The Ladykillers (2004 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the 2004 remake. For the 1955 original, see The Ladykillers.
| The Ladykillers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Produced by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Written by | Ethan Coen & Joel Coen William Rose (1955 screenplay) |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Irma P. Hall Marlon Wayans J.K. Simmons Tzi Ma Ryan Hurst |
| Music by | T-Bone Burnett Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Editing by | Ethan Coen Joel Coen |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 26, 2004 |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Ladykillers is a 2004 remake of the 1955 Ealing Studios comedy of the same name. The remake was by the Coen Brothers and starred Tom Hanks. The film also co-starred J. K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma (Rush Hour), Ryan Hurst (Remember The Titans), and Irma P. Hall. It is the first Coen film in which Ethan and Joel Coen share both producing and directing credit; previously Ethan had always been credited as producer, and Joel as director. The movie soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett features traditional gospel music composed by Thomas A. Dorsey and Blind Willie Johnson, inter alia, sets the tone of the film much as American roots music did for the previous Coen work O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In the Hollywood remake the setting is moved from London to Saucier, Mississippi, home of a riverboat casino. Hanks plays Professor Goldthwaite H. Dorr, a pretentious Southern dandy, who is the brains behind a gang: the General, an Asian doughnut shop worker; Garth Pancake, an animal trainer with irritable bowel syndrome and his wife Mountain Girl; Lump, a stupid ex-football player; and Gawain, an African-American janitor, who plan to rob the Bandit Queen, a casino. To that end the Professor rents a room in a house near to the casino from the unsuspecting, God-fearing widow Mrs. Marva Munson (Hall); from there the gang plan to tunnel into the vault of the casino and steal the money. To hoodwink Mrs. Munson, the gang pretends to be musicians using the cellar as a rehearsal space.
After the successful theft, the real conflict of the movie begins. Mrs. Munson finds out what her tenants have done and tells Dorr to either return the money to the casino and go to church to repent their sins, or she will call the police. Not willing to give up the money, the gang decide to murder her and draw straws to do so. Gawain loses, and must therefore shoot Munson. However, when he attempts to shoot, Munson reminds him too much of his mother and he cannot force himself to kill her. He accidentally shoots himself in a resulting brawl with Garth Pancake. Garth then takes all the money for himself while Lump and the General dispose of Gawain. Garth is then strangled by the General, who has been alerted by Dorr. After disposing of the bodies (Mountain Girl was picking up Garth), the rest of the gang pull straws again. The General pulls the short straw, and walks up to Munson's bedroom. In the bedroom he is surprised by an alarm clock going off and accidentally swallows his lit cigarette. While choking he staggers backwards, falls down the stairs and breaks his neck. When Dorr and Lump dispose of the General, Lump suggests to Dorr that they give the money to the police. Dorr calls him stupid and tells him that he has to do the killing, for which Lump tries to shoot Dorr because he "doesn't want to harm a nice lady". The gun fails, so Lump peeks down the barrel while pulling the trigger. He kills himself and falls onto the garbage barge passing under the bridge. Dorr, left standing, discovers a raven sitting on a statue, which reminds him of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, whom he admires. When the raven lifts off, the head of the statue falls off, hitting Dorr on the head, who then falls over the bridge and is hanged by his coat. Seconds later, his coat tears and he too falls onto the boat. All the while, Munson sleeps, oblivious to the proceedings. When she wakes, the gang has "disappeared", leaving all the money behind. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and jokingly tell her to keep the money, as it was insured. Ironically, the insurance was one of Professor Dorr's justifications for the theft.
[edit] Characters
- G.H. Dorr Ph.D (Tom Hanks) - The eloquent and wise mastermind of the casino heist. He is the chatty southern dandy who rents Munson's apartment as a stage for the robbery. He claims to have gained his Ph.D. degree due to his knowledge of the ancient languages of Latin and Greek, and also claims to be a graduate of a Baccalaureate degree from the University of Sorbonne in France. He also claims to be a professor of renaissance music at the University of Mississippi. He also frequently quotes the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Dorr is very articulate, charming and is somewhat pretentious.
- Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) - A well-meaning, god-fearing elderly widow. She has a cat, Pickles, and loves gospel music. She also hates hip-hop music.
- "The General" (Tzi Ma) - The apparently mute owner of the Hi-Ho Donut store in the town. He is a smoker (which Munson scolds him for), and is skilled in tunneling. G.H. introduces him to the other gang members by saying that he aquired tunnling skills in his native French Indochina(now Vietnam).
- Garth Pancake (J.K. Simmons) - A demolitions expert who suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which is comically portrayed in the movie). He has a female partner, Mountain Girl, whom he met at an Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) weekend. In the movie, he is frequently bickering with Gawain MacSam.
- Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans) - The foul-mouthed janitor of the Bandit Queen Casino and the inside man. He bickers with Garth Pancake several times in the movie. When he was 10 years old, his mother slapped him several times for bringing a dog to the house. Miss Munson reminds him of his mother.
- Lump Hudson (Ryan Hurst) - The brawn of the group, and a football player, who is not very intelligent. He seldom speaks, and he often refers to Dorr as "Coach". However, Lump might be the only one with some semblance of a conscience.
- Mountain Girl (Diane Delano) - Garth Pancake's female partner and right hand. She wears braids and dresses in mountain clothing. Like Pancake, Mountain Girl also appears to be a fellow victim of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and met him at a IBS weekend.
- Sheriff Wyner (George Wallace) - The sheriff of Saucier.
[edit] Trivia
- Echoing the original 1955 film, the piece which the gang pretend to play is Boccherini's Minuet (3rd movt) from String Quintet in E, Op.11 No.5.
- As the gang begins to dump the corpses into the river to dispose of them, a garbage barge conveniently passes underneath each fallen robber as he falls from the bridge, replacing the freight train used in the original 1955 film.
- The judge in the previous Coen Brother's film Intolerable Cruelty is also called Marva Munson.
- The G.H. Dorr character claims to be a professor of music at the University of Mississippi which he says is in Hattiesburg. However in real life the University of Mississippi is in Oxford where there is a music professor named "George Dor".
- Bruce Campbell makes a cameo appearance in the film, as in many Coen brother films, this time portraying a Humane Society worker.
- The gag of the portrait changing expressions is taken from Preston Sturges' film Sullivan's Travels. In an early adventure, Sullivan (Joel McCrea) escapes the advances of a horny widow (Almira Sessions) by making a rope out of his bedsheet. The portrait of the late husband is duly shocked. In the original film, if you look closely at the pictures in the parlor, you will see a photograph of the captain at the salute. The Coen's previous two films, Intolerable Cruelty and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? were also heavily influenced by Preston Sturges.
- Mountain Girl is the nickname of Carolyn Adams, the original hippie princess. She was the girlfriend of Ken Kesey and a Merry Prankster. Later she became the second wife of Jerry Garcia.
- In the beginning of the film the Marva Munson character is complaining about 'Hibbity-Hop' music. She references "Left My Wallet in El Segundo," which is a song by A Tribe Called Quest.
- While the film takes place in Saucier, Mississippi, it was actually filmed in Natchez. The real Saucier is in Stone County and does not border the Mississippi River or any other major river.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site for the 2004 movie
- The Ladykillers (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
- You Know, For Kids! The Ladykillers page
| Films directed by Joel and Ethan Coen |
|---|
| Blood Simple • Raising Arizona • Miller's Crossing • Barton Fink • The Hudsucker Proxy • Fargo • The Big Lebowski • O Brother, Where Art Thou? • The Man Who Wasn't There • Intolerable Cruelty • The Ladykillers • No Country for Old Men |
