Original Release Date: January 18, 1985 (or in festival release March 26, 1984)
Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Directors: Joel Coen (and Ethan Coen)
Quick Impressions:
This week I desperately wanted to watch Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, but not desperately enough to go to the theater to see it. I think it’s coming to HBO Max tomorrow (May 7th), so I’ll bide my time. Meanwhile (after my efforts to change the release date through page refreshing and magical thinking proved unsuccessful), we started watching trailers for new movies that were available to stream and spent so long weighing our options that, at last, the only option became (the not new) Blood Simple (which runs a modest 1 hour, 38 minutes).
Ever since I realized that Frances McDormand could potentially walk away from this year’s Oscars with a third and a fourth win (which is what ultimately happened), I’ve been feeling remiss for never having seen her debut film, also the first feature length film by the Coen Brothers. I think I can be forgiven for not catching the film’s initial theatrical release. (I mean, I was in kindergarten.) But I am surprised that I’ve never caught up by seeking out the film before now. I like noir. I live in Texas. I love Frances McDormand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Coen Brothers movie I didn’t enjoy. (Well, I wasn’t thrilled with Raising Arizona, but I was in elementary school and found the humor confusing.)
Had I known ahead of time that my own hometown was one of the filming locations, I would have watched Blood Simple sooner. Just the other day, I was telling friends that not much is filmed near me. Austin shows up in movies and shows all the time, but Hutto is a bit more remote. The closest local brush with a major production I’ve had is when my son and I unknowingly wandered too near the set of Fear the Walking Dead while they were (secretly at that time) shooting in Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. But back in 1984, murderous deeds were afoot here in Hutto (cinematically speaking).
As someone in Blood Simple drove past a large flock of startled black birds, I joked to my husband, “They’re headed to our house.” Back when we first bought the house, I once got lost on the way there, panicked, and called my husband from the car. When he asked me to describe my surroundings, I listed “some birds” as a landmark. These looked like the very same birds flying over the very same road in the very same way. As we watched the scene, I was just making a joke about my panicky phone call (as we often do). But after the movie when I learned Hutto was a filming location, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe they actually were the very same birds flying over the very same road in the very same way. (Things weren’t as developed when we first moved here, and while not a fixed landmark, the birds were always there at a certain point on that road.) I need to watch the film again now. I’m pretty sure the scene in the field was probably filmed in Hutto, and we recognized Austin’s Mount Bonnell while watching. I’m curious to see what other familiar places we might discover if we pay closer attention to the details of the setting. (I’d be delighted beyond words if the field where all the digging happens is now the site of our house! The best description of the location I can find is perilously close to our house and our kids’ schools, none of which were built until around 2008.)
The Plot:
Central Texas, Austin area, 1984. A bar owner discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. Enraged, he wants revenge and hires someone to kill them. It doesn’t work out.
The Good:
Nobody in this movie knows what’s going on! By the end, several people are connected to a murder and a robbery, but not a single one of them has an accurate, complete idea of what’s happening. That premise in and of itself is really delicious because for a second, you think, “How unlikely!” And then you realize that the confusion of everyone involved is actually the most likely part of the whole story. How many incidents have I been tangentially involved in over the course of my life without ever knowing? I wonder. Life is messy. And the implication of the title is true. People don’t think clearly in situations of such intense stress.
I watched the movie because I was curious about the early work of Frances McDormand. But the one who most impressed me was M. Emmet Walsh. After the movie, I learned that the Coen Brothers wrote the part of the private detective, Loren Visser, for him specifically, and I must say, I’m glad he agreed to do the movie. He’s magnificent in the role, playing by far the strangest and most captivating character in the story. Dan Hedaya is fantastic, too, and the film works best when Walsh and Hedaya are together. (Admittedly, Blood Simple‘s very strongest scene doesn’t involve Walsh, but his character’s earlier efforts have made that scene possible.)
I just saw Walsh play Salan, Conrad’s less-than-understanding swim coach in Ordinary People, and while he’s fittingly aggravating in that role, I had no idea he was capable of playing such a magnificent oddball. In some ways, the inclusion of Visser justifies the existence of the whole film. A guy like that needs a movie around him. He’s just that eccentric.
Sometimes I thought, “Is this an allegory? Is he the devil?” (Flies buzz around him a lot and sometimes land on his face.) At other moments, I wondered, “Is Visser doing all this because Marty failed to compliment his photographs?” (That’s a serious question. Visser really takes pride in his skills as a photographer, and Marty could hardly be more dismissive.)
In some ways, Visser (though very weird) does appear to be the smartest character in the story. (He’s certainly the most cunning. Everyone else is driven by passion. He’s calculating.) But he’s undone by accident, by chance. (Also by his inability to notice something obvious, an odd mistake for someone who makes his living as a private investigator.) Also problematic is his assumption that others are as crafty, calculating, and informed as he is. (At one point, he reminds me of someone playing a game of chess, not realizing that his opponent is the wind, blowing over pieces when he’s not looking.)
Walsh’s first scene with Hedaya is a definite highlight of the film. Their whole encounter is so uncomfortable. (For the life of me, I cannot fathom why Marty would ever seek out a second encounter with Visser after a conversation like that! Marty is definitely not a natural schemer. The only smart move he makes is the way he tries to cover the money. It’s inelegant, disgusting, and enraging (to the viewer), but he’s right, that would probably work.)
McDormand is pretty understated in this film. For the most part, she simply looks bewildered. To her credit, her Texas accent is understated, too, so it works better than some. (After the film, my husband noted that while the Texan accents are not as egregious as some we’ve heard, the characters in general speak too slowly and elongate too much. McDormand has a more normal rate of speech, so her accent is less bad.) There’s something oddly natural about her performance as Abby. Strange things are happening to her, so she’s confused and increasingly frightened. Though it’s by no means a bad performance, you wouldn’t watch and think immediately, “This woman is going to win three Oscars for Best Actress!” (I mention this because I also just watched The Deer Hunter and Kramer Vs. Kramer, and Meryl Streep is up there Streeping it around right from the beginning. She’s a scene-stealer with eyes that hint at mysteries. McDormand is basically just serving the story, playing an average, confused and frightened wife, trying to leave her less-than-non-abusive husband.) The performance works (and pairs nicely with co-star John Getz’s similar turn as Ray) because some characters in this story are devious, enraged, and calculating, and others are not. (The movie wouldn’t be very realistic if every single character were a calculating oddball consumed by malice.)
Aside from Getz, McDormand, Hedaya, and Walsh, the only other significant performance in the film is given by Samm-Art Williams as Meurice, a bartender at Marty’s club. By all appearances, Meurice is the most sane, centered, unoffending person in the story. Getting mixed up with all of these weirdos and their (sometimes deadly) drama is his great misfortune.
Aside from the strong performances and familiar filming locations, Blood Simple also has a very catchy score. Its main melody repeats (seemingly) thousands of times, but I never got sick of it and was always happy to hear it again.
Best Scene:
That awful, prolonged moment in and near the field is by far the strongest scene in the film, and I’m not just saying that because I live in Hutto. Watching now, it’s hard not to think of Fargo and No Country for Old Men as the suspense stretches on so long that it becomes both torturous and comical (for the audience). The driver’s sudden stop caught me off guard. It happened so quickly that I was almost as confused as he was. And once the car is stopped, anything could happen next. The moment is unpredictable and intense. It’s the standout sequence of the film, so strong that even I (who usually prefer my scenes dialogue heavy) recognize its brilliance. It’s the most polished part of the film and could almost stand alone as a highly effective short.
Runner-Up Best Scene:
Marty’s first awkward conversation with Visser teases horrible things to come.
Best Scene Visually:
I don’t know if it’s intentional, but so many of the movie’s most captivating images remain unseen or unnoticed by the one character who loves taking photographs. That’s a nice touch. I don’t know if they’re doing it on purpose, or it’s all a big coincidence.
One image that the movie shows us again and again and again is a cigarette lighter buried under some fish. You don’t get a shot like that in every movie. It’s not the obligatory lighter-under-the-fish shot. The image is fairly unique. Yet it completely escapes the photographer’s notice. We also get a fairly bizarre shot of someone’s hand in a window with big, gaping holes blasted into the wall beside it. The photographer can’t see this, either. He also can’t see all of the arresting top-down peeks at characters through the blades of rotating ceiling fans. He would have enjoyed those, I’m sure, because he does finally get to see something that looks very similar, and he seems to find the image captivating.
Like I said, I have no idea if not showing the film’s most memorable and odd images to the person who loves taking photographs was an accident or done intentionally. Perhaps he’s not as great a photographer as he thinks. All the best things he doesn’t see.
Best Action Sequence:
The film’s final action sequence made my husband yell in frustration at the screen so often that I felt a bit relieved (because earlier in the movie, I kept yelling at all the characters, then worried I might be watching discourteously. I’ve gotten used to watching movies with my daughter, and we keep up a running commentary the whole time. I did that deliberately in the beginning, to normalize making observations, even if they’re dumb, because that way, she’s not afraid to share her own thoughts. But now talking incessantly during movies has become habit, I’m afraid. Hopefully going back to a theater will cure me of that.)
I also like Marty’s breaking-and-entering attack because it shows his complete inability to make sound plans.
The Negatives:
I’m not thrilled with the dream sequence. I like it as it happens, especially the way it begins, but it foreshadows future events too heavily. When a later moment makes us remember the dream, the gesture feels too heavy-handed to me, almost clumsy in execution. (There’s another instance of foreshadowing and callback in the movie that works much, much better.)
I’m also confused about the logistics of one moment. When a character’s hand is caught, what is the person doing with their other hand? As I watched, I kept thinking that I would use my other hand differently, but perhaps that is physically impossible. The person gives the impression of being pulled in opposite directions, but, in actuality, one hand is free. (I guess you would have to be a bit unhinged to execute my plan for escape. You’d probably lose a hand trying it my way.)
Another question has been bothering me since I watched the film. Would you commit a murder for $10,000? I sure wouldn’t! (Not even ten thousand 1984 dollars!) At first, I was intensely critical of a certain character’s decisions. I mean, why did you choose this particular person to commit this crime for you? Was it your great rapport the last time you spoke? Don’t you know anyone else? If I were going to pay somebody to commit a murder, I wouldn’t pick someone wildly eccentric and creepier than Satan who seems to enjoy needling me and either doesn’t read my cues or doesn’t care. Never hire someone who lets bugs and flies crawl all over his face to commit a grave sin for you! How could that be a good choice? Plus, are you forgetting how you obliquely threatened to murder him the last time you talked? Do you think he forgot?
It made me ask myself, “Who in their right mind would commit two murders for $10,000?” (Maybe nobody in their right mind would do it. Maybe that’s why you go with the person who’s willing, no matter how unnervingly odd that person may seem.) Then I reminded myself, “It’s not an ethics dilemma, Sarah. It’s not, ‘Would you spend one night with a stranger for one million dollars?'” The offer itself presupposes that the person asked habitually commits murder for hire. Still, isn’t $10,000 a little low for that? I wouldn’t commit murder at all, but for that grave of a violation of my ethics (to say nothing of the huge risk assumed), I would be offended by an offer of less than one million dollars.
But then how can the average person possibly afford to have someone killed? What’s the going rate for this kind of thing? I’ve never hired a murderer, and I don’t want to Google it. In my opinion, people unable to cough up at least six figures (optimally seven) should be prepared to commit their own murders. I mean, what if you offer an unacceptably low price and can’t go higher? Don’t you open yourself up to blackmail (at the very least)? If I were asking someone to murder for me because I thought they were open to that kind of thing, I would be terrified to offend them. I feel like if you offer someone you already hold in obvious disdain a measly $10,000 to murder two human beings for you, then anything bad that happens to you as a result is your own fault.
Frankly, Marty’s offer of $10,000 for two killings seemed like such an insult to the proposed killer than it practically offended me. The fact that he believes this arrangement will end in a positive way for him is a sad comment on his lack of judgment as a criminal.
Overall:
I wanted to watch a new movie this week, but nothing tempted me more than Blood Simple, a film made in 1984 that still looked more fresh and compelling than most streaming choices. Maybe I’ll find the courage (or foolhardiness) to return to the movie theater in coming weeks, but in the meantime, there are worse ways to entertain myself than watching old Coen Brothers movies. I’m glad I finally watched this big screen debut of Frances McDormand. Now I just need to find more information about where exactly that field is. Could it be in my backyard? If I start digging, what will I find?