Miller's Crossing Screening Report

Miller's Crossing, like a typical mob movie, makes the mob groups out to be family units. The difference between Miller's Crossing and any typical mob movie is that it looks much closer at the personal relationships between the characters rather than focusing most on the crimes committed by one mob family or another.

This movie is also packed with symbolism, when most mobster movies convey the majority of their meanings directly through dialogue. The recurring symbol of the fedora symbolizes the quintessential gangster and his connection to something bigger than himself. We can see this through Tommy's attachment and need for the hat that evolves in his dream of his hat being blown off by the wind and him leaving it behind saying, "There's nothing more foolish than a man chasing his hat".