In 1968, film critic Andrew Sarris wrote The American Cinema, still one of the most important books of American film criticism ever written. I don’t know how I came to have a copy soon after it was originally published, but I went through that book forwards and backwards and sideways. The book’s central thesis expounded on the French critics’ notion that the director, the auteur, was the person most responsible for a film and that one could track film history (as well as one’s likes and dislikes) by following the careers of directors rather than actors. This theory wasn’t universally true then or now, as there have always been producers who put their stamp on films and films taken away from their directors to be recut according to some distributors’ whims. But mostly this holds true.
The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, certainly fit the definition of auteur. And while I can’t say that they’re my absolute favorite film makers, they’re pretty close to the top of my list. One reason is that I can watch most of their films repeatedly and get something different, something more, each time I watch them. So here’s my very personal guide to their films:

The Coens’ hit a home run with their very first effort, a low budget film noir called Blood Simple, released in 1984. The Coens wrote and directed this (and also co-edited under a pseudonym, Roderick Jaynes, that they would continue to use many times). The film marked the debut of Frances McDormand (who would later marry Joel Coen). It also marked Barry Sonnenfeld’s first feature film as director of photography and the first soundtrack by Carter Burwell. The biggest stars in the film were Dan Hedaya (Carla’s husband on Cheers) and character actor M. Emmet Walsh, who gives a great performance. This is a dark film about infidelity and murder with that amazing end sequence that told you right away to keep an eye on the Coens.

It was three years to their next film, Raising Arizona. This is a very broad comedy about a convict married to a cop. When they discover they can’t have children of their own and someone nearby has quintuplets, they decide to kidnap one of the kids. Believe it or not, the chief inspiration for this film was the Road Runner cartoons. They assembled an amazing cast for this film – Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsythe and Randall “Tex” Cobb. If you look closely you’ll also spot M. Emmet Walsh and Frances McDormand. Sonnenfeld is back as DP and Burwell wrote the score. ”Give me that baby, you warthog from hell!”

Three more years go by and it’s 1990 and Miller’s Crossing. Some people get this film, a lot of people don’t, I consider it a masterpiece. It’s a 30s gangster film, starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Jon Polito and if you look really hard you’ll spot McDormand and Sam Raimi. And yes, Sonnenfeld and Burwell are also back. It’s an intricately plotted film with immense pleasures, not the least of which for me are the invented gangster slang (“Hello Tom, what’s the rumpus?”) and a great, hammy performance from Polito. And as always, an astonishing sequence, the attempted assassination of Finney set to the tune of Danny Boy. After Lebowski, this is the Coen film that I watch the most often. “Look in your heart!”

A year later, Barton Fink. When this first came out, very few people got it and even today I suspect most people won’t have the patience to sit through this. Ostensibly the tale of a pseudo-intellectual Jewish playwright brought out to Hollywood to write a wrestling picture for Wallace Beery, it is in fact the best screen meditation to date on writer’s block. The relatively slow pace and the lack of clarity between “real” and “fantasy” in the film probably put off a lot of people. Those who never made it to the end of this film miss an astonishing sequence – John Goodman running down a hotel hallway that’s engulfed in flames, holding a shotgun and screaming, “I’ll show you the life of the mind!” John Turturro has the title role and aside from Goodman the cast also features Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, Tony Shalhoub, Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi and the voice of Frances McDormand. The Coens were the editors, the great Roger Deakins steps in as cinematographer, Burwell is back for the soundtrack. Another masterpiece in my opinion.

The critical success of their films to date brought them big name producer Joel Silver, big star Paul Newman and what I think of as their first failure, 1994′s The Hudsucker Proxy. Done in the style of a 1930s screwball comedy, I’ve watched this two or three times and it just doesn’t work for me, though I can’t say exactly why. Along with Newman, the film stars Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh (doing a reasonably good Rosalind Russell impression), Charles Durning, John Mahoney, Bruce Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Jon Polito, John Goodman and doomed Playmate Anna Nicole Smith. The Coens co-wrote this with their friend Sam Raimi. Burwell and Deakins.

In 1996, the Coens came back from the failure of Hudsucker with their first massive public and critical success, Fargo, which brought the brothers their first Oscar for the screenplay and another Oscar went to Frances McDormand as best actress. One of the great things about this film is that the Coens didn’t go mainstream to achieve this success. This is pure Coen Brothers with all their quirky goodness, in a bloody comedy/drama about a kidnapping and murder gone very, very wrong. McDormand is wonderful here and William H. Macy is just amazing. And then you get Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Bruce Campbell and even Jose Feliciano. Burwell and Deakins again. An American classic.

Whoops, there it is. 1998′s The Big Lebowski. I’ll admit it. The first time I watched this film, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. But there was just something about the characters and the dialogue that kept pulling me back, again and again, to the point where I could probably recite the entire film by heart. There have been millions of words written on this incredibly popular and incredibly bizarre film. And what an amazing cast – the lead trio of Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi are aided, abetted and thwarted by Julianne Moore, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, Peter Stormare, Flea, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, John Turturro (nobody fucks with the Jesus), Dom Irrera, David Thewlis, Sam Elliott, Ben Gazzara, Jon Polito, Aimee Mann, Asia Carrera. Deakins and Burwell, of course. And the Coens edited under their Roderick Jaynes alias. The dude abides, as does this film.

In the year 2000, it was O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a comedy about three escaped convicts in the 1930s that the Coens swear is a remake of Homer’s Odyssey. George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Black Nelson are the three cons. The rest of the cast features Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Charles Durning and Stephen Root but the real star of this film turned out to be the soundtrack album compiled by T Bone Burnett, which won a Grammy. Roger Deakins got an Oscar nomination for the cinematography.

The following year brought a black and white film, The Man Who Wasn’t There, a critical success starring Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. If you look closely you’ll spot James Gandolfini, Jon Polito, Scarlett Johansson (who is on the receiving end of one of Thornton’s very few lines in the film, “Heavens to Betsy, Birdy!”), Tony Shalhoub and a cameo from Jennifer Jason Leigh. Burwell and Deakins again, Roderick Jaynes is co-editor. The film was not a commercial success but is well worth seeing.

2003′s Intolerable Cruelty was another star-powered comedy that simply didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s a case of the Coens picking up someone else’s story idea and screenplay, but whatever the reason, the film falls flat. But with a cast led by George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones and featuring Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Herrmann, Billy Bob Thornton and a Bruce Campbell cameo, it did well enough at the box office.

From bad to worse, 2004 saw them do their first remake – and it was a remake of a film that didn’t need remaking. They moved the locale of The Ladykillers from England to the southern U.S. But try as he might, Tom Hanks couldn’t do what Alec Guinness did. Irma P. Hall provides the few pleasures in this film. Also look for Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, George Wallace, Stephen Root and Bruce Campbell. Deakins, Burwell, Jaynes. But there’s little here that’s worth your time.

In 2007, the Coens came back from one of their worst films with one of their best, an adaptation of No Country For Old Men that hit all the right spots with the critics and the public and won 4 Oscars, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson. Burwell, Deakins and Jaynes. Bardem was easily the most menacing screen villain since Hannibal Lecter.

I have no idea why 2008′s Burn After Reading scores so highly on IMDB. I think it’s a trivial film at best, horrible at worst. I found it to be a lame comedy with Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney and John Malkovich, one of those films in which the best moments are all in the trailer.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved A Serious Man. Some nostalgia for the Midwest where they grew up, this somewhat philosophical comedy about a Jewish professor who watches his life completely unravel seems to have been inspired by the Book of Job. It’s very similar to Barton Fink in tone and pacing. Plus there’s that great opening sequence, a made-up Yiddish folk tale. You need to be patient with this one but it’s very rewarding.

When I heard that the Coens were doing a remake of True Grit, all I could think was “Why?” And then I saw it and I knew. Their first true western, reportedly more faithful to the original novel, this surpasses the John Wayne/Glen Campbell/Kim Darby film in almost every conceivable way. Jeff Bridges – the Dude as the Duke? – and Matt Damon are left standing in the giant shadow cast by the young Hailee Steinfeld. Burwell, Deakins and Jaynes. Yes, it’s a remake and yet it’s pure Coen Brothers all the way.
So there you have it. 27 years, 15 films, 10 of which I’d rate among my all-time favorites. Of course if I had to pick just one, it would be Lebowski. My #2 would depend on my mood at that particular moment. I might go for Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, Blood Simple, No Country, True Grit ……
I don’t know what the next Coen project is. There’s a screenplay called Gambit that they wrote (is it a rewrite of the old Shirley MacLaine film?) that someone else is directing. One thing’s for certain. Whatever they eventually do come out with, I’ll be first in line to see it.