The Greek philosopher Antisthenes once said, “When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life” and even though Antisthenes has never seen 'Step Brothers', it still sounds relevant.
Next year sees the return of 'Better Call Saul' which had a beautifully-crafted plot structured around an unconventional pair of brothers. As well as the individual idiosyncrasies of Jimmy McGill and his brother Chuck, it is their twisting relationship and their decisions whether to uphold the law, or not, that forms the backbone of the series.
Now, to celebrate the release of Season 1 on Blu-ray and DVD we're going to look at the best brotherly love relationships in film and TV and how that brotherly bond was key to the plot. So put on The Hollies, remember your formative fights with your siblings and look forward to family fun times around Christmas dinner in a few weeks!
Brothers On Screen
Better Call Saul - Jimmy and Chuck(01 of13)
The origin story of everybody's favourite criminal lawyer deals with troubled con-man turned legal champion of the elderly, Jimmy McGill, and his brother Chuck, who risked his reputation to save Jimmy after an embarrassing incident with a sunroof, two children and a bodily function. The McGill relationship is simple - Chuck provides Jimmy with stability and aspiration while Jimmy provides Chuck with unbridled care and a lifeline to the real world. In this way, they both better each other and provide each other with a necessary part of life, that is until Jimmy and Chuck's ethics collide and the cracks begin to show. We also need to point out Chuck's part in Jimmy going into the grey area of the legal business, which is great news for every Breaking Bad fan.
Game of Thrones - Stannis and Renly(02 of13)
Brothers come in all shapes and sizes and none more-so than the the House of Baratheon brothers from Westeros. Portly King Robert, the grim, hardened warrior Stannis and their younger fashionable and warm brother Renly all seem to have come from different wombs, which is entirely possible in this fantasy series. In series two, 'Game of Thrones' is thrust into overdrive by Stannis and Renly's quest to sit on the cold iron throne in place of their brother's sociopathic first-born, Joffrey. A classic case of brotherly love being overcome by greed, power and the whispers of their respective lovers. Together they could have ruled Westeros but sadly their thirst for power leads to that age-old sibling shadow ghost murder, how many Christmas dinners have ended like that?
Kill Bill - Bill And Budd(03 of13)
What better way to form a killer kinship than to form a band of assassins named after snakes? The brother's relationship furthers the plot significantly as Budd is the only person who actually bests The Bride in combat, though he should have just killed her rather than his misguided, live burial approach. Bill and Budd are two peas from very different pods but amongst the seedy strip joints and mass murders there's a mutual love and respect here, which forms the structure of the more talky second part of Tarantino's epic. Bill is the luckier brother though, as his name rhymes to make a cool film title, there's not much even Tarantino could do with Budd, Thud Budd maybe? Blood Budd?
Breaking Bad – Hank And Walt(04 of13)
Most brothers are thrown together at birth with no regard for whether they actually like each other but at least linked by blood, so what about two men thrown together after marrying two sisters? Brothers-in-law! Hank and Walt's brotherly love collides cataclysmically in a sibling rivalry in the midst of America's war on drugs with a scene in a garage taking the family fight to the next level. This legal brotherly love gives the show it's true poignancy, sure the Walt and Jesse role has the humour and pathos, but who can forget the moment when Hank deduces the identity of his nemesis whilst sitting on his brother's toilet?
Thor and Loki – Avengers(05 of13)
Parents can do a lot of damage to their children by labelling them, if one sibling is always pulled up as the naughty one then they'll start to believe it, so it's no surprise that Loki turned out to be a mischievous little boy, his parents named him the God of Mischief! The first Avengers team up may have had Iron Man quipping, Captain American rippling and Black Widow kicking but its success comes down to the internal struggle between Thor and Loki. Their brotherly love drives the film much more than faceless aliens from space and Hemsworth and Hiddleston ground the sillier elements of the film with actual emotion, something the sequel definitely needed.
Louis And Phillipe - Man in the Iron Mask(06 of13)
In 1998 this film was probably greenlit with just the words, “Two Leos for the price of one!” Thanks to the King of France trying to prevent feuding frères, a royal heir is locked away for decades setting in motion a plot by the four musketeers to replace a spoilt king for a more pliable pawn. The brother's relationship is different in that it's not about two brothers fighting for the same throne or woman on the same, it's the evil vs the innocent. The two swashbuckling siblings form the main part of the narrative even relegating the musketeers to bit players in the story.
Ronnie and Reggie - Legend(07 of13)
How can you get away from the problem of two actors having no familial resemblance whatsoever? Simple, cast Tom Hardy twice. The story is powered by Ronnie's bullish mobster but the plot only works because of the intensity that Hardy brings to Reggie and that sense of the unspoken bond between brothers. The scenes with the brothers alone reveal the true depths of this story and set it apart from just another power-play film about thugs. This plot is about the intuition brothers share and their support for each other's traits that wouldn't be tolerated in anyone else. He ain't heavy indeed.
Backdraft(08 of13)
Just as nobody can stand at the prow of the ship without doing a James Cameron, no two brothers can see stairs without racing each other like Alec Baldwin and Kurt Russell. This isn't a film about fire, it's about burning brotherly love, sibling one-upmanship for their dead Dad's respect and eventual gushing respect for each other. The story itself is irrelevant, this is about how family is like fire, how male family ties can be volatile and in constant need of homo-erotic declarations to succeed and how learning to love each other before you get burnt is the key to success. Ron Howard schools us all.
Harry Potter – The Weasleys(09 of13)
This band of magical mummy's boys are memorable not just because of their grass-roots, sustainable approach to life in a world of Etonian wizards, but because their family bond forms the true key to Harry Potter's triumph over Voldemort. To Ron, older brothers Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and Percy are a source of inspiration, admiration and most importantly blinding infuriation in his quest to be more like them which in turn leads him to adventure and heroism. In the world of wizarding, older siblings don't just introduce you to 18 films, drugs and new music, they also show you a world of dragons, treachery and ways to get out of school.
Blues Brothers – Jake And Elwood(10 of13)
Possibly the most famous brothers to ever grace the silver screen, these musical men of few words with a passion for music and wanton destruction, don't just further the plot, they are the plot.Trying to raise funds for the orphanage which raised them, they set upon a journey of soul, cameos and rhythm and blues held together by their blasé bond and shared belief in the music. They may not be the most talkative brothers in America but their familial bond not only helps get them out of scrapes but provides them with the best stage presence and performance routine since The Jacksons.
Michael And Fredo – The Godfather(11 of13)
What better place to have your brother close to you than in amongst the sticky web of the New York mobs and your very own crime family. So what happens if the person with whom you followed from your Mother's womb isn't totally dependable?The masterpiece that is The Godfather 2 isn't about taking power it's about holding onto it, and the frayed and volatile relationship between Michael and Fredo is the driving force which also gives us its most poignant moment. The entire film rests on a strained Michael and how his weak sibling Fredo reacts when shut out, leading up to that most beautiful brotherly, deadly embrace and the words, “I know it was you Fredo.”
Six Feet Under – Nate And David(12 of13)
Death, although some call it the end, is a pretty big part of life and the relationship between death and those closest to you plays a significant part in who you are. Death is always present in this series and is used in dramatic, heart-breaking and darkly comic ways to further the plot but the main thrust of the narrative comes from the family ties and in particular the two brothers, Nate and David Fisher. The Fishers come together at the death of their father and then thrown into a situation of sharing the family business and the sibling rivalry that comes from that. They clash about a number of things and have wildly differing outlooks on life but it is their brotherly bond prevails and they not only run the company well but push each other forward in life and provide some of the funniest funeral moments ever committed to screen.
Jamal And Hakeem - Empire(13 of13)
Fox have bought us rivalries such as Mulder vs the truth, Buffy vs vampires and Homer vs sobriety but they truly stepped it up a notch with this year's Empire. The main rivalry is between the eldest and youngest, Andre and Hakeem respectively, but the story is really driven by the bond between Hakeem and the black sheep of the family, Jamal. Despite contrasting views on the music industry, sexuality and family they nonetheless form a strong brotherly love which pushes the characters and the narrative. The King Lear style story may be as old as the hills but the fresh take on these two brothers and their familial respect drives the plot to new places and brings some of the best music and scenes in the show.
'Better Call Saul' Season 1 is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.
'Breaking Bad' references in 'Better Call Saul'
Mike's love for Pimento(01 of11)
In one of the more light-hearted nods, viewers were reminded of Mike's consistency when he revealed his snack of choice for his security job in episode nine, a throwback to series four of 'BB. (credit:Netflix)
The pink cat vs. the pink bear(02 of11)
Uproxx might be clutching at straws here, but they've pointed out the similarities between this toy cat and the pink bear motif that plagued season two of 'BB'.
The key fob(03 of11)
You can always rely on Reddit users to spot the most obscure details, can't you? Here's Walt's key,. in the 'BB' finale, and Jimmy's in the first 'Better Call Saul' episode. Sadly, the jury's out what this tiny symbol could mean.
Being sent to Belize(04 of11)
Jimmy's end of series bingo hall rant included a mention of the country, which is a 'BB' euphemism for death. "Beautiful place. So I've heard," he tells the pensioners. "I would love to go there but let's face it, that's never going to happen." (credit:Netflix)
Heisenberg's coat and hat?(05 of11)
This could be a case of getting over-zealous in the hunt for clues, but this coat and hat hanging up in the courthouse look an awful lot like Heisenberg's outfit. (credit:Netflix)
The Kevin Costner story (06 of11)
In series 3 of 'Breaking Bad', viewers saw Saul telling Walt he could achieve anything, concluding with: "I once told a woman I was Kevin Costner, and it worked because I believed it." Well, in the final episode of the series, we finally got to see the woman who fell for Saul's trick.
Juan Tabo(07 of11)
Juan Tabo Boulevard is a pretty huge street in Albuquerque, but nothing happens in a Vince Gilligan show by accident. Jimmy's address - where a real-life nail salon actually sits - is also the road that the one-time meth cook Gael Boetticher resided on. It also popped up in the first episode of 'BCS', when the two skateboarders attempted their scam.
The phonebox graffiti(08 of11)
Like many other scenes, this one at first seemed void of 'BB' nods - but could the 'Jpi' be Jesse Pinkman's graffiti tag?The youngster would be around 15 years old in the 'BCS' world, and while it might seem like we're stretching things, the tag also appeared in an episode of 'Breaking Bad'. Hmmm...
The Cadillac (09 of11)
One of the show's first scenes sees Jimmy, a struggling wannabe, park next to this Cadillac. The link? This is the car Saul goes on to own, once he's finally on top (and a fully-fledged dodgy lawyer...).
Loyola's(10 of11)
Jimmy's meeting place of choice with the Kettlemans also appeared in 'Breaking Bad', when Mike ate with Jesse, and then later met Lydia for a business meeting.
Slippin' Jimmy fits in with Saul's dodgy knees(11 of11)
Obviously, when 'Breaking Bad' was created, the team had no idea that they'd later be working on 'Better Call Saul'. Writer Thomas Schnauz has revealed how some aspects of Jimmy developed, revealing that they remembered Saul's arrest scene while thinking about Slippin' Jimmy. "We thought he must have taken a lot of bad hits on the ice of Chicago and he probably messed up his knees falling down all the time," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "When we did it in Breaking Bad, we didn't have a reason that he had bad knees, but it's nice when we can tie those threads together." (credit:Netflix)