For their third directorial effort, The Coen Brothers (though only Joel Coen is credited as a director) returned to the crime genre that has served them well so many times in their expansive careers. For this particular take on the crime movie formula, they decided to go in the direction of a period piece, setting the tale in the 1920's specifically. Despite being set in the era where the sale of alcohol was banned, the film, entitled
Miller's Crossing, was actually taking more cues in its tone and style from 1940's noir features, particularly ones like
The Big Sleep involving a single lead character trying to use their wits to make a whole bunch of other peoples agendas work in his favor.
