With their brilliant visuals and unmatched crisp dialogue firmly in place, the announcement of The Coen Brothers’ arrival onto the scene circa 1985 was heard loud and clear. Blood Simple was and is, having been released on blu-ray this week, no joke. In fact, for a first film, it’s a bona fide film noir masterpiece of murder and suspense. Bona fide. Set in a small Texas town where the dirt blinds you of ambition and the drink kills you quick. It’s a town where women cheat on their husbands and the husbands, without hesitation, retaliate with Old Testament violence.
Titled from the terse prose of Dashiell Hammett, Blood Simple recounts the murderous consequences that follow a bored Abby (Frances McDormand) after she cheats on her husband, Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya), with a simple-minded bartender from her husband’s bar, Ray (John Getz). It seems Marty was on to her from the beginning. He just didn’t know who she was sleeping around with.
Enter cowboy hat-wearin’ private detective Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh). His mission? Provide the truth of Abby’s infidelity with Ray and, later, kill them both. Only thing is that Marty insults Visser one time to many times during the course of the “business” arrangements. Thus, the con is on. Doctored pictures provide the evidence, a double cross provides the crime, and, without fail, Visser’s paranoia over a misplaced engraved lighter, leads directly to Abby’s new gothic-arched loft.
While filled with your basic film noir locations, Blood Simple soars above the basic requirements of the genre due to the calculated restraint of the collective Coen consciousness and the cinematography of Barry Sonnenfeld. Never content to be passive, the camera is a central part of the action. From following – at ankle-level – a pair of converses as they stroll to a juke box and back behind the bar to being strapped to the side of a car as it drives down the highway, the camera is used with above-average intelligence in the art of constructing a memorable scene.
While McDormand plays Abby without the charisma of her later performances, the low key performances from everyone – except Walsh – certainly works in portraying the humiliating brain drain that is the community they live in; everyone has lost their initiative to leave and so they stay. True, Blood Simple might be a technical film lover’s wet dream, but the basic zaniness known to populate the Coen’s version of America certainly makes an appearance in certain acting moments.
Title aside, there is nothing simple about the film; nor is there anything simple about murder. Of course, that’s the point…just ask Visser…who probably wishes his camera had never flashed with the photographic proof that would send him to hell.
MPAA Rating: R.
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Writer: Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast: Frances McDormand; John Getz; Dan Hedaya; M Emmet Walsh
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Tagline: Breaking up is hard.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Gimme a call whenever you wanna cut off my head. I can always crawl around without it."
Distributor: Circle Films
Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Video
Official Site:
Theatrical Release Date: January 18, 1985
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: August 30, 2011
Synopsis: In the first film of brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, M. Emmett Walsh plays Visser, an unscrupulous private eye hired by Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) to murder Marty's faithless wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and her paramour, Ray (John Getz), one of Marty's employees. But Visser is no more up-front with Marty than with anyone else; he makes some slight modifications of the original plan so that it better serves his own best interests. After a surprise double-cross and the murder of one of the important players, matters spiral out of control, and the plot gyrates through a complicated string of darkly humorous events. False assumptions, guilt, and fear all lead to a frantic attempt to conceal evidence and the heart-pounding, irony-filled denouement. Blood Simple was re-released in the summer of 2000 with a digitally-remastered soundtrack and -- at the Coens' behest -- a few minutes of dialogue trimmed.
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Blu-ray Details:
English SDH, French, Spanish
(less)English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German SDH
(less)Available on Blu-ray - August 30, 2011
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Playback: Region A
Let’s just be clear about one thing concerning any release of Blood Simple; the film has never looked particularly sharp. It’s a low budget affair through and through. The 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encode, however, does the film a solid. The color and the lighting are strong throughout, the shadows are natural and deep, and, in spite of its age, the detail is genuinely sharp. The skin tones are consistently warm and, without a doubt, the HD release outshines any previous DVD issuing of the film. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track is another improvement. Dialogue is noticeably clear and the soundtrack is sprinkled throughout nicely.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Provided by the fictional Kenneth Loring, Blood Simple’s commentary track is insanely hilarious and full of falsehoods, rumors, and lies. While Loring does spend some time talking about the scenes, most of his commentary is complete nonsense. For fans of The Coen Brothers nuttiness sides only.
Special Features:
The Coen Brothers are a bit reclusive. As a result, there is little in the way of supplemental material for this release. There’s an introduction by Mortimer Young, of the fictitious Forever Young Films, in which he celebrates the film for its brazen brawn and then says a load of hooey about the film. Also included is the original theatrical trailer. Disappointing, I know.
- Introduction by Mortimer Young (2 min)
- Theatrical Trailer
