My Librarianly Task of the Day

Another busy day at work, but I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been working on for the past hour or so. There’s a professor who’s planning on teaching a class on the films of the Coen brothers next semester. I’m her assigned librarian, and I’ve been investigating potential materials to purchase to support that class. What this means is that I’ve been able to roam the pages of imdb and the rest of the internet in search of any material that might pertain to the Coen brothers.

This is awesome.

Here’s what I came up with. It doesn’t include the basic films (which I’ve already ordered), or things that my library already owns (like Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men). But it’s fairly exhaustive, otherwise. I don’t think we’ll be able to get all of these–funding and all that jazz–but it was fun making a list.

Sometimes I love being a librarian so much it hurts. 🙂

Films/Fiction/Music
Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett (the book the title for Blood Simple comes from)
The Glass Key, by Dashiell Hammett (the book Miller’s Crossing is based on)
The Glass Key (1942)—Alternate film version
The Glass Key (1935)—Alternate film version
Down from the Mountain, a movie about the music of O Brother Where Art Thou
The Tenant (Le Locataire) (1976)—Roman Polanski film that the Coens say inspired and influenced Barton Fink
The Big Sleep (1946)—Alternate film version of book that inspired Big Lebowski
The Big Sleep (1978)—Alternate film version of book that inspired Big Lebowski
Ulysses (1954)—Adaptation of The Odyssey , which O Brother Where Art Thou is based on
The Odyssey (1997)—Adaptation of The Odyssey, which O Brother Where Art Thou is based on
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)—Arguable adaptation of The Odyssey, which O Brother Where Art Thou is based on
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)—Noir adaptation of a book by James Cain, which influenced The Man Who Wasn’t There
The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James Cain
Mildred Pierce, by James Cain
Mildred Pierce (1945)—Adaptation of a book by James Cain, which influenced The Man Who Wasn’t There
The Stranger (1946)—Adaptation of Camus novel, which some argue The Man Who Wasn’t There is influenced by
Soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou
Gates of Eden, by Ethan Coen
The Drunken Driver has the Right of Way, by Ethan Coen

Critical Analysis
The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, by Mark Conard
The Brothers Grim: The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen, by Erica Rowell
The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, by Cathleen Falsani
The Coen Brothers: Interviews, by William Rodney Allen
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: Collected Screenplays 1
The Brothers Coen: Unique Characters of Violence, by Ryan Doom
The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film, by Tricia Cooke
The Coen Brothers, by Ronald Bergan
The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen, by Carolyn Russell
The Coen Brothers’ Fargo, by William Luhr
Joel and Ethan Coen, by Peter Korte and Georg Seesslen