MovieChat Forums > Miller's Crossing (1990) Discussion > The ending

The ending

posted 9 years ago by srbinusrcu
4 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else came up with the idea that Tom actually killed Leo in the end? That's something that crossed my mind because of the hat at the begining of the film is being blown by the wind in the woods,and also Tom hated Leo. Maybe he wanted to take all the bad guys who owned the city down,and leave Leo to be the last to prove something. He already said he doesn't have a heart so it wouldn't be too hard for him...

[–] kslcutter 9 years ago

The way Tom put on the hat and pulled it way down had me thinking that he was hiding and scheming, especially the way he looked at Leo; that gaze was piercing. I don't think Tom wanted to take down all of the bad guys, to me, it felt personal. More along the lines of someone is gonna pay for everything Tom had just gone through.

[–] sussman8454473 9 years ago

The ending has already been discussed in an earlier thread:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100150/board/thread/161104328

I think the most interesting piece of information provided (by mrtanner) in this thread:

Just FYI about the ending: An interesting thing I remember from reading an interview with Gabriel Byrne when the movie first came out.
He said that the Coens didn't give him much direction regarding how to play the character, but one thing they did tell him was to "never look at Leo like he's your friend"...until the very last shot.

I don't buy the theory that Tom schemes to take over and become the new boss. I think the ending is Tom's "kiss-off" for Leo not in an angry way like earlier Leo's "kiss-off" for Tom, but in a melancholic way, underlined by the music. Tom knows he can't carry on as Leo's advisor, with Verna around as Leo's wife. So he moves on. The Coens' direction for Gabriel Byrne in this scene pretty much confirms the notion that in Tom's gaze lies the melancholic realization of the end (not "the beginning" like in Casablanca's final scene) "of a beautiful friendship", a friendship bordering on love, underlined by a reference within the earlier "kiss-off" scene:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100150/movieconnections?ref_=tt_ql_trv_6#spoofs

[–] rc-108 9 years ago

this makes sense to me Sussman.

[–] ragnarok-1 9 years ago

Tom loves Leo and Verna and this is the source of the film's conflict and angst. The only times Tom intentionally puts himself in peril is in service to either of them.