Charlie Meadows (Barton Fink). Charlie Meadows is a fictional character from Joel and Ethan Coen’s film Barton Fink (1991). Charlie is the next-door neighbor of Barton Fink at the Hotel Earle. We first meet Charlie after Barton called the front desk to complain about noise coming from Charlie’s room. Charlie apologizes profusely and says “too much revelry at night and you forget there are other people in the world”. To make amends with Barton for the noise, Charlie invites himself into Barton’s room and offers “to buy a drink” for Barton from his bottle of liquor. Charlie says that he is an insurance salesman and he considers his customers “more than just customers”. Charlie is impressed that Barton is a scriptwriter. Charlie offers to tell Barton stories, but gets interrupted by Barton. As he walks out of Barton’s room, Charlie gives a “tip of the hat” to Barton.

Charlie invites himself into Barton’s room again and they talk about family. Charlie says, “it’s just the three of us. What’s the expression? Me, myself and I?” When Barton tells Charlie he is writing a wrestling movie, Charlie gets excited and insists on showing Barton the basic moves of wrestling. Charlie promptly pins Barton and gives him a bump. Charlie feels awful over injuring Barton because “it wasn’t fair” of him to do that because he is “pretty well endowed physically”.

Later on, the hotel accidently mixes up Barton and Charlie’s shoes when they return them from their shoe shine service. Charlie invites himself into Barton’s room, with Barton’s shoes, looking for his. Barton talks about the struggles he is having writing the script, but Charlie has confidence in him because “where there is a head, there is hope”. Charlie tells Barton he is heading to New York City for a couple of days. A saddened Barton gives Charlie his parent’s address.

Charlie comes running to Barton’s door when he hears Barton’s shriek upon finding the mutilated corpse of Aubrey Taylor in his bed. Charlie becomes ill and vomits after seeing Aubrey’s corpse. Barton wants to call the police but Charlie is very against that idea. Charlie tells Barton to wait in the bathroom while he takes care of the body. After disposing of Aubrey’s body, Charlie tells Barton to go about his business normally and to forget about Aubrey. On his way out of town, Charlie drops off a package he wants Barton to watch for him while he’s gone.

After Charlie leaves, two detectives come to the hotel to question Barton, not about Aubrey’s disappearance but about Charlie. The detectives reveal that Charlie Meadows is actually Karl Mundt, or “Mad Man” Mundt. The detectives say Mundt is “funny. Funny as in he likes to ventilate people with a shotgun and cut their head’s off. Funny”.

The detectives return to visit Barton again when the body of W.P. Hughes is found without a head. Barton keeps muttering, “Charlie must be back”. The elevator gives a chime to indicate that it has arrived on the floor. The detectives handcuff Barton to the bed frame and step out into the hallway, awaiting Mundt to step out of the elevator. Mudnt steps out of the elevator and is flanked a fireball on both sides of him on the wall. Mundt pulls a shotgun out of his suitcase and kills one of the detectives. As he runs down the hallway after the other detective, the flames on the wall move just behind him, engulfing the hallway. Mundt screams, “Look upon me! I’ll show you the life of the mind!” many times as he chases the detective. Before killing the second detective, Mundt calmly says, “Heil Hitler” and pulls the trigger.

As Mundt walks into Barton’s room, he whistles “Boy, is it hot” as the wall behind him is engulfed in flames. Mundt doesn’t see himself as a mad man because he’s “not mad at anyone. Most guys I feel sorry for”. When Barton asks why Mundt was doing this to him, Mundt screams “BECAUSE YOU DON’T LISTEN!” Mundt does an almost superhuman feat when he pulls about the bars of the bed frame Barton was handcuffed to. As he walks out of Barton’s room, he turns and tells Barton that his parents and uncle were “good folks” and that the package is for Barton. Mundt gives a “tip of the hat” and walks into the fiery hallway.

It seems like there are some instances of foreshadowing Charlie Meadows’ dark side. One instance of foreshadowing could be when he is talking about having no family. Charlie says he just has “me, myself & I”, which could take on a new meaning when it’s revealed the Mundt is living different lives in each city. It could also refer to some possible schizophrenia Mundt is suffering from. Another instance of foreshadowing could be when Charlie tells Barton, “where there is a head, there is hope”. The content of the package is never revealed and is speculated to be the decapitated head of Aubrey.

Actor John Goodman played the role of “Charlie Meadows”. The Coen Brothers wrote the role of “Charlie Meadows” for Goodman because of the good guy persona of Goodman would make the reveal of “Mad Man” Mundt that much more impactful. Goodman has also appeared in Raising Arizona (1987), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).—Landon Doane