Back home

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

4437 votes

In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.

Status: Released

Released Date: 2000-08-30

Runtime: 107 mins

Director: Joel Coen

Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Spoken language: English

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Crime

Original title: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Production Companies: Touchstone Pictures, Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films, Mike Zoss Productions

Production Countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America

Cast

George Clooney

John Turturro

Tim Blake Nelson

John Goodman

Holly Hunter

Chris Thomas King

Charles Durning

Del Pentecost

Michael Badalucco

J.R. Horne

Brian Reddy

Wayne Duvall

Ed Gale

Ray McKinnon

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Having just escaped from a chain gang, the eloquent “Everett” (George Clooney) and the two men who share his chain - “Pete” (John Turturro) and the not so bright “Delmar” (Tim Blake Nelson) set off on a journey to find his $1.2 millions in treasure buried in the ground in an area designated to be flooded to generate hydro-electric power. First things first, they have to get the chains off and that’s just the start of their escapades as they meet some of the eccentric folks that live in 1930s Mississippi. Along the way they encounter the mad-as-cheese bank robber “Babyface” Nelson (Michael Badalucco), distinctly dodgy bible salesman “Big Dan” (John Goodman); they meet travelling minstrel “Tommy” (Chris Thomas King) and he helps them to make a record for a blind radio host and they even manage to meet with some very tempting ladies doing their laundry on ricks in a stream! The whole thing is very, and I mean very, loosely based on Homer’s post Trojan war “Odyssey” and if you’re familiar with that text, then you can just about see the narrative as the story proceeds and certainly when you look back on it. If you don’t, well it doesn’t matter at all - this is still a comedy-laden and sharply written take on three people motivated by money in the first instance, but who come to realise that there is more to life than a dollar bill. It also transfers the ancient scenario quite entertainingly, politically, too - taking a fun pop at the gubernatorial race between an hopeless but exuberant incumbent flour merchant and the red-robed leader of the local branch of the KKK, and it also presents us with some toe-tappers from three men who work well together on a road-trip with a difference. This is probably my favourite outing for Clooney as he delivers some of his almost Homerian dialogue with charming sarcastic wit and skill. It’s enjoyable, this, and well worth a cinema viewing if you can.

2025-03-19

SoSmooth1982

Weird convicts that escape. With no money they try to find treasure. Has some weird comedy as well. Good cast though.

2023-07-21

Wuchak

_**Amusing rural Mississippi odyssey in the 30s**_ During the Depression, three guys escape a chain gang in Mississippi (George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson and John Turturro) to experience many misadventures with a blind prophet, a gifted musician (Chris Thomas King), a radio station, baby-face Nelson (Michael Badalucco), baptism in a river, “sirens,” a one-eyed Bible salesmen (John Goodman), an ex-wife (Holly Hunter), the KKK, corrupt politicians and an area with hidden treasure about to be flooded. A Coen brothers film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000) is a farcical odyssey taking place in the Deep South of the 1930s. The cast is entertaining, which also includes the likes of Daniel von Bargen. It’s quirky and amusing augmented by its setting and locations, not to mention one of my wife’s favorite movies (possibly because Clooney was in his prime). In ways, it’s like “Deliverance” (1972) if it were a comedy, just mixed with “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) and a dash of Homer’s Odyssey. I like it, but don’t love it; it’s fun, no doubt, but also kinda forgettable. Yet the song “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” is well done and catchy. The film runs 1 hour, 47 minutes, and was shot mostly in Mississippi, plus some stuff done at Universal Studios. GRADE: B-

2021-07-22

Recommendations

3.3

The Taking of Tiger Mountain

2014-12-24

Yang Zirong disguises himself as a bandit to infiltrate and destroy a bandit group. He joins hands w

Pink Tush Girl: Proposal Strategy

1980-04-26

Two high school girls graduate and one of them goes off to a rural town to join an underground dance

3.8

Lady Joker

2004-12-11

Men and women caught up in a downward spiral of corruption, discrimination, poverty and death are th

3.3

The Happy Camper

2023-02-05

When Dillon's love life falls apart she returns to her grandfather's farm in Colorado, where she wor

2.2

Confessions of a Pop Performer

1975-01-01

Either you've got it or you haven't - some like randy young Timothy Lea (Robin Askwith), manage to g

Cop Killer

1994-01-01

A woman is found murdered in a closed amusement park. A young couple who happen to be there at the s

Roseanna

1993-10-06

A young American girl is found dead in Gota Kanal, Swedens largest channel. Since there are hardly a

2.4

Butterfly

1982-02-05

Jess Tyler lives a quiet life next to an abandoned mining factory by himself in the desert. His life

3.1

The Adventures of Huck Finn

1993-04-02

Mischievous Huck Finn is unnerved when his father, reemerging after years away, kidnaps him in an at

3.3

In Search of the Castaways

1962-12-01

Two teenagers, Mary (Hayley Mills) and Robert (Keith Hamshere) are lead by Professor Paganel (Mauric

2.9

Pirates Down the Street

2020-07-01

When a pirate family's arrival shakes up a coastal town, the kids next door offer to help them blend

The Children of Captain Grant

1997-04-07

KARAPATAN

2025-02-09

In a school, a quiet one is always bullied student A classmate of his suddenly showed kindness, bu

2.5

Deadly Appearances

2000-04-23

Joanne Kilbourn, ex-detective turned university lecturer, is still haunted by the unsolved murder of

Lady Against the Odds

1992-04-20

A private detective becomes involved in a new cast when her partner's guardian is murdered.

2.9

My Man

2014-06-14

As a young child, Hana loses her family to a devastating tsunami that wipes out her town. At a shelt

Whoever You Are, Honey

On the Santa Cruz waterfront lives a young woman and her elderly roommate, an oddball pair who are t

3.4

The DUFF

2015-02-20

Bianca's universe turns upside down when she learns that her high school refers to her as a ‘DUFF' (

2.5

Emil and the Detectives

1935-02-05

Erich Kästner’s beloved novel has been adapted for film or television six times since its publicatio

3.4

The Count of Monte-Cristo

1975-10-31

A TV adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jeal