Blood Simple (1985)

Scuzzy cuckolded bar owner Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya in peak oily form) hires sleazy private detective Visser (marvelously played to the deliciously odious hilt by M. Emmet Walsh) to murder his unfaithful wife Abby (an excellent portrayal by Frances McDormand) and her earnest lover Ray (a solid performance by John Getz). However, human error enters into the equation and things spiral dangerously out of control.Joel and Ethan Coen bring a standard noir situation kicking and screaming into a bright, lurid, and sweaty Texas world in their striking cinematic debut: We've got a dark brooding atmosphere, a colorful array of nicely sordid characters, an absorbing premise that's firmly grounded in a plausibly seamy and starkly amoral workaday reality, inspired touches of wickedly funny black humor, fine use of the dusty'n'desolate Lone Star State terrain, and a serpentine narrative in which a series of bad calls and misunderstandings culminate in a real doozy of a violent and nightmarish climax. The four leads all do sturdy work, with Walsh a particular stand-out as a super slimy worm who's more than willing to kill someone for the right price. Barry Sonnenfeld's gleaming cinematography provides an appropriately garish glittery neon look and boasts lots of sinuous tracking shots. Carter Burwell's spare moody score does the harmonic trick. Essential viewing.

Whenever this film has come up in conversation, I have always said how good it is but barely remembering much beyond a wincingly tense scene involving a window, a crazy burial scene and the fact that the image was always very dark. That viewing must have been on some less than wonderful video because although most of the film is shot at night, it looks marvellous. Indeed, the visuals, the dialogue, the use of music, the pacing and the performances are near faultless. I still feel that burial scene is a bit too crazy but then allowing for the delirious state the main protagonist was in maybe it is fine, just not what any thinking person would choose to do. But no matter because it makes for great viewing, as does the entire film. There are moments when we do not know quite what is going on (and doubt the characters do too) but this is noir or at least neo- noir and that's all good.

"Blood Simple" may be a low-budget affair, but the casting of great character actors like M Emmet Walsh and Dan Hedaya wring true tension out of this film. As has become commonplace on their projects, the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen write, produce, and direct this film.Dan Hedaya plays a brooding and bitterly jealous bar owner who wreaks revenge on his wife and lover by arranging to have them killed. Hired for the job is the sleazy laughter-racked private eye Walsh, who seems forever to be attracting flies.Deception appears to run deep in the heart of Texas and some corpses don't stay dead forever. A satisfying plot of twists and vicious black humour unravels to a tense conclusion with the assembled cast clearly revelling in their roles.The pace can at times be a touch slow, but it's easy to see why the Coens allow certain scenes to simmer, especially when their actors are chewing up the screen as they do. They alone maintain the interest but Barry Sonnenfeld's cinematography defies the low budget, turning this into a stylish-looking thriller that boasts many clever shots.Intriguing, clever, and often surprisingly funny there's plenty to please in this thriller, that remains fresh and original even today.

"Blood Simple" marked the first directorial effort of the Coen brothers. As is normally the case, the brothers also co-authored the script. Even at this early stage in their careers, you can see many of the hallmarks that later made modern classics out of films like "Fargo" & "No Country For Old Men".The story harks back to the film noir and hard-boiled detective stories of the 1940's. A love triangle is poised to turn deadly when a jealous husband hires a private investigator to 'dispose' of his rival. Naturally, when blood is involved, things don't turn out to be quite so simple.The plot follows a characteristically serpentine path, prefiguring similarly convoluted plots in movies like "Miller's Crossing" & "The Big Lebowski". While the dialogue may not have quite the polish of these later efforts, there is nevertheless a distinctive flair to the script.Bringing this script to life is a cast that's decent but unexceptional. Dan Hedaya & M. Emmet Walsh are always worth watching but John Getz is a bit of a weak link. Frances McDormand made her film debut here as the requisite femme fatale, albeit an unconventional one. It's a pretty good performance but not one that ranks alongside her best.From a visual standpoint, the movie has several interesting touches sprinkled throughout. However, as with the script, the direction pales just a little in comparison to the Coens' subsequent work. In the music department, apart from a couple of intriguing soundtrack selections the music is mostly unremarkable.While not a first tier Coen brothers effort, "Blood Simple" contains enough of their signature ingredients to make it worthwhile for fans of theirs or just lovers of crime dramas in general. As a debut, it's impressive, even if it is a little rough around the edges.