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| The Ladykillers, has like no film in recent memory, underscores the problem between Hollywood, which values artistic integrity, and the incredibly huge Evangelical Christian movie going market, which --nearly single handedly-- made Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ a $300 million dollar blockbuster in just 4 weeks. |
(2004) Film Review |
| This page was created on March 27, 2004
This page was last updated on
March 28, 2004
—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum
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| CREDITS |
| Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Original Movie "The Ladykillers" written by William Rose
Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Producers
John Cameron ... co-producer
Ethan Coen ... producer
Joel Coen ... producer
David Diliberto ... associate producer
Robert Graf ... associate producer
Tom Jacobson ... producer
Barry Josephson ... producer
Barry Sonnenfeld ... producer
Cast - in credits order
Tom Hanks ... Professor G.H. Dorr
Irma P. Hall ... Marva Munson
Marlon Wayans ... Gawain MacSam
J.K. Simmons ... Garth Pancake
Tzi Ma ... The General
Ryan Hurst ... Lump Hudson
Diane Delano ... Mountain Girl
George Wallace ... Sheriff Wyner
John McConnell ... Deputy Sheriff
Jason Weaver ... Weemack Funthes
Stephen Root ... Fernand Gudge
Baadja-Lyne Odums ... Rosalie Funthes
Walter Jordan ... Elron
George Anthony Bell ... Preacher
Nita Norris ... Tea Lady
Vivian Smallwood ... Tea Lady
Maryn Tasco ... Tea Lady
Muriel Whitaker ... Tea Lady
Jessie Bailey ... Tea Lady
Louisa Abernathy ... Church Voice
Mildred Dumas ... Church Voice
Al Fann ... Church Voice
Mi Mi Green-Fann ... Church Voice
Original Music by Carter Burwell
Cinematography by Roger Deakins
Edited by Roderick Jaynes
MPAA: Rated R for language including sexual references.
Runtime: USA:104 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG |
| TRAILERS AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers, Photos |
| CD |
Ladykillers
Various Artists - Soundtrack - 2004
1. Come, Let Us Go Back To God - The Soul Stirrers
2. Trouble Of This World (Coming Home) - Nappy Roots
3. Let Your Light Shine On Me - The Venice Four With Rose Stone And The Abbot Ki\
4. Another Day, Another Dollar - Nappy Roots
5. Jesus I'll Never Forget - The Soul Stirrers
6. Trouble In, Trouble Out - Nappy Roots
7. Trouble Of This World - Bill Landford & The Landfordaires
8. Come, Let Us Go Back To God - Donnie Mc Clurkin
9. Weeping Mary - Rosewell Sacred Harp Quartet
10. Sinners - Little Brother
11. Troubled, Lord I'm Troubled - Bill Landford & The Landfordaires
12. You Can't Hurry God - Donnie Mc Clurkin
13. Any Day Now - The Soul Stirrers
14. Trouble Of This World - Rose Stone With The Venice Four And The Abbot Kinney\
15. A Christian's Plea - Claude Jeter And The Swan Silvertones
16. Let Your Light Shine On Me - Blind Willie Johnson
17. Let The Light From The Lighthouse Shine On Me - The Venice Four With Rose St\
18. Yes - The Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir featuring Kristle Murden
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| POSTER |
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| SYNOPSIS |
 About the Film
“‘The Ladykillers’ may kill you,” says two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks, who teams up with Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Joel Coen & Ethan Coen for their hilarious new comedy, “The Ladykillers.” “Everybody out there is looking for an unpredictable film. This should be it.”
“We’re very lucky to have Tom Hanks in this film,” notes Joel Coen. The filmmaker brothers’ latest comedy is the story of the heist of the century that goes bust when the thieves get more than they bargained for from their old lady landlord. “It occurred to us that Tom, who is someone we’ve wanted to work with in the past, but not really knowing in what capacity, would be really interesting
in this part. The fact that he hasn’t made a comedy in a while made it even more special for us.”
“I’m not quite sure how we knew that Tom would be just right for the part – Dorr is very different than anything he’s done in the past,” says Ethan Coen. “But as it turned out, I think we were right. His comic timing is perfect; He’s as funny as he’s ever been.”
It also helped that the part is a good one – with shades of the role made famous by Alec Guinness. The 1955 version of “The Ladykillers” starred Guinness as the mastermind (of sorts) whose caper plot goes bust when the unwitting old lady from whom they rent a room catches on. “Doing ‘The Ladykillers’ is like interpreting ‘Richard III,’” says Hanks.
“A generation from now, everybody will be doing it. ‘The Ladykillers on Mars,’” jokes Ethan. “We really liked the original movie,” explains Ethan. “It’s a strong story premise. It just has good bones. We ripped out the spine of it, kept that and threw out everything else. The specifics of the characters and the setting are all quite different from the original.”
“The idea of setting ‘The Ladykillers’ in the South and making the old lady be a southern Baptist church lady was the original starting off point for us,” explains Joel.
“Their taste is unique,” says Tom Hanks of the writer-directors. “They somehow latch onto odd ideas that they find entertaining. But since they both have an incredible sense of storytelling, their story ends up completely different from any other movie out there, but also just as entertaining to audiences as it is to them.”
Besides the title and the basic premise, the 1955 film of “The Ladykillers” is connected to the Coen brothers for another reason. “Interestingly enough,” reveals Joel, “the original ‘Ladykillers’ was the source of a line in our very first movie, ‘Blood Simple.’ When the detective shoots the bar owner, he says, ‘Who looks stupid now?’ – one of the classic
lines at the end of ‘The Ladykillers,’ when the thug pulls the trigger on the empty gun.”
“It’s kind of a classic bonehead gag,” says Ethan. “It all kind of fit somehow and comes full circle.”
|
 A TALE OF TWO LOVERS
-Who Can't Admit Their Passion for Each Other!
A VISUAL REVIEW
OF THE LADYKILLERS BY DAVID BRUCE
Host of HollywoodJesus.com
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 Here is a love relationship between two lovers who can never quite come together. It’s a love/hate relationship. Let me rephrase that. Here
are two lovers, so fundamentally different and yet so profoundly in love with each other that they can only express themselves to each other through strong words –which often sound like the words of hatred. No, I am not referring to the story line in The Ladykillers but rather the behind the curtain reality, where these lovers are sitting in separate corners, detesting each other, yet madly in love. Who are these lovers? They are: the Hollywood establishment, and
the Evangelical community.  The Ladykillers, has like no film in recent memory, underscores the problem between Hollywood, which values artistic integrity, and the incredibly huge Evangelical Christian
movie going market, which --nearly single handedly-- made Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ a $300 million dollar blockbuster in just 4 weeks.
Interestingly these two lovers keep teasing each other, without ever admitting their strong and undying love for each other. So, what is the problem between these two?
Before I answer that, allow me to introduce the key players involved. That is, in terms of the Coen brothers’ latest film, The Ladykillers.
 1. The Coen Brothers, the producers of Ladykillers, are phenomenally creative and ingenious. Few in Hollywood come close to their genius. They are the ones behind O
Brother, Where Art Thou?, Fargo, Raising Arizona, and an impressive list of other such masterpieces. They have demonstrated their love and passion for Gospel music and its inherent message. Their acclaimed best selling soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? is rich in Gospel music and won the 2002 Grammy Award for "Album of the year" and it also won “Best Compilation Soundtrack.”
 2. The huge Evangelical movie going public which is currently standing with money in hand wondering which movie to support next. No other group in all of Hollywood history has brought busloads of people
to the movie house. No other group could have saved Mel Gibson’s Passion from being a mere mention on Hollywood’s long list of financial flops.
 Now, let’s consider the dilemma of The Ladykillers. It’s about a church-going lady and a group of bandits. It’s the classic battle between good and evil set in a clever and comedic story
line. Gospel music abounds in this film. It is a delightful film starring Tom Hanks. It had the potential of being the immediate successor of The Passion. However, it is not what one would term a “family friendly film.” It's R rating is due to its excess use of profanity. The language in this film, though true to life as we know it, is enough to curdle milk. But, hey, this is a Coen brother film. This is the way they express themselves on the big screen.
It is artistic expression as it should be –uncensored!
However, their chosen form of expression knocks their film out of the Evangelical loop. I remember sitting in the theater audience on the opening day of The Passion of the Christ. The lights went down and The Ladykillers trailer was screened prior to the feature. It had all the elements of bringing the same audience back to the theater. Here was Tom Hanks in a film about a delightful church-going
woman. It appeared to be a general audience type film with wonderful Gospel music. As in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, T. Bone Burnett provides the terrific foot-stomping Gospel music. The murmurs in the audience seemed to suggest some degree of favorable interest. But, alas, the producers have failed to give that audience what it was hoping for.
I went to see The Ladykillers on opening day. Not a big attendance. However, I was amazed at the percentage of church folks there. As they left at the end of the picture, I didn’t get the feeling they would be returning with busloads of people from their churches to see it again. They seemed bewildered and let down.
 The publicity for this film places very strong emphasis on Tom Hanks, which makes me wonder if the PR folks had problems coming up with a way to market this film? It is as though Tom Hanks was the only thing they could hang their hat
on. It’s like, how do you market a “religious film” to the non-religious, and how do you market a film with R-rated language to religious folks? I think they never solved the problem, as evidenced even by the home page of the film’s official website (see on right). There is a doggie, a kitty cat, Tom Hanks name and face as big as possible, and a little old church-going lady. It looks just like an ad for a Disney family film. But sadly, its not.
Both secular and Christian film reviewers are divided on this film. Like the publicists, most seem to be lost as to how to respond to the film. The bottom line with the critics, if there is one, might be: Because this is a Coen brothers’ film, expect the unusual.
Such a dilemma! Great secular filmmakers in search of an audience to love them, and an audience in search of film filmmakers they can fall in love with. The two seemed destined to be together. In fact, there have talks of marriage (dialogue). But, alas, I think the two lovers seem to be destined to drift in and out of relationship.
 The Ladykillers so aptly demonstrates this problem between Hollywood and the Evangelicals. In fact, the movie can be seen as a metaphor. Mrs. Munson, the church-going lady (evangelicals), just can’t exactly resonate with the gang (Hollywood) that wants her favor. She is a most gracious and kind hostess, but, hey, she
has her principles. She keeps inviting them to church, but they never seem to make time to go with her (dialogue). And the gang offers her part of the treasure they have amassed, but Mrs. Munson has a moral and ethical issue with their offer. In fact, Mrs. Munson has been known to slap them across the face --in a motherly way. And the gang has plotted to kill her (consider that no studio backed the Passion). Neither of them can quite live in the same house. Well, at least not yet. After
all, miracles can happen.
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| THE SYMBOLISM |
  The power of Good is represented by the church-going
tea-drinking church ladies. |
 The gang prefers the basement for their evil deeds. In our mythology, the devil and hell are always presented as being below. The church lady is at the top of the stairs, she lives above, of course. |
 The
church lady is also "everyone's mother." She is the Holy Mother --God's ambassador to bring about caregiving and discipline. |
The gang has the appearance of goodness, but are really wolves in sheep's clothing. |
 Reaping and sowing. The strong ethic of divine justice is at work in this film. But to talk about that would be to give away the ending.
Go and enjoy the movie. |
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