BLOOD SIMPLE

(January 1985, U.S.)

I love the Coen Brothers! Mind you, that doesn't mean I've loved EVERY film they've ever made. BARTON FINK (1991) was only okay. I didn't like BURN AFTER READING (2008) and I couldn't even get past the first 30 minutes of A SERIOUS MAN (2009); way too Jewish for my taste and my patience. I mean, I know their last name is COHEN, but...damn!

Except perhaps for the late Stanley Kubrick, there are virtually no directors who can call themselves totally original; everybody copies from someone else. Watching a neo-noir crime film like BLOOD SIMPLE means experiencing many twisted plot elements (the love triangle, the jealous husband, a brutal murder and the clean-up process afterwards, etc.) that the great Alfred Hitchcock used many times in many films. What you hope, though, is that perhaps new filmmakers can add something new and something different that will make their own film stand out. In BLOOD SIMPLE, what stands out is how violent murder is filmed as an art. Let me try to explain...

In my opinion, there are three types of murder on film that can bring about three different types of reactions from a viewer. The first is the typical Bruce Willis/Sylvester Stallone-type action hero who shoots down his enemy like it was merely target practice. This kind of murder usually causes a reaction of enthusiastic excitement. The second would be a gory slaying from any number of horror film seial killers like Michael Myers (HALLOWEEN) or Jason Voorhees (FRIDAY THE 13TH). This kind of murder serves to playfully scare and shock us, which is why most people would watch a horror movie in the first place. The third type of murder is played out in BLOOD SIMPLE; it is murder that takes its time and succumbs to the the virtuosity of the camerawork. Take a long good look at the face of the private investigator (played chillingly by M. Emmet Walsh) as he shoots the jealous, vengeful, husband (played by Dan Hedaya) in the chest only one time, but then proceeds to just keep his gun pointed at his victim and stare at him, as if making a serious and valid point about what he's just done. The scene takes its time, murder takes its time, and death takes its time.

This film can be called a murder mystery, but not in the old fashioned "who done it" way. We know who done it! We've been watching it all along. The mystery lies in watching and wondering what's going to happen in the aftermath to those that were involved in murder. And in keeping with just a little bit of Hollywood happy ending tradition, the bad guy IS killed by the good guy (or woman, in this case) in the end.

BLOOD SIMPLE was the Coen Brothers directorial debut, and in my opinion, one of the best films of the 1980's.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Marty; "You think I'm funny, I'm an asshole? No no no... what's funny is HER... what's funny is, I had you two followed, because if it's not you she's sleeping with, it's someone else... what's funny is, when she gives you that LOOK, and says, 'I don't know what you're talkin' about, Ray, I ain't done nothin' funny'... but the funniest thing to ME is... you think SHE came back HERE for YOU... THAT'S what's FUCKIN' FUNNY!!!"