O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (2000) - Movie Reaction - FIRST TIME WATCHING

[@RolyPolyOllieReactions]

O brother this is a good movie! For some reason I felt really calm watching it which is something I didn't expect. This film felt like a variety of anthology stories tied together by a subtle plot and the same fun characters. Speaking of characters, so many memorable and charming personalities fill this movie! Also, it's a MUSICAL!!! Thanks for watching! Have a great day! :)

[@robertjewell9727]

Ok, time to watch BARTON FINK.

[@shsrpr]

@@robertjewell9727 Agreed. That's a really good undermentioned Coen Brothers movie.

[@robertjewell9727]

@@shsrpr , yes, and since Ollie is studying film at university it really is amn arresting look at the 1930s era in America particularly how Hollywood operated. It's all very fantastical but beautifully designed and executed.

[@JuliesWorldCrochet]

This remake of Homer's Odyssey by Coen bros is fabulous, in my top 10 films. The director's commentary is good here too, fascinating.

[@Jim-Mc]

The soundtrack for this movie won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

[@lfovah1287]

Pete: 84 years old Delmar: Well I'll be only 82 😂😂😂

[@gggooding]

Tommy Johnson is based on blues guitarist Robert Johnson who claimed he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi to learn guitar. My father loved Robert Johnson so we scattered his ashes at that *exact* crossroads (not the tourist-attraction one) to give him back to the Devil. (Tbc, my pater familias would've cackled like a demon in joy if only he knew; we did it to genuinely honor him.)

[@Nick_CF]

The crazy part is they can trace that story back like 2 generations before Robert Johnson. Its such an interesting story and how it evolves.

[@crisis53142]

this movie is so fun an educational to watch. its a modernized adaptation of homers the odessy. in the book the men must travel from the war front back to there homes. on the way the meet a seer whom lets them know they're journey will be perilous and full of danger.they have run in with mermaids, a cyclops, and all sorts of stuff that this movie takes to a modern level. i love watching this movie because it is a fantastic script. but also knowing its history is quite awesome

[@GKinslayer]

Neat fact - in the last chapter of The Odyssey Athena refers to Odysseus as "a Man of Constant Sorrows".

[@susanmaggiora4800]

“Damn, were in a tight spot!”

[@itt23r]

Most everyone knows that this movie's storyline is loosely based on Homer's Odyssey. But another underlying theme I've noticed is its similarity to "The Wizard of Oz." This is especially seen in the scene where the three escaped convicts dress up like Klansmen to rescue Tommy. And I have heard the Coens comment on it too, stating that every one of their movies is at its heart just a retelling of that 1939 classic.

[@bfdidc6604]

Pappy O’Daniels also acts a lot like the wizard at the end.

[@Hayseo]

The blind man was the oracle of Delphi. The one eyed man was the cyclops. The sirens were the sirens. And talking about the Wizard of Oz the Klansman doing their dance was the same as the wicked witch’s guards of the castle. Tommy, the singer, was a representation of Robert Johnson the blues musician who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads.

[@waterbeauty85]

The title is taken from the 1941 comedy "Sullivan's Travels" starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake and directed by Preston Sturges. McCrea plays John Sullivan, a wealthy movie director who decides that the escapist entertainment movies that made him successful are too frivolous and decides to make a heavy social message movie about the plight of the poor called "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" and sets off to live for a while as a tramp to gain "life experience" for the movie. Along the way, he meets a aspiring actress played by Veronica Lake. Unlike Sullivan who is just posing as a poor person, Veronica Lake's character actually is poor and struggling to make a living, and learning her perspective changes Sullivan's pretentious notions. It's a charming movie you might enjoy.

[@ericjanssen394]

Meanwhile, Sullivan's studio execs are convinced that their director doing a depressing movie during the Depression would be a disaster, and keep trying to convince him to do another frivolous comedy (which he eventually learns he should): "Scripts? Get me a copy of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou'!...No, make that TWO copies--Why should I have to suffer alone?" If anything, the Coens are determined to convince us that "We've heard of Preston Sturges, and you haven't!"

[@royveteto4134]

one of the best sound tracks ever for a movie

[@strongdecaf3729]

I've always heard the expression "riding someone out on a rail" but I think this movie is the only time I've actually seen it. (And after I saw this movie, I immediately went and bought the soundtrack. One of the best soundtracks of all time.)

[@flarrfan]

I first saw it in Little Big Man, when Jack Crabbe's snake oil salesman boss is tarred and feathered and then given the rail treatment.

[@shsrpr]

39:28 Speaking of diegetic sounds, that first song in the movie (at 1:45 in your reaction) with the chain gang singing "Po' Lazarus" is actually a field recording from 1959 of a real chain gang banging away and singing. It's sung by James Carter and the Prisoners, recorded by Alan Lomax at "Parchman Farm", the Mississippi State Maximum Security Penitentiary.

[@shsrpr]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZywmnZ9ic5jia8

[@amyjordan195]

Those aren't spider webs. They are caterpillars. If you ever see one of those webs on your tree, cut the branch off and burn or throw it away. A whole nest of caterpillars will come out of it and eat your tree.

[@PrinceofArfon]

OBstacles. Underrated movie quote. Always gets a smile in my family.

[@ddiamondr1]

Thanks for reacting to this! This was my Dad’s favourite movie. When we first watched it, he sang along with big rock Candy Mountain. I said, you know that song? And he said, yeah, I know that song from when I was a kid. He was raised in the 30s. In Manitoba. Absolutely love this movie. We played the soundtrack at my Dad’s wake. And that is an amazing soundtrack. The Cohen brothers are such originals. Raising Arizona Is my actual favorite.

[@nayjay468]

I bought the soundtrack back in the day.

[@ddiamondr1]

It’s so great!

[@hettbeans]

Pretty funny you said they reminded you of sirens as that is literally what they are - this film being a retelling of The Odyssey, they are the sirens.

[@Blue-qr7qe]

Good pick, and great reaction. Others will tell you about this being analogous with The Odyssey by Homer. I thought it was cool how your first reaction to the Sirens was that they were sirens.

[@dukescooper2162]

I was surprised you didn’t make very many comments about the soundtrack which is one of the strong elements in this movie. It is a Grammy winning soundtrack, And the songs are in integral part of the plot

[@rbrainsop1]

It's both disheartening and sadly accurate that what turned the crowd against that politician wasn't the fact that he was in the KKK, but when he tried to stop the music they wanted to hear.

[@izzonj]

This movie has one of the best sound tracks of all time. A great collection of old-time music. In action way the movie was written as a showcase for the music!

[@corvus1374]

The movie spins off of a 1941 movie called Sullivan's Travels, about a director who wants to make a movie about the Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou. The plot is taken from the Odyssey. George Clooney's character is named Ulysses. John Goodman's character is the Cyclops. Holly Hunter's name is Penny, Ulysses's wife was Penelope. Funny you mentioned the Sirens, because those three women were playing the Sirens from the Odyssey. There are lots of tales in the South about the master fiddle player who meets the Devil at a crossroads. George Clooney didn't sing, his voice was dubbed.

[@mildredpierce4506]

Not too many people have reacted to this movie. I love it.

[@magic8ball1982]

I don't know where you get Midwest from. The film takes place entirely in Mississippi.

[@Bill_pierre]

Crazy thing about that kid in the beginning shooting at them; historic records of crises, even up to today like Katrina, children are the most prone to react with violence out of any other demographic during hard times. The kid shooting at them without even a hello, is historically accurate. Not implying it's a bad thing; it makes sense from a survival instinct sort of way. Just crazy

[@Majoofi]

Cool Hand Luke is another great movie with a scary sunglasses guy.

[@juanitajones6900]

Ah yes, the Coen Brothers' retelling of Homer's "The Odyssey", only set in Depression-era Mississippi. I really love this movie. You should check this out - kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3a9m599pN-osKs.

[@gggooding]

Blue singer Lead Belly's life influenced this film a lot. He was pardoned for murder (which he *definitely* committed) by the gov of Texas at the time (1937?) because of arguments he made/sang about being "redeemed" and, likely, so that he could just make more music. 🤔?

[@Panik637]

C’mon boys! We’re gonna R U N N O F T!

[@Panik637]

If you ever get the chance to see Union Station, do it! It’s an excellent show, they’re amazing. I don’t know if Allison still tours with them but it’s a show and a half when they’re all together. Another great movie of the same vein (southern classic, not odyssey adjacent) is Cold Mountain, which I always get some side eye for how much I like, but it’s so nostalgic and relieves my homesick for the appalachians. I can’t remember if I’ve seen you do Last of the Mohicans too, but that’s another excellent soundtrack with a southern bent. Typing this out I realize they’re all very different movies, but I always think of them as a trio of movies that soothe me when I miss home

[@jackmessick2869]

Delmar refers to those women in the water as "Sy-reens." Or Sirens. The credits claim inspiration from Homer's Odyssey. John Goodman is a Cyclops with one eye. And there is the Blind Prophet/Oracle on the rail handcar. All part of the story of Odysseus. George "Babyface" Nelson was a real bank robber in the 1930s. Finally, the title of the film comes from a film title in a great writer-director from the 1940s, Preston Sturges. In his film Sullivan's Travels, Joel McRae portrays a director who only wants to direct "serious" films, and his next one is going to be entitled "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" This is a fun comedy that you might want to add to your viewing list.

[@michaelwoods9005]

I think they emphasized desaturated, warm colors because the film is set during the dust bowl era.

[@reservoirdude92]

The Coens can really write anything about any kind of character from anywhere in the world. And who said two Jewish guys from Minnesota couldn't write about the Depression era south?

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thanks, Ollie! 🐄 I got to see this one in the cinema. Loved it. Although, my favorite of the Coen Brothers' offerings is RAISING ARIZONA (1987)... but everything they've done is top notch.

[@CCDzine]

Yeah, because color was not emphasized in the post-production processes for The Wizard of Oz in 1939.

[@keywesttexmex1]

I love this movie! Thank you!

[@Zebred2001]

Great reaction! Please check out the Coen brothers' - Barton Fink.

[@aaronstone8147]

Remember the Odosey? Cyclops and the syrines.

[@garrymoore2161]

The Acapella group Home Free did a truly amazing cover of Man of Constant Sorrow. Check it out.

[@IsraelShekelberg]

Love the review and the attention to the details.

[@robsambosky6444]

The marching KKK is reminiscent of the castle guard in Wizard of Oz

[@MadisonBuckley]

while anyone else was watching the same did you imagine it being the scene from The Wizard of Oz 25:50

[@PaulSmith-xc7vt]

Great job as usual. Enjoy your reviews. Isn't your name Oliver? I can't remember lol. Always think you are very genuine in your reactions and reviews. Canada is where you are I guess.

[@WolfHreda]

15:45 Funny you should mention that...

[@aaronstone8147]

It's based on the Odyssey!

[@aaronstone8147]

It's ok. That story is thousands of years old. But the premise holds up.

[@johnherr2251]

Great t-shirt friend

[@i.m.7710]

You need a few 200k view movies! So you can do the oldies we love…Casablanca, to catch a thief, marnie, enchanted April, arsenic and old lace, hawks (by Barry Gibbs), Romeo and Juliet by Zeffirelli 1968, the yellow rolls Royce, Animal kingdom (Australia original movie that inspired the tv series), etc. Harry Potter and lotr will get you the big views but you have probably seen all those. Breaking bad is awesome! Back to the future.

[@brownstarslots]

Great shirt. Cheers

[@stevensprunger3422]

Check out Led Zeppelin “when the Levee breaks”

[@dianem8544]

Oh my god, your shirt, I'm dead.

[@elusiveDEVIANT]

Hes a suitor

[@IsraelShekelberg]

Governors have pardon power, like presidents.

[@aranerem3767]

I like this movie

[@Landyn___]

bro look up drazah the professional COD player. you look exactly like him

[@ericjanssen394]

Just FTR, Penelope in "The Odyssey" wasn't an "unfaithful succubus" who was ready to dump Odysseus, she was the only one holding the fort and stalling the other suitors away until his return. Otherwise, I usually can't stand the Coens, but they seem to have a knack for directing musicals. If only they'd notice it once in a while, instead of cheap and overbearingly elitist film/history bashing.

[@pamelalee1508]

Since you liked "Man of Constant Sorrows"..check out/react to the music... 💥...Home Free..Man of Constant Sorrows... I promise you it'll make you happy you heard it... Great reaction..glad I came across your video..sub'd...🌿🌿🌿