The Best Films of the Coen Brothers – Part 1

May 1, 2026

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of one of the iconic crime-thrillers in movie history.  Fargo was an Oscar-winning hit that is still a beloved classic that fans return to over and over again for its suspense and dark comedy.  It redefined how we all say the phrase “You betcha!” and how a woodchipper could be used in a movie.  In celebration of that film’s thirty years in our lives, I thought it would be a good occasion to look at the careers of Joel and Ethan Coen. 

The filmmaking brothers explored different genres throughout their thirty-year career working together – dark comedies, traditional Westerns, crime-noirs, and absurdist satires.  They have written their own stories, adapted classic novels, and even put a new spin on Homer’s The Odyssey with O Brother, Where Art Thou?.  Something tells me that when we get Christopher Nolan’s version this summer, it won’t feature George Clooney singing.  Well, pretending to sing.  Either way, it will be just a tad more serious.

The Coens are unique in that they rarely make a disappointing film.  Even The Ladykillers (2004), which is widely considered their worst movie, has its funny moments.  In watching that film, you really have to feel for Tom Hanks, who must have been so excited to receive the call to lead a Coen brothers movie, and it’s the true dud of their filmography.  And then their follow up is No Country for Old Men (2007), which won the brothers Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.  As they say in Hollywood, timing is everything.

Regardless of the stories that Joel and Ethan told with their movies, there are two characteristics of their films that you can always count on.  The first is casting.  Virtually all of their movies feature the perfect collection of stars and character actors.  It helps that they built a troupe of frequent collaborators throughout the years, much like Wes Anderson.  The difference, and what puts the Coens way above Anderson in my mind, is that they were more creative in telling different types of stories, whereas I feel like Anderson has been repeating himself over the last decade. 

Some of the actors who have frequently shown up for the Coens include John Goodman, John Turtoro, Steve Buscemi, and of course, Frances McDormand.  She is married to Joel and co-starred in their first film, Blood Simple (1984).  And then you have the stars who the brothers have the clout to convince to come aboard their pictures.  In addition to Hanks, other famous faces include George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Paul Newman, Tim Robbins, Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Billy Bob Thornton, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Matt Damon.  The list goes on and on.  When a Coen brothers film is announced, you can count on a strong acting pedigree to be involved.

The second characteristic you can find in every Coen brothers movie is high-quality technical filmmaking, particularly cinematography and music.  Most of their pictures were shot by our greatest living cinematographer, Roger Deakins.  In addition to his work with the Coens, he was also the director of photography for The Shawshank Redemption, Skyfall, Blade Runner 2049, and 1917, to name a few.  He won Oscars for Best Cinematography for those last two films and has been nominated an astonishing sixteen times for the honor.  I recently acquired a book about his career that is high on my reading list, and you can bet that throughout this look at the Coens’ work, I will be referencing the work of Deakins.  The other major partner for Joel and Ethan throughout their career was composer Carter Burwell, who wrote the score for most of their films.  He has worked in the industry since he scored the Coens’ debut picture Blood Simple in 1984 and when you consider all of the different genres they have worked in, it makes Burwell’s composing even more impressive. 

The last aspect of the Coen’s work I’ll mention is the screenwriting.  You can always count on their films to contain multiple layers and themes that are rewarded when rewatching their work.  Even if those themes don’t resonate upon first viewing, you are sure to be entertained, and still be thinking about the movie afterwards.  Now, not every film will connect with viewers.  For instance, A Serious Man (2009) is considered a brilliant masterpiece by most critics and fans.  It just didn’t resonate with me, so you won’t see it on my top ten list. 

I definitely need to study their work more and I will probably gain a further appreciation of all of their movies once I do so.  I’m planning to read Adam Nayman’s 2018 book, The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together and listen to the Blank Check podcast series on their filmography that was recently released.  I decided to write this blog before I explored those works so I could attempt to come to my own opinions without their influence.  We’ll see how those opinions change down the road.

The brothers made movies together for over thirty years before going their separate ways in 2018.  They co-wrote most of their films, and while Joel is usually listed as the director and Ethan as the producer, it’s been long recognized in Hollywood that they do everything together.  That makes their work that much more impressive, when you consider how difficult it must be to partner with someone on every aspect of making a movie.  Especially your brother.

Since their last movie together, 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (a decent anthology of several stories), Joel directed a very good adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth and has a promising gothic mystery coming later this year.  That would be Jack of Spades with Josh O’Connor and Frances McDormand.  Ethan’s solo career has been a bit of a disaster with a forgettable documentary about Jerry Lee Lewis and two unfunny comedies that he made with his wife Tricia Cooke.  Hollywood would love the Coen brothers to work together again and after reading my look at their filmography, I’m sure you would agree.

As I’ve made my way through the Coen’s filmography over the last few months (for the second time), I found myself marveling at so much of their work and settling on my top ten was definitely a tough exercise.  This week, we’ll cover the first five, starting with (what else?) a dark comedy satire led by a terrific performance by a frequent Coen collaborator.

#10 – Barton Fink (1991)

I almost pulled a cop out and declared a tie for my #10 spot because I really love the film that just missed my top 10.  But I gave the slight nod to Barton Fink over The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) for the #10 spot.  Hudsucker is a wonderful satire of capitalism and the ego of corporate suits that feels more relevant today than when it was released more than thirty years ago.  And when you have Paul Newman in your movie, it’s more than likely a winner. 

In the end, I went with Barton Fink, another satire about how Hollywood chews you up and spits you out, just so they can get what they want from you.  In this case, it’s a screenplay from the title character, played by John Turturro, a bona fide member of the Coen brothers’ troupe of actors.  Barton just experienced his first taste of success with a hit Broadway play, and decides to take a chance by moving to Hollywood and writing a script for a big studio.  It’s the 1940s, and movie-making is a booming business.  He is enticed by the opportunity to make some money, but declares that he will stay true to himself as an artist and not be corrupted by the Hollywood phonies.  He suffers a debilitating case of writer’s block, which isn’t helped by the distraction of a loudmouth insurance salesman (John Goodman) who moves into the hotel room next to him. 

Turturro is terrific in this film, in one of his earliest lead performances.  The Coens saw the work he did in their previous movie Miller’s Crossing (spoiler – you’ll read about that one next week) and cast him in the lead role.  He portrays someone utterly baffled by the Hollywood system (surely influenced by the Coens’ own experiences) and just trying to get an idea out of his head onto the page.  Goodman is very funny as the bombastic neighbor who, it turns out, has some secrets of his own.  Like most of the Coen brothers work, there are some fantastical sequences that have layers of meaning that probably went over my head.  In the end, this is a very entertaining satire comedy.

#9 – Burn After Reading (2008)

Two words: Brad Pitt.  In what might be the funniest performance of his career, Pitt is part of a terrific ensemble in this wacky comedy about spies, infidelity, blackmail, career aspirations, gym employees, and the pursuit of a better body through plastic surgery.  Pitt plays a physical trainer who, along with Frances McDormand, gets wrapped up in a blackmail plot when they stumble upon computer files with sensitive government information.  It turns out the files belong to a CIA agent (John Malkovich) who was recently fired, and is also dealing with his wife’s demand for a divorce.  It seems that she (Tilda Swinton) has been having an affair with a womanizing businessman played by George Clooney.  He’s not exactly a rocket scientist, evidenced by the preposterous invention he has created.

What I love most about this movie is the talent on the screen.  In addition to Pitt, Malkovich is fantastic, portraying someone with extreme anger issues that are hysterical when portrayed.  McDormand is also very good as the sad woman desperate to find a man to fall in love with, who is convinced plastic surgery will be the solution.  When her insurance company denies covering the procedures, she partners up with Pitt to blackmail Malkovich’s CIA spy.  Clooney is also very good and it’s funny that of the four times he has collaborated with the Coen brothers, this is the only one that made my top ten list.  I really liked O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), but it just missed out on my top ten.  Hail Caesar! (2016) is a pretty funny comedy, but not on par with their other work, and the romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003), in which he co-starred  with Catherine Zeta Jones, was a misfire in my book.  Burn After Reading is a good example of what you can create when you have talented actors and a clever screenplay where almost all of them interact with each other.  Sure, some of the plot points are ridiculous, but for a 90 minute comedy with some zippy dialogue, it’s a fun time.

#8 – The Big Lebowski (1998)

Now some people will put this at the top of their Coen brothers film list, and I completely get that.  To me, it’s a testament to the strength of their work.  Jeff Bridges plays Jeff “the Dude” Lebowski, one of the more iconic characters in the entire filmography of the Coen brothers.  His performance is so atypical of any character he has ever played, and he maintains the same absurd demeanor throughout the entirety of the film’s runtime.  It’s no surprise that people compared Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance as Bob Ferguson in One Battle After Another to Bridges’ portrayal of Lebowski.

The story of The Big Lebowski is centered around mistaken identity, when The Dude is caught up in a blackmail and kidnapping plot after someone confuses him with a millionaire with the same name.  The Dude is forced to help rescue the wife of the rich man, all while trying to keep some semblance of order in his life, which includes hanging out with his buddies (played by John Goodman and Steve Buscemi) and bowling.  Oh yes, the bowling.  It’s an integral part of the lives of these funny, but deranged men.  The fun sequences in Lebowski are highlighted by Bridges’ portrayal of The Dude just trying to get through the day.  Regardless of the calamity that surrounds him, he is perfectly chill, knowing that things will eventually work out.

As I was finalizing my top ten list, I realized that this is the last pure comedy film of the Coens on my list.  In addition to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a lot of fans prefer Raising Arizona (1987), their second film starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter.  I find that movie pretty funny with some good performances (especially Hunter), but the wackiness in Raising Arizona is just a bit over the top for me.  I guess my taste for their work leans towards the drama and suspense movies, which are heavily represented in the rest of my top ten.  But for pure goofy comedy, The Big Lebowski is a winner.

#7 – Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Boy, do I love this movie.  Oscar Isaac stars as the title character in this comedy-drama portrait of a folk musician in the 1960s who is struggling to get by.  We follow his story over the course of several days when he bounces between gigs to earn a few bucks here and there.  He has several interactions with friends and family members (while accompanied by a cat – it’s a complicated story), mostly as a way to sleep on their couches for a few days, as Llewyn has no permanent residence.  He is talented, as evidenced by the success he had with his former partner, who tragically died.  Now he is on his own and loves playing guitar, singing, and writing songs.  He just can’t seem to catch a break, but a lot of that is his own doing.  Being nice to people and knowing when to keep his mouth shut are not Llewyn’s strengths.    

Isaac is terrific in this performance, in what turned out to be a breakout role for him.  Two years later he would play a lead character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  He portrays Llewyn in a sympathetic manner, but also conveys a level of frustration to the viewer as we keep asking ourselves why he can’t get his shit together.  He just seems to be making bad decisions with how he treats his friends, his (on again /off again) girlfriend, played by Carey Mulligan, and his sister, with whom he has a strained relationship.

In addition to the quality performances in the film, the other highlight of Inside Llewyn Davis is the terrific music.  Some of the songs were written by folk singer Dave Von Ronk, who the Coens used as a loose inspiration for Llewyn.  The music of the film was overseen by T. Bone Burnett, the legendary musician and producer, who also produced the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?.  Isaac sang a lot of the songs himself, and is quite talented.  And you simply must watch this video of Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver singing Please Mr. Kennedy, a novelty song about an astronaut who doesn’t want to go to space.  It’s sure to put a smile on your face.  If you liked A Complete Unknown, consider this a distant cousin (albeit a fictional one) to that look at the early career of Bob Dylan.

#6 – Blood Simple (1984)

Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned crime-mystery noir movie?  With the release of their debut film, Blood Simple, the Coens announced themselves as filmmakers to be reckoned with for many years to come.  The story is centered on bartender Ray (John Getz), who is having an affair with Abby (Frances McDormand), the wife of his boss Julian (Dan Hedaya).  The evidence of the affair is brought to light by a private detective, played by character actor M. Emmet Walsh, hired by Julian, who plots his vengeance. 

I saw Blood Simple for the first time a few years ago, when I set out to watch all of the Coen brothers’ films.  I had seen several of the big titles, but not this one.  What stuck out to me then, and again upon my recent rewatch, is how the movie is kind of raw, which is typical for first time filmmakers.  But the trademarks of their later works – the use of lighting and shadows, the screenplay with twists and turns, the ability to cast actors who fit the nature of the character perfectly, and a soundtrack that fits the essence of the film – are all there on display.  It should be noted that the director of photography on Blood Simple was aspiring young filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld, who would go on to direct Get Shorty, Men in Black, and other high-profile movies in the 1990s. 

It’s clear that this film was inspired by the great noir pictures of the 1940s.  I couldn’t help but think of Billy Wilder’s 1944 masterpiece Double Indemnity and Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, while watching Blood Simple again.  And of course, the Coens would revisit this genre in 2001 with a more direct homage to that period in Hollywood history, which I will cover next week.  It’s always exciting when you can go back and watch the first movie of a talented filmmaker and see their skills that we would grow to love over many years on display from the very beginning.  Blood Simple is exactly that kind of movie.

That’s all for this week.  Next week I will be back with part two of my look at the wonderful filmography of Joel and Ethan Coen.  It certainly was a tough exercise to finalize my top five.  Thanks for reading and if you would like to be notified about future posts, you can subscribe below.