History Film / OBrotherWhereArtThou

* SourceMusic: All the music in the film is diegetic.

* ThickerThanWater: Though Cousin Hogwallop does eventually betray them, he ''does'' accept Pete and his two friends, knockin' off their chains and givin' them clothes, some nice smellum for their hair, and some hair nets.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: George Nelson takes a break from shooting at the cops during his getaway drive to shoot some cows. It does end up being useful to him, as the cows run onto the road and impede the cops chasing him, but his motives were purely petty.

** One of the people attending [[spoiler:George Nelson's]] march toward the electric chair is most upset about his having shot a cow with a tommy-gun. To be fair, at this point, everyone who's lost everything to the banks has already lost all they can to the banks, so him robbing banks won't hurt them, but killing livestock would.
* AtTheCrossroads: The three meet Tommy at one after he [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil]] ("I wasn't usin' it for nothin'") to become a famous musician; this is based on the real life Tommy Johnson who was the originator of the story. Yes, he did it before Robert Johnson.

** Don't call George Nelson "Babyface" ("He's a live wire, ain't he?"). TruthInTelevision with the real George Nelson.
*** Possibly an inverted trope, as he's already an established madman, and calling him "Babyface" actually shatters his ego, lowering his self-esteem and sending him into a depressive episode.

** Pete, Delmar, and Ulysses first bond around the fire, listening to Tommy's "Hard Time Floor Killing Blues", sharing their dreams over what they'll do with Everett's fictional treasure.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several appear in the film, though the details of their lives are skewed for the sake of the story. They include bank robber [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Face_Nelson George "Babyface" Nelson]], blues musician [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_(musician) Tommy Johnson]], and politician [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Lee_O%27Daniel W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel]]. The latter arguably undergoes the most changes, having his first name changed to Menelaus as a nod to ''The Odyssey'' and being governor of Mississippi rather than Texas, while the former died three years before the film's setting and was TheNapoleon in real life ("George Nelson" was also an alias, for what it's worth).

* LargeAndInCharge: Governor Pappy O'Daniel. "We're mass communicatin'!" Homer stokes also counts as the stout leader of the opposition [[spoiler:and the klan]]. Big Dan Teague also has a significant role as [[spoiler:a sergeant in the klan]].

** George "Babyface" Nelson. "I'M FEELING TEN FEET TALL!"

** In the original story, Odysseus was always a much better prevaricator than he was a leader. Unlike the movie, though, he ''was'' quite capable at slaughtering his wife's suitors.

* VillainousBreakdown: "Babyface" Nelson and Homer Stokes.
** [[spoiler:Nelson gets better]]...sort of.
** "MY NAME IS GEORGE NELSON, AND I'M FEELIN' TEN FEET TALL!"

Of particular note among the film's legacy is it being the first feature film to be entirely digitally color-corrected (to create a sepia-tinted look), as well as the tremendous success of [[AwesomeMusic/{{Film}} its soundtrack]], up to becoming the latest of four soundtracks[[note]]and three film soundtracks[[/note]] in history to win the MediaNotes/GrammyAward for Album of the Year[[note]]preceded by Music/HenryMancini's ''Music from Series/PeterGunn'' (won in 1959 at the very first Grammys ceremony), the soundtrack for ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' (won in 1979), and the soundtrack for ''Film/TheBodyguard'' (won in 1994)[[/note]]. Most of the soundtrack, largely consisting of period folk music, was recorded by Music/AlisonKraussAndUnionStation and other country-bluegrass acts (Dan Tyminski provided Everett's singing voice).

* AdaptationalJerkass: In Literature/TheOdyssey, Penelope remained steadfast in her loyalty to Odysseus, and she wanted nothing to do with the the suitors trying to win her affections. Here, Penny is a shrew with no such qualms, even lying to her daughters that Ulysses was hit by a train. ''While Ulysses is standing in front of them, nonetheless''.

On their journey, they meet -- among others -- a [[BlindSeer blind prophet]], sirens, a Cyclops, and a gifted black guitarist who "[[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil]]". In their attempts to evade the authorities and reach the money, they wind up recording a hit song, robbing a bank with George "Baby Face" Nelson, encountering the KKK (who are very evil), and inadvertently getting mixed up in the state gubernatorial election. And on top of all that, Everett must grapple with the prospect of reuniting with his lover and their children...

-> ''"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell..."''

* AgentScully: Everett, who [[spoiler:despite being pursued by Satan, meeting a prophet, being seduced by sirens, and being apparently saved from execution by divine intervention]], still insists that there is a reasonable explanation for everything. At least it's {{Lampshaded}}. And by the end, he doesn't really seem sure of himself any more after [[spoiler:seeing the cow on the roof of a shed, which the blind prophet told them that they would see in the beginning.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Homer Stokes seems like a nice-enough guy, and possibly a better candidate for governor than Pappy O'Daniel. And then [[spoiler: we see him leading a Ku Klux Klan rally...]]

** The protagonists exist on the gray side, as three escaped convicts and a musician who sold his soul to the Devil ("I wasn't using it"). Everett is a consummate liar who [[spoiler: tricked the others into thinking that he had a cache of buried treasure so they would help him escape prison in time to stop his wife from remarrying]]. Pete is loyal to his friends and family, though he is a bit violent. Delmar and Tommy are genuinely nice fellows, but Delmar [[spoiler: did in fact rob a Piggly Wiggly and lie about it]], while Tommy ran off and abandoned the group at one point when things look bad for the four. (A black man in the South facing a lynching... can you blame him?)
** Pappy O'Daniel and Penny are slightly further down, but still gray. Pappy is rude, selfish, and opportunistic. However, according to him, he tried everything he could to help the people that now support Homer Stokes. He also has no problem with the Soggy Bottom Boys including a black guitarist, even smiling when he notes "folks don't seem to mind they's integrated." Penny [[spoiler: told her daughters that their father was hit by a train. But, given that Everett is a conman and a convict, she is right that remarrying the wealthy and "bona fide" Waldrip is probably best for her daughters]].
** The antagonists are firmly on the black side of things. The Sheriff does a great deal of damage in his pursuit of the protagonists, [[spoiler: threatening to hang Pete if he doesn't give up his friends' destination. He also tries to hang them even after they were pardoned, and includes Tommy in the hanging simply for associating with them. Also, he might be Satan.]] Big Dan Teague is a conman worse than Everett: [[spoiler: he assaults Everett and Delmar for their money, and later participates in a KKK lynch mob.]] Homer Stokes presents himself as the "servant of the little man", but it turns out that [[spoiler: he's a Grand Dragon of the KKK, leading the lynch mob to kill Tommy]]. And, finally, how on earth did Waldrip know that Tommy had sold his soul to the devil?

* BookEnds: The film opens with a chain gang working near a railroad track and singing. Shortly after escaping the chain gang, the protagonists meet the blind prophet on a push-car. The film closes with [[spoiler:Everett and Penny's daughters tied together by twine walking over a railroad track and singing, as the blind prophet can be seen passing by on the tracks.]]

--> '''Pete:''' Well, I think it should be yours truly!\\

* FanDisservice: The sirens, in addition to being generally beautiful, all wear wet dresses so you can see their lingerie. Yet, combined with the [[IronicNurseryTune creepy song]] they keep singing, and the fact that one of them is forcing Everett to drink moonshine, you can't help but feel there's something off about the whole thing. [[spoiler: That's because they're seducing them to betray them to the Sheriff.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Pappy O'Daniel, oh so much. [[spoiler: Even though he's the one who pardons our main characters, meaning they no longer have to be outlaws, it's solely for his own reelection campaign.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Everett. He's greedy, deceitful, sneaky, and arrogant, but truly does care for his friends and loves his daughters dearly. [[spoiler: When all hope seems lost and he starts praying, Everett prays for everyone else's safety and happiness, only asking that his own life be spared so that his daughters can have a father to look after them]].

** Homer Stokes. [[spoiler: It's particularly noticeable in the scene where he leads a KKK rally.]] Of course, it makes sense, given that he's running for governor, and a talent for public oratory would help him a lot.

%%%* LouisCypher: [[spoiler: The Sheriff who is [[SternChase chasing after the main trio]] is implied, and even theorized to be by the characters, to be this. His ScaryShinyGlasses [[IncendiaryExponent reflect fire]] a lot.]]

* MagicRealism: There are more than a few downright mystical occurrences in the film, such as the prophet, the sirens, the strong implication that [[spoiler:the Sheriff is Satan]], and [[spoiler: God saving the protagonists at the climax]].

** Big Dan the cyclops ''looks'' like he's going to lose his eye to a flung [[spoiler: Confederate flag]] spear, much like Polyphemus, but he manages to [[ArrowCatch catch it between his hands]] at the last moment. [[spoiler:Then the gang cuts down the fiery cross, which falls on top of him, almost certainly burning his eye out and preserving a piece of the narrative.]]

* RockMeAsmodeus: "And I have it from the highest 'thority, that that Negra... ''sold his soul to the'' '''Devil!!!'''"[[note]] The townsfolk don't buy into it, though.[[/note]]
* RuleOfThree: {{Invoked}} InUniverse by Penny when she's "spoken [her] piece and counted to three".

* SomethingWeForgot: The trio arrive at the cabin in the valley to retrieve Penny's ring, [[spoiler: forgetting that Sheriff Cooley had earlier learned of the location by torturing Pete and is now lying in wait for them.]]

* CultSoundtrack: The soundtrack album is [[http://blog.rhapsody.com/2009/11/countdec.html regarded]] as one of the most important [[CountryMusic country]] and {{bluegrass}} albums of the decade, and sold over 7 million copies. It also won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Album of the Year in 2002, making it one of only three soundtracks to ever win that award.

Of particular note among the film's legacy is it being the first feature film to be entirely digitally color-corrected (to create a sepia-tinted look), as well as the tremendous success of [[AwesomeMusic/{{Film}} its soundtrack]], up to becoming the latest of four soundtracks[[note]]and three film soundtracks[[/note]] in history to win the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Album of the Year[[note]]preceded by Music/HenryMancini's ''Music from Series/PeterGunn'' (won in 1959 at the very first Grammys ceremony), the soundtrack for ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' (won in 1979), and the soundtrack for ''Film/TheBodyguard'' (won in 1994)[[/note]]. Most of the soundtrack, largely consisting of period folk music, was recorded by Music/AlisonKraussAndUnionStation and other country-bluegrass acts (Dan Tyminski provided Everett's singing voice).

On their journey, they meet -- among others -- a [[BlindSeer blind prophet]], sirens, a Cyclops, and a gifted black guitarist who "[[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil]]". In their attempts to evade the authorities and reach the money, they wind up recording a hit song, robbing a bank with George "Baby Face" Nelson, encountering the KKK, and inadvertently getting mixed up in the state gubernatorial election. And on top of all that, Everett must grapple with the prospect of reuniting with his lover and their children...

* LouisCypher: [[spoiler: The Sheriff who is [[SternChase chasing after the main trio]] is implied, and even theorized to be by the characters, to be this. His ScaryShinyGlasses [[IncendiaryExponent reflect fire]] a lot.]]

* TheLancer: Pete to Everett.

* HistoricalInJoke: A great deal of the humor in this film is derived from these.

** Likewise the governor, whose name is Menelaus, although that's a little more ''Literature/TheIliad''.

* TruthInTelevision: Nearly all of the men on the chain gang in the ColdOpen are black. By the time of the Great Depression, the nature of the Black Codes had changed such that, instead of being enslaved by private business and plantations and worked to death, black men and women were kidnapped by police into slavery for the state and worked to death more officially.

* FriendshipMoment: During the montage where they travel across Mississippi and their record goes viral, we get to see Ulysses, Pete, and Delmar bonding and having fun, especially over campfires.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Zig-zagged. The white heroes refer to Tommy as a "boy", but otherwise treat him as an equal. They also claim to be mostly black to deceive the radio station manager, and go back and forth on it. Said radio station manager insists that he won't play "colored songs," but once the "Soggy Bottom Boys" become popular he's ecstatic about them and signs them. Pappy O'Daniel doesn't seem to care that "they's integrated" after seeing how a crowd adores them and boots out his gubernatorial opponent for interrupting them. The KKK is shown in all its theatrically racist glory, but is also portrayed as a fringe organization that is not looked upon favorably by the common townsfolk. This portrayal has some basis in reality, as by the 1930s the second Klan's membership had dwindled compared to its heyday in the mid-1920s[[note]]specifically, the murder of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madge_Oberholtzer Madge Oberholtzer]] in 1925 caused members [[EvenEvilHasStandards to leave in droves]]; membership continued to decline until the Civil Rights Movement started gaining momentum in the 1950s, but they have never come close to the level seen in the twenties[[/note]]. It should be noted, however, that Homer Stokes feels perfectly comfortable announcing to a roomful of people that he belongs to an organization, wink-wink-nudge-nudge, that engages in cross-burning and lynching, and expects the audience to sympathize with him when he attacks people for ''stopping a lynching''. It's not hard to guess that the only reason he's booed is because the people he's accusing happen to be a very popular music band, not because of general principle.

* MythologyGag: Big Dan the cyclops ''looks'' like he's going to lose his eye to a flung [[spoiler: Confederate flag]] spear, much like Polyphemus, but he manages to [[ArrowCatch catch it between his hands]] at the last moment. [[spoiler:Then the gang cuts down the fiery cross, which falls on top of him, almost certainly burning his eye out and preserving a piece of the narrative.]]

* TruthInTelevision: Nearly all of the men on the chain gang in the ColdOpen are black. By the time of the Great Depression, the nature of the Black Codes had changed such that, instead of being enslaved by private business and plantations and workded to death, black men and women were kidnapped by police into slavery for the state and worked to death more officially.

* TruthInTelevision: Nearly all of the men on the chain gang in the ColdOpen are black. By the time of the Great Depression, the nature of the Black Codes had changed such that, instead of being enslaved by private business and plantations and workded to death, black men and women were instead kidnapped by police into slavery for the state and worked to death more officially.

* FriendshipMoment: During the montage where they travel across Mississippi and their record goes viral, we get to see Ulysses, Pete, and Dell-Mar bonding and having fun, especially over campfires.

** The KKK scene is based off of the scene in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' where the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man try to sneak into the witch's castle. The guards are chanting the way the KKK does and even doing a similar dance, and the three heroes steal disguises from the guards/KKK. (Dell-Mar also says they gots to find a wizard what can change Pete back from a horny toad.)