What Heart? by Tyler Smith

MILLER’S CROSSING (1990)
Written and Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden, Jon Polito

There is a scene in the Coen brothers’ Miller’s Crossing where the main character has a gun aimed squarely at a man’s head. The man is begging for his life. He implores the main character, named Tom Reagan, to “look in his heart.”

Tom replies, “What heart?”

He pulls the trigger.

This brief exchange makes Tom Reagan look like a cold-blooded killer. Don’t get me wrong; at this point, he is. But, it takes him a long time to get there. And he doesn’t get there by himself. He has plenty of help from everyone around him.

It’s the roaring twenties in an anonymous big city. Tom is the right hand man of the local crime boss, named Leo. Leo is friendly, but firm. He didn’t get where he is by being congenial to everyone; just the right people. As the film opens, a smaller crime boss named Johnny Caspar is asking a favor. Caspar wants to murder a crooked bookie that Leo protects. Leo refuses, causing Caspar to feel slighted.

Tom advises Leo to let Caspar have the bookie to avoid a mob war. Leo sticks to his guns. The bookie in question, named Bernie, just happens to be the brother of Leo’s girlfriend, Verna. Tom, believing that Verna is only with Leo to protect her brother, asks Leo to reconsider. He doesn’t.

Sure enough, a war breaks out. Tom sees that, if he gets Leo to give up Bernie, the war will end. But, Leo won’t do that, so long as Verna sticks with him. Wanting to protect Leo, even from himself, Tom does what he has to do. He tells Leo that he and Verna have been having an affair, which happens to be true. Leo fails to see the nobility in Tom’s honesty and throws him out of the gang.

As Caspar’s gang gets larger, Tom tries to join them. They give him one condition: he must kill Bernie. They take Tom and Bernie out to the middle of the forest and leave them alone. Bernie begs and pleads, and Tom spares him.

This is where the trouble begins.

Tom is a fascinating character. While he is a part of the mob, it’s clear that he has no intention of killing anyone. He may be a criminal, but he believes in loyalty and integrity. Within his albeit ruthless world, Tom is trying to be the best person he can be. But his peers will have no part of this.

Tom advises Leo to give up Bernie to avoid major bloodshed and Leo refuses. Tom tells Leo about him and Verna, for Leo’s best interest, and Leo responds by beating Tom up and throwing him out. Tom spares Bernie’s life and is met with blackmail.

By the end of the film, Tom’s decency is all used up. He has seen what can happen when a person shows mercy and honesty. So, Tom has finally embraced the lifestyle of Leo and Johnny and Bernie. Through manipulation, deception, and paranoia, Tom manages to wipe out everybody that can do him harm.

This transformation is similar to that of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, but there is something different here. Michael doesn’t quite realize what he’s becoming until it’s too late. Tom knows every step of the way. With every choice he makes, he weighs the options, looks at the possible outcomes, and proceeds with the more evil of the two.

This is a man completely responsible for his own damnation. However, he would never have gotten there if the world he inhabited had actually shown any benefit of salvation.

Finally, in the last moments of the film, Tom has a chance to get back into the life that he fought so hard to preserve. But, he decides against it. The last shot of the film is Tom, cold and alone. He is now in the unenviable position of having to rebuild his life, but with no help from anybody. It’s depressing, but mildly encouraging.

One need only look at the world he is leaving, and think back on the last two hours, before realizing that, sometimes, it’s better to be alone with your soul intact than to be surrounded with friends, and have no soul at all.