Oh Brother Where Art Thou Movie I Seen Em First Scene

May 04, 2022 Post a Comment

♫ I am a homo of constant sorrow,
I've seen trouble all my days...♫

"Yous seek a great fortune, you lot three who are now in bondage. You volition find a fortune, though it will non be the i you seek. Merely starting time... offset y'all must travel a long and hard road, a route fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell..."

—The Blind Railman

O Blood brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy motion picture written and directed past The Coen Brothers, (very) loosely based on Homer's The Odyssey.

The story follows three escaped prisoners in Depression-era Mississippi — Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro). Subsequently fleeing the chain gang, they commence on a rollicking adventure in an attempt to reach a huge stash of money that Ulysses buried in his lawn. They have only a short time to do this, though, as the backyard in question is in an area slated to be flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a reservoir.

On their journey they meet, amongst others, a blind prophet, sirens, a Cyclops, and a gifted black guitarist who "sold his soul to the devil". In their attempts to evade the authorities and reach the money, they air current up recording a hit song, robbing a bank with George "Babe Face" Nelson, encountering the KKK, and inadvertently getting mixed upwards in the state gubernatorial election. And on tiptop of all that, Ulysses must grapple with the prospect of reuniting with his lover and their children...

It was noted for the tremendous success of its soundtrack, about of which was recorded by Alison Krauss & Union Station and other country-bluegrass acts (Dan Tyminski provided Everett's singing voice).

Bonus points if you lot recognize the title from Preston Sturges' 1941 moving-picture show Sullivan's Travels.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? provides examples of:

Added Alliterative Appeal: "Songs of salvation to relieve the soul."
Agent Scully: Everett, who despite being pursued by Satan, meeting a prophet, existence seduced past sirens, and being apparently saved from execution by divine intervention, nevertheless insists that there is a reasonable explanation for everything. At least information technology's Lampshaded. And past the end, he doesn't really seem certain of himself any more after seeing the moo-cow on the roof of a shed, which the prophet told them that they would see back at the start.
Ambiguous Disorder: George Nelson shows symptoms of bipolar disorder. He's in an extreme manic episode when the protagonists encounter him, and lapses into a deep depression after someone calls him "Babyface." And so when he'south captured and facing the electric chair, equally Delmar puts it, "Looks similar George is back on meridian!"
Anachronism Stew: The Amalgamated flag did not become associated with the KKK and racists in general until the civil rights motion in the 1960s. In the 1920s and 30s, they still used the American flag.
And Your Picayune Canis familiaris, Too!: George Nelson takes a break from shooting at the cops during his getaway drive to shoot some cows.
George: Cows. I detest cows more coppers!
Arrow Catch: It looks similar Large Dan Teague is going to get skewered by the pole of a falling Confederate flag... but and so he stops the pointy tip inches from his confront by catching information technology with both hands. However, a flaming cross does him over simply after.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
- Some of Homer Stokes' accusations nearly the heroes well-nigh the end of the movie: "These boys is not white! Hell, they own't fifty-fifty old-timey."
- One of the people attending George Nelson'due south march toward the electrical chair is nearly upset virtually his having shot a cow with a tommy-gun.
At the Crossroads: The three meet Tommy here afterward he sold his soul to the devil ("I wasn't usin' it for nothin'") to go a famous musician; this is based on the existent life Tommy Johnson who was the originator of the story. Yes, he did information technology before Robert Johnson.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: Pappy'south son offers one of his brighter options to beat Stokes in that they could get a dwarf fifty-fifty stumpier than his. Pappy angrily shoots it down, pointing out that Follow the Leader at this betoken would just brand them look similar even bigger laughingstocks and pathetically drastic for any points, bold that they could even find a stumpier dwarf.
Conventionalities Makes You Stupid: Everett repeatedly chides people for their religious faith. Examples:
- When Everett witnesses a riverside baptism service, he comments: "Well, I guess hard times flush out the chumps; everybody'due south lookin' for answers."
- After Everett's travel companions become baptized themselves, Everett remarks; "Baptism! Yous two are dumber than a bag of hammers."
- Toward the end of the picture, when facing his own death, Everett falls on his knees and repents of his sins earlier God. Later he is delivered from death (thanks to a sudden and massive alluvion of water), Everett discounts his conversion by noting that "any man existence will cast about in a moment of stress." When his companions proclaim that the flood was an human activity of God, Everett comments, "Again, you lot hayseeds are showin' your want for intellect." (Notation: Everett'due south watery salvation functions every bit a clever twist on Decease by Irony. Deliverance by Irony, possibly? Miraculous Baptism?)
Berserk Button:
- Don't call George Nelson "Babyface" ("He's a live wire, ain't he?"). Truth in Television with the real George Nelson.
  - Perchance an inverted trope, equally he'south already an established madman, and calling him "Babyface" actually shatters his ego, lowering his cocky-esteem.
- Also, Pete doesn't take kindly to people stealing from his kin.
- Don't bother offering Everett Fop. He's a Dapper Dan human!
Bewitched Amphibians: Delmar is at ane point convinced that Pete was transformed into a frog.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Homer Stokes seems similar a nice enough guy and possibly a better governor than Pappy O'Daniel. And and so we see him leading a Ku Klux Klan rally...
Blackness-and-Gray Morality:
- The protagonists exist on the gray side. Three escaped convicts and a musician who sold his soul to the Devil ("I wasn't using information technology"). Everett is a consummate liar who tricked the others into thinking that there was treasure so they would aid him escape prison house in time to stop his wife from remarrying. Pete is loyal to his friends and family, though he is a flake violent. Delmar and Tommy are genuinely nice fellows, merely Delmar did in fact rob a Piggly Wiggly and lie virtually it, while Tommy ran off on his own when there was trouble.
- Pappy O'Daniel and Penny are slightly further downward, but still grayness. Pappy is rude, selfish, and opportunistic. However, co-ordinate to him, he tried everything he could to assist the people that now support Homer Stokes. He too has no trouble with the Soggy Bottom Boys including a blackness guitarist, even smiling when he notes "folks don't seem to mind they's integrated." Penny told her daughters that their begetter was hit by a train. Just, given that Everett is a conman and a convict, she is right that remarrying the wealthy and "bona fide" Waldrip is probably best for her daughters.
- The antagonists are firmly on the black side of things. The Sheriff does a groovy deal of damage in his pursuit of the protagonists, threatening to hang Pete if he doesn't give up his friends' destination. He also tries to hang them fifty-fifty subsequently they were pardoned, and includes Tommy in the hanging only for associating with them. Likewise, he might be Satan. Big Dan Teague is a conman worse than Everett: he assaults Everett and Delmar for their money, and later participates in a lynch mob. Homer Stokes presents himself as the "servant of the piddling human being", simply it turns out that he's a M Dragon of the KKK, leading the lynch mob to kill Tommy. And, finally, how on earth did Waldrip know that Tommy had sold his soul to the devil?
Blatant Lies: "That ain't your daddy. Your daddy was hit past a train."
Blind Seer: Lampshaded by Everett, who insists that the man has a Inability Superpower.
Bookends: The film opens with a chain gang together working most a railroad runway and singing. Soon after escaping the concatenation gang, the protagonists run across the blind prophet on a push-car. The movie closes with Everett and Penny'south daughters tied together by twine walking over a railroad runway and singing. And the blind prophet can be seen passing by on the tracks.
Suspension Away Popular Hit:
- The soundtrack had its own sequels.
- In-movie likewise, since the Soggy Bottom Boys' singing is so good that information technology helps resolve the plot.
Brick Joke:
- Afterward mocking Delmar and Pete for being baptized early in the moving-picture show, skeptic Everett admits his failings and begs for mercy in a Not-So-Final Confession at the gallows. He is so forcibly immersed by the floodwaters, and everyone is saved. Literally.
- Early in the moving-picture show Everett, Delmar and Pete meet a blind prophet who claims, "You volition come across thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall meet a cow on the roof of a cotton fiber business firm." At the end of the movie, they do indeed see a cow on a cotton house roof.
Censorship by Spelling: Sort of. I character wants to preclude his son from knowing that his mother left the family unit, and then he but says "Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-Northward-O-F-T." Subverted after on, in that the kid knew exactly what he was talking about, anyhow.
Chained Estrus: The three convicts are chained together for awhile at the beginning.
Chekhov's Gun: Everett's pomade, peculiarly its distinctive smell, which lets the Sheriff rails them down.
Cloudcuckoolander: Delmar "We Thought You Was a Toad" O'Donnell.
Color Wash: The hue and saturation of the flick was messed with until everything was an intensely colorful brown, imitating the look of sepia-toned photos. Without this, the Mississippi (and S Carolina, for some scenes) summer landscape would have been a brilliant light-green, which the creators said was too bright for the Depression era Dust Bowl-type feel they were going for.
Comically Missing the Point:
- After they get escape and don't quite make it onto the railroad train, Everett and Pete both think they should be the one in charge.
Pete: Well, I recall information technology should exist yours truly!
Everett: Well, I think it should be yours truly, too!
Beat They turn and look at Delmar.
Delmar: Okay, I'm with you fellers.
- When Everett admits he fabricated the treasure up to convince his chainmates — i.e., Pete and Delmar — to help him escape, Pete realizes that l years will be added to each of their sentences for fleeing the concatenation gang, and that he won't get out of prison until he's 84 years old. Delmar happily chimes in, "Well, I'll but be 82!"
- Likewise, when Pete responds to Delmar'south whispered "We thought you lot was a toad" line with a dislocated Flat "What", Delmar repeats the whisper more slowly and emphatically.
Comic Trio: Everett is The Leader, Delmar is The Fool, and Pete is the Only Sane Man (compared to the other two, at least).
Community-Threatening Construction: Ulysses Everett McGill needs to remember a treasure cached in the backyard of his former house. Yet, the area is scheduled to be flooded past Tennessee Valley Say-so's damming activity. In this case, Ulysses doesn't ever try to prevent the construction (in fact, he sees it as the Dawn of an Era) — it merely serves every bit an inexorable deadline for Ulysses and his partners to achieve the homestead.
Contrived Coincidence: Of course the guy the KKK decides to lynch is the one our heroes know and are on friendly terms with. Not too contrived, though, if you know your history. Being an unemployed black man was a crime only slightly worse than beingness an employed black man in the South.
Decadent Hick: The insanely corrupt Large Dan Teague. Who is channeling the cyclops Polyphemus.
Crush the Keepsake: Big Dan attacks Ulysses and Delmar to encounter what it is they're carrying. When he sees it'southward just a toad (they thought Pete had been turned into one), he crushes it in front of them.
Cult Soundtrack: The soundtrack album is regarded as one of the nearly of import Country and Bluegrass albums of the decade and sold over 7 million copies. It likewise won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002, making it one of but three soundtracks to e'er win that award.
Dawn of an Era: Everett'southward view of the building of a hydroelectric dam, which saves his and his friend's lives:
Everett: No, the fact is, they're flooding this valley then they can hydroelectric upwardly the whole durn state. Yep, sir, the South is gonna alter. Everything'southward gonna exist put on electricity and run on a paying basis. Out with the onetime spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the astern ways. We're gonna come across a brave new earth where they run everybody a wire and hook usa all upwardly to a grid. Yes, sir, a veritable age of reason. Like the one they had in French republic." *He sees the moo-cow that the blind soothsayer prophesized* "Non a moment too soon..."
Deal with the Devil: Tommy Johnson traded his soul to the devil at the crossroads for his guitar skills.
Decease past Childbirth: Pappy mentions that Junior's mother died giving nativity to him.
Deep South: Much of the film takes place in Dust Basin-era Mississippi.
Deliberately Monochrome: Of the sepia variety, run into Existent Is Brown beneath.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: The most notable being the scene where Pappy is because using the Soggy Bottom Boys to help his campaign and snub Homer Stokes, his son points out that the band'south integrated and they're a Deep South state. Afterwards a moment to watch the cheering crowd, Pappy decides to go alee with it by noting information technology seems the public doesn't care about the integration.
Deus ex Machina: The flooding happens at exactly the right time to save them all from being hanged. Perhaps a literal example, but it'southward foreshadowed enough that it doesn't break the plot even if the viewer doesn't interpret it as spiritual.
Did Not Die That Fashion: He didn't die at all, Everett finds out his wife has told his daughters that he got hit by a train, rather than tell them he was sent to jail.
Disney Death: Pete was believed to have transformed into a Toad past the launderer sirens, so they take him in a box. The toad was and so killed by Big Dan Teague by being crushed, and his friends were physically incapable of stopping his death because they were beaten to bloody pulps. It was later on revealed that the toad was actually not Pete, nor was he fifty-fifty transformed into a toad. Turns out those "launderer sirens" actually delivered him to Sheriff Cooley's men for the reward, and is now a prisoner back at the farm.
The Ditz: Delmar.
Empty Piles of Vesture: This (and a toad) causes Delmar to assume Pete's been turned into a toad.
Eyepatch of Power: Large Dan Teague.
Expy: A number of characters serve as references to characters out of the Odyssey or Greek mythology more mostly: Ulysses Everett McGill is of course Odysseus (Ulysses being the Roman version of the proper noun Odysseus) who is trying to get home to his married woman Penelope (Penny), Pete and Delmar are the notoriously fractious and uncontrollable crew of Odysseus, the three women bathing and singing in the river are the Sirens, Big Dan Teague is the cyclops Polyphemous, and the blind man in the beginning is the blind prophet Tiresias. There's fifty-fifty a man named Menelaus! But he's non an expy (run across Historical Domain Character below).
Faux Band: The Soggy Bottom Boys.
Fan Disservice: The Sirens, in addition to being generally beautiful, all article of clothing moisture dresses so you can encounter their lingerie. Withal, combined with the creepy song they keep singing, and the fact that one of them is forcing a drug down Everett's pharynx, yous can't help but experience there'southward something off about the whole matter. That's because they're seducing them to beguile them to the Sheriff.
Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Conform: Several. Almost notably, Governor Pappy O'Daniel (for the mildly corrupt version) and Large Dan Teague (for the insanely corrupt version).
Faux Affably Evil: Big Dan Teague, who engages the boys in friendly chat earlier beating them up and robbing them. He's also a fellow member of the KKK.
Offset Father Wins: Everett's ex-married woman has told his daughters he's dead due to his lack of steady employment and criminal behavior, and Everett must notice his way and win them back before she marries a successful merely stodgy political advisor.
Flat "What": A silent i from Pete when Delmar tells him he idea he turned into a toad.
Friend to All Living Things: Delmar, or butterflies at the least.
Freudian Trio: Everett (Superego, uses logic and reason); Pete (Id, relies mostly on instinct and opposes Everett); Delmar (Ego, acts every bit a peacekeeper between the two).
Funny Background Outcome:
- Everett, Delmar, and Pete are all chained together, and try to escape by boarding a moving train. In the foreground we come across Everett (on the train) introducing himself to some hobos. In the background, Pete trips before he can climb in...
- As well, Pete's gloriously goofy dancing during Delmar'due south rendition of "In the Jailhouse At present."
- Background singing — in Homo of Constant Sorrow, Everett finishes singing a depressing stanza that ends in the line "perhaps I'll die upon this train..." and Delmar and Pete chime in with a cheery "Perhaps he'll dice upon this railroad train!"
Genre-Busting: It's a musical/comedy/social commentary/retelling of The Odyssey... that's fix in The Peachy Depression.
Adept Quondam Fisticuffs: Vernon gives Ulysses a good old-timey ass-whoopin' in the Woolworth's. Vernon manifestly has some training in the pugilistic arts, whereas Ulysses... not so much.
Historical Domain Character: Several appear in the pic, though the details of their lives are skewed for the sake of the story. They include bank robber George "Babyface" Nelson, Blues musician Tommy Johnson, and politician W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. The latter arguably undergoes the most changes, having his commencement name changed to Menelaus equally a nod to The Odyssey and being governor of Mississippi rather than Texas, while the former died 3 years earlier the moving picture'south setting and was The Napoleon in real life ("George Nelson" was also an alias, for what it'southward worth).
Historical In-Joke: A great deal of the humor in this film is derived from these.
Hobos: "Any of you fellas smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced y'all into a life of bumming wanderin'?"
Hypocritical Humor:
- Everett, clearly touched past his encounter with the blind seer, goes on at length nigh how the blind are possibly attuned to the future and hold the souvenir of prophecy, to account for their lack of vision. When Pete points out that the time to come he foretold was ane where they wouldn't get the treasure they sought, Everett shoots back in frustration, "Well, what the hell does he know?! He's an ignorant sometime man!"
- Simply every bit he is well-nigh to be executed, Everett prays to God to let him see his daughters at to the lowest degree one more than time. When the dam breaks and saves him, he starts going on about reason. The other two immediately call him out on it.
Implacable Man: The Sheriff. Zippo volition stop him from bringing downwards the main trio. Not even a pardon from the governor himself.
Inspector Javert: The Sheriff characterizes himself this way at the very terminate, claiming that the boys have merely been pardoned by the law of homo.
Informed Aspect: This applies to the Governor, while Homer Stokes runs on a reform platform, calling O'Daniel a tool of the interests. The audition, who doesn't see that much of the Governor, never sees him do much beside swear at and set on his aides with his hat.
Insane Troll Logic: Committed past Everett, called out by Pete.
Pete: You stole from my kin!
Everett: Who was fixin' to betray u.s.a..
Pete: Yous didn't know that at the time!
Everett: So I borrowed it 'til I did know!
Pete: That don't make no sense!
Everett: Pete, it'south a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the man heart.
Ironic Nursery Tune: The siren-seduction scene, to "Didn't Exit Nobody But The Infant" Too a rare case of erotic horror.
Jerkass: Pappy O'Daniel, oh and so much. Even though he'due south the one who pardons our main characters, pregnant they no longer have to be outlaws, it'southward solely for his ain reelection campaign.
Wiggle with a Heart of Gold: Everett. He'due south greedy, deceitful, sneaky, and arrogant but truly does treat his friends and loves his daughters dearly. When all hope seems lost and he starts praying; Everett prays for anybody else's safety and happiness, only request that his own life be spared then that his daughters can have a father to look later them.
Kick the Dog: Big Dan beats up Everett and Delmar, steals their coin, and crushes their frog whom Delmar thinks is Pete in front end of them.
Kids Driving Cars: Everett, Pete, and Delmar manage to escape from a called-for barn when Male child Hogwallop bursts through the befouled door in his dad's automobile and offers them a lift. Since Boy is quite small, he uses a brick to weigh down the accelerator. Later on, Everett steals the car, leaving Male child to curse him, Pete and Delmar as he walks dorsum to his dad's farm.
The Klan: Appears as enemies near the end of the moving picture, equally Everett, Pete, and Delmar must rescue their friend Tommy from the Klan.
The Lancer: Pete.
Big and in Charge: Governor Pappy O'Daniel. "We're mass communicatin'!"
Large Ham:
- Homer Stokes. It's particularly noticeable in the scene where he leads a KKK rally. Of course, information technology makes sense, given that he'south running for governor and a talent for public oratory would help him a lot.
- George "Babyface" Nelson. "I'M FEELING TEN FEET Tall!"
Louis Cypher: The Sheriff who is chasing after them is implied, and even theorized to be by the characters, to be this. His Scary Shiny Spectacles reflect fire a lot.
Lyrical Dissonance: The Soggy Bottom Boys' extremely cheerful, upbeat rendition of "Man of Constant Sorrow".
Magic Realism: There are more than than a few downright mystical occurrences in the film, such as the prophet, the sirens, the strong implication that the Warden is Satan, and God saving the protagonists at the climax.
Meaningful Proper name: In a story based off The Odyssey, the main character's name is Ulysses.
- Likewise the Governor, whose proper name is Menalaus, although that's a lilliputian more The Iliad.
Misspelling Out Loud: "Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-Due north-N-O-F-T."
Mistaken for Transformed: Played for Laughs when the escaped convicts wake upward after drinking with some strange women by the river, notice Pete gone and a toad in his abandoned clothes, and bound to the determination that he was Baleful Polymorphed. They keep the toad for a while earlier finding out that the women actually sold Pete to the police force.
Delmar: Them si-reens did this to Pete! They loved him upwards and turned him into a h-horny toad!
Musical World Hypotheses: Diegetic all the way through, making its nomenclature as a musical to begin with dubious to some.
Mythical Motifs: While the film doesn't follow The Odyssey to the alphabetic character, it does borrow some notable plot elements from it, such equally the Cyclops, the sirens, and one of the master characters trying to go domicile to his wife so she won't marry someone else.
Mythology Gag: Big Dan the cyclops looks like he'south going to lose his eye to a flung Confederate flag spear, much similar Polyphemus, only he manages to catch it between his hands at the last moment. And then the gang cuts down the fiery cross, which falls on height of him, almost certainly called-for his eye out and preserving a piece of the narrative.
Never Trust a Championship: No, the three main characters are not brothers, nor are they trying to notice their long-lost brother. The title is really a reference to an old movie.
No Animals Were Harmed: The cow that was run over past the cops in pursuit of Babe Face Nelson was CGI, which resulted in the rare annex to the warning, "No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Any scenes showing animals in jeopardy were simulated."
No Celebrities Were Harmed: In that location really was a Depression-era Governor named Pappy O'Daniel, but his given proper noun was Wilbert Lee O'Daniel; in the moving-picture show the governor'southward real first name is Menelaus (some other Homer reference). Also the existent O'Daniel was governor of Texas, non Mississippi.
Not His Sled: The expected fate of John Goodman's "cyclops" is deliberately referenced and then avoided. Then happens slightly differently anyway.
Oh, Crap!:
- Teague's reaction when he realizes that the fiery cross was coming down directly at him.
- Homer Stokes' reaction when he realizes that the town, later on his attempt at getting the Soggy Lesser Boys arrested failed, is now going to run him out of town on a runway as revenge for interrupting the operation.
- Finally, the tiresome, dawning realization in the climax that the Warden fully intends to lynch them on the spot, despite the fact that they were given a pardon, and, likewise, murder Tommy, just for being there.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Toward the terminate of the movie, the fugitive "Soggy Lesser Boys" perform "In the Jailhouse Now" and "Homo of Constant Sorrow" while disguised with false beards. Lampshaded afterward, when their performance wins over the crowd and Everett deliberately yanks his beard off for a moment to show Penny who he is.
The Pardon: Granted but ignored.
Pedal-to-the-Metal Shot: Parodied. The boy who helps our heroes escape a burning barn in a Ford Model A has fruit crates strapped to his shoes. What's more, the automobile can't go very fast anyway, and then breaks down shortly after their escape.
Politically Correct History: Zig-zagged. The white heroes refer to Tommy as a "boy," but otherwise care for him as an equal. The radio station manager insists that he won't play "colored songs," but one time the "Soggy Bottom Boys" become popular he's ecstatic about them and signs them. Pappy O'Daniel doesn't seem to care that "they'southward integrated" afterward seeing how a oversupply adores them and boots out his gubernatorial opponent for interrupting them. The KKK is shown in all its theatrically racist glory, but is also portrayed every bit a fringe organization that is not looked upon favorably by the common townsfolk. This portrayal has some basis in reality, as by the 1930s the second Klan'due south membership had dwindled compared to its heyday in the mid-1920s ^annotation Specifically, the murder of Madge Oberholtzer in 1925 caused members to leave in droves; membership connected to turn down until the Civil Rights Motion started gaining momentum in the 1950s, only they accept never come close to the level seen in the twenties. Information technology should be noted, all the same, that Homer Stokes feels perfectly comfy announcing to a roomful of people that he belongs to an organization, flash-wink-nudge-nudge, that engages in cross-called-for and lynching, and expects the audience to understand with him when he attacks people for stopping a lynching. It'southward not difficult to gauge that the only reason he's booed is because the people he's accusing happen to be a very popular music band, not considering of general principle.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Homer Stokes, candidate for governor past day, Klansman by nighttime.
Popculture Osmosis: The Coens have claimed that they've never actually read The Odyssey, but know the story through its various adaptations.
Produce Rain: What the audience does when Homer Stokes ends upwards interrupting the Soggy Lesser Boys performance to get them arrested, that equally well every bit ride him out of town on a rail.
Real Is Dark-brown: Pursued with a vengeance, given that a substantial portion of the moving picture's post-production budget went into extensive color-correction. The Coens wanted every frame of the film to reflect the dingy, withered dustbowl look, and in some cases took entire fields of green flora and turned them yellow.
Reduced to Ratburgers: Pete and Delmar cook a gopher and offering it to Everett. He doesn't seem very enticed by the notion — not because of their option of nutrient, but considering splitting such a modest animal iii ways wouldn't be much of a repast. Delmar heads him off with news that they actually caught and cooked quite a few gophers, then Everett can have the whole matter.
Retirony: Of a sort. Pete was two weeks from being released from prison anyway. Now that he'south escaped, he'll have to serve another 50 years and won't get out until 1987.
Road Trip Plot: The convicts are trying to become from their escape from the concatenation gang to Everett'south undercover stash, encountering many obstacles and interesting characters along the way.
Rock Me, Asmodeus!: "And I have it from the highest 'thority, that that negra... sold his soul to the Devil!!!" ^note The townsfolk don't buy into it, though.
Running Gag:
"Damn, we're in a tight spot!"
- Everett's obsession with his Dapper Dan pomade also counts, too equally his reflexive worrying about his hair whenever something wakes him in the eye of his sleep.
- The abiding reference to Everett supposedly being hit by a train once he reunited with some of his daughters.
Satanic Archetype: Sheriff Cooley fits Tommy Johnson's description of the Devil exactly: "He's white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow vocalisation. He likes to travel effectually with a mean sometime hound." However, upon seeing him at the terminate of the motion-picture show, Tommy doesn't seem to discover.
Saved by the Coffin: After the valley floods, the protagonists cling to ane of the coffins the sheriff was planning to coffin them in.
Scary Shiny Glasses: The Sheriff/Warden/Devil wears these.
Seinfeldian Conversation:
- This mannerly example:
  "He'south gonna paddle our little behind."
  "Ain't gonna paddle it — gonna kick it. Real difficult."
  "No, I believe he's gonna paddle it."
  "I don't believe that's a proper description."
  "Well, that's how I'd characterize it."
  "I believe it's more of a kickin' sitchiation."
- The word of a "grease spot on the L&N" and a "bona-fide" suitor ranks correct up at that place too.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness:
- Everett. For case, from the Funny Background Outcome described to a higher place:
  Everett: Say, any of you fellas happen to be smithies? If non smithies per se, perhaps you trained in the metallurgical arts earlier straitened circumstances led you to a life of aimless wandering?
- Likewise Big Dan Teague:
  Big Dan Teague: And give thanks you for that conversational hiatus. I generally refrain from speech communication while engaged in gustation. In that location are those who effort both at the aforementioned time; I discover it coarse and vulgar.
Shout-Out:
- The film'due south title is itself a Shout-Out to Preston Sturges' Sullivan'southward Travels.
- The entire plot contains various shout outs to the Greek epic poem The Odyssey past Homer. The principal protagonist is named Ulysses in both stories, has to get home to prevent his wife from marrying someone else, and they come across singing women who seduce them (the Sirens) and a i-eyed behemothic man (the cyclops). The reform candidate is named Homer Stokes, referencing the author Homer. The blind railroad man predicting events references Tiresias, while the blind radio station manager references Homer again, who was also said to be blind.
- Tommy'south Bargain with the Devil is a reference to a like deal supposedly made past real-life bluesman Robert Johnson. (Or perchance Tommy Johnson, depending on whom y'all ask.) And the song that Chris Thomas Male monarch performs during the campfire scene is "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues," originally by Johnson's contemporary Skip James.
- Not to mention that a man named Ulysses meets a guitarist at a Crossroads.
- The KKK scene is based off of the scene in The Wizard of Oz where the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin can Man try to sneak into the witch's castle. The guards are chanting the way the KKK does and even doing a like dance, and the iii heroes steal disguises from the guards/KKK.
- The Soggy Bottom Boys are a reference to the Light Chaff Doughboys, who were featured on the real-life Pappy O'Daniel's radio show, and/or the Foggy Mount Boys (founded by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs).
- There'due south a coffin floating on a flooded river at the finish, which is virtually certainly a Shout-Out to William Faulkner'southward As I Lay Dying. And they employ information technology as a raft.
- Sheriff Cooley looks and dresses very similarly to Boss Godfrey in Cool Mitt Luke, correct down to his Scary Shiny Glasses.
- George Clooney's performance as Everett owes more than than a little to Clark Gable.
- A throwaway gag may be a shout-out to Porky Pig:
  Everett: Well, we are negroes, sir. All except for our air-conditioning-c-c-c... our ac-c-c-c... uh, the homo who plays the guitar.
- "Is you is, or is you ain't, my constituency?" ^note ...my baby
Sold His Soul for a Donut: The principal characters come across a young musician who claims to take sold his soul to be able to play the guitar really well. Delmar, who recently had a religious experience, is disappointed by the thought of selling a soul for and so little.
Something We Forgot: The trio arrive at the motel in the valley to recollect Penny'southward ring, forgetting that Sheriff Cooley had earlier learned of the location by torturing Pete and is now lying in look for them.
Sophisticated as Hell: Many of the characters in a patchily educated way, but mostly Everett. "I'1000 the goddamn paterfamilias!"
Source Music: All the music in the film is diegetic.
Stout Strength: Big Dan Teague.
Stern Chase: The Warden's search for the three convicts.
The Stool Pigeon: Pete ends up becoming a Lacerated Larry after the "Sireens" basically turned him over to the sheriff's men for a bounty (which initially led them to believe that Pete was actually turned into a frog due to it beingness in his apparel).
Surrounded by Idiots: Pappy O'Daniel'south cronies and son are sycophantic yes-men who are a bit slow on the uptake, and Pappy is painfully aware of this. This is most likely the reason he tries to convince Vernon T. Waldrip to get out Stokes' campaign and join his.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Who is that human being?" "Non my hubby." Also doubles as a Shout-Out to the source material.
Symbolic Baptism: Played for Laughs when the escaped convicts Pete and Delmar stumble onto a grouping baptism in a river and bound at the chance to start over with a clean slate... which more often than not ways doing exactly what they were before. They're also a bit dislocated to hear that information technology doesn't actually do annihilation for their criminal records.
Delmar: Only they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.
Everett: Even if information technology did put y'all square with the Lord, the state of Mississippi's a little more than hard-nosed.
- Everett is then even more symbolically baptized when he gives his Not-And then-Final Confession, on his knees praying for conservancy... when the damming of the river floods the valley and sweeps away not merely sins, just sinners, and houses.
Those 2 Guys: Pappy'southward two advisors, see the Seinfeldian Chat higher up.
Trail of Bread Crumbs: How the sheriff keeps finding Everett. Everett'south a Dapper Dan human, going through obscene amounts of the stuff whenever he can get a hold of it. The sheriff'southward bloodhound tin rail him hands.
Travel Montage: We become a series of scenes showing the trio making their style beyond Mississippi, stealing a motorcar, stealing a pie (Delmar pays for it), telling scary stories around the campfire (hook-handed man)...
True Companions: Everett, Pete, Delmar, and Tommy.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
- The banking concern customers at the robbery seem to be rather non-plussed by all the shooting.
- Everett himself is rather not-plussed by Large Dan beating the hell out of Delmar with a tree branch until Big Dan starts attacking him.
Upper-Form Twit: Pappy O'Daniel'southward son.
The Vamp: The three sirens.
Villainous Glutton: Large Dan Teague, every bit befits his correspondence with the cyclops Polyphemus.
Villainous Breakdown: "Babyface" Nelson and Homer Stokes.
- Nelson gets improve...sort of.
- "MY Name IS GEORGE NELSON, AND I'Grand FEELIN' Ten Feet TALL!"
Villain with Good Publicity: Homer Stokes, oh so much.
Wardens Are Evil: The Sheriff. While at the beginning he is in the right to hunt down Everett, Pete, and Delmar (because of them being fugitives), he goes for overkill tactics like burning down a befouled with them inside. He insists that he answers to a higher law than man'southward (and then he will merely go on coming no matter what), and the moment he makes it clear that he will see them all hang even if they are at present pardoned (and he volition kill Tommy for no reason other than him being there with the fugitives), he crosses the Moral Result Horizon hard. That he is a Satanic Archetype doesn't help any.
Warm Identify, Warm Lighting: The film uses an extreme yellow filter throughout that makes what were green fields await yellow. While it gives the motion picture a cornball sepia experience, it besides accentuates the fact that the story takes place in sweltering rural Mississippi in the middle of summertime.
Wedding Ring Removal: Equally the guys come across the singing sirens, Everett, in the background, pulls his wedding ring off right before the girls come up over and beginning getting cozy with them.
Whole Plot Reference: Loosely, to The Odyssey.
Working on the Concatenation Gang: The story begins with Everett, Pete, and Delmar escaping from this while chained to each other. Pete, at one point, is recaptured and put back to piece of work on the concatenation gang and has to be broken out of prison again.