Someone astutely pointed out that this movie is defined by two love triangles: The Dane--Mink--Bernie and Tom--Leo--Verna triangles. It is made abundantly clear that the first triangle is sexual, or, homosexual. How about the second?
Many years ago, when I was a relatively new fan of Raymond Chandler's novels, someone who is far more well versed in film (than I am now and will ever be) casually mentioned that Tom is gay and is in love with Leo.
Rewatching Miller's Crossing (you know I'm either bored or old, or both, when I have started re-watching stuff), I'm not so sure. That Tom loves Leo more than he loves Verna (if at all) is made abundantly clear, but, if Coen brothers had a clear idea about the nature of Tom's feelings, well, they did not succeed in presenting it on screen.
Tom's love for Leo, which is clearly "insufficiently" reciprocated, could very well be Oedipal rather than sexual. The only clarity is in his possessiveness.
Does Tom care about Verna at all? The movie's answer is apparently "no." Putting aside Tom's repeated pleas that Leo should give up Bernie to Casper, Tom decided to personally and directly stab Verna in the back at least twice: When Verna told him where Bernie was hiding, he immediately gave that information to Casper, which would have led to Bernie's execution if it had not been for a twist. Near the end of the movie, Verna intercepted Tom outside his door and accused him of killing Bernie. Tom did not deny it, not because he was feeling chivalrous or anything, but rather that he really was going to kill Bernie in the next scene.
Throughout the movie, Verna is a parallel character to Casper. In the same way he uses Casper's misplaced sense of honesty and ethics to manipulate him, Tom uses her misunderstanding of himself to manipulate her for his own purpose, which is, always and only, to protect Leo. She thinks Tom loves her and utters various witty classic femme fatale lines to sad comic effects. This display reminds me of "Gilda," in which the love between the two male characters is even more explicit, although the extraneous female character somehow became iconic. How ironic.
I am inclined to chalk up Tom's love for Leo as more Oedipal than sexual. Nevertheless, over the years, I have come to learn that Raymond Chandler was indeed gay. So who the hell knows.
