The Coen Brother's contribution to the nineties is fantastic. Fargo, The Big Lebowski and Barton Fink have found both critical acclaim and box-office success, cementing themselves as cult classics in the process. One Coen Brother project that often gets overlooked however, is 1990's gangster drama, 'Miller's Crossing'. An amoral story that simultaneously deals with the morals of gang culture, 'Miller's Crossing' lacks the obvious humor of other Coen Brother films but rewards those that have the patience to follow its weaving story-line, with fine drama and a black drollness that reflects the tone of the movie. It centers on mob enforcer, Gabriel Byrne, as he is caught in a war between rival bosses Albert Finney and John Polito. The reason Miller's Crossing failed to get bums on seats was its overshadowing by similar gangster flicks; Goodfellas and The Godfather III. Both films had bigger directors, bigger casts and, in the Godfather's case, a pre-established following that was hard to deter. Time has passed and retrospective praise has been put Crossing's way - Empire crediting it as 'one of the most underrated movies of all time' - but unless more articles of this ilk are written, the Coen Brother's quiet masterpiece will simply be a treat reserved for the enlightened few.
