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Blood Simple

post #1 of 16
5/26/06 at 10:31am
Thread Starter 
I hadn't seen this for awhile but I bought it on DVD today, it's still a terrific film and a landmark independent film.

The one thing that this film has in spades is atmosphere, you can feel the heat burning the screen, M Emmet Walsh is sleaze personified, the only comparison I can think of is Orson Welles in 'Touch of Evil'. Frances McDormand is good as the simple minded Abby, she's not dumb but you sometimes get the feeling the cogs sometimes don't click. John Getz was ok as Ray, he wasn't bad or anything but I just think his performance was average, Dan Hedaya was great as Marty, the asshole husband and Boss but I just felt he was out of place, I guess I really couldn't see him as a Texan.

The Coens arrived with this film and they've trailblazed ever since.
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post #2 of 16
5/26/06 at 12:55pm
I still think of it when I here, "Same Old Song".
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post #3 of 16
5/26/06 at 1:13pm
Got it from netflix awhile ago as a companion to HOV. I've never seen it and am looking forward to watching it this weekend!
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post #4 of 16
5/26/06 at 4:15pm
It's simply a great thriller, and the atomosphere is terrific.
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post #5 of 16
5/26/06 at 11:06pm
Thread Starter 
The buried alive scene was supremely haunting, just hearing Marty scream made me think how great a horror film from the Coens would be.
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post #6 of 16
5/29/06 at 4:36am
I love this movie. One of the scenes I love is when Dan Hedaya is shot, and doesn't bleed, doesn't fall over, doesn't move at all. Slowly, the blood trickles from the wound. Great stuff.
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post #7 of 16
1/17/07 at 7:29pm
I figured Hedaya's character came to live in Texas from elsewhere.

Man this movie was fucking amazing, I actually preferred it to Fargo and even Miller's Crossing. The entire sequence with the private detective trying to get his hand free of the knife is perfect, what a great villain.

Anybody have any thoughts on the dripping water at the very end?
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post #8 of 16
1/17/07 at 7:32pm
Saw this movie again recently to show it to a friend, and it holds up just as well. One of the Coen Brother's best, and their first at that.
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post #9 of 16
1/18/07 at 3:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragon Ma
The buried alive scene was supremely haunting, just hearing Marty scream made me think how great a horror film from the Coens would be.
In a great movie, this scene stands out in my memory. More so since it takes place not in a horror movie, but in stead in a crime/drama. Very chilling.
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post #10 of 16
1/19/07 at 1:46am
I just saw it for the first last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. It's a very great independent neo-noir, to use a hackneyed term. I also have to second the love for the scene of Walsh trying to get the knife out of his hand--very visceral and difficult to watch. That sat with me longer than the scene of Dan Hedaya being buried alive. Although, in the latter scene, I was taken completely off guard when Hedaya starts to crawl out of the car onto the road. The storyline seemed like a realization of something Jim Thompson would have written about.
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post #11 of 16
2/14/10 at 1:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin View Post

Anybody have any thoughts on the dripping water at the very end?
I have no idea. Anyone?

I loved it. I just saw it for the first time. I enjoyed the wicked blend between horror and noir, I wasn't expecting something like being buried alive. The incinerator was a huge red herring. There were some transitions and that zoom' like a dog aiming at the crotch that were astonishing.
Could somebody explain why Loren Visser leans the seat of his VW? It seemed odd or I might be missing something.
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post #12 of 16
2/14/10 at 2:12am
I have been considering getting this DVD, but there appear to be two versions, and someone on Amazon was saying that one version is edited badly.

Can someone who knows what's up speak on the differences?
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post #13 of 16
2/14/10 at 2:17am
For a reason I can't quite put my finger on, I love that, plot-wise, Walsh's lighter never comes into play, the fake out is great.
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post #14 of 16
2/14/10 at 2:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Gray View Post
Can someone who knows what's up speak on the differences?
As Ethan Coen jokes, "a pace that was once glacial is now merely slow."

Quote:
Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny View Post
For a reason I can't quite put my finger on, I love that, plot-wise, Walsh's lighter never comes into play, the fake out is great.
Me too. Amazing. The way they framed it several times before it ended below those fished seemed to obvious and later on when it wasn't used I was smiling like a boy with a new toy.
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post #15 of 16
2/15/10 at 12:16pm
The scene I remember most is when the sheriff fires at the two leads with a sniper rifle. (I don't remember anyone's names. It's been a while.) It was so tense, and yet done with such a low budget. For some reason, low-budget indie movies never develop any real tension for me. Dunno why that is, but 'tis. This one though: pure talent from the start.
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post #16 of 16
1/7/11 at 8:01am

I'm embarrassed to say that I saw this for the first time last night.  Tightly plotted and tense, the film foreshadows a lot of what has made the Coen Bros. such special artists and filmmakers.  Terrific performances, and that subtle and dark humor make this one memorable.  

 

There was a tracking shot that might have become one of my all-time favorites.  The camera moves along a nearly empty bar counter and "hops" a passed-out drunk on its way to a few minor characters at the opposite end.  What a playful shot!

 

Some of you have mentioned the way the lighter was (or wasn't) used.  I felt the same way about the incinerator.  I would have sworn that one of the characters was going to end up in there.  I wonder if the lighter and incinerator, and our expectations for their use, are meant to parallel the unmet expectations that all the characters seem to have for one another's actions and motivations?

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