Miller’s Crossing, a gritty portrayal of the warring Irish and Italian mobs of the 1920s, is an early work of Joel Coen and an uncredited Ethan Coen. This bloody tale features a young Gabriel Byrne as Tom Reagan, along with John Turturro and Steve Buscemi. Reagan is double-crossing the Irish mob boss, Leo (played by Albert Finney), but is reluctant to kill indiscriminately, making him one of the more interesting gangsters in the repertoire.
Punctuated with the well-written, witty dialogue that has come to be synonymous with a Coen brothers film, Miller’s Crossing is a good old-fashioned shoot-’em-up gangster flick. You’ll never think of “Danny Boy” the same way again once you hear it as the sound track for a violent shootout. Marcia Gay Harden’s Vera adds romantic intrigue, and, if you watch closely, you’ll recognize a young Frances McDormand as a flapper receptionist.
Bill Norris, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s beverage director, will be serving up some Prohibition-era cocktails to complement the movie — if you’ve never tried absinthe, you should definitely experience an Improved Whiskey Cocktail.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 114 Vintage Park. 18 and up. For information, call 832-559-5959 or visit drafthouse.com/houston/vintage_park. $9.
Wed., March 25, 7:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.