Miller's Crossing

Tom Regan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.



A highly styled 'genre' film which can perhaps be seen as a pastiche of all gangster movies. Tom Reagan is the laconic anti-hero of this amoral tale which is also, paradoxically, a look at morals within the criminal underworld of the 1930s. Two rival gangs vie for control of a city where the police are pawns, and the periodic busts of illicit drinking establishments are no more than a way for one gang to get back at the other. Black humour and shocking violence compete for screen time as we question whether or not Tom, right-hand man of the Irish mob leader, really has a heart. Written by



It's Prohibition era 1930s as gang wars tear apart the city of gang lord Leo and his lieutenant Tom Regan. Tom is upset when Leo declines underling Johnny Caspar's request to kill the crooked Bernie. Despite Tom's objections, Leo thinks he made the right decision because Bernie is Verna's brother and Verna is Leo's girl. Unfortunately, Caspar seems to be growing in power and just when Leo needs Tom's help most Tom admits he's been fooling around with Verna. Tom is thrown out of Leo's mob and with nothing else to do he decides to join Caspar. But Tom is also talking to Bernie and Verna, and Caspar's ruthless henchman Eddie Dane starts to get suspicious. His suspicions rise when Tom is ordered to kill Bernie himself, but no one knows whether or not Tom carried out the order. Leaving Caspar searching for his desired power, Dane searching for answers, Verna searching for her brother and Tom searching for his own heart... if he has one anymore. Written by Monte_Man167



Tom Regan is an advisor to Leo, a crime boss in an unnamed Prohibition-era town. When Leo and rival boss Johnny Caspar feud over a bookie who's been cheating Caspar, Tom tries to keep the peace. Instead he finds himself caught in the middle of a war of ambushes and shifting allegiances where nothing is ever quite what it seems. Written by Scott Renshaw




SYNOPSIS

Synopsis by "Cult Movies" author Danny Peary...

Aging Irishman Leo (Albert Finney) runs an unnamed eastern city during Prohibition. Leo's chief adviser - and the only man he trusts - is the intelligent, nonviolent Tommy (Gabriel Byrne). Leo controls the mayor and the chief of police. However, the Italian Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) - whose chief henchman is the brutal, bisexual Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman) - is becoming a threat to Leo's supremacy. Caspar tells Leo that he wants the unlikeable "Bernie" Bernbaum killed, because Bernie has been cutting into Caspar's gambling profits by selling information about fixed fights to betters. But Leo refuses to allow this because Bernie is the brother of Leo's tough mistress Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). Tommy tells Leo to allow Bernie's murder, because Verna isn't worth their going to war with Caspar. Tommy, fearing Leo's life is in danger, confesses to him that he also has been sleeping with Verna. Leo beats Tommy up and kicks him out of his organization. Caspar becomes the major power in town, taking control of the mayor and chief of police. Much to Dane's chagrin, Caspar recruits Tommy into their operation. Tommy must prove his loyalty by killing Bernie in the wilderness, at Miller's Crossing (hence the title of the movie). He allows the pleading Bernie to live, on the condition that no one finds out Bernie's still alive. Dane doesn't believe Tommy killed Bernie, so he takes him back to Miller's Crossing with the intention of finding Bernie's body. A body is there, with its face shot in. Bernie has murdered Dane's male lover, Mink - but Dane can't recognize the corpse. Bernie blackmails Tommy by saying he'll come out into the open unless Tommy helps him kill Caspar. Tommy convinces Caspar that Dane and Mink - whom Caspar thinks is still alive - are secretly selling information about Caspar's fixed fights. Before Dane can kill Tommy, Caspar brutally kills Dane. Tommy maneuvers Caspar to rendezvous with Mink; instead Caspar finds Bernie, who kills him. Tommy tells Bernie that they'll blame the murder on Dane, whom Bernie thinks is still alive. Tommy takes Bernie's gun, supposedly to hide the evidence. But then Tommy reveals that Dane is dead and, in revenge for being blackmailed, points Bernie's own gun at him. Bernie again pleads for his life, thinking Tommy hasn't got what it takes to kill anyone. Tommy blasts him between the eyes. Leo marries Verna and invites Tommy to work for him again, but Tommy turns him down.

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In the opening scene, an Italian gangster named Johnny Caspar is meeting with Leo O'Bannon, the city's most powerful gangster. Caspar, with his most trusted adviser and bodyguard, Eddie "The Dane" Dane in tow, talks to Leo about a Jewish grifter named Bernie Bernbaum, who's been selling information on boxing matches that Caspar has been "fixing". Caspar wants to kill Bernie for chiselling in on the odds he fixes for his fights. Leo refuses to allow Caspar to eliminate Bernie and Caspar leaves, furious. After he leaves, Leo gloats to his own adviser, Tom Regan, that he'd so easily angered Caspar. Tom, who owes a large sum to a bookie, Lazarre, tells Leo that he should turn Bernie over to Caspar. Leo refuses because he's romantically involved with Bernie's sister, Verna, who's only dating Leo to protect her brother. Leo, as an act of friendship, tries to pay off Tom's debt to Lazarre, but Tom refuses, not wanting to fall under the thumb of either side.

Tom wakes up the next morning after a night of hard drinking and card-playing where he lost his fedora to Verna and a man named Mink (who provides Bernie with his hot tips to cheat Caspar and is also the lover of both Bernie and The Dane).