Miller's Crossing

Miller's Crossing is a 1990 American neo-noir gangster film written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers and starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J. E. Freeman, and Albert Finney. The plot concerns a power struggle between two rival gangs and how the protagonist, Tom Reagan (Byrne), plays both sides against each other. In 2005, Time chose Miller's Crossing as one of the 100 greatest films made since the inception of the periodical. Time critic Richard Corliss called it a "noir with a touch so light, the film seems to float on the breeze like the frisbee of a fedora sailing through the forest". Plot Tom Reagan is the right-hand man for Irish mobster Leo O'Bannon, a political boss who runs an unnamed U.S. city during Prohibition. Leo sets off a mob war when he extends protection to his girlfriend Verna's brother, a bookie named Bernie Bernbaum, who is skimming off the match fixing scheme of Leo's rival, the Italian gangster Johnny Caspar. The situation is further complicated by the fact that behind Leo's back, Verna is also sleeping with Tom.