History Film / MillersCrossing

* {{Gayngster}}: Bernie, the Dane, and Mink. J.E. Freeman, who plays the Dane, is gay himself.

* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl: Tom]] , filmed as an {{Homage}} to ''Film/TheThirdMan''

Loosely based off of DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key'', '''''Miller's Crossing''''' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly comic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film directed by [[TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, and J.E. Freeman.

** Several nods to {{Film/TheThirdMan}}, particularly the ending and many camera angles.

* TooCleverByHalf: The Dane's assertion of Tom. Zigzagged as Tom's schemes [[spoiler: are about to backfire on him, but that get subverted by dumb luck thanks to a second body disposed in the woods]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/millers_crossing_still_1317.jpg

Loosely based off of DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key'', ''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly comic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film directed by [[TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, and J.E. Freeman.

* BadAss:

** Note that the main protagonist, Tom, is a rather comical subversion. He repeatedly gets his ass kicked, and only commits one act of violence that actually accomplishes anything.

** Leo. "The old man's still an artist with a Thompson." . Having BottomlessMagazines also helps; it takes about a 5 seconds of continous fire to empty a Thompson machine gun, but it's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnD9P4ummA such an awesome scene]] that RuleOfCool may very well triumph over realism.
** Also Tic-Tac. Moments after Tom has hit a GiantMook across the face with a chair, Tic Tac strides into the room and without pausing snatches the chair from Tom's hands, whereupon he and the GiantMook inflict a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on Tom.

* BottomlessMagazines: Leo fires a few ''thousand'' rounds from a Tommy gun without reloading.

* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl: Tom]] , filmed as an {{Homage}} ''Film/TheThirdMan''

* HypocriticalHumor: The local police chief affably chats up Tom both times. Once when his cops are helping the Irish mob take out members of the Italians, and again when the power shifts to the Italians and the cops take out the Irish mob instead.
** Also when Tom hits the GiantMook who's about to beat him up across the face with a chair, the latter says plaintively "Jesus, Tom!" like his feelings rather than his face have been hurt.

* LoveMakesYouDumb: Leo

* OneSceneWonder: Steve Buscemi as Mink.

* SpottingTheThread: "I wondered, what would Einstein want to talk with a gorilla"

* AintTooProudToBeg: Bernie breaks down into primal sobs and pleads for his life. It's harrowingly pathetic. [[spoiler: It only works once for Bernie.]]

* BadAss:

* BadassGrandpa:

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Tom succeeds in killing Leo's rivals, but winds up alienated from both Leo and Verna, who enter into a foolish marriage]].
* BlackComedy

* DirtyCoward: Bernie Bernbaum

* GreedyJew: As mentioned above under Greed, Bernie is greedy and he is called Jewish slurs many times throughout the movie.

* PlayingBothSides : Tom schemes all the time to pull this off. Very similar or almost identical themes are seen in ''{{Yojimbo}}'' and ''AFistfulOfDollars'' since all these films are based on Dashiel Hammet works.

* ShoutOut:

* SoundtrackDissonance:

-->'''Mayor:''' And that's not even the record.

* AnachronismStew: The Dane compares the clever Tom with AlbertEinstein. While already a Nobel laureate, Einstein in 1929 was still living in Germany and years away from becoming a popular icon for intelligence; a reference outside academic circles is unlikely.

The film is something of a dark horse in the Coen Brothers oeuvre. Despite lacking a [[TheBigLebowski massive cult following]] or any [[NoCountryForOldMen Academy]] [[{{Fargo}} Awards]], it remainds one of the duo's most critically acclaimed pieces. It's often referred to as "the ''other'' [[{{Goodfellas}} great crime movie of 1990]]."

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Tom, when he kills Bernie. At that point, Leo's solidly in power once more, and both Tom and Verna are safe, and Bernie no longer represents any threat to Tom. Tom's previously shown not to hold grudges with his bookie's muscle, and kills Bernie without a hint of passion, so it's not revenge. Tom kills Bernie simply because he doesn't like the little weasel. Of course, this backfires for him, unless he'd made peace with the fact he wasn't going to end up with Verna, because it's obvious at the end that she ''knows''.]]

* KickTheDog: The movie's full of them. Leo delights in screwing with Johnny just because he can (he claims it's to protect Verna, but the sheer joy in his voice after says otherwise). Bernie does it when he [[spoiler: kills his boyfriend to cover his own death.]] The king of it all, though, is [[spoiler: Tom, when he kills Bernie. At that point, Leo's solidly in power once more, and both Tom and Bernie are safe, and Bernie no longer represents any threat to Tom. Even the death of Johnny Caspar right outside Tom's apartment is meaningless, since Leo can take care of the police. Tom's previously shown not to hold grudges with his bookie's muscle, and kills Bernie without a hint of passion, so it's not revenge. Tom kills Bernie simply because he doesn't like the little weasel. Of course, this backfires for him, unless he'd made peace with the fact he wasn't going to end up with Verna, because it's obvious at the end that she ''knows''.]]

* FoeYay: Eddie Dane towards Tom Reagan. Actually, pretty much all of the sexual tension in the movie qualifies as FoeYay due to the fact that almost everyone in the movie is pitted against everyone else.

The film is something of a dark horse in the Coen Brothers oeuvre. Despite lacking a [[TheBigLebowski massive cult following]] or any [[NoCountryForOldMen Academy]] [[{{Fargo}} Awards]], it remainds one of the duo's most critically acclaimed pieces.

* HoYay: Tons on it. Notably, a lot of Tom and Leo's dialogue makes them sound like a couple, and the Tom/Verna/Leo LoveTriangle is arguably more about Tom and Verna competing for Leo's attention than Tom and Leo competing for Verna's. And then there's Bernie/Mink and Eddie Dane/Mink, but those are more in-universe text than {{Subtext}}.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps_crossing_still_1317.jpg

* AntiHero: Tom is a Type IV for he is a criminal and a deadbeat gambler who sleeps with his boss's girlfriend and backstabs his way through the film. However, he really does care for both Leo and Verna. All his plotting is for their benefit.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/millers_crossing_still_1317.jpg

* AwesomeButImpractical: How many bullets did Leo unload into that ''one'' guy?
* BadAss: The Dane. He is more or less the strongest and most feared enforcer in the city, he wields a [[CoolGuns Cool Webley Mk VI]] and he absolutely beats the living manshit out of a ''professional prizefighter''.

* BadAssGrandpa: Leo. "The old man's still an artist with a Thompson."
** Having BottomlessMagazines also helps. It takes about a 5 seconds of continous fire to empty a Thompson machine gun, but it's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnD9P4ummA such an awesome scene]] that RuleofCool may very well triumph over realism.

* DuelingMovies: ''Goodfellas'', ''Film/TheGodfather III'', and ''State Of Grace'' were all released around the same time.

* GuileHero: Well, anti-hero at any rate. Tom may be brilliant, but he doesn't have much choice -- he's a lousy fighter.

* IdiotBall: Frankie and Tic-Tac are given orders to make sure Tom kills Bernie. So what do they do? They stand by the car and ''wait while Tom walks Bernie into the woods. '''Alone.''''' This is later lampshaded by [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy the Dane]], who beats them both up for being stupid and goes to check for a body.

** Tom Reagan's name references Tom Hagen from ''Film/TheGodfather'' and Sean Regan from ''The Big Sleep''.

* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl: Tom]]

* HoYay: Tons on it. Notably, a lot of Tom and Leo's dialogue makes them sound like a couple, and the Tom/Verna/Leo LoveTriangle is arguably more about Tom and Verna competing for Leo's attention than Tom and Leo competing for Verna's. And then there's Bernie/Mink and Eddie Dane/Mink, but those are more text than {{Subtext}}.

* TheCameo: In addition to the SamRaimi example below, frequent Coens collaborator (and wife of Joel) Frances [=McDormand=] appears as the Mayor's secretary.
** Also Steve Buscemi and John Turturro.

* DuelingMovies: ''Goodfellas'', ''TheGodfather III'', and ''State Of Grace'' were all released around the same time.

** Tom Reagan's name references Tom Hagen from ''TheGodfather'' and Sean Regan from ''The Big Sleep''.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Bernie again. Fucking Hell, I'd have shot him.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Tom (played by the [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Gabriel Byrne]]) is a rare male example of this trope - no matter how many beatings he takes, he never gets anything worse than a split lip.

* BadAss: The Dane. He is more or less the strongest and most feared enforcer in the city, he wields a [[CoolGuns Cool Webley Mk VI]] and he absolutely beats the living manshit out of a ''professional prizefighter''.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Bernie claims that Verna once tried to "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean cure]]" Bernie's homosexuality [[{{Squick}} herself]], though his word is less than trustworthy.

* VillainProtagonist