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Hail! Caesar: An end of Hollywood Era

Tavia Millward
Apr 30, 2016
5 min read

Hail! Caesar was the first comedic film I couldn’t wait to watch. Firstly, because it is a Coen Brothers’ film and secondly I really liked the trailer. Coen Bros were definitely having fun while making this film and it also there first full comedy film which they are not typically known for.

Quirkiness but funny.

Pretty sure they have been wanting to make film like this in a while and stray from films such as True Grit, No Country for Old Men and Fargo. They paid homage to the 1950s Hollywood with B-grade westerns, sailor westerns and Esther Williams mermaid synchronised swimming. Clearly, showing the end of an era as the Cold War approaches and spies working in Hollywood for the communists.

Don’t worry I’ll get into the plot in a moment.

Now the Coen Brothers usually have some Christian or religious themes in their stories. Well, Hail! Caesar is an actually film being made in the film (Yes, the inception of films) which depicts the crucifixion of Jesus. No the film is not following the crucifixion of Jesus just the start of the film and other actors. Once I explain the plot I will tell you why I think Coen Brothers are such good storytellers and I cannot seem to decode their stories. Meaning I cannot seem to understand the motives of some of the characters’ actions in the film and this is the case for most Coen Brothers’ films I watch. Thus, making their so entertaining for myself and a challenge to analyse. I think I got this one or maybe I just overanalysed it.

Here we go! Ready...! Okay…okay… I think I just build up the story’s plot too much and now you going to think this film is soooo damn boring. Fine…you still want to know the plot. Okay.

Hail! Caesar follows the daily life of Eddie Mannix, an enforcer and producer of Capitol Pictures. He’s much like Ray Donavon just smiles more often and is trying to quite bad habits like smoking unlike Ray. No offence to Ray Donavon.

Oh, sorry. I always seem to go off topic. We were we. Oh, Eddie Mannix.

Yeah, Eddie Mannix played by Josh Brolin is the head of property protection of Capitol Pictures. Making sure actors don’t get kidnap or fall pregnant for the second time of wedlock with a married man. But those things happen in Mannix’s life or the while he is trying to quit smoking and confesses to his priest at the same time every night. Mannix gets hassled by twin reporters played by Tilda Swinton (Love her!) on the missing actor Baird Whitlock who is played by George Clooney who plays a Roman general witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion (actor inception right there). Later he gets a ransom note from a communist group of screenwriters who have been ripped from Capitol Pictures. They call themselves The Future and explains the Marx theory.

Google it, don’t even look at me to explain it. I’m just doing what my unpaid job allows me to do

Mannix receives the cash from the Pictures accountant but somehow gets interrupted by from various actors and directors from various film lots from Capitol Pictures. He has to deal with Hobie Doyle a western B-grade cowboy actor turned drama actor who has no clue how to act in a drama. Mannix gets an earful from both Laurence Laurentz the director and Hobie Doyle. All while trying to get the famous actress DeeAnna Moran played by Scarlett Johansen to marry someone for PR reasons before her second child is born. If that is not enough Mannix is tempted with a job with less hours but does not seem ethical. In the end Whitlock is found by the cowboy himself, Hobie and brought back and starts to question Capitol Pictures capital system but he is slapped back into sense by Eddie Mannix who tells him is an actor and he is here to act. The communist spy/ musical actor played by Channing Tatum flees with his dog in a Soviet submarine while the ransom money floats down to the sea bed. Scarlet Johansen eventually marries Joseph Silerman played by Jonah Hill who was arranged to adopt her first child but actually falls in love with him. Eddie Mannix refuses to work under Nixon at a Nuclear Testing site and continues to manage Capitol Pictures and stops smoking.

A Fairy tale ending.

Now my analysation. I thought about this while watching. Could Mannix be Coen Brother’s interpretation of Jesus he is man who repents daily of simply wrong-doing. He goes through daily struggles and solves everyone else’s problems. He gets tempted with a better paying job and this could essentially make him a king. Just like Jesus himself was tempted in the desert. An actor on Capitol Pictures betrays him and kidnaps Whitlock and is working with the enemy (Ding, Ding Judas). DeeAnna has a child out of wedlock and it not clear who the father of the child is. Okay, let’s not say who that reminds us of it would be a disgrace to say Mother Mary. But I’m definitely sure this was not intended by Coen Brothers or maybe it was obviously not as an insult. Mannix may not be Jesus heck the real Eddie Mannix was no near Jesus who a bad nature attitude but he got things done whether the real Mannix or Brolin’s Mannix they were loved and respected at Capitol Pictures.

Can we speak about the production design?

Amazing…! The mermaid sequence was films beautifully was the actual set that Esther Williams did all her mermaid sequences in Million Dollar Mermaid. I honestly love all the various sets pieces some of them were actual 1950s set pieces from Roman sets, synchronised swimming sets, spaghetti westerns to musical theatre scenes. Coen Brothers did a good job. But had a lot of struggles all the scene shots of Esther Williams were destroyed and they could not actually see how they filmed it back then. Roman props were sent to another film set who are doing the remake of Ben Hur and they could not hire it. They have done an impressive job though.

Josh Brolin’s performance was good but still prefer him in No Country for Old Men. I personally think there were too many A-list stars crammed in this film and not enough face time. Honestly you only see Scarlet in two scenes. I could have made the film’s run time longer or cut the A-list actors. Good part we get see the various workings behind the scenes from different film sets back in the 1950s Hollywood. We also see western films slowly coming to end with dramas popularising and the cold war approaching, definitely symbolising an end of era.

But I love the idea of Coen Brothers pay homage to that era. I love the idea of any director or writer paying homage to any influential person.