The Coen Brothers have ane of the well-nigh diverse filmographies of any filmmakers and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is another crowning jewel in their brilliant body of work. The motion-picture show stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as a trio of escaped convicts searching for a hidden treasure across Depression Era Mississippi.

The film is a hilarious and unique adventure that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect one-act only the Coen Brothers could conceive of. And like almost of their films, O Brother Where Art Yard? is filled with subconscious details.

10 Opening Quote

The film forgoes the typical narration yous might normally find in a Coen Brothers picture show only does commencement with a quote that reads, "O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story of that human being skilled in the ways of contending, a wanderer, harried for years on cease …"

The quote is the opening line from Homer'due 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 manner, they admitted that neither of them has really read the epic poem and just know information technology through popular culture.

nine The Title

While Homer's Odyssey served equally the ground for the overall story construction of the film, the title was taken from another source. The 1941 film Sullivan'south Travels follows a director who wants to brand a movie that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live similar the less-fortunate to gain experience. The name of the film he aspires to make is called "O Brother, Where Art M?"

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

8 Chain Gang Chant

The film is filled with all kinds of brilliant music from different eras of America, which helps bring the film to life. The offset song we hear over the opening credits is a chant from a chain gang as they work on the roads.

Remarkably, the chant heard is an actual recording of a concatenation gang singing the song, "Po Lazarus" in 1959. Fifty-fifty more remarkably, the Coen Brothers were able to rails downwardly ane member of the chain gang and paid him $20,000 for utilise of the vocal in the film.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might exist having a piffling fun past saying the moving picture is based on Homer's Odyssey, they practise include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the epic verse form well will besides likely see some characters they recognize.

Ulysses Everett McGill obviously stands in for Odysseus, the hero who attempts to render to his wife who is being pursued by 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 three singing girls who lure the heroes, representing the Sirens.

six Singing Voices

O Brother Where Art Thou? 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 "Human of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the film by the three atomic number 82 characters.

Clooney was given the chance to sing the lead vocals on the song and took lessons to ameliorate his singing voice. In the end, he admits he was non the homo for the task and was dubbed. However, Tim Blake Nelson does actually provide vocals for his song, "In the Jailhouse Now".

5 Baby Face Nelson

1 of the colorful characters that the trio of heroes run into is George Nelson, a deranged bank robber who is depressed at not being taken seriously and having the nickname Babe Face Nelson.

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

4 Cows

Though a adequately simple story, the motion-picture show was praised for its use of visual effects and CGI. While not overly used in the flick, the few cases are incorporated assuredly into the overall scene. In ane instance, it might have been too convincing.

The scenes in which a cop car hits a moo-cow looked and then disarming that the American Humane Clan demanded proof that no real fauna was harmed. This also led to a new disclaimer being added to the flick that read, "Scenes which may announced to place an animal in jeopardy were simulated."

3 Tommy Johnson

Some other memorable grapheme that the trio of escaped convicts meets up with is Tommy Johnson, played by Chris Thomas King. When the heroes run across Tommy, he is standing at a crossroads where he says he met the devil and traded his soul for the power to play the guitar.

Evidently, there is some truth to the graphic symbol 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 legend.

2 Klan Rally

One of the most memorable scenes in the flick finds the three heroes sneaking into a Ku Klux Klan rally to save their new friend Tommy. The sequence is an elaborate one with a giant burning 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 military formation and the military troupe hired to apparel as Klan members and perform the scene were largely African-American.

1 The Motel

At the end of the film, the 3 companions finally reach Everett's motel, which is tucked away in the woods. Some horror fans might have recognized the cabin from an iconic moving-picture show of the genre.

The Coens modeled the cabin on the one featured prominently in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. This is not just a random inclusion, simply 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 (2047 Articles Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the squad since 2019. In addition to his work as Screen Rant, Colin is likewise a author of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going dorsum to the first time he saw The King of beasts King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays up-to-date on the latest must-encounter Tv shows. While he loves to detect interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a footling dark humor much like the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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