Blood Simple (1984)

Directed by

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Genre

drama film, action film, horror film, film noir, independent film, thriller film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 38m

Rated

R

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 1,643 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In Texas, a bartender has an affair with his boss's wife. When the boss finds out he hires a private investigator to kill them.

tensemoodysuspensefulnoirishbleakdeliberatetwistyuncomfortable

What happens

Blood Simple is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who is having an affair with his boss's wife. When his boss discovers the affair, he hires a private investigator to kill the couple. It was the directorial debut of the Coens and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a director, as well as the feature-film debut of McDormand. The film's title is derived from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (1929), in which the Continental Op muses, "This damned burg's getting me. If I don't get away soon I'll be going blood-simple like the natives." Stylistically, the film has been noted for its blending elements of neo-noir, pulp crime stories and low-budget horror films. In 2001, a director's cut was released, the same year that it was ranked No. 98 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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