Barton Fink (1991)

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Director:

Joel Coen

Writers:

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Stars:

John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Turturro	...	Barton Fink
John Goodman	...	Charlie Meadows
Judy Davis	...	Audrey Taylor
Michael Lerner	...	Jack Lipnick
John Mahoney	...	W.P. Mayhew
Tony Shalhoub	...	Ben Geisler
Jon Polito	...	Lou Breeze
Steve Buscemi	...	Chet
David Warrilow	...	Garland Stanford
Richard Portnow	...	Detective Mastrionotti
Christopher Murney	...	Detective Deutsch
I.M. Hobson	...	Derek
Meagen Fay	...	Poppy Carnahan (as Megan Faye)
Lance Davis	...	Richard St. Claire
Harry Bugin	...	Pete

Storyline

In 1941, New York intellectual playwright Barton Fink comes to Hollywood to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer's block. His neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows, tries to help, but Barton continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further from his task.

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Plot Keywords:

writer | playwright | wrestling | writer's block | hotel | 

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Taglines:

Between Heaven and Hell There's Always Hollywood!

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some scenes of violence

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Barton Fink - Delírios de Hollywood

Filming Locations:

Vermont Avenue Tunnel, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$6,153,939 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Circle Films, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of Barton Fink's play 'Bare Ruined Choirs' is from William Shakespeare's Sonnet #73, the first 4 lines of which are "That time of year thou mayest in me behold, When yellow leaves or none or few do hang, Upon those boughs that shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet bird sang".

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Goofs

Colonel Lipnick's uniform contains awards created after 1941, including a Master Parachutist Badge (1949) and the Combat Infantryman's Badge (1943).

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Quotes

Jack Lipnick: It's supposed to be about big men! In tights! Both physically and mentally!

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Hot Tub Time Machine/Chloe/How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

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Soundtracks

"FOR SENTIMENTAL REASONS"
by Edward Heyman, Al Sherman and Abner Silver
Licenced with Permission the Successors of Marlo Music Corporation/ASCAP

User Reviews

Classic dark comedy spoofs Hollywood hacks, literati alike

This is a satire which really eviscerates its main character, nebbish Barton Fink, a semi-successful, very Jewish New York playwright who comes to Hollywood to make his dreams come true, which in his case is definately not writing the next Wallace Beery wrestling picture. There are just too many funny things in this movie to mention them all, so I won't mention any. But this is a movie that is going to stand up to the test of time; it may be the Coen brothers' best movie, because it is both dead funny and dead serious.

Turturro gives the performance of a lifetime as Barton, and Goodman proved with this movie that he was a first class acting talent (what made the Coens think of him in this role, anyway? surely a mark of genius). Davis also shows herself off extremely well, in one of this underrated actresses finest roles.

There is, simply put, no better satire of Hollywood, and none that I can think of that so successfully manages to also spoof the pretentions of those who despise it.