

Clooney was given the chance to sing the lead vocals on the song and took lessons to better his singing phonation. In the end, he admits he was non the man for the job and was dubbed. Still, 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 bank robber who is depressed at not beingness taken seriously and having the nickname Infant Face up Nelson.

Infant Face Nelson was indeed a banking concern robber from this era who is responsible for a number of daring crimes. However, Nelson was killed in 1935, 2 years earlier the events of this movie. Also, he was killed in a shootout with police force rather than executed while in custody, as is said in the movie.

4 Cows

Though a adequately simple story, the film was praised for its use of visual effects and CGI. While not overly used in the pic, the few cases are incorporated convincingly into the overall scene. In one instance, information technology might take been too convincing.

The scenes in which a cop car hits a moo-cow looked then convincing that the American Humane Clan demanded proof that no real animate being was harmed. This likewise led to a new disclaimer beingness added to the picture that read, "Scenes which may announced to place an brute in jeopardy were imitation."

3 Tommy Johnson

Another memorable grapheme that the trio of escaped convicts meets up with is Tommy Johnson, played past Chris Thomas King. When the heroes encounter Tommy, he is standing at a crossroads where he says he met the devil and traded his soul for the ability to play the guitar.

Evidently, there is some truth to the character or at to the lowest degree some real-life inspiration. There was a famed blues musician named Tommy Johnson who sold his soul to the devil to play the blues, according to folk fable.

2 Klan Rally

One of the almost memorable scenes in the pic finds the three heroes sneaking into a Ku Klux Klan rally to salve their new friend Tommy. The sequence is an elaborate ane with a behemothic called-for cantankerous and hundreds of costumed extras.

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

i The Cabin

At the end of the picture show, the 3 companions finally reach Everett's cabin, which is tucked away in the wood. Some horror fans might accept recognized the cabin from an iconic picture show of the genre.

The Coens modeled the cabin on the 1 featured prominently in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. This is non just a random inclusion, but rather an in-joke with their friend Raimi since Joel Coen worked on The Evil Dead with him.

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About The Author

Colin McCormick (2045 Articles Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud fellow member of the team since 2019. In add-on to his work every bit Screen Rant, Colin is likewise a writer of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going back to the showtime time he saw The King of beasts King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays upwards-to-engagement on the latest must-run into TV shows. While he loves to find interesting projects in whatever kind of genre, he has a special motion-picture show of offense stories that are infused with a little dark humor much like the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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