The Man Who Wasn't There
The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 neo-noir crime film written, directed, produced and co-edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini. The film is set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with her boss. Crane's situation changes when a stranger comes to the barbershop and offers him the opportunity to join him as a partner in a promising new business, in exchange for an investment of ten thousand dollars. Drawn to the idea, Crane plans to blackmail his wife's lover for the money.
Plot
In 1949 Santa Rosa, California, Ed Crane is a barber working in his brother-in-law Frank’s barbershop. His wife Doris, a bookkeeper, struggles with a drinking problem, and their marriage is strained. One day, a customer named Creighton Tolliver tells Ed about an investment opportunity in a new technology called dry cleaning. Tolliver persuades Ed to invest $10,000, but Ed, desperate for money, decides to blackmail Doris's boss, "Big Dave" Brewster, whom he suspects of having an affair with her. Ed anonymously demands money from Brewster, who embezzles funds from his department store to meet the blackmail demands.
Awards
Cast
- Abraham Benrubi
- Adam Alexi-Malle
- Alan Fudge
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Booth Colman
- Brooke Smith
- Christopher Kriesa
- Christopher McDonald
- Don Calfa
- Frances McDormand
- Gregg Binkley
- Jack McGee
- James Gandolfini
- Jennifer Jason Leigh
- John Michael Higgins
- Jon Polito
- Kenny Hughes
- Lilyan Chauvin
- Max Thayer
- Michael Badalucco
- Richard Jenkins
- Scarlett Johansson
- Tony Shalhoub
More details
| author | Coen brothers |
|---|---|
| award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | California |
| director | Joel Coen |
| editor | Roderick Jaynes |
| events | capital punishment |
| genre | crime drama |
| keywords | arrest clean criminal defense lawyer crush death row defense attorney department store drink electric chair jail cell life story listen murder music teacher new technology nothing open teenage girl ufo unidentified flying object |
| musicBy | Carter Burwell |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Cinematography |
| producer | Ethan Coen |
| productionCompany | Mike Zoss Productions Working Title Films |
| publisher | Entertainment Film Distributors USA Films |
| recordedAt | California Santa Rosa |
| theme | neo-noir |