Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple / Raising Arizona / Miller's Crossing / Barton Fink

by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious. Of the scripts included here, Barton Fink--an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood--is a masterful culmination of these themes.

Genres: Film, Writing, Plays

544 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2002

About the author

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are four-time Academy Award winning American filmmakers. For more than twenty years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy) to film noir (Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men), to movies where genres blur together (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink). The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share such a similar vision of what their films are to be that actors say that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer.

Reviews

[Laura Dame · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve now read more Coen Brother screenplays than I’ve watched Coen Brother movies but my god they’re so clearly stunningly good at what they do.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collected Screenplays: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona by Ethan and Joel Coen – seven of their magnificent films are reviewed on my blog (actually, it would be eight with this one) and here is the plug: you find hundreds of other motion pictures, books reviewed at this place where the best beano might be this one, share what you think https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...



9 out of 10

Joel and Etha Coen aka The Coen Brothers are a couple of the greatest film makers, with astounding oeuvres such as No Country For Old Men https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... but they have started with Blood Simple and this being such a wondrous movie, they have been on the rise since

When they were filming Blood Simple the budget was minuscule, and I saw an interview in which they explained how they had to be very precise, they could not get many shots, perhaps not more than one or two, and hence they would have all planned, excellent story boards, and the scene with the car and the body is mentioned
Maybe a spoiler alert would be needed here, albeit I always feel this is something of an oxymoron, or narcissism, assuming people are still with this text – Ray is trying to get rid of the body of Julian Marty, getting it out of his car, but a truck is approaching, and all this has to be filmed once, so everything was drawn and then executed

Abby is played by Frances McDormand – married to Joel Coen and winner of four Oscars, one for producing Nomadland – and she is arguably the most important character in the story, she is married to Julian Marty aka Dan Hedaya, an abusive, mean man, who owns a bar, where Ray aka John Getz works, up to a point
Ray and Abby like each other, one night, they start an affair, maybe I should say a love story here -except ever since reading Thomas Mann https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... I am skeptical, and the use of the word love must be restricted, just as it is over used now

Julian Marty had been suspicious, thought his spouse has an affair with a black man, and he hired a private detective, M. Emmet Walsh is outstanding in that role, to investigate and find the truth, the latter brings in photographs, demonstrating the infidelity, if we can call it that, however, the client is not happy with the pictures
He should have read The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the psychology classic by John Gottman, the ultimate expert, one who has an accuracy rate in his assessments of over 90%

When the detective shows the photos, Marty is asking why he took them, and the sly, amused, cruel fellow says take them as a complimentary service, before they part, the client shows his disgust ‘I know where to find you, the rock from under which you will crawl’ or words to that effect, and the detective laughs
The tension increases, Abby moves in with Ray, and the husband is breaking in, using violence against his wife, up to the point where she manages to kick him in the groin, then he drives away, with the German shepherd (though it looked to me as if it was not pure breed) with every intention to take revenge

Ergo, he meets with the detective again, this time he wants to pay for an assassination, offers ten thousand dollars, some hundreds of thousands today, and he asks for their bodies to be disposed of in the incinerator, which is located behind his bar, they plan for him to go fishing, so that he would have an alibi when the murders are public knowledge
Nevertheless, there is a twist, well, more than one, but this one in the middle of the plot, the detective comes to the bar, claims he has killed the lovers, asks for the money, and then…he shoots Julian Marty dead – when Ray comes to the office, he thinks that Abby had killed the spouse, so he has to cover for her

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

[Seb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool how visual the screenplays are on the page. Every shot has been described in so much detail! These guys are good at their jobs imo

[Stephen Hero · Rating 4 out of 5]

She promised to show me the weight of the heart in it. I promised to show her a doughnut moon. As in Congress or church, even the best feeble attempts can fail.

I started the conversation with my sure-fire pickup line: "Would you go out with me if I was younger and more attractive?" Her clever retort impressed even me: "If you’ll excuse me for a moment I have to leave the front desk unattended."

We both viewed Wings as the band The Beatles could have been.

"If you must know now, then you should have asked before" was her mantra. Mine was "Other than a rather embarrassing ointment prescription, the medical professional has done nothing for me."

If the story had an ending this would be a nice spot for it.

[Kyle Licht · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. Four screenplays to four excellent movies. I’ve seen all four movies, some a few times, and some of the scripts I like better than the movies, some vice versa, and some just the same. Each one is an excellent piece of art and deserves more critical acclaim than they have received. It’s nice to see the first four they have ever done and I’m not sure if they have anthologies with the subsequent four and so on but I would love to read those too. My favorite part about the book is the forward by their editor, Roderick Jaynes, and I highly recommend reading that and looking more into its background. This is a great read for aspiring filmmakers and writers, as the Coen brothers have deeply inspired me to be the filmmaker I am today.

[Paul Hathaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories are even better without the moving pictures and sounds!

[Leonard Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuckers can write.