O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (2000) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION

"I don't think he's fully racist" had me dying 😭😭🤣

The guitarist selling his soul to the devil is a reference to the real blues musician Robert Johnson. Supposedly he mastered the guitar in just two years and a legend was born that he met the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi and traded his soul to becomes a master blues picker. Also this movie is a retelling of the Odyssey by Homer. That's why it includes plot points like the blind prophet, the sirens, the cyclops, etc.

"You're getting your ass whupped by a guy who fights like the Notre Dame logo." - It's stuff like this that keeps me coming back here. The title of this movie comes from the movie Sullivan's Travels (1941), in which the main character wants to make a movie by that name but never gets to do it. The soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? became a top-selling CD. Bluegrass and folk music fans especially love it. I don't know how many people notice this, but the scene where the three guys watch the Klan rally from the bushes is a reference to the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion watch the palace guards outside the witch's castle. They literally ran Homer Stokes out of town on a rail.

My favorite bit of crossover between the movie and the story of the Odyssey took me a few watches to even catch. It’s Ulysses refraining from baptism and mocking Pete and Delmer for doing it. In the Odyssey, Odysseus kicks off his whole trial to get home by pissing off Poseidon at the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus was taking too much credit for the Greek victory and didn’t give Poseidon the proper respect for helping out. So the god of the seas sent the hero on a wild ride all over the ‘world’ until he apologized and made amends and was allowed to get home. In the movie when Ulysses insults the other two for their faith he is disrespecting God and all of the weirder more dangerous events of the story happen to them after this point. Then at the end he apologizes and prays humbly and God shows up to get him home (in the form of a shit ton of water as a nice Poseidon reference lol) to get Ulysses home. As a HUGE mythology nerd, I love that the mythological references in this film have such subtle layers to them and there is more to them to appreciate than just Big Dan = the Cyclops or Hot Ladies = the Sirens.

Tim Blake Nelson actually sang "In the Jailhouse Now" and won a Grammy because the soundtrack won Album of the Year. Although George Clooney practiced "Man of Constant Sorrow" the Coens decided to have bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski perform his singing vocals. This film is a masterpiece.

As they used to say: "He wuz run'd out on a rail!" Also, the boy was (hillbilly) spelling "runned off".

"He's no Jimi Hendrix". My dear man, delving into the old blues masters from the 20s and 30s will open a WORLD of some of the most innovative guitar players from back in the day. Hendrix knew these songs, and took them in a new direction. Whether you 'react' or not, I highly recommend you listen to a few tracks from Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Memphis Minnie, Blind Blake, amd a whole host of others! Hendrix was a GIANT. But he stood on the shoulders of giants!

30:03 . . . He was “run out of town on a rail.” It’s an old-fashioned form of punishment, which back in colonial times also involved being tarred and feathered.

The dialogue is what made this movie...and the soundtrack.

"That could be a jug of a$$ juice." Almost spit out my drink laughing.

Ah hell no. If I went through hell and high water for my lady's ring and THEN she says it's the wrong one... Nah I'm out. Taking my pomade with me

You were talking about people singing to help pass the time and keep their spirits up. You also mentioned how slaves would do that. Spirituals were meant to do that for slaves, but a lot of those songs contained hidden instructions for escaping via the Underground Railroad. For instance, a song about being baptized in the water could mean to take the route along the river.

He fought like the mascot for Notre Dame!!!! Lol, I died, you a trip. Thanks for reacting to one of my favorite movies!

The film is a partial retelling of Homer's, the Odyssey. The blind man on the cart is the ferryman, who takes Odysseus and his party across the river Styx after they escape the Underworld. The film is also set during depression era America. The part near the end, where the guys come in with a rail and lift the Klan guy up onto it, was "running him out of town on a rail." Sort of like the expression tar and feathered.

This movie is a true gem. Unlike how a previous poster felt; to me this is easily top 20 movies of all time. Good stuff all around!

Ulysses is such a riot. Constantly pulling five dollar words out of a ten cent brain. I remember back when this came out, and the soundtrack was a top seller across the country for weeks and weeks and weeks. All of a sudden, old timey bluegrass was crazily popular. Good times.

My mother was a kid in Kansas during the Dust Bowl and the height of the depression. She told us stories of her childhood. She was the youngest of four girls and when her Mother went to town she tied a cord around my mother's waist and the other three girls had to grab on to the cord as they walked through town.When they moved to California in the late 30's she was too small to pick crops so they had her drive the truck they put the full boxes on. They had to put her on stacks of phone books and tied a 4x4 to her foot so she could reach the petals ALA short round in the Indiana Jones film.

The boys' s journey is actually copying Ulysses Odyssey : The Cyclope (J.Goodman), the Mermaids/Witches, the tempest, etc... Tommy's character is inspired by Robert Johnson, the actual guitar legend, who according to the legend, is said to have sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads, in exchange for becoming extremely gifted with the guitar. We learned nothing more about the first part, but we know that the second part actually became true !

"You just got your a** whipped by someone who fights like the Notre Dame Logo". You are hilarious sir. Best reactor on the Internet. And you have dogs too!

At the end, they "ran the guy out of town on the rails" (an old expression for sending someone packing out of town post-haste, usually walking the railroad rails). Making them leave before the train even gets there to pick them up, if you will. It was a subtle joke.