The Big Lebowski
The Coen brother rank among the greatest filmmakers who ever lived because they always manage to pervert their hearing ’s prospect of their select genre and story structures . With their signature tune pitch - disgraceful humor and cynical , heavily - edged storytelling , the Coenshave delivered some of the most scandalous secret plan twists in cinema history .
Sometimes , these twists will lend some terror or striking resonance to the transactions . Other times , the twist are played for laughs . Either way , the Coens are superior of taking jaw - dropping bequeath sprain in the flight of their story . So , here are the 10 best plot twists from the Coens ’ filmography , place .
Gurney Drops The Briefcase In The Ocean (Hail, Caesar!)
WhileHail , Caesar!is disguised asa lampoon of the Hollywood film diligence of the 50 , it becomes a sarcasm of communism asmovie star , Baird Whitlock , is indoctrinate by a band of communist sympathizersknown as “ The future tense . ” When Hobie Doyle tell apart melodious star Burt Gurney carrying the briefcase fill with ransom money money , he follows him up to The Future ’s beach mansion .
However , when he buzz off there , he finds that he ’s too late and Gurney has already been take out to a Soviet U-boat to defect to Russia . As his hotdog jumps into his arms , he throw the briefcase full of cash into the sea .
Donny Has A Heart Attack (The Big Lebowski)
satirize the firmly - seethe traditions of Raymond Chandler , The Big Lebowski ’s convoluted mystery secret plan is riddled with twists , from Jackie Treehorn druggingthe Dudeto Bunny staging her own kidnapping . But arguably , the most lurid twist in the film come when Donny suffers a fatal ticker attack while Walter is resist off the anarchist .
The plot basically resolves itself and then take a sudden sharp left turn . The kidnapping storyline turns out to be insignificant , as a aggrieve Dude and Walter organize their fallen admirer ’s funeral .
Harry Shoots Chad In The Face (Burn After Reading)
InBurn After Reading , gymnasium employees Linda and Chad stumble upon a laborious ride contain the memoirs of an ex - CIA agent . To leverage some blackmail Johnny Cash , they take the laborious movement to the Russian embassy and hope to follow it up with more files . Linda persuades Chad to collapse into the ex - agent ’s planetary house and slip some more selective information .
However , the ex-wife - agent ’s wife ’s lover , Harry , comes into the house to take a quick shower . Chad hides in the loo and when Harry find him , he instinctively pullulate him in the face . The disconnected death of a major role – andone trifle by Brad Pitt at that – was a mind - blowing twist in the narration .
A Cowboy Is Sentenced To Death While He’s Unconscious (The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs)
In the “ Near Algodones ” section ofThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs , a cattleman robs a banking concern . But the teller is prepare , as he arms himself with pots and pans and then knocks out the cowboy with the stub of his shotgun .
When the cowboy awakens , he discovers that he was convicted of the robbery and sentenced to destruction while he was unconscious . He ’s sit atop his gymnastic horse beneath a tree diagram branch with a gin around his cervix .
Gaear Kills Jean And Carl (Fargo)
The gap scenes ofFargoestablish the movie as the fib of a man who ’s so desperate that he hires two clod to nobble his married woman Jean for leverage some ransom money money from his wealthy father - in - law . However , by the terminal of the movie , the snatch has become insignificant .
When Carl returns to the cabin after being shoot in the side of the headland by the Father-God - in - law in a hand - off gone ill-timed , he finds that Gaear has killed Jean . And , after an argument about which one of them will keep the railcar , he kill Carl , too .
Bernie Blackmails Tom After He Spared His Life (Miller’s Crossing)
Midway throughMiller ’s Crossing , Tom Reagan is recruited to take Bernie out into the woods and kill him . Bernie begs for his animation ( “ seem into your substance ! ” ) until Tom reluctantly concord to let him go on the stipulation that he result town immediately .
However , Bernie does n’t leave town . Instead , he order a remains in the woodwind instrument where his own should ’ve been and apply his noesis of the situation to blackjack Tom – who just spared his life – into killing Caspar .
Visser Shoots Marty With Abby’s Gun (Blood Simple)
Expertly wreak the image of the film noir intothe neon - soak aesthetic of the 1980s , the Coens ’ directorial debutBlood Simpleinstantly establish the duo as a filmmaking force to be guess with .
Around midway through the picture , the sinister Lorren Visser buck Julian Marty , the humankind who hired him to kill his wife Abby and her lover Ray , with Abby ’s gun , which Marty had ironically given her as a gift .
A Tornado Looms (A Serious Man)
The Coens ’ biblical darkness comedyA Serious Manuses the story of Larry Gopnik , a Minnesota Jewish folk man whose life sentence falls asunder spectacularly over the class of an unfortunate hebdomad , as an allegory for the story of Job .
At the end of the movie , Larry get a call from his doctor , distinguish him he require to talk to him justly aside about the results of his dresser X - ray . Meanwhile , a giant tornado looms on the town as Danny ’s instructor struggles to afford the schooling ’s emergency shelter .
Charlie Meadows Is Actually A Serial Killer Named Karl Mundt (Barton Fink)
The Coen brothers decided to cast John Goodman as Charlie Meadows because he had the sweet , unsuspecting presence that the character needed to have to sell himself as an insurance salesman moving into the Hotel Earle .
That ’s what makes the revelation that Charlie ’s veridical name is Karl “ Madman ” Mundt and he ’s a sequential killer whose M.O. is decollate citizenry all the more distressful . He seemed like such a overnice guy !
Sheriff Bell Finds Llewelyn Moss Dead In His Motel Room (No Country For Old Men)
What makes this twist body of work so well is that it toy on the interview ’s anticipation of narratives . We do n’t expect the lead admirer to be kill off - screen , or by someone other than the hitman opponent , so the fact that Sheriff Bell incur Llewelyn Moss lying all in in his motel room in the middle of the 2nd act – after anticipate to protect Moss – is agonising .
Usually , when writers put a spin on the traditional story structure , it ’s disappointing , because we gestate everything to tie together . But in the case ofNo Country for Old Men , it gives the whole movie a torturing layer of realism .
NEXT:10 Best Duos From Coen Brothers Movies
