O Brother, Where Art Thou? is nearly a camp version of portions of Homer’s The Odyssey, or so we are told at the beginning of the film, directed by Joel Coen. When the film begins, Ulysses Everett McGill (played by George Clooney), Pete (played by John Turturro), and Delmar (played by Tim Black Nelson) are escaping from a chain gang in Mississippi in 1937. (The filming took place in and around Canton and Yazoo, Mississippi.) The odyssey of the three, who indeed appear to be the reincarnated Three Stooges, takes them through many perils. To get the two to join him in the escape, Ulysses lies about a $1.2 million treasure from a armored truck heist located in a cabin that is about to be flooded due to construction of a Tennessee Valley Authority dam, whereas in reality he wants to become reunited with his wife Penny (Penelope in Homer’s story) and his brood of daughters. They are taken beyond bloodhound range by a horse-drawn cart by an African American, who utters prophesies about their fate, telling them that they will find treasure but it may not be the treasure they seek. They stay on the property of a relative of one of the three escapees, only to be awakened by police, since the relative turned them in to get the reward; however, they elude capture and proceed onward. To get some pocket money, they team up with African American guitarist Tommy Johnson (played by Chris Thomas King) to cut a record as the Soggy Bottom Boys. The Sirens, who wash clothes in a stream, mesmerize the three with song, indeed causing Pete to disappear, presumably turning into a horny toad. Big Dan Teague (played by John Goodman) is the one-eyed Cyclops of the tale; he promises to tell them secrets of how to make big money by selling the bible to suckers but instead knocks them unconscious and steals their money, derived from the popular record. When Ulysses meets up with Penny (played by Holly Hunter), she rejects him, saying that she has another suitor. Later, Pete returns to the duo in time to witness a nighttime meeting of the Ku Klux Klan, headed by a candidate for governor named Homer Stokes (played by Wayne Duvall). In preparation for a lynching of Johnson, the klansmen perform a well choreographed ritual as if providing halftime football entertainment under the direction of Busby Berkeley. But the trio rescue Johnson and cut down the burning cross. They then go to an election rally, perform as the Soggy Bottom Boys to the joy of an audience, both live and on the radio. When Stokes appears to denounce them as “not white,” the audience boos, Stokes is carried out, Penny’s suitor is discredited, and incumbent Governor “Pappy” O’Daniel (played by Charles Durning) takes credit for the music group’s popularity and pardons the three for their crimes, followed by a rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.” Ulysses again tries to make up with Penny, but she spurns him on another pretext. On the road again, they are tracked down as prison escapees by a posse-leader, Cooley (played by Daniel Von Bargen), who did not get the word that they were pardoned because he had no radio; but just before being executed on the spot, floodwaters engulf the area. The four emerge from the depths to the surface, and Ulysses again tries to become reunited with Penny, who again spurns him. For a film more faithful to the Homeric epic, filmviewers should rent Ulysses (1967), but for a good laugh O Brother, Where Art Thou? will more than suffice, especially if you recall the original story. MH