The Coen Brothers accept one of the nigh diverse filmographies of any filmmakers and O Brother, Where Fine art Thou? is another crowning jewel in their vivid body of work. The picture show 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 picture is a hilarious and unique adventure that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy but the Coen Brothers could conceive of. And similar virtually of their films, O Brother Where Art Thou? is filled with subconscious details.

x Opening Quote

The motion-picture show forgoes the typical narration you might usually detect in a Coen Brothers movie but does start with a quote that reads, "O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in the ways of contending, a wanderer, harried for years on end …"

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

9 The Title

While Homer's Odyssey served equally the basis for the overall story structure of the film, the title was taken from another source. The 1941 film Sullivan'due south Travels follows a manager who wants to brand a picture show that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live similar the less-fortunate to proceeds feel. The name of the film he aspires to make is called "O Brother, Where Art One thousand?"

The Coen Brothers' film shares a few similarities with Sullivan'south Travels, including a similar scene in which convicts are brought into a theater to scout a moving 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 first song nosotros hear over the opening credits is a dirge from a concatenation gang equally they piece of work on the roads.

Remarkably, the chant heard is an actual recording of a chain gang singing the vocal, "Po Lazarus" in 1959. Even more remarkably, the Coen Brothers were able to track down one member of the chain gang and paid him $20,000 for use of the song in the film.

7 Characters From The Odyssey

Though the Coen Brothers might be having a little fun by saying the moving-picture show is based on Homer'southward Odyssey, they do include a number of references to the original story. Those who know the epic poem well will likewise likely see some characters they recognize.

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

6 Singing Voices

O Brother Where Art M? has the rare distinction of having a soundtrack that has actually become more successful than the film itself. And the most famous vocal from this soundtrack is "Homo of Constant Sorrow", which is sung in the picture show by the three lead characters.

Clooney was given the chance to sing the lead vocals on the song and took lessons to improve his singing vocalisation. In the end, he admits he was not the man for the chore and was dubbed. Even so, Tim Blake Nelson does actually provide vocals for his song, "In the Jailhouse At present".

5 Baby Face Nelson

One of the colorful characters that the trio of heroes run across is George Nelson, a deranged banking concern robber who is depressed at not being taken seriously and having the nickname Baby Face Nelson.

Baby Face Nelson was indeed a bank 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 pic. Also, he was killed in a shootout with police rather than executed while in custody, equally is said in the film.

4 Cows

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

The scenes in which a cop car hits a cow looked so convincing that the American Humane Clan demanded proof that no real beast was harmed. This likewise led to a new disclaimer being added to the film that read, "Scenes which may appear to place an brute in jeopardy were simulated."

3 Tommy Johnson

Another memorable character that the trio of escaped convicts meets up with is Tommy Johnson, played by Chris Thomas King. When the heroes meet 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.

Apparently, at that place is some truth to the grapheme or at least 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

I of the most memorable scenes in the motion-picture show 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 behemothic 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 germination and the military machine troupe hired to dress equally Klan members and perform the scene were largely African-American.

ane The Cabin

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

The Coens modeled the motel on the ane featured prominently in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. This is not 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 (2050 Articles Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In improver to his piece of work equally Screen Rant, Colin is also 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 first fourth dimension he saw The Lion King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays upwardly-to-engagement on the latest must-see TV shows. While he loves to notice interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a fiddling night humor much like the piece of work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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