Everett Learns the Power of Friendship in O Brother Where Art Thou

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Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney)

A slick-talking, intelligent man who was sent to the penal farm for practicing law without a license. He gets word that his wife is soon re-marrying, just tin but brand information technology in fourth dimension to finish the wedding if he convinces the two men chained to him to concur to help him escape. Accordingly, he spins a story of a huge sack of cash from an onetime depository financial institution chore that is in danger of being buried forever if they don't reach it in time.

Based on Odysseus from The Odyssey, the smart, but big-headed, hero who constantly finds himself in trouble on his journeying back home to his wife.

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• Berserk Push button: Is very sensitive most his hair and brand of pomade, Dapper Dan. Don't offer him whatsoever other brand and don't assist yourself to his supply.
• Con Man: Everything about him for the outset 2/3 of the movie is a complete lie and he gets by on bluff and charm lone.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has only two modes: loquacious and sarcastic. Sometimes both.
• Guile Hero: Much similar the character he's based on. Subverted, nevertheless; he makes his way in life by beingness charismatic and eloquent, just he'south really not that proficient at it, largely due to his overconfidence and vanity.
• First Father Wins: His wife is getting fix to ally again, only eventually goes back to him (with all their children). Mayhap. If he can find that band...
• The Hero: Or so he thinks.

  Pete: Since nosotros been followin' your atomic number 82, nosotros own't got nothing but problem.

• Indy Ploy: Conspicuously makes things upwards on the fly, with maybe an 60 minutes's grooming. They're successful for nearly as long, and Pete's quick to complain that they jump from one batch of trouble to the next.
• Insufferable Genius: Relatively. He's got a quick listen at to the lowest degree and is quick to try and testify it, which is magnified when he's continuing adjacent to Pete and Delmar. That said, true to the original character, he's a touch too arrogant most it, is quick to presume he knows more than he does, and isn't really a good leader, which kind of sees him bouncing between this, Miles Gloriosus, and Know-Nothing Know-It-All.
• Big Ham: He's full of himself, and likes it!
• Heart Proper noun Ground: Nigh always referred to by his heart proper name.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Likes to put on an air of composure and intelligence by using large fancy words to explain things in a verbose way.

  Everett: Say, whatever of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

• Sir Swears-a-Lot: A chip loose with his "damns", but goose egg that would become blanked out on bones cable.
• Sophisticated as Hell: He has, as he puts information technology, the "souvenir of gab". When he slips into Detestable Genius fashion, he'll start espousing odd facts mixed with simple, Southern colloquialisms.
• Surrounded by Idiots: A common complaint of his. ("You lot two are simply dumber than a pocketbook of hammers!")

Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro)

In jail for unknown reasons, Pete only had two weeks left on his sentence, simply Everett'south treasure is too tempting to pass upwards. Extremely rough-around-the-edges, but honest to a fault, Pete constantly butts heads with Everett, but continues to tag along in the hopes of using his share of Everett's treasure to open his own eatery.

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• Butt-Monkey: He's browbeaten, kidnapped, and even appears to be turned into a toad.
• I'll Kill Y'all!: Shouts this to his cousin Launder when he realizes that Wash did indeed sell him and the others out for the bounty.

  Pete: I'yard gonna KILL you, Judas Iscariot Hogwallop! You lot miserable, equus caballus-eatin' son of a-!

• Wiggle with a Eye of Gold: He'south irascible and prickly, but he's fundamentally good-natured.
• The Lancer: He is Everett's Foil and always goes confronting whatever he says.
• Big Ham: In true John Turturro fashion.
• Thicker Than Water: He believes in this, as it's why he leads the gang to his cousin Wash's identify for a place to balance, eat, and finally get the bondage off. He'southward immediately angry when Everett proclaims Wash sold them out to the law that very night ("Wash's kin!"), and gets even moreso when Wash confirms information technology, so he ends up calling Wash "Judas Iscariot Hogwallop". Despite this, he calls Everett out for stealing Wash'south pocket watch.

Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson)

A dim-witted but kindhearted man in prison house for robbing a convenience store in Yazoo. He's superstitious and gullible, simply ultimately the almost decent of the bunch. He'south far more than agreeable than Pete, and dreams of buying back his family farm from the bank that foreclosed on it with his share of the treasure.

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• Telephone call to Agriculture: This is his motivation for getting the coin — he wants to purchase back his family subcontract, believing that he isn't a truthful man without owning country.
• Cloudcuckoolander: "We... idea... you... was... a toad!"
• The Ditz: Which helps him beingness duped by Everett's "intelligence".
• Friend to All Living Things: During dejeuner with Large Dan, we meet Delmar covered with and enthralled by butterflies.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: The friendliest of the group.
• The Cast Showoff: That really is him singing In the Jailhouse Now toward the end of the movie.
• Nice Guy: He gets along well with both Everett and Pete.

Governor Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel (Charles Durning)

The incumbent governor of Mississippi, also a flour tycoon and radioman. He's losing badly confronting his opponent Homer Stokes, due both to being dogged by accusations of corruption, and due to the mis-management of his campaign past his ii idiot helpers and idiot son. He unwittingly gives Everett and his group a variety of escapes from their troubles.

He's a Composite Character representing both Menelaus and Zeus from The Odyssey, beingness a helpful authority figure in dissimilarity to Sheriff Cooley.

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• Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: The movie is set in the Deep Due south, so the politicians needed to be that! That said, he's more self-centered and neutral than the usual example.
• Grumpy Old Human: Until he's actually on his rival's phase, we only ever see him griping to and virtually his employees.
• Historical In-Joke: Pappy O'Daniel was a Texas senator, but here he's the Mississippi governor.
• Large Ham: In both size and boisterous attitude.

  "WE MASS-COMMUNICATIN'!"

• Lesser of Two Evils: He might be a Jerkass and very likely a Corrupt Politician, but he nevertheless comes out looking better than his KKK opponent.
• Only Known past Their Nickname: "Pappy."
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Peculiarly while whapping his employees with a hat.
• Surrounded by Idiots: His son and a couple of yes men. They, uh, never fence the indicate.

Sheriff Cooley (Daniel von Bargen)

The lawman tasked with bringing Everett'southward group back to the farm. He'south a heartless man who takes a perverse pleasure in pursuing the boys, and clearly plans to summarily execute them rather than bring them in. He'southward implied at various points to be the Devil himself, aiming to collect on a debt he's owed.

He represents Poseidon from The Odyssey being a completely antagonistic authority figure who is constantly in the way of Everett's journey dwelling.

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• Allegorical Character: Much like Poseidon in The Odyssey, he represents inhuman power without mercy, in this case, the law itself. He may also actually be the Devil, so there's that.
• Large Bad: Of all the colourful characters the escapees meet on their journey, Cooley is definitely the virtually dangerous and dogged in his pursuit to capture and kill the three.
• Death by Irony: Poseidon is killed by a inundation. Well, maybe just defeated.
• Dirty Cop: It'due south clear from the get-go that Cooley doesn't care most little details similar who is innocent and what their rights are.
• Inspector Javert: A very cruel case. Getting escaped prisoners is his job, but he'due south outright psychotic about information technology (he sets a barn on fire to try to fume them out, for crying out loud) and when they get a pardon, he still captures them and gets gear up to hang them (and Tommy, who has washed no criminal offense at all other than beingness with them).
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There's some hints that he might be the Devil (ie. Tommy'due south description of the Devil he met in the crossroads), and his exposition nigh 'homo institutions' when confronted nigh his methods casts more than doubt to his true nature.
• Not Enough to Bury: When the overflowing apparently kills him off, all that the photographic camera shows of him is his glasses floating downstream.
• Patently Evil: How he got the job is anybody'due south guess. And then again, if he really is the Devil, he probably wasn't actually chosen for information technology and made his own way in...
• Police Brutality: Cooley and his gang whip and torture Pete in hopes he'll own up to the whereabouts of his compatriots.
• Satanic Archetype: His cruelty and bizarre appearance, including the fact that his mirrored shades reflect flames at times, brand him look similar the devil.
• Sinister Shades: Cooley e'er wears his shades, even in the dark. Disturbingly, they ofttimes reflect flames when you run across a shut-upwards of his face.

Daniel "Big Dan" Teague (John Goodman)

A greedy, sadistic, 1-eyed Bible salesman, taking advantage of the Depression to push his product. He first encounters Everett's group at a eating house where he tricks them into paying for his meal so violently mugs them. He subsequently appears at a Ku Klux Klan rally, revealing the total extent of his cruelty.

Based on Polyphemus the Cyclops from The Odyssey, who cannibalizes Odysseus' men in violation of Sacred Hospitality.

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• Arrow Catch: Catches the Confederate flag hurled like a javelin between his hands before it tin stab him in the confront, which gets a few impressed cheers from his fellow klansmen. Not so lucky with the giant flaming cross though.
• Asshole Victim: Mugs the heroes afterwards they pay for his repast, and so is afterward nowadays at a Klan rally. One time a giant, flaming cross falls on top of him, nosotros're given exactly naught to mourn.
• Eyepatch of Power: He'due south a cyclops analogue. There may be a double meaning: while his rank is never stated, the primary officer of a local KKK chapter during the period was called the "Exalted Cyclops".
• Fat Bastard: Greedy, violent, Ku Klux Klan member...
• Faux Affably Evil: Puts upwardly a friendly, amicable front before showing his true colors by beating the hell out of Everett and Delmar and robbing them blind.
• Jerkass: Robs the heroes, eats their nutrient, and squishes the toad they thought was Pete, and Delmar tried and then hard to protect. And that'southward all earlier nosotros learn he's a member of the KKK.
• Karmic Death: Crushed by a flaming cross in a KKK rally.
• Big Ham: Notes that it comes in handy in his line of work selling Bibles.
• The Olfactory organ Knows: He noticeably takes off his hood and gets a big sniff of the air before he rushes afterward the heroes and reveals them, all but stating he recognized Ulysses' Dapper Dan.
• Red Correct Hand: He has i middle, and is a KKK member.
• Sophisticated as Hell: As with Ulysses, he can make a short bespeak with long streams of dialogue.
• Stout Strength: Capable of quite the beating with a big stick, only more impressively (given his lack of depth perception) catches a flag staff thrown as a javelin.
• Villainous Glutton: Meets Ulysses and friends at a eating place, and eats a lot.

Tommy Johnson (Chris Thomas King)

A young, but incredibly gifted blues musician whom Everett picks up on his mode back from the crossroads from selling his soul to the Devil for his musical talent. Despite his obvious talent, he lives in abiding fear of the Devil coming to collect.

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• Bargain with the Devil: How he learned to play the guitar.

  Delmar: Oh son, for that you sold your everlasting soul?
  Tommy: Well, I wasn't usin' information technology.

• Historical Domain Character: Basically an expy of the real-life blues guitarist Tommy Johnson, too as Robert Johnson - both of them rumored to take gotten their musical skills in a Bargain with the Devil.
• Nice Guy: It's kind of ironic, seeing every bit how he sold his soul to the Devil, only Tommy is one of the nicest guys in the flick.
• Sixth Ranger: Joins the grouping after beingness picked upwardly by the side of the road.
• Token Minority: The just black guy in the chief characters.

George "Babyface" Nelson (Michael Badalucco)

The famous bank robber himself, Nelson runs into the boys by chance and takes them along on one of his banking concern jobs. He falls into a funk immediately after, wandering off and assuasive the boys to savour the spoils on their ain. Heavily unsaid to exist manic-depressive, his robberies existence the result of a mania-fueled desire for excitement and notoriety.

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• Berserk Button: Calling him "Babyface".
• Historical Domain Grapheme: Though the real life Nelson died in 1934, whereas the film is set up in 1937.
• Insistent Terminology: It's "George Nelson", not "Babyface".
• Large Ham: In his manic moments.
• Mood-Swinger: We see him wheel through highs of gleeful violence and throwing money effectually, along with lows of sitting and moping. Ulysses suggests he's what we'd call bipolar nowadays.
• Carbohydrate-and-Ice Personality: Is surprisingly genial for a bank robber, even in his low moments - until someone calls him "Babyface".
• Trigger Happy: To the indicate he shoots some cows that pass past!

Homer Stokes (Wayne Duvall)

Pappy O'Daniel's electoral opponent, Stokes is running equally a reform candidate in a bright and highly successful entrada using a dwarf to represent his friendship with "the little man." Despite his posturing as a muckraking populist, Stokes is actually a deeply malicious man and a high-ranking fellow member of the local Ku Klux Klan. His campaign managing director, Vernon T. Waldrip, is shortly to marry Everett'south wife.

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• Accidental Public Confession: He has to admit that he was at a Klan rally in order to out the heroes as escaped convicts. He doesn't seem to mind though, thinking his constituents would be okay with information technology. They weren't.
• Large Guy, Little Guy: With his dwarf sidekick, who not merely plays the role of "the little homo" in his political muckraking, but helps him with his Klan activities, also.
• Decadent Hick: Appears to be a reform candidate. And is actually a high-ranking Jerkass in the Klan.
• Hoist past His Own Petard: Despite loudly challenge to be a friend of the "petty human being" (with accompanying little person) both earlier and during, he can't read the mood of the crowd when he interrupts the Soggy Bottom Boys' functioning at his ain campaign rally and is consequently run out of town on a track.
• Honor Before Reason: In that his personal sense of honor as a Klansman requires him to jump out of his chair and demand the crowd disown the Soggy Bottom Boys for beingness integrated and miscegenated, refusing to back downward even every bit the oversupply turns against him.
• Jerkass: He's a Klan fellow member who wants to lynch Tommy up for the crime of existence blackness.
• Large Ham: Non and so normally (well, as much every bit a politician tin be hammy), but he really cuts loose at the Klan rally.
• Villain with Adept Publicity: He's much better at campaigning than Pappy, and therefore much more popular. He's easily the worse of the two morally.

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• Oblivion (2013)
• CharacterSheets/Live-Action Films
• Ocean's Eleven

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/OBrotherWhereArtThou

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