The Ladykillers (2004 film)

The Ladykillers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ethan Coen Joel Coen
Produced by	Ethan Coen Joel Coen
Screenplay by	Ethan Coen Joel Coen
Based on	The Ladykillers by William Rose
Starring	Tom Hanks Irma P. Hall Marlon Wayans J. K. Simmons Tzi Ma Ryan Hurst
Music by	T-Bone Burnett Carter Burwell
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Editing by	Roderick Jaynes
Studio	Mike Zoss Productions
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	March 26, 2004
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$76,747,441

The Ladykillers is a 2004 dark comedy film directed, written and produced by the Coen brothers and stars Tom Hanks, with a supporting cast that includes J. K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst and Irma P. Hall. It is based on the 1955 British Ealing comedy of the same name.

It is the first film in which Ethan and Joel Coen share both producing and directing credits; previously Ethan had always been credited as producer and Joel as director. The film was originally to be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the Coens' former cinematographer. They were commissioned to write the script. When Sonnenfeld backed out, the Coens were eventually hired as directors, with Sonnenfeld retaining a producer credit.

Plot

Mrs. Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall), an elderly, God-fearing widow meets Professor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks), who expresses his interest in the room she has to let and asks to use her basement for rehearsals of an early music ensemble he directs. She accepts the terms and agrees. The fellow musicians in the pretend ensemble are actually a gang of criminals, named Lump (Ryan Hurst), The General (Tzi Ma), Garth Pancake (J. K. Simmons), and Gawain (Marlon Wayans).

With all of their talents combined, the group of criminals plan to dig a tunnel through the crumbling, dried earth that has piled up in Mrs. Munson's basement and conclude that they will emerge in the vault of the casino.

After a series of comical mishaps that threaten to derail their plan, they break through the wall of the vault and snatch the loot. Mrs. Munson subsequently finds out what her tenant has done, and outraged, she tells Dorr to return the money and go with her to church on Sunday or else she will call the police. The gang decides to murder her. Through another series of comical mishaps, all the criminals end up dying while trying to kill Mrs. Munson. Gawain is shot, Garth is strangled, The General falls and breaks his neck, Lump accidentally shoots himself, and Dorr gets hanged. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and tell her to keep the money she found, which she gives to Bob Jones University.

Cast of characters

• Tom Hanks as G.H. Dorr, Ph. D, the mastermind of the casino heist. He is the chatty Southern dandy who rents Mrs. Munson's apartment as a stage for the robbery. Dorr is very articulate, charming, and is somewhat pretentious. He is a recognizable parody of some of William Faulkner's characters and bears some resemblance to Manly Pointer in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People".
• Irma P. Hall as Marva Munson, a well-meaning, God-fearing elderly widow. She shares her name with the judge in the previous Coen Brothers film Intolerable Cruelty.
• Tzi Ma as "The General", the often silent owner of the Hi-Ho Donut store in the town. It is strongly implied that he gained his rank and experience tunneling for the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.
• J. K. Simmons as Garth Pancake, a garrulous demolitions expert who suffers from IBS. He has a female partner, Mountain Girl, whom he met at an Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) weekend.
• Marlon Wayans as Gawain MacSam, the foul-mouthed, hotheaded janitor of the Bandit Queen Casino and the inside man.
• Ryan Hurst as Lump Hudson, the brawn of the group and a former football player who "is not very intelligent". He seldom speaks, and he at first refers to Dorr as "Coach".
• Diane Delano as Mountain Girl, Garth Pancake's female partner and right hand gal. She wears braids and dresses in mountain clothing.
• George Wallace as Sheriff Wyner, the lazy sheriff of Saucier.
• Stephen Root as Mr. Gudge, the intolerant but weak-willed manager of the Bandit Queen Casino.

Production notes

In the sequence where the gang begins to dump the corpses into the river to dispose of them, a garbage barge conveniently passes underneath each fallen robber as he falls from the bridge, replacing the goods train used in the original 1955 British film classic.

The gag of the portrait changing expressions is taken from Preston Sturges' film Sullivan's Travels. In an early adventure, Sullivan (Joel McCrea) escapes the advances of a sexually aggressive widow (Almira Sessions) by making a rope out of his bedsheet. The portrait of the late husband is duly shocked. In the original film, if you look closely at the pictures in the parlor, you will see a photograph of the captain at the salute. Two of the Coens' previous films, Intolerable Cruelty and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, were also heavily influenced by Preston Sturges.

Bruce Campbell makes a cameo appearance in the film, as in many Coen films, this time portraying a Humane Society worker.

Reception

The film scored a 56/100 normalized average on Metacritic. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored 55%.

Soundtrack

Music From the Motion Picture: The Ladykillers
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	23 March, 2004
Genre	Gospel Hip hop Blues
Length	61:50
Label	Sony Music Soundtrax Columbia DMZ
Producer	T Bone Burnett
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link Music from the Movies SoundtrackNet
Coen Brothers film soundtracks chronology
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) The Ladykillers (2004) No Country for Old Men (2007)

While Carter Burwell scored The Ladykillers, continuing his long-time collaboration with the Coen Brothers, the bulk of the soundtrack is devoted to African American gospel music, produced by T Bone Burnett, who had previously worked with the Coens in sourcing soundtrack music for The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

The soundtrack does not actually contain any pieces of Renaissance music. Similar to his work on O Brother, Burnett chose a mix of vintage songs by Blind Willie Johnson, The Soul Stirrers, Swan Silvertones and Bill Landford & The Landfordaires (the 1950s group sampled by Moby on "God's Gonna Cut You Down"), along with recordings of contemporary black gospel artists, including Donnie McClurkin, Rose Stone, Bill Maxwell and church choirs, made especially for the film soundtrack. Hip hop songs by Nappy Roots and Little Brother are also featured.

The soundtrack was praised for helping to set the tone of the film, distance it from the 1955 original and complement the contemporary Southern United States setting and gospel music atmosphere.

1. "Come, Let Us Go Back to God" (The Soul Stirrers) – 2:50
2. "Trouble of This World (Coming Home)" (Nappy Roots) – 3:48 (Featuring chorus by Rose Stone, Freddie Stone and Lisa Stone)
3. "Let Your Light Shine on Me" (The Venice Four with Rose Stone and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 6:43
4. "Another Day, Another Dollar" (Nappy Roots) – 3:48
5. "Jesus I'll Never Forget" (The Soul Stirrers) – 2:36
6. "Trouble in, Trouble Out" (Nappy Roots) – 4:04
7. "Trouble of This World" (Bill Landford & The Landfordaires) – 2:45 (Not featured in film)
8. "Come, Let Us Go Back to God" (Donnie McClurkin) – 4:33
9. "Weeping Mary" (Rosewell Sacred Harp Quartet) – 2:41
10. "Sinners" (Little Brother) – 4:25
11. "Troubled, Lord I'm Troubled" (Bill Landford & The Landfordaires) – 2:58
12. "You Can't Hurry God" (Donnie McClurkin) – 2:26
13. "Any Day Now" (The Soul Stirrers) – 2:28
14. "Trouble of This World" (Rose Stone and the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 2:55
15. "A Christian's Plea" (Swan Silvertones) – 2:23
16. "Let Your Light Shine on Me" (Blind Willie Johnson) – 3:07
17. "Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me" (Rose Stone and the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 1:42
18. "Yes" (The Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir featuring Kristle Murden) – 5:29

Additional music

• "Minuet" (3rd movement) from "String Quintet in E, Op. 13 No. 5", composed by Luigi Boccherini; which the gang pretends to play, echoing the original 1955 film.

Credits

• Produced by T Bone Burnett
• Soundtrack executive producers: Joel and Ethan Coen
• Associate gospel music producer: Bill Maxwell
• Associate hip hop music producer: Keefus Ciancia

Awards

The film won the Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

External links

• The Ladykillers at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ladykillers at AllRovi
• The Ladykillers at Box Office Mojo
• The Ladykillers at Rotten Tomatoes