The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devi... Read allThe owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 7 nominations
- Radio Evangelist
- (voice)
- (as Rev. William Preston Robertson)
- Helene Trend
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Marty's Vomiting
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsThe box of shells from which Abby dumps three live rounds is clearly labeled "blanks" and .32 caliber. Abby said earlier that the gun her husband gave her is a .38.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Private Detective Visser: [narrating] The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits list the main cast, but none of the crew. All of the crew credits are at the end of the film, starting with Joel Coen as director.
- Alternate versionsWhen Blood Simple was first released, two quotes appeared over black, before the opening credits. One was from Dashiell Hammet explaining what "blood simple" meant and the second was from Alfred Hitchcock about how difficult it really would be to kill a man.
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Vision Quest/Turk 182/Blood Simple/Mischief (1985)
- SoundtracksIt's the Same Old Song
By Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland
Performed by The Four Tops
Used by Permission of Motown Record Corporation and Jobete Music Co., Inc.
Set in a stark Texas landscape, Blood Simple opens on a premise that seems to be borrowed from the likes of Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice: someone steals another man's wife. However, the two adulterous lovers (Jamie Getz and Frances McDormand) do not plan to assassinate the betrayed husband (Dan Hedaya). On the contrary, he hires a sleazy PI (M. Emmett Walsh) to spy on them to carry out some twisted plan of his own. That is, until the investigator goes rogue and the situation escalates in the most grotesque of ways.
This escalation is matched by the Coens' constant shifts between genres, achieved through lighting, music and camera movements. Noir, straightforward thriller, horror, black comedy: Blood Simple is each of these and all of them at once, but the transition is never forced or unnatural; in fact, these transitions occur because somehow the story itself demands that they happen. In a way, this is a film that is aware of its own fictitious nature and toys with it as much as possible - because it can. This has since become a trademark of the two brothers, and it is as fresh and original now as it was back in 1984.
The same can be said of the four main actors: Getz and McDormand (soon to be Mrs. Joel Coen) form a solid leading couple, thoroughly menaced by the sudden ferocity of Hedaya, then best known for playing Rhea Perlman's dim-witted ex-husband on Cheers (an image he gladly, and expertly, reverses here). And then there's Walsh, who takes his practically identical role in Blade Runner and increases the character's unlikability, turning in one of the most brutally charming villainous performances of the '80s (and of the Coen canon).
Joel and Ethan Coen had a very clear idea of what they wanted to achieve in the movie business from the get-go, and Blood Simple is one of the best examples of this: for 90 minutes, it takes you to a whole new world, one that most people are happy to revisit as often as they can.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Simplemente sangre
- Filming locations
- Hutto, Texas, USA(location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,851,855
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $42,971
- Jul 9, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $4,262,909
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Ultra Stereo(original version)
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1