10 Underrated Movies By Great Directors

Joel and Ethan Coen are synonymous with award ceremonies at this point. Just four of their thirteen directorial efforts since 1991's Barton Fink haven't seen them nominated for some combination of Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes - three duds and The Big Lebowski, which was criminally overlooked by critics but has perhaps stood the test of time as their greatest creation.

The three films that they made before Barton Fink are susceptible to being forgotten about when compared to the likes of Fargo and No Country For Old Men. Blood Simple was a fantastic low budget debut and Raising Arizona was a barrel of laughs, but Miller's Crossing is up there with their best.

Crime films are the brothers' trademark, though they do thrive at being able to effortlessly switch between genres. Whilst the aforementioned likes of Fargo and The Big Lebowski mix the criminal with the comedic, Miller's Crossing plays things straight throughout, delivering a hard-hitting gangster tale as Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) plays his employer and his rival against one another during the Prohibition era.

Byrne excels at playing morally grey manipulators (see also: The Usual Suspects) and his performance is accompanied by similarly excellent turns from the likes of Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Hayden and John Turturro in a complex web of betrayal and romance that shockingly only made back a third of its budget at the box office.