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[[File:o_brother_p.jpg|frame|After a half-century of waiting, we finally get to see that Great Depression epic!]]
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Written and directed by [[The Coen Brothers]], three [[The Great Depression|Depression-era]] [[Deep South|Mississippi]] prison fugitives go on a rollicking adventure in an attempt to reach the money buried by one of them in his back yard. 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 damming activities of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The story is (very) loosely [[Twice-Told Tale|based]] on Homer's ''[[
Bonus points if you recognize the title from the 1941 [[Preston Sturges]]' film ''[[
{{tropelist}}
* [[Agent Scully]]: Despite being pursued by Satan, meeting a prophet, being seduced by sirens, and
▲* [[Agent Scully]]: Despite being pursued by Satan, meeting a prophet, being seduced by sirens, and {{spoiler|being apparently saved from execution by divine intervention}}, Everett still insists that there is a reasonable explanation for everything. At least it's [[Lampshaded]].
** And by the end, he doesn't really seem sure of himself any more.
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: "These boys is ''not'' white! Hell, they ain't even old-timey."
* [[At the Crossroads]]: The three meet Tommy here after he [[Deal
** It's actually based on Tommy Johnson, who originated the story. Robert Johnson stole this story (and is more famous), but
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Not really, but it's what Delmar believes the sirens do to Pete.
* [[Berserk Button]]: [[My Name Is Not Durwood|George "Babyface" Nelson]]. [[Truth in Television]] with the real George Nelson.
** Also, Pete doesn't take kindly to people stealing from his kin.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Sort of. Delmar {{spoiler|is the only member of the group to turn and attack Big Dan head-on when Dan shows his [[True Colors]]
* [[Blatant Lies]]: "That ain't your daddy. Your daddy was hit by a train."
* [[Blind Seer]]: Lampshaded by Everett, who insists the man has a [[Disability Superpower]].
* [[Book Ends]]: The film opens with a chain gang together working near a railroad track and singing. The film closes with
* [[Breakaway Pop Hit]]: The soundtrack had its own sequels.
** In-movie also, since the Soggy Bottom Boys' singing is [[Lampshade Hanging|so good]] it helps resolve the plot.
* [[Brick Joke]]: The blind prophet at the beginning of the film mentions the trio will see a cow on the roof of a cotton house. Guess what they see after
** There's also a very subtle example that probably went over the head of most viewers. John Goodman's character is clearly modeled on the cyclops of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', with his eye patch and his violent confrontation with the heroes. Goodman's character is later revealed to be a member of the Klan. Though unmentioned in the film, one of the Klan's rankings is "Grand Cyclops
* [[Burn, Baby, Burn]]
* [[The Cast Showoff]]: Real-life blues singer Chris Thomas King plays Tommy, and at one point gets to sing (in his own voice) a rendition of Skip James' "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
* [[Censorship
* [[Chained Heat]]
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Everett's pomade, particularly its distinctive smell, which lets the Sheriff track them down.
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* [[Color Wash]]: They messed with the hue and saturation until everything was an intensely colorful brown, imitating the look of sepia-toned photos.
* [[Corrupt Hick]]: The insanely corrupt Big Dan Teague. Who is channeling the cyclops Polyphemus.
* [[Cult Soundtrack]]: The soundtrack album is [https://web.archive.org/web/20100119010448/http://blog.rhapsody.com/2009/11/countdec.html regarded] as one of the most important Country and Bluegrass albums of the decade and sold over 7 million copies. It also won the [[Grammy Award]] for Album of the Year in 2002, making it one of only three soundtracks to ever win that award.
* [[Deal
* [[Deep South]]
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: Of the sepia variety, see [[Real Is Brown]] below.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|The flooding happens at ''exactly'' the right time to save them all from being hanged
* [[Disney Death]]: Pete was believed to have transformed into a Toad by the launderer sirens, so they take him in a box. The toad was then 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 revealed that the toad was actually ''not'' Pete, nor was he even transformed by 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 Clothing]]: This (and a toad) cause the other two to assume Pete's been turned into a toad.
* [[Enthralling Siren]]: The three washerwomen are the siren stand-ins.
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: Big Dan Teague.
* [[Fairy Tale Motifs]]: Well, more like Mythology Motifs, but whatever.
* [[Fake Band]]: The Soggy Bottom Boys.
* [[Fat Sweaty Southerner in
* [[First Father Wins]]
* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Delmar, or butterflies at the least.
* [[Funny Background Event]]: Everett, Delmar, and Pete are all chained together, and try to escape by boarding a moving train. In the foreground we see Everett (on the train) introducing himself to some hobos. In the background, Pete trips before he can climb in...
** Also, Pete's gloriously goofy dancing during Delmar's rendition of "In the Jailhouse Now
** Background singing - in ''Man 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 die upon this train!"
* [[Genre Busting]]: It's a musical/comedy/social commentary/retelling of ''[[
* [[Go Out
* [[Historical In-Joke]]
* [[Hobos]]
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: {{spoiler|Just before he's executed, Everett prays to God to let him see his daughters at least one more 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]]:
* [[Inspector Javert]]: The Sheriff tries to characterize himself this way at the very end, claiming that the boys have only been pardoned by the law of man.▼
** Not exactly tries, considering he's... [[Louis Cypher|well]]...▼
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Everett.
** Well, [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|he's smarter than Delmar or Pete...]]
▲* [[Inspector Javert]]: The Sheriff tries to characterize himself this way at the very end, claiming that the boys have only been pardoned by the law of man.
▲** Not exactly tries, considering he's... [[Louis Cypher|well]]...
* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: The siren-seduction scene, to "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" Also a rare case of erotic [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* [[The Lancer]]: Pete.
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* [[Magic Realism]]: There are more than a few downright mystical occurrences in the film, such as the prophet, the sirens, and the strong implication that the Warden is Satan.
** The way the movie is framed - it starts with a scene of a generic chain gang with no main characters in it, singing as they break rocks, then cuts to black before the actual movie begins - gives rise to [[Wild Mass Guessing|the theory]] that the entire story is being presented as a myth, a subject of chain gang songs, as opposed to "real" events. The pointedly non-realistic bent of many of the movie's events (the KKK marching in a chorus line?) would seem to indicate this.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: In a story based off ''[[
* [[Musical World Hypotheses]]: Diegetic all the way through, making its classification as a musical to begin with dubious to some.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: There really was a Depression-era Governor named Pappy O'Daniel, but his given name was Wilbert Lee O'Daniel; in the film the governor's real first name is Menelaus (another Homer reference). Also the real O'Daniel was governor of Texas, not Mississippi.
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** Also, Homer Stokes' reaction when he realizes that the town, after his attempt at getting the Soggy Bottom Boys arrested failed, is now going to run him out of town on a rail as revenge for interrupting the performance.
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Toward the end of the movie, the fugitive "Soggy Bottom Boys" perform while disguised with false beards. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] later, when their performance wins over the crowd and Everett deliberately yanks his beard off for a moment.
* [[Politically
** Perhaps it was thanks to the [[Power of Rock|Power of Bluegrass]] that was able to sway their minds?
*** More likely that the townsfolk were more upset by Stokes interrupting the Soggy Bottom Boys' performance by trying to have them arrested and didn't care what else he said.
* [[Politically-Incorrect Villain]]
** Note that in 1932 Mississippi,
* [[Pop
* [[Produce Pelting]]: What the audience does when Homer Stokes ends up interrupting the Soggy Bottom Boys performance to get them arrested, that as well as ride him out of town on a rail.
* [[Real Is Brown]]: Pursued with a vengeance, given that a substantial portion of the film's post-production budget went into extensive color-correction. The Coens wanted every frame of the film to reflect the dingy, withered
* [[Rock Me, Asmodeus]]: "And I have it from the highest 'thority, that that negra...''sold his soul to the'' '''Devil!!!'''" (the townsfolk don't buy into it, though).
* [[Running Gag]]: Briefly.
{{quote|
** Everett's obsession with his Dapper Dan <s> hair gel</s> pomade also counts.
* [[Satan]]: Sheriff Cooley is <s> heavily implied</s> explicitly theorized to be this.
* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: The Sheriff/Warden/
* [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]: This charming example:
{{quote|
"Ain't gonna paddle it - gonna kick it. Real hard."
"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 discussion of a "grease spot on the L&N" and a "bona-fide" suitor ranks right up there too.
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: Everett. Also Big Dan Teague. For example, from the [[Funny Background Event]] described above:
{{quote|
* [[Shout
** And [
** The title of the movie is itself a [[Shout
** The KKK scene is based off of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin man try to sneak into the witches castle. The guards are chanting the way the KKK does and even doing a similar dance, and the three heroes steal disguises from the guards/
** The Soggy Bottom Boys are a reference to the Light Crust Doughboys, who were featured on the real-life [http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/characters/pappy.html Pappy O'Daniel's] radio show.
** There's a coffin floating on a flooded river at the end, which is most certainly a shout out to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.
** A man named Ulysses meets a blues singer at a crossroads. [[Cream|Coincidence]]?
* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: Many of the characters in a patchily-educated way, but mostly Everett. "I'm the goddamn paterfamilias!"
* [[Stout Strength]]: Big Dan Teague.▼
* [[Stern Chase]]: The Warden's search for the three convicts.
▲* [[Stout Strength]]: Big Dan Teague.
* [[Surrounded
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: "Who is that man?" "Not my husband." Also doubles as a [[Shout
* [[The Vamp]]: The three sirens▼
* [[Those Two Guys]]: Pappy's two advisors, see the [[Seinfeldian Conversation]] above.▼
* [[Villainous Glutton]]: Big Dan Teague, as befits his correspondence with the cyclops Polyphemus.▼
* [[T-Word Euphemism]]: Sort of. One character wants to prevent his son from knowing that his mother left the family, so he just says she "Up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T."
** Subverted later on, in that the kid knew ''exactly'' what he was talking about, anyway.
▲* [[The Vamp]]: The three sirens.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: "Babyface" Nelson and Homer Stokes.
** {{spoiler|Nelson gets better}}... sort of.
** "MY NAME IS GEORGE NELSON, AND I'M FEELIN' TEN FEET TALL!"
▲* [[Villainous Glutton]]: Big Dan Teague, as befits his correspondence with the cyclops Polyphemus.
* [[Villain
* [[Working
* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' meets ''[[
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[[Category:The Coen Brothers]]
[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]
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