O Brother, Don't Leave Me Ahangin'

In Movie and TV Trivia!! Stripped and Hung Out to Dry, posted last month, I featured as No. 2, the scene of a man, wearing only his union suit, hanging from a tree by his wrists. 

Two of you union suit fans, Ray and Max, answered correctly that the scene is taken from Universal / Touchtone Pictures' 2000 comedy, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a richly photographed 2000 film, part drama, part comedy. 

This film is based somewhat on Homer's 8th century, ancient Greek epic poem, Odyssey. There is a type of cyclops who chases the escapees, sirens lure the men with their haunting music, and Clooney's character is even named Ulysses Everett McGill.

The movie stars George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as three escaped chain gang prisoners in 1930 rural Mississippi who try to evade the law. Holly Hunter, Charles Dunning and John Goodman costar. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote, directed, produced and edited this movie. Those brothers did about everything but serve lunch to the crew.

After stealing the clothes right off of three unfortunate fellas and absconding with another person's car...

...the convicts have all sorts of adventures including searching for buried treasure, taking refuge in a cousin's barn until it is torched in the middle of the night by the posse trailing them...

....meeting up with Tommy Johnson who plays a mean guitar after selling his soul to the devil, becoming recording star sensations by broadcasting “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow” at a rural, out-of-the way radio station... 

...hooking up with a one-eyed bible salesman who scams them and convinces Delmar he has killed Pete...

....joining Baby Face Nelson...

....and falling victims to luscious sirens, three young women, singing softly while washing clothes near a river and who cast a spell over the boys.

Upon meeting the young and beautiful nymphs at the river, the boys drink corn whiskey provided them and, in a drugged state, loose consciousness. 

Ulysses and Delmar wake up on the muddy river bank to find the seductive maidens have departed and that Pete is missing with only his clothes laying on the ground nearby. A horny toad jumps out of Pete's abandoned clothes. This leads Delmar to believe Pete has been turned into a toad, forcing him and Ulysses to pick themselves up and continue on their own.

Pete was not turned into a toad but, having been separated from his clothes and his buddies, pursues his own course clad only in his union suit. Where he had been and his immediate future is never made clear.

He is, however, eventually captured, still in his long underwear. He is tied by his wrists to a large tree branch with his feet barely touching the ground and whupped into submission. 

Pete survives the pain and humiliation but will he ever see Delmar and Ulysses again? Will there be anymore adventurers? Will the boys all be finally captured and returned to prison?

This movie is so much more entertaining than that which can be summarized here in a few words. So find out by getting your hands on another great and entertaining film. I found it on DVD format and it is streaming on several platforms.