Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1542 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-13
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 425 minutes

Synopsis
Boxset of 4 feature films directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Featuring The Big Lebowski, The Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink and Blood Simple. The Coen Brothers debut feature, Blood Simple, is an intricately plotted film noir. When a bar owner discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife, a complex web of deceit and double crosses ensues in a small Texas town.
The Big LebowskiI: Jeff Lebowski, known as the Dude, a laid-back, easygoing burnout who happens to have the same name as a millionaire whose wife owes a lot of dangerous people a whole bunch of money. having his rug soiled, sending him spiraling into the Los Angeles underworld. As usual in Coen brothers films, the dialogue is hysterically warped; the plot is confusing, complicated, and kinetic; the soundtrack is virtually another character; and the acting is weirdly stellar. Never previously released on DVD, The Hudsucker Proxy opens with a spectacular shot of snow falling over a beautiful city. The camera pans in slowly over the rooftops until it comes upon the Hudsucker Industries building, with a huge clock about to ring in the New Year--and a man about to jump to his death. Barton Fink, the Coen brothers' apocalyptic masterpiece about the creative process. John Turturro stars as the title character, an idealistic young man who believes that writing should be about the living truth, revealing the hopes, the dreams, the tragedies of the common man. When Hollywood comes calling for him to write a wrestling picture for Wallace Beery, Fink suddenly finds himself in Los Angeles with a severe case of writer's block.

Customer Reviews

Terrific films - but what have they done to Blood Simple?
I am and have been a huge fan of the Coens for a long time and I'm so glad that two of my favourites (Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy) are available together like this. Those films really need to be viewed on DVD rather than video to fully appreciate Roger Deakins' terrific visuals and I'm glad that this collection puts together a great taste of the very different range of film's the Coen's have produced since their great debut Blood Simple.

And yet it is here with Blood Simple that most of my quibble's about this package lie. Has anyone else noticed how much is actually cut out of this DVD release as oppose to the original video release? And the few seconds here and there that are missing seem to be completely random. For example, the scene at the beginning in the bar where Maurice make's fun of the guy at the juke box ("What night is tonight?...tonight is Yankee night...") is totally cut; the scene in Marty's place when Ray humourously puts his cigarette up the snout of the stuffed pig is gone; the scene in the bar at the beginning where the girl Marty is hustling tells him to "get lost" is cut so that now she doesn't actually say that and there's the scene where after Marty has hired the hit man to kill his wife, M Emmet Walsh closes the car door and says to himself, "Sweet Jesus, you are disgusting", but he doesn't say that here, it simply cuts to the next scene. And there are a few other cuts I noticed. I found this so frustrating because they were memorable scenes or important lines that you can't help but notice them gone. I would really like to know why those making the decisions chose to remove them but I'm sure I wouldn't agree with them.

I also think it's a shame that there are absolutely no extras at all, even just a few interviews would have been better than nothing, like the ones they had for the Miller's Crossing special edition.

Still, I'm really glad to own this DVD collection, each film has so much to enjoy in it for any lover of film; great humour, great plot's, great acting, beautiful visuals, great dialogue and memorable scores by Carter Burwell. Highly recommended for any film fan.

It's the way the Coens wanted it...
Even if it's light on extras, this is obviously a fine boxset... my reason for adding a review is that an earlier one queried the cuts to "Blood Simple". I feel I can clarify this issue, having researched it when writing a book on the Coens. This version was prepared by the Coens themselves in 1998, as they felt the original was not very well edited. In the process, they elected to tighten the film up, losing a few minutes of footage. So doen't worry, it's not some studio-butchered version, but the Coens' preferred cut.

(Mostly) brilliant stuff from the Coen Brothers.
Blood Simple was the Coens' first picture, and it's a mediocre film with a relatively engaging plot centred on adultery and murder. They were clearly very much still finding their feet at this point and I'd only recommend this for fairly enthusiastic Coen Brothers fans. It does have some good moments, and is interesting in the context of the rest of their work, but it's nothing to write home about.

Barton Fink is a stunning film that follows the attempts of a successful New York playwright, the Barton Fink of the title, to make it as a screenwriter in 1940's Hollywood as he struggles with writer's block. The twisting plot keeps you on your toes, and the film is full of wonderful comedic performances - not least from Coen Brothers regular John Goodman - and the atmospheric visuals are perfect.

The Hudsucker Proxy is a humorous and engaging film which follows Tim Robbins' character, who is plucked from the mailroom and made President of the Hudsucker corporation in an attempt by the board to artificially deflate the stock price by appointing an incompetant to head the company. There are various pleasant twists and turns of the plot and an engaging romantic sub-plot (Jennifer Jason Leigh in a brilliant and hilariously ironic performance that's the highlight of the movie.) Overall this is a pretty good film, if not amongst the brothers' really great achievements.

The Big Lebowski is a wonderfully surreal comedy/thriller which centres on laid-back layabout Jeff Lebowski (known as The Dude) who is mistaken for another Jeff Lebowski by a pair of thugs who come and demand money from him, pissing on his rug before they leave. The film follows The Dude's (Jeff Bridges) attempts to be compensated for his soiled rug and the web of intrigue he becomes embroiled in. John Goodman is utterly hysterical as his psychotic bowling partner, and the film contains the solid gold classic line: "Nobody fucks with Jesus." This might well be the funniest film ever made.