The Essentials: The Coen Brothers Films Ranked

If you’re struggling to find something new to watch on the big screen in a sea of underwhelming blockbusters, you’ll be delighted to know that right now, a re-release of “Blood Simple” in newly restored 4K is currently in theaters. The first film of Joel and Ethan Coen, it’s a great chance to catch the start of one of the most remarkable careers in American film.

Initially billed with Joel as the director and Ethan as the producer (sharing writing credits) due to guild complications, the pair have always been a tight team, and were finally able to recognize that from 2003’s “Intolerable Cruelty” onwards, sharing all their credits from then on out. And although they’ve dealt with everything from a fairly straight-ahead star-laden Western to a 1940s magic realism Preston Sturges-homage retelling of the Odyssey to a bleakly funny present-day Washington satire, you can always tell a Coens film from a hundred paces away, from their characteristic tropes (men looking for hats, elevators, howling fat men, et. al.), to the sharp dialogue and immaculate photography.

READ MORE: Ranked: The Best Coen Brothers Characters

They have their critics, most notably those who believe that they’re chilly filmmakers more interested in making fun of their characters than exploring their humanity, but while some of their films might fit that description, the likes of “Fargo” and “A Serious Man” have a warmth and compassion to them even when they’re dealing with bleaker subject matter.

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at the whole of their careers, and so with “Blood Simple” back in theaters (and their most recent movie “Hail, Caesar!” now available however you like to consume your home media), we’ve ranked 19 of their films (including two shorts) from worst to best below. Take a look, and let us know your favorites in the comments.

19. “The Ladykillers” (2004)
After two decades creating some of the most original and idiosyncratic stories to unfold onscreen, in the early ’00s it began to look like the Coens were starting to run low on ideas. That wasn’t quite right: They only took “The Ladykillers” as a writing job and ended up directing when their former DP Barry Sonnenfeld passed. But nevertheless, their first remake turned out to be a movie that’s almost universally considered their weakest. An adaptation of the Ealing Studios black-comedy classic, it sees Tom Hanks head up a group of criminals attempting to rob a riverboat casino, and plotting to kill their landlady (Irma P. Hall) after she catches them in the act. The film has one ace in its hand, which is Hanks, seemingly channeling Foghorn Leghorn and relishing a chance to play villainous: It’s honestly one of his best-ever performances, and the only element of the film that stands up to the original. Otherwise, they seem to be pitching for an imagined “wide audience” with jokes about IBS and “hippedy hop,” but these attempts to go broad fall flat, despite the efforts of the game cast. But now, at least, it feels like it might have been a necessary step, because what followed became arguably the Coens’ most successful and acclaimed period.

18. “To Each His Own Cinema” – segment “World Cinema” (2007)
Created as a means to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, “To Each His Own Cinema” was a 2007 French anthology that collected short films by 36 acclaimed filmmakers like Lars Von Trier, Jane Campion, Gus Van Sant, David Cronenberg and many more. The Coen Brothers’ contribution to the collection was “World Cinema,” a playful riff/quasi-sequel to “No Country For Old Men” starring Josh Brolin (ostensibly as the same cowboy character) and producer Grant Heslov (known for his constant collaborations with producing partner George Clooney). Brolin plays a Southern Texas cowboy who walks into a cinema arthouse and starts a conversation with the cinephile-loving concession man (Heslov). He wants to see a film and there are two options: Jean Renoir‘s 1939 comedic social masterpiece “The Rules of The Game,” and “Climates,” Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s sophomore feature. As the cowboy tries to decide what to see, the cineaste describes to him what each film is about in a comedic back-and-forth (“Is there any livestock in any of them?” Brolin’s character asks at one point). A brief, deadpan and absurdist little piece, it’s not must-see viewing by any stretch, but definitely an interesting curio for Coen bros. completists.