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Tarfumes.com - Blood Simple
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $9.99
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Circle Films
Starring: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh, Samm-Art Williams
Directed By: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786300184114
Format: Color
ISBN: 6300184110
Label: Circle Films
Manufacturer: Circle Films
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Circle Films
Release Date: 1995-01-17
Running Time: 96
Studio: Circle Films
Theatrical Release Date: 1985-01-18
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Editorial Reviews:
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The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales, and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M. Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance), and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't Hold Up
Comment: I've heard about this movie for a very long time. I've always wanted to see it. But now that I have, I want my time back. The characters are frustrating to the point where they all needed a good smack on the back of the head. M. Emmett Walsh's acting was the one high point. Even if the script isn't clear about his motives, Walsh shows what a great actor he really is. I can't say the same for anyone else in the movie. I know the film makers were trying to be funny (burying someone in a plowed farm field is supposed to be humorous.) But the pacing is so slow, it's painful. The trailer quotes Alfred Hitchcock's line about it taking a long time to kill someone. But he was talking about the suspense, not about the stupidity of the crime. This movie is a perfect example of "Stupid people are more irritating than evil people."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Still great stuff, but the original edition is better
Comment: There are definitely some things missing from this later edition, and some drastic re-editing of scenes. I much prefer the original version to this one. However, the story and characters are still riveting, the atmosphere of the Texas flatlands is still haunting, the music is minimal and carefully chosen, and what the heck....Even the Coens' weaker efforts are still superior to many films. This is worth looking at, but hold on to the first version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Blood-y Masterpiece...
Comment: BLOOD SIMPLE is the film debut of the wonderfully notorious Coen brothers. As such, it is unbelievably well made. It is incredibly out of place for the decade in which it was created. Like DELIVERANCE, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, or TAXI DRIVER did not match up well w/ the groovy '70s, BLOOD SIMPLE does not fit the glossy, synthetic 1980s! This is a dark, bleak, crime thriller that matches PULP FICTION with it's viciously humorous sensibilities! Frances McDormand (Fargo, Darkman) has never been better. Her Abby just wants to get away from her odious husband (Dan Hedaya). The beauty of the story is what's going on around / because of Abby. She's the center of the whole bloody mess, and she's clueless! Marty (Hedaya) is the perfect slimeball, making it difficult to feel sorry for him, even during his hellish date w/ destiny! Ray (John Getz) is the poor stooge, thinking he's doing Abby's dirty work, oblivious to the fact that she isn't even involved (at least not directly)! Then there's Visser. M. Emmet Walsh would not be my first choice to play a cold-blooded private detective / ammoral hit-man, but he is absolutely right for the part! I can't imagine anyone else pulling it off. In this movie, even the small roles are great! Samm-Art Williams' walk to the jukebox scene is a classic! BLOOD SIMPLE is far ahead of it's time, feeling more like a late '90s offering than the 25yo movie it is. It hasn't aged a bit...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Coen Brothers First Showed Promise
Comment: "Blood Simple" starts out as such a simple murder-scheme: bar-owner Julian (Dan Hedaya) hires Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill his wife (Francis McDormand,) and Ray, her lover (John Getz.) Then when the plot thickens, the simple ploy turns into shambles-- and one will notice, but not care, that at the edge of the film there is that idea: even the simplest plans can go haywire, spiraling out of control, leaving one only to pick up the pieces at the end, not knowing how it happened, or even knowing what the future holds. As this murder mystery is more-often-than-not made from what the audience knows, not the characters. Yet, the "simple" murder mystery plot acts as a canon to propel the characters forward into its labyrinth, like pawns in chess, bringing them into the final inevitable "showdown." It should be pointed out that the film's central qualities are not in its substance attributes. Rather, the film's generic aspects are made much easier to swallow due to the Coen brothers being involved in the film--Joel as the director/ co-screenwriter and Ethan as the producer and the second half of that screenwriting team. It should be mentioned that this was also their film debut.
Although "Blood Simple" is a case of style over substance, and if you put your nose to the air, you can smell that nauseating odor of the current state of the movie industry in all its computer effects and plot excess debauchery, over character-dimension, story, and thematic development--but the film is not without merit,. As Joel does an admirable job of directing: the film's look and the feel is cold, detached, washed out, yet has a stylistic 1950's film-noir feel about it, that makes it sink into your brain like a blood-sucking tick, and stay there. The director also knows how to build up suspense exceptionally, despite the pieces of the plot fitting a little to neatly in the audience's view, both because nearly every aspect of the story is known beforehand by the audience, and because the film is more like a morality play than anything else.
The film is also as tautly acted as it is directed, the whole cast here plays their characters in such a realistic manner: with hints of vulnerability, cold-heartedness, and even some sly humor pops up every so often that does not seem like it's crying out to be funny, but this often uber-dark comedy is more blended into the film seamlessly, and is situational/ character-tick driven. Who can forget each car that drives into the dead end after the most unpleasant confrontations, or the group of young kids making a comment about a man's broken "P***y finger." This slyly is comfortably nestled into the film, so that it can poke fun at itself, and lets the audience breath, without compromising the seriousness.
Since it functions as a moral story despite many of the shady, film-noir style characters, it ends just like you think it would. This brings us to the end, of which is riveting and suspenseful, warranting comparison in that regard to "Wait Until Dark's" lights-out climax, for sheer finger-biting-down-to-the-bone suspense. The last line do the film is also killer, and makes perfect sense, in terms of brilliant editing, as a character has no idea who they are in a fight for their life with, literally. It's the little touches that make it a fine film, despite some still wishing there was more to it than style, but they will also be glad that the film that they are viewing is so nicely done in every other "technical" aspect of filmmaking that it can be slightly forgiven.
Simply put, the Coen brothers had their Oscar-caliber talent even this early on, and that my friends it something magnificent, indeed.
**** (Out of 5)
Customer Rating:
Summary: How Can Directors Do So Well On Their First?
Comment: You would think a first would be rough, something where you can say, "Ok, I see some Coen Brothers in that" And so the directors fine tune their craft and slowly, over the course of many years, develop the instincts or sensibilities and begin to master their craft. This was my first time watching this movie, a movie which came out when I was born, and it seems the Coen Brothers mastered their craft before they began. This movie, which brings the viewer to the realizations long before the characters, has a way of getting us to realize once again as the characters are awakened to what has been done. This is particularly poignant when Getz's character unnecessarily cleans up the crime scene and tells his lover the job is finished. To which she innocently replies, "What job"? Getz's face turns from a manic smile to a somber frown. The movie is just simply near perfect. As was its acting. Frances McDormand gives us an "Ok, I see some Fargo performance in that" and M. Emmet Walsh's persona scares the hell out of us. The cinematography is stunning, thus we cannot forget to mention Barry Sonnenfeld , who would later bring us the kooky Adams Family and much later, Men in Black. Proof of his skills, and the Coen Brothers is a scene midway through the movie where there is not a word spoken for 15 minutes and Getz's character's ethical pondering, physical disgust, words, shouting, and crying are done by slight changes in facial expressions only.
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