Ethan Coen and 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.
Ethan and Joel Coen have made many critically acclaimed films together, including "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou, " and "Raising Arizona." They received an Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1997 for "Fargo."
Here are four early screenplays by the internationally lauded filmmaking team, all of which deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime--especially in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious.
"Blood Simple" deals with a cuckolded Texan bar owner who hires a slimy private investigator to kill his unfaithful wife and her boyfriend, but this is merely the start of a grisly chain of back-stabbings and murders.
In "Raising Arizona," oddly paired criminal H.I. McDonnough and police woman Edwina marry, only to discover they are unable to conceive a child. In the name of parenthood, the couple kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. While trying to keep their crime a secret, H.I's convict friends, his boss, and even the Lone Biker Of The Apocalypse look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.
"Miller's Crossing," set in the era of Prohibition, focuses on Tom Reagan, the trusted lieutenant of irish crime boos Leo, endeavours to keeps the peace when Leo gets locked into a feud with rival mobster Jonny Caspar.
This edition also includes "Barton Fink, "an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood.
Here are four early screenplays by the internationally lauded filmmaking team, all of which deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime--especially in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious. "Blood Simple"
"In "Blood Simple," the Coen brothers parlay a pearl-handled revolver, a misplaced lighter, a string of not-so-fresh fish, and a body that refuses to stay dead into a dark delight that is clever, suspenseful, and sometimes downright bizarre."--Barbara Bannon, "Sundance" "Raising Arizona"
"To their old fascination with Sunblet pathology, to their sidewinding Steadicam and pristine command of screen space, the Coens have added a robust humor, a plot that keeps outwitting expectations and a surprising dollop of sympathy for their forlorn kidnapers. Every character, great or small . . . has the juice of comic originality in him."--"Time "