Barton Fink is a 1991 film by Joel and Ethan Coen. It tells the story of Barton Fink (John Turturro), a young, intense, and rather awkward writer of social realist plays in the early 1940s whose raison d'être is to "create a theatre of the common man", but who is suffering from writer's block and has no ability to relate to "the common man".

The film's enigmatic story has been interpreted as an examination of the creative act, a satire on Hollywood, a Joseph Campbell-like heroic quest, or even an allegory for the rise of Nazism.The Coen brothers themselves remain characteristically tight-lipped on the subject.

Barton Fink won the Palme d'Or at Cannes by a unanimous vote, as well as the awards for Best Director and Best Actor. It was the only film in the history of that festival to sweep those three honors. Michael Lerner's portrayal of the egotistic film producer Jack Lipnick was hailed by critics and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Barton Fink is a playwright and screenwriter loosely based on the 1930s playwright Clifford Odets. After the success of his Broadway debut, Bare Ruined Choirs, Fink relocates from his native New York to Los Angeles to work as a contracted writer for Hollywood studio chief Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner) of Capitol Pictures, whose character is based on MGM's Louis B. Mayer. Fink settles in at the decrepit Hotel Earle and sets about trying to start on the script for a Wallace Beery B-movie about professional wrestling. However, he begins feeling claustrophobic and develops writer's block.

As in many of the Coen Brothers' films, Barton Fink contains a menagerie of grotesque supporting characters. In this film, these include Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), Barton's jovial neighbour (whose real name will turn out to be Karl "Mad Man" Mundt) and Steve Buscemi as the Hotel Earle's overenthusiastic bellman Chet.

Charlie is at first portrayed as an invader in Barton's claustrophobic apartment. The tension between Barton's fascination with writing about the common man, and a pervasive sense of irritation Barton exhibits during Charlie's first visits serve to further demonstrate one of the film's main themes: a common man separated from common men by his self-perceived importance.

Barton's writer's block is profound, and days go by with very few words written. As he strives to overcome his writer's block, he repeatedly gazes at a picture hanging on the hotel room wall of a young woman in a bikini on the beach. When Barton's writer's block does not abate, Capitol producer Ben Geisler (Tony Shalhoub) suggests that Barton talk to another scriptwriter. Barton subsequently runs into another writer by the name of W.P. "Bill" Mayhew (John Mahoney), whose previous writing Barton greatly admires, and asks him for advice and insight. Mayhew is an alcoholic novelist whose character may be based on William Faulkner. Barton admires Mayhew's novels, but he is disillusioned when he learns about Mayhew's mistreatment of his mistress, Audrey (Judy Davis), and outraged when he learns that many of Mayhew's books have been largely ghostwritten by Audrey.

Audrey agrees to help Barton, urging him to create a simple morality tale using basic storytelling formulas. Barton and Audrey sleep together, and he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he discovers Audrey dead, next to him, on the blood-soaked mattress and screams.

Charlie, hearing his screams, comes to Barton's door, where Barton initially dismisses him. Later, Barton returns to Charlie's door, explains that he is in trouble and asks Charlie to wait with him while he calls the police. Charlie convinces Barton not to call the police, suggesting that his career would be ruined by publicity, and then tells Barton to wait in the bathroom while he cleans up the crime scene. Charlie returns to Barton's room sometime shortly thereafter, and he tells Barton that he (Charlie) must leave town for a while and asks Barton to hold a package for him in the meantime, which Barton agrees to do. Police detectives come to see Barton when he returns to the hotel after a meeting with Lipnick, and they ask about his relationship with Charlie, who turns out to be a wanted serial killer who decapitates his victims. They relate how they have found Audrey with her head missing. When they leave, Barton looks suspiciously at the package but does not open it.

But now Barton's writer's block finally lifts, and he quickly writes the screenplay for the wrestling movie. At a celebratory dance at a big band jazz concert, Barton refuses to let a Navy sailor cut in on his dance partner, and a fight ensues as Barton proclaims his difference or superiority over ordinary men.

After the fight, Barton returns to the hotel. The detectives, waiting for him there, tell Barton that Mayhew has also been decapitated and that they suspect Barton. After the detectives handcuff Barton to the bedframe, they try to apprehend Charlie, who has just returned to the hotel, with their guns drawn. Charlie sets the building on fire (seemingly by just the force of his anger) before he shoots and kills both detectives. Returning to Barton's room, he proceeds to rant at the handcuffed Barton about why he committed the crimes. After freeing Barton (by breaking the steel bed with his bare hands), Charlie returns to his room in the now flame-engulfed hotel, a hotel that, with fires all around, he describes as his home, while Barton is just a visitor. Charlie's parting words to Barton are that he had lied about the package; it was not really his. Barton then finally leaves the hotel taking the package and his script.

We next see Barton just about to go into Lipnick's office. He is trying to call his family, who Charlie had visited for a few days, but there is repeatedly no answer at their residence, leaving Barton concerned.

The script review with Lipnick does not go well. Lipnick rants and complains that Barton's script is unsuitable and unusable for the studio, that it is too introspective and lacks sufficient action. He summarizes with his harshest critique: Barton is not unique or special as a writer and he can get many writers who can do better. He announces that Geisler has been fired but also vows to keep Barton under contract in a form of involuntary servitude until he "grows up".

In the last scene, Barton wanders to the beach with Charlie's mysterious package. A young woman in a bikini walks up. They converse briefly and as she turns to look at the ocean we observe that she is the same girl and it is the same scene as the one in his hotel room, leaving the viewer to believe that Barton was mad and this film an exploration of his madness. As if to confirm this, a pelican dives into the ocean, the screen goes black.

The Coens claim the film was inspired by an attack of writer's block they suffered whilst working on the screenplay for Miller's Crossing.

The Coens were inspired by Otto Friedrich's City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood, a book about the history of moviemaking in the '30s and '40s with an emphasis on the many German expatriates in Los Angeles. Barton was based on Clifford Odets, a Jewish-American author of leftist plays like Waiting for Lefty and Awake and Sing! who went to Hollywood to write screenplays.

W.P. Mayhew is a composite character of 'Lost Generation' novelists William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald, both of whom went to Hollywood to write for the movies, largely out of financial necessity (Fitzgerald, like Mayhew, needed to provide for his disturbed wife's care in mental institutions), only to struggle with a decline in their careers and descent into alcoholism. Faulkner even worked, uncredited, on a Wallace Beery wrestling picture called Flesh.

Fink's Jewfro haircut resembles that of Henry Spencer from David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977). There are also a number of other elements similar to Eraserhead, such as the style of the hotel, and the loud ambient noise.

As with all the Coen Brothers' films, the score is composed by Carter Burwell. The contemporary classical score is experimental in nature, featuring detuned pianos, typewriters and the sound of running water.

Songs in the film include "For Sentimental Reasons", "Old Black Joe" (sung by John Mahoney's drunken character) and "Down South Camp Meeting". None are featured on a soundtrack album that was released in 1996 by TVT Records, combined with selections from Burwell's score to Fargo.

All selections composed by Carter Burwell.

"Fade In" – 1:08
"Big Shoes" – 1:33
"Love Theme from Barton Fink" – 1:21
"Barton In Shock" – 1:58
"Typing Montage" – 2:11
"The Box" – 3:06
"Barton In Flames" – 0:57
"Fade Out - The End" – 3:37
Selections from Barton Fink comprise the final eight tracks on the 24-track CD issued in 1996 by TVT Records; the first 16 tracks are from the Fargo soundtrack.