Actor Governor if Mississippi 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 police without a license. He gets word that his married woman is soon re-marrying, but can only make it in fourth dimension to stop the wedding if he convinces the two men chained to him to agree to help him escape. Accordingly, he spins a story of a huge sack of greenbacks from an old bank task 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 problem on his journey back dwelling to his wife.

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• Berserk Button: Is very sensitive most his hair and brand of pomade, Dapper Dan. Don't offer him whatsoever other brand and don't help yourself to his supply.
• Con Human: Everything most him for the first 2/three of the film is a complete prevarication and he gets by on bluff and charm alone.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has only two modes: loquacious and sarcastic. Sometimes both.
• Guile Hero: Much like the grapheme he's based on. Subverted, notwithstanding; he makes his way in life by being charismatic and eloquent, but he'southward really not that proficient at it, largely due to his overconfidence and vanity.
• Beginning Father Wins: His married woman is getting set up to ally again, just eventually goes dorsum to him (with all their children). Maybe. If he can find that ring...
• The Hero: Or so he thinks.

  Pete: Since we been followin' your lead, we ain't got nothing but trouble.

• Indy Ploy: Clearly makes things up on the fly, with possibly an hour'southward preparation. They're successful for about as long, and Pete'southward quick to mutter that they leap from 1 batch of trouble to the adjacent.
• Insufferable Genius: Relatively. He'due south got a quick heed at least and is quick to try and prove information technology, which is magnified when he'due south standing next to Pete and Delmar. That said, true to the original character, he's a touch too arrogant about information technology, is quick to assume he knows more than he does, and isn't really a good leader, which kind of sees him bouncing betwixt this, Miles Gloriosus, and Know-Nothing Know-It-All.
• Big Ham: He's total of himself, and likes information technology!
• Middle Proper name Basis: Almost ever referred to by his center name.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Likes to put on an air of sophistication and intelligence by using big fancy words to explain things in a verbose manner.

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

• Sir Swears-a-Lot: A flake loose with his "damns", but nothing that would become blanked out on basic cable.
• Sophisticated as Hell: He has, as he puts it, the "gift of gab". When he slips into Detestable Genius mode, he'll start espousing odd facts mixed with simple, Southern colloquialisms.
• Surrounded past Idiots: A mutual complaint of his. ("You lot two are just dumber than a bag of hammers!")

Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro)

In jail for unknown reasons, Pete only had 2 weeks left on his sentence, merely Everett's treasure is too tempting to pass upwardly. Extremely crude-around-the-edges, but honest to a mistake, Pete constantly butts heads with Everett, but continues to tag forth in the hopes of using his share of Everett's treasure to open his ain restaurant.

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

  Pete: I'1000 gonna KILL you, Judas Iscariot Hogwallop! Y'all miserable, equus caballus-eatin' son of a-!

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

Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson)

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

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• Call to Agriculture: This is his motivation for getting the money — he wants to buy back his family unit farm, believing that he isn't a true human being without owning land.
• Cloudcuckoolander: "We... idea... you... was... a toad!"
• The Ditz: Which helps him beingness duped by Everett's "intelligence".
• Friend to All Living Things: During lunch with Big Dan, nosotros run across Delmar covered with and enthralled by collywobbles.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: The friendliest of the group.
• The Bandage Showoff: That really is him singing In the Jailhouse Now toward the cease of the picture show.
• 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'south losing badly against his opponent Homer Stokes, due both to existence dogged past accusations of corruption, and due to the mis-management of his campaign by his two idiot helpers and idiot son. He unwittingly gives Everett and his group a variety of escapes from their troubles.

He'due south a Composite Character representing both Menelaus and Zeus from The Odyssey, existence a helpful authority effigy in dissimilarity to Sheriff Cooley.

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• Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: The motion-picture show is set in the Deep South, and then the politicians needed to be that! That said, he's more self-centered and neutral than the usual example.
• Grumpy Old Human: Until he'south actually on his rival's stage, we only ever see him griping to and well-nigh his employees.
• Historical In-Joke: Pappy O'Daniel was a Texas senator, merely here he'due south the Mississippi governor.
• Big Ham: In both size and boisterous mental attitude.

  "WE MASS-COMMUNICATIN'!"

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

Sheriff Cooley (Daniel von Bargen)

The constable tasked with bringing Everett'due south grouping back to the farm. He's 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 existence a completely antagonistic authority figure who is constantly in the mode of Everett's journey home.

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• Allegorical Character: Much like Poseidon in The Odyssey, he represents inhuman power without mercy, in this example, the police force itself. He may also really be the Devil, so there's that.
• Big Bad: Of all the colourful characters the escapees meet on their journey, Cooley is definitely the most unsafe and dogged in his pursuit to capture and impale the three.
• Expiry past Irony: Poseidon is killed by a flood. Well, maybe just defeated.
• Muddied Cop: It's clear from the go-go that Cooley doesn't care most little details like who is innocent and what their rights are.
• Inspector Javert: A very fell example. Getting escaped prisoners is his task, but he'due south outright psychotic about it (he sets a befouled on fire to try to fume them out, for crying out loud) and when they go a pardon, he nonetheless captures them and gets ready to hang them (and Tommy, who has done no criminal offence at all other than being with them).
• Mayhap Magic, Perchance Mundane: There'due south some hints that he might be the Devil (ie. Tommy's description of the Devil he met in the crossroads), and his exposition about 'human institutions' when confronted about his methods casts more doubt to his truthful nature.
• Non Enough to Bury: When the flood apparently kills him off, all that the photographic camera shows of him is his glasses floating downstream.
• Plainly Evil: How he got the job is anybody's guess. Then again, if he actually is the Devil, he probably wasn't actually called for it and made his own fashion in...
• Police Brutality: Cooley and his gang whip and torture Pete in hopes he'll ain up to the whereabouts of his compatriots.
• Satanic Archetype: His cruelty and baroque appearance, including the fact that his mirrored shades reverberate flames at times, brand him await like the devil.
• Sinister Shades: Cooley e'er wears his shades, fifty-fifty in the night. Disturbingly, they ofttimes reverberate flames when you see a shut-upward of his face.

Daniel "Large Dan" Teague (John Goodman)

A greedy, sadistic, one-eyed Bible salesman, taking advantage of the Depression to push his product. He first encounters Everett's group at a eatery where he tricks them into paying for his meal and and so violently mugs them. He later appears at a Ku Klux Klan rally, revealing the full 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 face, which gets a few impressed cheers from his swain klansmen. Not so lucky with the giant flaming cross though.
• Asshole Victim: Mugs the heroes after they pay for his meal, and then is later nowadays at a Klan rally. Once a giant, flaming cross falls on top of him, we're given exactly nil to mourn.
• Eyepatch of Power: He's a cyclops analogue. There may exist a double pregnant: while his rank is never stated, the chief officeholder of a local KKK chapter during the period was called the "Exalted Cyclops".
• Fat Bastard: Greedy, violent, Ku Klux Klan fellow member...
• Faux Affably Evil: Puts up a friendly, amicable front earlier showing his true colors by beating the hell out of Everett and Delmar and robbing them bullheaded.
• Jerkass: Robs the heroes, eats their nutrient, and squishes the toad they thought was Pete, and Delmar tried and so hard to protect. And that's all before nosotros learn he's a member of the KKK.
• Karmic Death: Crushed by a flaming cross in a KKK rally.
• Large Ham: Notes that it comes in handy in his line of piece of work selling Bibles.
• The Nose Knows: He noticeably takes off his hood and gets a large sniff of the air before he rushes after the heroes and reveals them, all but stating he recognized Ulysses' Dapper Dan.
• Red Correct Hand: He has one heart, and is a KKK member.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Every bit with Ulysses, he can make a short bespeak with long streams of dialogue.
• Stout Strength: Capable of quite the beating with a large stick, but more than impressively (given his lack of depth perception) catches a flag staff thrown as a javelin.
• Villainous Glutton: Meets Ulysses and friends at a restaurant, and eats a lot.

Tommy Johnson (Chris Thomas King)

A young, but incredibly gifted blues musician whom Everett picks upward on his way back from the crossroads from selling his soul to the Devil for his musical talent. Despite his obvious talent, he lives in constant 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' it.

• Historical Domain Character: Basically an expy of the real-life dejection guitarist Tommy Johnson, too as Robert Johnson - both of them rumored to accept gotten their musical skills in a Bargain with the Devil.
• Nice Guy: It'southward kind of ironic, seeing as how he sold his soul to the Devil, merely Tommy is one of the nicest guys in the film.
• 6th Ranger: Joins the group after being picked up by the side of the road.
• Token Minority: The only black guy in the main characters.

George "Babyface" Nelson (Michael Badalucco)

The famous banking concern robber himself, Nelson runs into the boys past take chances and takes them along on i of his bank jobs. He falls into a funk immediately after, wandering off and allowing the boys to enjoy the spoils on their ain. Heavily implied to be manic-depressive, his robberies beingness the issue of a mania-fueled desire for excitement and notoriety.

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• Berserk Button: Calling him "Babyface".
• Historical Domain Character: Though the real life Nelson died in 1934, whereas the film is ready in 1937.
• Insistent Terminology: It's "George Nelson", non "Babyface".
• Big Ham: In his manic moments.
• Mood-Swinger: We see him cycle through highs of gleeful violence and throwing coin around, forth with lows of sitting and moping. Ulysses suggests he's what we'd telephone call bipolar nowadays.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Is surprisingly genial for a bank robber, even in his low moments - until someone calls him "Babyface".
• Trigger Happy: To the point he shoots some cows that laissez passer by!

Homer Stokes (Wayne Duvall)

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

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• Accidental Public Confession: He has to admit that he was at a Klan rally in club to out the heroes equally escaped convicts. He doesn't seem to mind though, thinking his constituents would be okay with it. They weren't.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: With his dwarf sidekick, who not only plays the office of "the picayune human" in his political muckraking, but helps him with his Klan activities, besides.
• Corrupt Hick: Appears to be a reform candidate. And is really a loftier-ranking Jerkass in the Klan.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Despite loudly challenge to exist a friend of the "little human being" (with accompanying little person) both before and during, he tin can't read the mood of the oversupply when he interrupts the Soggy Bottom Boys' performance at his own entrada rally and is consequently run out of boondocks on a rails.
• Honor Before Reason: In that his personal sense of honor as a Klansman requires him to jump out of his chair and need the crowd disown the Soggy Bottom Boys for being integrated and miscegenated, refusing to dorsum downward even as the crowd turns against him.
• Jerkass: He'south a Klan member who wants to lynch Tommy up for the crime of being black.
• Large Ham: Not so normally (well, equally much as a pol tin be hammy), but he really cuts loose at the Klan rally.
• Villain with Good 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/Alive-Action Films
• Ocean's Xi

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

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