O Brother, Where Art Thou? [Blu-ray]

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Joel Coen

Overview

The writing, directing, and producing team of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen created this picaresque comedy (inspired in part by Homer's The Odyssey) set in the Deep South during the Depression. Suave and fancy-talking Everett Ulysses McGill (George Clooney), dim-witted Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), and easily-excitable Pete (John Turturro) are serving time together on a prison chain gang. Everett knows where $1.2 million is hidden that's theirs for the taking, and the three manage to escape; however, a stranger soon warns them that they'll find treasure, but not the sort they're looking for. As Everett and his partners hit the road, they happen upon a gluttonous bible salesman, Big Dan Teague (John Goodman); meet up with Baby Face Nelson (Michael Badalucco) as he robs a bank; encounter three Sirens doing their washing; run into Everett's estranged wife Penny (Holly Hunter), who has told everyone her husband was killed in a train wreck; find themselves in the middle of a heated campaign between political boss Pappy O'Daniel (Charles Durning), and reformist candidate Homer Stokes (Wayne Duvall); and even find time to make a hit record as The Soggy Bottom Boys. Noted songwriter T-Bone Burnett helped compile the songs (combining vintage country blues tunes with originals in the same style), while Carter Burwell composed the background score. Incidentally, the title O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a reference to the classic Preston Sturges comedy Sullivan's Travels, in which a director plans to make a serious "message picture" with that name.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/13/2011
UPC:	0786936761146
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Language:	English
Time:	1:47:00
Sales rank:	3,005

Special Features

The Making of O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Two Storyboard-To-Scene Comparisons; "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" Music Video; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Clooney	Ulysses Everett McGill
John Turturro	Pete
Tim Blake Nelson	Delmar O'Donnell
John Goodman	Big Dan Teague
Holly Hunter	Penny
Chris Thomas King	Tommy Johnson,Composer
Charles Durning	Pappy O'Daniel
Del Pentecost	Junior O'Daniel
Michael Badalucco	George 'Babyface' Nelson
Wayne Duvall	Stokes
Ray McKinnon	Waldrip
Daniel Von Bargen	Sheriff Cooley
Brian Reddy	Eckard
J.R. Horne	Pappy's Staff
Ed Gale	Actor
Royce D. Applegate	Actor
Frank Collison	Wash Hogwallop
Quinn Gasaway	Actor
Lee Weaver	Actor
Milford Fortenberry	Actor,Pomade Vendor
Stephen Root	Radio Station Man
John Locke	Actor
Gillian Welch	Actor
A. Ray Ratliff	Actor
Mia Tate	Actor
Musetta Vander	Siren
Christy Taylor	Actor
April Hardcastle	Actor
Michael W. Finnell	Actor
Georgia Rae Rainer	Actor
Marianna Breland	Actor
Lindsey Miller	Actor
Natalie Shedd	Actor
John McConnell	Actor
Issac Freeman	Actor
Wilson Waters Jr.	Actor
Robert Hamlett	Actor
Willard Cox	Actor,Actor,Actor,Actor
Buck White	Actor,Actor,Actor
Ed Snodderly	Actor
David Holt	Actor
Carter Burwell	Composer
T-Bone Burnett	Composer

Technical Credits

Ethan Coen

Homer

Ethan Coen	Screenwriter,Screenwriter,Director,Producer,Director,Producer
Tim Bevan	Executive Producer,Producer
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Peter Chesney	Special Effects
Eric Fellner	Executive Producer,Producer
Jery Hewitt	Stunts
Nancy Bernstein	Special Effects
Michael Barry	Sound Effects
Steve Bowerman	Sound Effects
Kam Chancellor	Sound Effects
Benjamin Cheah	Sound Effects
Marko A. Costanzo	Sound Effects
Homer	Screenwriter
Danny Downey	Stunts
John Cameron	Producer
Eugene Gearty	Sound/Sound Designer
Skip Lievsay	Sound Editor
Peter Kurland	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Sibling filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (The Big Lebowksi) enhanced their well-deserved reputation for comedic ingenuity with this rib-tickling and extremely loose adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. O Brother chronicles the picaresque adventures of three chain-gang escapees traversing Depression-era Mississippi in search of treasure (the title is that of the social issues picture the director wants to +make in Presten Sturges's Sullivan's Travels). George Clooney (who positively radiates star quality), John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson play the hapless ex-cons who encounter oracles, sirens, and even a Cyclops (John Goodman sporting an eye patch) before achieving unexpected and improbable stardom at the end of their journey. The Coens chart this bizarre voyage with customary meticulousness, replicating 1930s Mississippi and its inhabitants down to the tiniest detail. As always with these filmmakers, the supporting players are perfectly cast, especially Charles Durning, Holly Hunter, and Goodman -- the latter in a terrific turn as a psychotic Bible salesman. Yet the movie's most effective "character" may well be its musical score, an assortment of bluegrass standards and slavery-era spirituals that set the period and enhance the narrative. Inventive and unpredictable (even to those who remember their Homer), O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a tuneful funfest that represents the Coens at the top of their game. They, along with major cast members, are interviewed for a making-of featurette included on the DVD, which also features a documentary on the digital enhancement technology used during the movie's postproduction period, comparisons of script and storyboards with the finished film, and a "Man of Constant Sorrow" music video.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Rather than wallow in nostalgia for the past, [the Coen brothers] dare to reinvent it, to make it something strange, beautiful and new. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a tribute to, and example of, the persistent vitality of the American imagination. It's bona fide...

New York Times - A.O. Scott