History Film / MillersCrossing

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

* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Tom and Bernie, for a while.

* BerserkButton: Johnny Casper is sick of "the high hat" and there's nothing he can't stand more than "a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder double-cross]] [[ManipulativeBastard artist.]]"

* [[{{BFG}} BFG]]: During a shooting in the middle of the gang war, Casper's gang's already massive amount of firepower is topped off when they unveil a Browning M1917 machine gun.

* CatchPhrase: Tom's "I'll think about it", which he says whenever he has no intention of doing what's been asked of him. Casper is smart enough to realise this, and so has his thugs beat Tom up when he tries the line on him.

* ShovelStrike: [[spoiler:Johnny Casper]] viciously does this to [[spoiler:the Dane]] when he [[spoiler:is manipulatied into thinking that the Dane is a traitor]].

** In addition to the Creator/SamRaimi example below, frequent Coens collaborator (and wife of Joel) Frances [=McDormand=] appears as the Mayor's secretary.

** "'Lo Tom. What's the rumpus ?"

* FemmeFatale:
** Verna. [[spoiler: While plenty of people die because of her, she's not directly responsible for any of them, even the one Tom blamed her for. She's the only person in the movie who genuinely doesn't want anyone to die, but her affair with Tom and her love for her brother get everyone else killed. She's a FemmeFatale despite her best efforts]].
** The character who plays the FemmeFatale character type much more closely is not even a woman... it's Verna's brother, Bernie.

* ShaggyDogStory
* SignatureScene: Bernie's execution.

* GambitPileup

* FemmeFatale: Verna, [[spoiler:subverted. While plenty of people die because of her, she's not directly responsible for any of them, even the one Tom blamed her for. She's the only person in the movie who genuinely doesn't want anyone to die, but her affair with Tom and her love for her brother get everyone else killed. She's a FemmeFatale despite her best efforts]].
** Actually, this one is kind of double-subverted, in that the character who plays the FemmeFatale character type much more closely is [[spoiler:not even a woman... it's Verna's brother, Bernie (maybe an [[StealthPun alternate definition]] for [[GaynGster "femme"]])]].

''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly-comedic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film loosely based on Creator/DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key''. It is directed by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and stars Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/AlbertFinney, Creator/MarciaGayHarden, Creator/JohnTurturro, Creator/JonPolito, and J.E. Freeman.

''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly-comedic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film loosely based on Creator/DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key''. It is directed by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and stars Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/AlbertFinney, Creator/MarciaGayHarden, John Turturro, Creator/JonPolito, and J.E. Freeman.

Set in [[TheGreatDepression 1931]] in an [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield unnamed Eastern metropolis]] , it's the story of Tom Reagan, TheDragon for Irish-American mob boss Liam "Leo" O'Bannon. When Leo falls for FemmeFatale Verna Bernbaum ([[LoveTriangle who happens to also be sleeping with Tom]]), he ends up protecting her beloved brother [[{{Gayngster}} Bernie]], setting off a mob war--with Tom caught right in the middle.

** Tic-Tac ''straightening his tie'' before [[spoiler: punching Tom.]]
** Tom takes his gun ''and puts on his hat'', before [[spoiler: jumping from his apartment to shoot Bernie.]]

-->'''Bernie:''' Look in ya heart...I'm praying to ya...look in ya heart...

* BadassGay: 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 shit out of a ''professional prizefighter''.

** 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.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Tom (played by the [[MrFanservice 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.

** Eddie Dane's is Mink. [[spoiler: It's a FatalFlaw.]]
* [[{{BFG}} BFG]]: During a shooting in the middle of the gang war, Casper's gang's already massive amount of fire power is topped off when they unveil a Browning M1917 machine gun.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Tom succeeds in killing Leo's rivals, but winds up alienated from both Leo and Verna, who enter into a foolish marriage]].

* BoomHeadshot: TheMafia frequently mentions shooting a person "in the brain" [[spoiler: and it is how Mink, Bernie, and the Dane all die.]]
* BottomlessMagazines: Leo fires a few ''thousand'' rounds from a Tommy gun without reloading. RuleOfCool is in full effect there, since it takes about 5 seconds of continous fire to empty a Thompson machine gun

* TheConsigliere: Tom to Leo but then he becomes a TreacherousAdvisor to Johnny.

* DepravedHomosexual: [[PlayingWithATrope Played around with quite a bit]], most likely due to the trope's frequency in FilmNoir. Two of the three main antagonists, [[SmugSnake Bernie]] and [[PsychoForHire Eddie Dane]], are gay. Depending on how you look at it, they could be considered straight examples or [[AvertedTrope aversions]] - Bernie's sexuality is never really connected with his villainy, while Eddie Dane is loyal to his employer and Mink. [[EvilVersusEvil Not to mention that the rest of the cast is also pretty villainous]], including [[VillainProtagonist the hero]].

* DirtyCop: The police force that Leo has on his side, and that have later [[spoiler:sided with Caspar instead.]]
* DirtyCoward: Bernie Bernbaum
* TheDon: Leo for TheIrishMob and Johnny Caspar for TheMafia

* FemmeFatale: Verna, [[spoiler:subverted. While plenty of people die because of her, she's not directly responsible for any of them, even the one Tom blamed her for. She's the only person in the movie who genuinely doesn't want anyone to die, but her affair with Tom and her love for her brother get everyone else killed. She's a FemmeFatale despite her best efforts.]]
** Actually, this one is kind of double-subverted, in that the character who plays the FemmeFatale character type much more closely is [[spoiler:not even a woman...it's Verna's brother, Bernie (maybe an [[StealthPun alternate definition]] for [[GaynGster "femme"]])]]

** Dane is a murderous psycho alright, but he is right about everything regarding Tom; [[spoiler: too bad he's always two steps behind.]]

* 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 when [[spoiler: Johnny Caspar is killed right outside Tom's apartment. It's meaningless, since Leo can take care of the police.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: By the near end of the movie, [[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.]] The reason it technically fits here instead of KickTheDog is because, [[spoiler: 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''.]]

** Also [[spoiler:Eddie Dane, who easily sees through Tom's manipulations until Mink's death sends him into a blind rage, letting Tom turn Caspar against the Dane.]]

* MotorMouth: Mink

--> ''I am gonna to send you to a deep, dark place, and I am gonna have '''fun'''...'''doing it!'''''

* TheReveal: Who killed Rug? [[spoiler: Mink in a panic, thinking his affair with Bernie would get back to the Dane.]] Mentioned only briefly, and far too late for the knowledge to do anyone any good.

* ShovelStrike: [[spoiler: Johnny Casper]] viciously does this to [[spoiler: the Dane]] when he [[spoiler: is manipulatied into thinking that the Dane is a traitor]].

* SpottingTheThread: Done by [[spoiler: The Dane]]: "I wondered, why would Einstein want to talk with a gorilla"

* TooCleverByHalf: The Dane's evaluation of Tom. Zigzagged as Tom's schemes [[spoiler: are about to backfire on him, but this gets subverted by dumb luck thanks to a second body disposed in the woods.]]
-->'''The Dane''' You are so goddamn smart. Except you ain't!
* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler: Tom looks like he betrayed Leo - and in a way he was by sleeping with his favorite girl Verna - but the entire gambit Tom plays to end the gang war was to protect Leo all along. Played straight with The Dane, who was always in Caspar's corner, but Tom is able to play on Caspar's quick anger to get him to kill the Dane.]]
** [[spoiler: Possibly played straight even with Verna. Tom never says a kind word about her to anyone, and openly admitted to her face that he was trying to drive Verna and Leo apart.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's set in an unnamed town, although it was filmed in [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]]. However, there is a clue late in the film which points to the New York City area: Tom tells Verna to leave town and go to "the Palisades" until everything blows over. The Palisades is stretch of rocky cliffs of Bergen County in Northern New Jersey and Rockland County of New York State.

* DirtyCop: The police force that Caspar gets on his side.

* TheDon: Leo for TheIrishMob and Johnny Casper for TheMafia

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It's set in an unnamed town, although it was filmed in [[TheBigEasy New Orleans]].

''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly-comedic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film loosely based on Creator/DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key''. It is directed by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and stars Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/AlbertFinney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Creator/JonPolito, and J.E. Freeman.

* GreedyJew: Bernie is greedy and he is called Jewish slurs many times throughout the movie.

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

''Miller's Crossing'' is a 1990 [[BlackComedy darkly-comedic]] [[FilmNoir neo-noir]] gangster film loosely based on Creator/DashiellHammett's ''The Glass Key''. It is directed by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]] and stars Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/AlbertFinney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, and J.E. Freeman.

* ChewingTheScenery: Jon Polito (Johnny Caspar) and John Turturro (Bernie Bernbaum) must have been picking scenery out of their teeth for weeks.

* 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. '''[[SoundOnlyDeath Alone]].''''' This is later lampshaded by [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy the Dane]], who beats them both up for being stupid and goes to check for a body.

** A newspaper headline seen briefly reads "Seven Dead in Hotel Fire". This is a reference to ''BartonFink'', which was released a year later than ''Miller's Crossing'' but written at the same time. Also, Tom's apartment is at the 'Barton Arms'.

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