Connection with the previous post (WILD, WILD WEST): Barry Sonnenfeld directed WWW and was the executive producer on THE LADY KILLERS.
RATINGS: IMDB ― 6.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 55%, ME ― 60%
Marva Munson: Now I want to know what's goin' on.
Marva Munson: Now I want to know what's goin' on.
Professor G.H. Dorr: Oh, indeed, indeed. The thirst for knowledge is a very commendable thing. Though I do believe that when you hear the explanation you shall laugh riotously, slappin' your knee and perhaps even wipin' away a giddy tear, relieved of your former concern. Lump here is an avid collector of Indian arrowheads, and having found one simply lying on your cellar floor - a particularly rare artifact of the Natchez tribe?
Lump Hudson: Nats... what?
Professor G.H. Dorr: He enlisted the entire ensemble in an all-out effort to sift through the subsoil in search of others. And apparently, in doing so, we hit a mother lode of natural gas. I myself became acutely aware of the smell of "rotten eggs." And it was just at this inopportune moment that the General here violated the cardinal rule of this house and lit himself a cigarette.
The General: So sorry.
Marva Munson: Well, what about all that money?
Professor G.H. Dorr: Ah. The money. Well, the money is Mr. Pancake's.
Garth Pancake: That's right.
Professor G.H. Dorr: Who only just remortgaged his home in order to raise the money for a surgical procedure that will correct the wandering eye of his common-law wife, Mountain Water, who suffers from astigmia, strabismus and a general curdling of the vitreous jelly. Mr. Pancake is an ardent foe of the Federal Reserve, and is, in fact, one of those eccentrics one often reads about hoardin' his entire life savings, in Mr. Pancake's case, in a Hefty bag that is his constant companion. The Steel Sak.
Garth Pancake: Don't trust the banks. Never have.
Irma P. Hall as Marva Munson, Tom Hanks as Professor G.H. Dorr, Ryan Hurst as Lump Hudson, Tzi Ma as The General, and J.K. Simmons as Garth Pancake
Trivia (From IMDB):
A rich black woman, Mrs. Munson says that she donates monthly to Bob Jones University, citing it as a "good Bible college". Bob Jones University banned black students until the 1970s, and did not allow interracial dating until 2000.
Prior to filming, Tom Hanks had not seen The Ladykillers (1955), as he did not want it to prejudice the way he acted in the remake.
This is the first Coen brothers film where Joel Coen and Ethan Coen are both given directing and producing credits. They have shared these duties on all of their films, but Joel has always been listed as the director, and Ethan as producer. Although they both take turns performing the duties.
Several times at the beginning of the film, when Mrs. Munson is complaining about a neighbor's loud music, she repeats lyrics to the song to illustrate her displeasure. The song is "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" (1990), by A Tribe Called Quest.
All the musical instruments were re-created by guitar maker Danny Ferrington, because, according to him, the owners of authentic antique instruments refused to lend them for the film. The strange "triple guitar" is a "harpolyre," but because it wasn't invented until the 1830s, it isn't historically correct for the Professor's spurious Renaissance band. The long-necked guitar-like instrument is a theorbo, played in late Renaissance and early Baroque music to accompany singing, provide color, and backup the Basso Continuo. Ferrington built it from scratch.
The exterior shot of the riverboat casino is an actual casino on the Mississippi River, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Ameristar lettering on the "paddlewheel" was edited out, and the movie casino's name put in its place. In the movie, the casino has closing hours while the Ameristar casino is a 24/7 operation (the entire parking lot beside the boat was emptied for the shot). Additionally, two large river bridges that would normally be at the left side of the frame, are edited out.
The second Coen brothers movie filmed in Mississippi.
Plans to remake The Ladykillers (1955) date back to 1998 when Robert Harling was attached to direct.
Marva Munson shows Professor G.H. Dorr her dead husband Othar's fife. This is an homage to Otha Turner (also known as Othar Turner), a famous fife and drum blues musician.
The word "fuck" is used 89 times in the film.
The first Waffle House of the Waffle House restaurant chain (which the "Waffle Hut" in this film is based upon) opened in 1955, same year as the original Ladykillers.
At one point Garth addresses Gawain as "brother". Gareth and Gawain, Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, are brothers.
The name G.H. Dorr was taken from 19th century artist Gustave Doré.
Marva Munson (Irma Hall), the owner of the house the robbers use, bears the same name as the judge in the Coen Brothers' subsequent film, Intolerable Cruelty (2003). In both cases, the women are African-Americans.
Marva Munson mentions that back in the sixties her congregation had a Jew with a guitar come in to their church. Her last words before leaving the Sheriff's office in the end: "As long as everybody knows." "Everybody Knows": a Leonard Cohen song, whose lyrics contain themes and motifs, some of which one may also spot in this Coen Brothers movie.
Garth's initial reaction to his "IBS" flaring up during the heist is seen twice - his sudden pause and pained facial expression noticeably appears in a wide shot before it cuts to the close-up.
The Professor's initial plan to trap and "immure" Mrs. Munson inside the tunnel is based on Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, in which Montresor, the main character traps another inside a wall in a cellar as an act of revenge. This idea is appropriate, as the Professor is an avid Poe enthusiast.
Blake Clark, playing the football coach, was Coach Farmer Fred in The Waterboy (1998).
Blake Clark played Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3 (2010).
Lump is the only one of the crook who does not have any facial hair.
Cameo ―
Bruce Campbell: at the dog food commercial shoot.
Spoilers ―
When Garth Panckake (J.K. Simmons) gets his finger severed, Gawaian MacSam (Marlon Wayans) mentions the story of a man who got his penis cut off then had it reattached and even ended up filming a porn film. This is a reference to the real case of Lorena and John Wayne Bobbit, whose story hit the headlines in 1993 when she cut off her husband's penis and threw it out of her car window. Later it was found and surgically reattached, and John W. Bobbit did film two porn films (Uncut and Franckenpenis).
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