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O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Air Date/Released Friday, December 22, 2000
Station/Studio Universal & Touchstone Studios

In Depression-era Mississippi, three convicts escape from a chain gang and begin a series of adventures in their search for a treasure. Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) tells his two partners, Delmar & Pete, they have 4 days to retrieve $1.2MM buried in his backwoods cabin, before the TVA floods the area for a hydroelectric dam reservoir. Dodging the law on their trail, the convicts encounter sirens, Baby Face Nelson, crooked politicians, the KKK, and record a hit record. But unknown to Delmar and Pete, there is a lot more, and a lot less, to Everett's treasure in this comedy tale.

In the movie theater scene, the film being screened is MYRT AND MARGE (1933 Universal). The Coens mention in the DVD's making-of featurette that Everett, Delmar and Pete were also loosely based on The Three Stooges. MYRT AND MARGE costarred Ted Healy & His Three Stooges, Moe, Larry and Curly. The clips seen on the screen include Ted Healy and fellow costar Eddie Foy Jr.... but not the Stooges, as originally planned. At the time of production, C3, the Stooges' TM rights holder managed by Joe DeRita's stepsons, was suing New Line Cinema for using a public domain clip of the Stooges from DISORDER IN THE COURT (1936) in a background scene of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996). C3 eventually lost the suit, but rather than invite a similar nuisance complaint, legal minds at Universal and/or Disney decided not to use images of the Stooges in O BROTHER. Cleverly, the Coens kept the M & M clip of Ted Healy, allowing them to make their little Stooge tribute, although much more obscurely.


Cast: George Clooney (Ulysses Everett McGill), John Turturro (Pete Hogwallop), Tim Blake Nelson (Delmar O'Donnell), Chris Thomas King (Tommy Johnson), Holly Hunter (Penny), John Goodman (Big Dan Teague), Charles Durning (Governor Pappy O'Daniel), Michael Badalucco (Baby Face George Nelson), Stephen Root (Radio station manager), Del Pentecost (Junior O'Daniel), Ray McKinnon (Vernon T. Waldrip), Daniel Von Bargen (Sheriff Cooley), Frank Collision (Wash Hogwallop), Quinn Gasaway (Hogwallop's son), Wayne Duvall (Homer Stokes), Ed Gale (Little man), Lee Weaver (Blind seer), J. R. Horne, Brian Reddy (Pappy's staff), John Locke (Mr. French), Royce D. Applegate (Man with bullhorn), Millford Fortenberry (Pomade vendor), Gillian Welch (Soggy Bottom customer), A. Ray Ratliff (Record store clerk), Mia Tate, Musetta Vander, Christy Taylor (Sirens), April Hardcastle (Waitress), Michael W. Finnell (Interrogator), John McConnell (Woolworths manager), Georgia Rae Rainer, Marianna Breland, Lindsey Miller, Natalie Shedd (Wharvey girls), Willard Cox, Evelyn Cox, Suzanne Cox, Sidney Cox (Cox family), Buck White, Sharon White, Cheryl White (The Whites), Ed Snodderly, David Holt (Village idiots), Dan Braun, Christopher Francis, Mark Munson (Klansmen), Isaac Freeman, Wilson Waters Jr., Robert Hamlett (Gravediggers), Billy Blackwell, Andy Sims (Rally patrons), Ron Block (Banjo player), Dan Tyminski (Mandolin player), Jerry Douglas (Dobro player), Geoffrey Gould (Mob leader), Nathaniel Lee Jr. (Ice boy), Shayne Tingle (Rail man)

Crew: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Directors, Producers, Screenplay, Film Editors), Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner (Executive Producers), John Cameron (Co-Producer), Robert Grar (Assoc. Producer), Roger Deakins (Director of Photography), Tricia Cooke (Film Editor), Richard L. Johnson (Art Director), Nancy Haigh (Set Decorator), Dennis Gassner (Production Designer), T-Bone Burnett (Original Music)
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