River Road Productions, 1984
starring: Frances McDormand, John Getz, Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh
directed by: Joel Coen

the plot: Bar owner Julian Marty (Hedaya) suspects his wife, Abby (McDormand), is cheating on him, so he hires private detective Loren Visser (Walsh) to follow her and collect some dirt. Marty is soon surprised to learn that Ray (Getz), one of his most trusted employees, is his wife’s paramour. Following a confrontatoin between Ray and Marty, Abby packs her bags and leaves home, and it seems as though the whole sordid mess is finished—that is, until Marty hires Visser again, this time to murder Abby and Ray. But Visser has ideas of his own. He’s been eyeing Marty’s safe full of cash, and instead of taking out the two lovers, Visser hatches his own plan—one that entails shooting Marty, cleaning out his safe and implicating Abby in the crime. But things get complicated when Ray returns to the bar, finds Marty’s body and tries to dispose of it. Now caught up in a web of murder and distrust, Ray and Abby work out ways to cover up a crime neither of them committed. Meanwhile, Visser begins tying up the loose ends of his plan—loose ends that just happen to be Ray and Abby.

why it’s good: The first film directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen, “Blood Simple” is an intelligent neo-noir that’s tightly plotted and straightforward, but filled with double crosses and fantastic twists. Unlike their later films, which are filled with quirky characters and rich, black humor, “Blood Simple” is a quiet sort of movie. There are long pauses and sequences full of silence. When Marty or Ray speak, their words are short, clipped and to the point. The silence only adds to the dusty, shadowy atmosphere the Coens build, culminating in an awesome climax that’s visually stunning and suspenseful as hell. Frances McDormand, who starred in a number of Coen productions but gained fame for her role in “Fargo,” turns in a worthy performance as the reluctant femme fatale, who, unbeknownst to her, is the root cause of all the mayhem. But the real star here is M. Emmet Walsh as the sleazy, corpulent Loren Visser. Clad in a dirty cowboy hat and ill fitting suits, Walsh oozes his way through the movie and pulls off a brilliant transformation from bumbling private detective to cold-blooded murderer, all in a few short scenes. By the time Visser starts stalking Abby and Ray, it’s clear that the detective, like the movie itself, was never as simple as he first seemed.

why you should own it: The director’s cut of “Blood Simple” is actually shorter than the original film. The Coen brothers made some minor cuts to the film when it was re-released in 1998.  Universal’s DVD features production notes, as well as “commentary” by Kenneth Loring, a fictional film historian created by the Coens.