Barton Fink
Barton Fink DVD cover
Directed by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen (uncredited)
Produced by	Ethan Coen
Written by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Starring	John Turturro John Goodman Judy Davis
Music by	Carter Burwell
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Released	May 1991 (Cannes Film Festival)
Running time	116 min
Language	English
Budget	$9,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Barton Fink is a 1991 film by Joel and Ethan Coen. Arguably the brothers' most enigmatic film to date, it tells the story of Barton Fink (John Turturro), a young, intense, and rather unlikeable writer of Social Realist plays in the early 1940s; his raison d'etre is to "create a theatre of the common man." Image File history File links Barton_Fink. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... John Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American actor noted for his performances in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), The Color of Money (1986), Five Corners (1987), Do the Right Thing (1989), and Men of Respect (1991). ... John Goodman on NBCs The West Wing John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952 in Affton, Missouri) is an American actor. ... Judy Davis (born April 23, 1955) is an Academy Award-nominated Australian actress. ... Carter Burwell (born November 18, 1955, in New York) is a composer of film soundtracks. ... Related articles FOX Television Network Fox Searchlight Pictures Fox Entertainment Group List of Hollywood movie studios List of movies Variant of current 20th Century Fox logo External links 20th Century Fox Movies official site Twentieth Century Fox is also the punning title of a song by The Doors on their... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Joel and Ethan Coen at Cannes 2001 Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly known as The Coen Brothers have written and directed numerous successful films, such as comedies O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as darker film noir dramas such as Fargo, Millers... John Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American actor noted for his performances in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), The Color of Money (1986), Five Corners (1987), Do the Right Thing (1989), and Men of Respect (1991). ... A Diego Rivera mural depicting factory workers in Detroit Social Realism is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts working class activities as heroic. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... ...

The Coens claim the film was inspired by an attack of writer's block they suffered whilst working on the screenplay for Miller's Crossing. Barton Fink won the Palme D'Or at Cannes by a unanimous vote. Writers block is the phenomenon in which a writer temporarily loses the capability to continue writing. ... Millers Crossing (1990) is a gangster film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Unanimity is a complete agreement by everyone. ...

Critics have variously interpreted the film as an examination of the creative act, a Hollywood satire, a dark comedy, a Joseph Campbell-like heroic quest, and even an allegory for the rise of Nazism. The Coen brothers themselves remain characteristically tight-lipped on the subject. ... The term problem plays is applied to the three plays William Shakespeare wrote between the last of his pure comedies (Twelfth Night) and the first of his pure tragedies (Othello) They are Alls Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An allegory (from Greek αλλος, allos, other, and αγορευειν, agoreuein, to speak in public) is a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal. ... National Socialism redirects here. ...

Plot synopsis

Barton Fink is a scriptwriter and playwright, loosely based on the 1930s playwright Clifford Odets. After the success of his Broadway debut, Bare Ruined Choirs, Fink relocates from his native New York to Los Angeles to earn a quick buck as a contracted writer for Hollywood studio chief Jack Lipnick of Capitol Pictures, whose character is based on MGM's legendary Louis B. Mayer. Lipnick seems enthused about Capitol making a movie with a special Barton Fink quality, telling him that "the writer is king" at Capitol Pictures. This list is poorly defined, permanently incomplete, or has become unverifiable or an indiscriminate list or repository of loosely associated topics. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Clifford Odets photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 - August 18, 1963) was an American socialist playwright, screenwriter, and social protester. ... This article is about the street in New York City. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq. ... Nickname City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Government Country State County United States California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area  - City    - Land    - Water  - Urban 1,290. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... Louis Burt Mayer (July 4, 1882 – October 29, 1957) was an early film producer, generally cited as the creator of the star system within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in its golden years. ...

Fink settles in an old, creepy hotel called the Hotel Earle. When he is put to work scripting a Wallace Beery B-movie about professional wrestling, he feels trapped in his sweltering, claustrophobic hotel room. Soon, he suffers a serious bout of writer's block: all he can manage is an introductory line reminiscent of his hit play in New York. A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging, usually on a short-term basis and especially for tourists. ... Wallace Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor, best known for his many cinema appearances. ... The term B-movie originally referred to a film designed to be distributed as the lower half of a double feature, often a genre film featuring cowboys, gangsters or vampires. ... Professional wrestling is generally any form of wrestling in which the wrestlers receive payment for participating. ... Writers block is the phenomenon in which a writer temporarily loses the capability to continue writing. ...

As in many of the Coen Brothers' films, Barton Fink contains a menagerie of grotesque supporting characters, arguably the polar opposites of the simple but noble common men about whom Barton writes. Chief amongst these is Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), Barton's jovial and loyal next-door neighbour at the hotel. They first meet after Barton complains to the hotel help about loud noises coming from Charlie's room (a man's laughter, presumably Charlie), but the duo quickly hit it off, and a friendship develops between them. Though Barton thinks little of the Beery movie, Charlie is impressed, saying the effort "could be a pip." While Charlie disparages his own intellect, he often asks Barton about the "life of the mind" as a writer. When commonly used, grotesque means strange, fantastic, ugly or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks or gargoyles on churches. ... John Goodman on NBCs The West Wing John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952 in Affton, Missouri) is an American actor. ...

Trying to be helpful, Charlie shows Barton some Greco-Roman wrestling moves, and repeatedly offers to tell Barton stories of his escapades in door-to-door insurance sales, briefly mentioning trysts with amorous housewives. But each time he begins such a tale, Charlie is interrupted by Barton, who rambles on about the dreams and goals of the common man -- while at the same time ignoring the stories of Charlie, the sort of "common man" he purports to represent in his plays. Still, Barton gives Charlie the New York City address of his parents to look up when the salesman says he must return to that city due to problems at the "head office". Alexander Karelin throwing Jeff Blatnick Greco-Roman wrestling is a form of amateur wrestling practiced throughout the world. ...

His writers block does not abate, and Barton asks Ben Geisler (Tony Shalhoub), a fast-talking Capitol producer, for advice. He suggests Barton talk to another scriptwriter. In a bathroom, Barton discovers W.P. "Bill" Mayhew (John Mahoney) vomiting into a toilet. Mayhew is an alcoholic novelist also working for the studio (almost certainly based on William Faulkner, with small touches of Scott Fitzgerald thrown in). Barton is initially starstruck, having greatly admired Mayhew's novels. But his opinion sours when he witnesses Mayhew's warped, abusive relationship with his mistress, Audrey (Judy Davis) and when he learns that many of Mayhew's great books turn out to have been largely ghostwritten by Audrey. Mayhew is either unwilling or unable to offer much screenwriting advice, instead complaining quite eloquently about his own problems. Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953 in Green Bay, Wisconsin), an American actor, is currently the star and executive producer of the USA Network television show Monk in which he plays an obsessive compulsive private detective. ... John Mahoney John Mahoney (born June 20, 1940) is an English-born American actor best known for playing Martin Crane (Marty) in the popular TV show Frasier, as Kelsey Grammers character Dr. Frasier Cranes retired policeman father. ... Alcoholism is a powerful craving for alcohol which often results in the compulsive consumption of alcohol otherwise known as an addiction. ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... William Faulkner photographed 1954 by Carl Van Vechten William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Mississippi. ... F.Scott Fitzgerald, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940), was a Jazz Age novelist and short story writer. ... Judy Davis (born April 23, 1955) is an Academy Award-nominated Australian actress. ... A ghostwriter is a writer who writes under someone elses name, with their consent. ...

Audrey agrees to help Barton, however, telling him that he's overthinking the subject, and that most Hollywood movies are simple morality tales using basic storytelling formulas. Barton and Audrey sleep together in his hotel room (in a likely nod to the Hays Code, the pair are shown in bed together, but Barton's feet are shown touching the floor as they kiss). When he wakes the next morning, Barton discovers Audrey dead on the blood-soaked mattress. His screams of terror alert Charlie, who proposes covering up the death for fear of ruining Barton's reputation -- the mass media in Hollywood are always looking for a scandal connected to the movie business, and even if he were never implicated in any wrongdoing, Barton's career would be finished. Barton agrees to the cover up, and Charlie hauls the body away. The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) was a set of guidelines governing the production of motion pictures. ... Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). ...

Charlie then tells a despondent Barton that he has to leave town for a while, and asks him to keep a small package. Again, Barton agrees, and places the package in his room. His mental state seems to be deteriorating: he opens a Gideons Bible and reads a passage about Nebuchadnezzar's dream. (Nebuchadnezzar was the title of the novel Barton asked Mayhew to autograph him; like the statue in the dream, Mayhew turns out to have feet of clay.) Then, turning to the first page of the Book of Genesis, Barton finds his own opening for the screenplay has replaced the familiar first lines of the Bible. He spends time gazing at the sole decoration in his room, a picture of a bikini-clad girl on a beach. Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organisation dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible (specifically, the King James Version as well as the New King James Version) to those who might not otherwise encounter it (such as in hotel rooms). ... Nebuchadnezzar was the name of several kings of Babylonia. ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... A woman wearing a bikini. ...

After a meeting with Lipnik (where he succeeds in stalling until he can produce a screenplay), Barton returns to the hotel lobby one day to find two police detectives (Deutsch and Mastrionotti) waiting for him. In addition to some antisemitic barbs at Barton's expense, they ask him about his relationship with Charlie, revealing him to be the alter-ego of Karl "Madman" Mundt, a wanted serial killer with a penchant for decapitating his victims. Barton admits to knowing him, but denies knowing him too well. They tell him that Audrey was found decapitated, and that Mundt is the suspect. The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster with a Soviet Union map. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ...

His writer's block lifts, and Barton quickly writes the screenplay for the wrestling movie. At a celebratory dance at a big band jazz concert, Barton refuses to let a Navy sailor cut in on his dance partner. After taunts from the other solders and sailors, Barton again rants about his creativity and his efforts on behalf of the common man, only to be trounced by the angry soldiers. A big band is a large musical ensemble that plays jazz music. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... The multinational Combined Task Force One Five Zero (CTF-150) The British Grand Fleet, the supreme naval force of WW1 A rare occurrence of a 5-country multinational fleet, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea. ...

He returns to the hotel, and discovers the detectives in his room, reading the script for the wrestling movie; it has the same closing line as the hit play that inspired Capitol to hire Barton. He tells them to take their "filthy eyes" from the script, then they announce that Mayhew was discovered decapitated, and that they suspect Barton was involved in the murders, asking if Barton and Charlie had a "sick sex thing" between them.

Barton ignores their questions, instead complaining about the increasing heat in the hotel, and distractedly mumbling about Charlie's having returned. From the hallway, the elevator bell chimes, and the detectives handcuff Barton to the bedframe, then step into the hallway, revolvers drawn, to aprehend Charlie. A set of elevators or lifts, in the lower level of a train station. ... A pair of metal double-locking police handcuffs A woman cuffed with handcuffs and thumbcuffs Handcuffs are devices to secure two wrists close together. ...

The elevator door opens, and flames lick from the doorways. Charlie appears in the elevator, holding a briefcase. The police tell him to put down the case. He appears to comply, but then withdraws a shotgun from the case and fires it, killing detective Mastrionotti. The flames erupt behind him, and Charlie yells, "Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind!"

Detective Deutch turns and runs in terror, followed by Charlie, who repeatedly hollers, "I'll show you the life of the mind!" as he fires again, this time striking Duetch's legs and crippling him. Charlie reloads the shotgun, then calmly presses the gun to Deutch's face and quietly says "Heil Hitler" before killing him. The Hitler salute (Hitlergruß) is the embodiment of the Hitler cult of personality. ...

Charlie paces to Barton's room, and, trying to chat with him, seems to act as though nothing unusual has happened. Barton is repulsed, but a weary Charlie says, "They say I'm a madman, Barton, but I'm not mad at anyone. Honest I'm not. Most guys I just feel sorry for ... So I help people out. I just wish someone would do as much for me." Barton asks why Charlie involved him in the crimes, and an enraged Charlie yells, "Because you don't listen!" He calms, then tells Barton "you think you know about pain? You think I made your life hell? Take a look around this dump. You're just a tourist with a typewriter, Barton. I live here. Don't you understand that?"

Charlie bends the metal bedframe out of place, freeing Barton, then tells Barton that the package he was keeping was not in fact his. Charlie goes to his own room, unlocking the door while the fire seems to consume the entire hotel. Barton packs his things and leaves the hotel.

We next see Barton at Capitol pictures. He's on a telephone, trying unsuccessfully to reach his parents, but is pulled into a meeting with Lipnik. The studio executive is now in military uniform due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He tells Barton that his script is terrible, too "fruity", and that not only will it never be produced, none of his works ever will, so long as he's under contract to Capitol; Fink is no writer, he's a "God-damned write off." Satellite image of Pearl Harbor. ...

Barton wanders to the beach, holding the mysterious package. A girl in a bikini sits near him, and Barton compliments her, asking if she's in movies. "Don't be silly," she replies, then strikes the same pose as the girl in the picture in Barton's room. A pelican dives into the ocean, surfaces, and the screen goes black. Species Pelecanus occidentalis Pelecanus thagus Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Pelecanus onocrotalus Pelecanus crispus Pelecanus rufescens Pelecanus philippensis Pelecanus conspicillatus A pelican is any of several very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under the beak belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae. ...

Origins

The Coens had read City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s by Otto Friedrich about the history of moviemaking in the '30s and '40s in Hollywood with an emphasis on German expatriates in Los Angeles. Barton was based on Clifford Odets, a Jewish-American playwright, author of leftist plays like Waiting for Lefty and Awake and Sing! He went to Hollywood to write movies. W.P. Mayhew was based on writer William Faulkner who, like Odets, went to Hollywood to write for the movies. Faulkner actually worked, uncredited, on a Wallace Beery wrestling picture called Flesh. Clifford Odets photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 - August 18, 1963) was an American socialist playwright, screenwriter, and social protester. ... Waiting for Lefty was the first play by Clifford Odets to be produced (though not the first one written), and it is his best known work. ... Awake and Sing! is a 1935 play by Clifford Odets. ... William Faulkner photographed 1954 by Carl Van Vechten William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Mississippi. ...

Joel and Ethan Coen at Cannes 2001 Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly known as The Coen Brothers have written and directed numerous successful films, such as comedies O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, as well as darker film noir dramas such as Fargo, Millers... Blood Simple is a neo-noir film, the debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, writers and directors of Fargo, The Man Who Wasnt There, and Raising Arizona, among others. ... Raising Arizona is a quirky, offbeat, and humorous 1987 Coen Brothers film starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand, and Randall Tex Cobb. ... Millers Crossing (1990) is a gangster film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) is a screwball comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, telling a fictitious story about the invention of the hula hoop. ... Fargo is a 1996 dramatic and dark comedy film created by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. ... The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... For the Simpsons episode, see Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a musical comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression (specifically, 1937). ... The Man Who Wasnt There is a 2001 Neo-noir film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. ... Intolerable Cruelty is a darkly humorous romantic comedy film from Joel and Ethan Coen for Universal released in 2003, starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. ... The Ladykillers is a 1955 British film. ...

External resources

• Coenesque: The Films of the Coen Brothers
• You Know, For Kids! Barton Fink page
• Barton Fink at The Internet Movie Database