Blood Simple
Circle Films | Release Date: January 18, 1985
8.0
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Generally favorable reviews based on 132 Ratings
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112
Mixed:
14
Negative:
6
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User scoreBy dateMost helpful
9
NickTheCritickNov 2, 2021
When Joel and Ethan Coen go for a noir/western You can be certain that you will never be disappointed. One of the greatest director's debut ever.
2 of 2 users found this helpful20
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7
mbeckfordNov 2, 2020
The Coen brothers introduced their brilliant style of filmmaking with their debut "Blood Simple." Their movies are typically violent and gritty, and often comedic (not much comedy here though), "Blood Simple" starts as a simple tale (punThe Coen brothers introduced their brilliant style of filmmaking with their debut "Blood Simple." Their movies are typically violent and gritty, and often comedic (not much comedy here though), "Blood Simple" starts as a simple tale (pun intended) of revenge that spirals in all the wrong ways. And it introduces us to Frances "freaking" McDormand!… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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10
Critic_TannerAug 19, 2015
Blood Simple. 1984 ★★★★

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple.” is an astonishing thriller. Both on a visceral level and on a written one. The characters and plots seem to double back on themselves multiple times in a logical way, and thatBlood Simple. 1984 ★★★★

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple.” is an astonishing thriller. Both on a visceral level and on a written one. The characters and plots seem to double back on themselves multiple times in a logical way, and that is what I think is the secret to its total success. It’s the type of thriller every character does something in front of the audience that seems the most logical, but with each character doing their own thing, things become complicated, and we know and remember who knows what, not because we can know what is happening, but because we want to know.

It should be a compliment to any filmmaker anywhere to know your audience wants to know what its characters know, but even then, somehow, someway, “Blood Simple.” is exceptionally interesting. It’s not a long film, running only 99 minutes, but the movie is kind of one long situation, in three different paths. One involves a Private detective, the girlfriend and her lover. The story is about a cheating wife, whose husband pays a private investigator to watch over her. Once he knows for sure, he makes the decision for him to murder his wife, along with her lover. But things don’t go smoothly. At all. It’s times like these I’d rather not reveal more of the story. But believe me, the story unfolds in an incredibly entertaining way.

The movie is also a neo noir I assume, but the movie is jam packed with rich, superbly quirky dialogue and ingenious plotting that it doesn’t have time to show off its high tech lush camera. But you do see some great light Technics in a bar, the cinematography is not showy, it only does so to be amusing for the audience to know that the filmmakers know what they are doing. It’s kind of a trust thing, confidence in the audience is giving to the filmmakers to try to impress their audience, but sooner or later, they need a story. And boy does “Blood Simple.” have one. It’s utterly fascinating, every character is given rich and dynamic lines that you’ll want to repeat to yourself after the movie’s over.

The best performances of the movie, by the way, are great. Especially from Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh. Hedaya is the kind of actor who doesn’t understand humor, and is always serious, no matter how awkward things get. And Walsh is a very peculiar one. Saying things and laughing as soon as he kills someone. That’s fascinating to me. And “Blood Simple.” has characters like that. Don’t miss it.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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10
geewahJan 24, 2021
One of the finest directorial debuts ever.
This is one dark, clever thriller that was a sign of things to come from the talented Coen brothers.
One of 1984's finest movies.
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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7
BillCAug 29, 2009
A movie that doesn't follow a set pattern and you never know what is next. Bravo!
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
SpangleApr 16, 2016
Blood Simple was truly a sign of things to come from the Coen brothers. Featuring all of their trademark quirk, fantastic characters, botched plans, and an engaging story, Blood Simple is a fantastic neo-noir crime film from the Coens. TheBlood Simple was truly a sign of things to come from the Coen brothers. Featuring all of their trademark quirk, fantastic characters, botched plans, and an engaging story, Blood Simple is a fantastic neo-noir crime film from the Coens. The writing is great and the acting, especially Frances McDormand, is very good throughout. The film is also a surprising source of thrills and some horror movie elements (though not a horror movie by any means) in large part thanks to the great score, good sound, and creepy atmosphere fostered by the Coens. The characters truly make this film though as in all Coen brothers films with each of them being completely off-the-wall. Admittedly the blood here caught me off-guard, but it was nothing too bad. Overall, Blood Simple is pitch perfect.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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8
FranzHcriticNov 3, 2014
Slower than anything the Coens have brought to the screen, but not devoid of their trademark noir, and the dark comedy to every bloodbath. Yet it still seems like the Coens were just starting because many ideas came to fruition later on. TheSlower than anything the Coens have brought to the screen, but not devoid of their trademark noir, and the dark comedy to every bloodbath. Yet it still seems like the Coens were just starting because many ideas came to fruition later on. The acting is above par, with the detective the standout. The film starts slow, but becomes very interesting towards the end.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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8
MovieGuysJul 11, 2014
Blood Simple, the first Coen brothers film, is a more serious, slow, somber movie whose nuances are the most interesting part of it. The brothers didn't have their signature style yet, so the movie doesn't feel like a Coen brothers film, butBlood Simple, the first Coen brothers film, is a more serious, slow, somber movie whose nuances are the most interesting part of it. The brothers didn't have their signature style yet, so the movie doesn't feel like a Coen brothers film, but it's worth watching if you want to see where Joel and Ethan made their start.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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9
MovieMasterEddyApr 3, 2016
'Blood Simple': A Story Worth Repeating.

Here's what's really new about the rerelease of the Coen Brothers' 1984 debut film, "Blood Simple," digitally restored and reedited for clarity and speed: not a damn thing. Nada, nothing, zilch. Or'Blood Simple': A Story Worth Repeating.

Here's what's really new about the rerelease of the Coen Brothers' 1984 debut film, "Blood Simple," digitally restored and reedited for clarity and speed: not a damn thing.
Nada, nothing, zilch. Or at least nada, nothing, zilch that you'll notice. According to the press release, some scenes have been shortened, some musical cues improved and the whole thing generally cleaned up, and there's an amusing mock interview with the pseudo-"restorer." None of this will even register.

Meanwhile, you'll have the same great time.

Basically, it's still a riff on the inevitability of death and Texas. And in Texas, son, you're on your own, as the detective Loren Visser says with one of his wheezy, sardonic laughs in the early going. Abandon hope, ye who enter the Lone Star State, and pull up to the bar of the Neon Boot for a cold bottle of Jax. What place is this? Where are we now? The news is bad: We are in a dark, carbuncular, cynical, rancid universe. We're in noir hell, where all motives are misunderstood, all love turns foul, all trust twists into deceit, the best-laid plans tangle like barbed wire, and the tune on the juke, over and over again, twanging into the blue night, is that country classic "I'm Just a Bug on the Windshield of Life."

Nearly everybody ends up dead, in some spectacular fashion, and when the one survivor turns a corner to look upon the face of her antagonist, hoping at last to understand everything, it turns out to be somebody she didn't even know existed, and the stunned look on her face conveys that she understands nothing. The message of the movie: "Ha, ha, joke's on you."

The movie is essentially a smartass re-imagining of the great James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice," with a new and even darker plot strand added. In Cain's classic, a drifter and a wife fell in love and teamed up to murder her hubby, the abusive owner of a roadhouse. The Coen version goes one better: same roadhouse, same relationship between wife and drifter (a bartender now), but it's the husband who tries to murder them.

The hired killer--a sleazy private eye who drives a VW Beetle to symbolize his order in the place of things; he's a bug--plays everyone for suckers, to make off with 10 grand and nothing pointing at him. See, he thinks he's smarter than everyone, and he is, but he's not smarter than that immense jokester Mr. Fate, who is so busily bouncing the plot off three walls into some of the most crazed rebounds on record.

It's a movie full of great moments, looking just as fresh as they did in 1984, when the Coens--Joel at that time was an assistant editor on splatter films, Ethan a statistical typist at Macy's--created their dark tapestry. Visser (M. Emmet Walsh, still sweating and wheezing his way around like a slug of pure slimy squalor) still gets his hand pinned to the windowsill by a hunting knife, pounds and shoots his way free and hunts his antagonist by blowing holes in the dark wall with a .45.

Marty (Dan Hedaya, with a bristle on his chin so intense it should be called a 1 o'clock shadow or maybe a 10 a.m. shadow) still gets buried alive, oozing blood and struggling against his fate, and Ray the bartender (John Getz) still conks him on the head with a shovel as he tries to climb from the grave. As for Ray, he still stands there, confessing his love for Abby (Frances McDormand, soon to become and now still Mrs. Joel Coen), who he thinks has killed her husband, when the high-powered rifle bullet sails through the window and lances him like a boil.

What good fun!

What a saucy crew!

I love the unsettling details. Marty's name isn't Marty O'Donnell, it's Julian Marty, and everybody calls him Marty, even though he's the man of power. Hedaya went on to a fabulous, still strong-running career, but he's so great here: feral, suspicious, sly, mean, cowardly, face eternally blackened by that smear of beard. And the great and wondrous Walsh: so avuncular, so moist with corruption, so unbrushed of teeth and unscrubbed of sin, in his cheesy polyester western suits (he doesn't even wear boots!). And Ray: Lord God, do they make them any dumber than Ray, eternal chump, doomed by love from the start? It's so very nice to have these old friends back again.

Of course the Coens went on to even more greatness, climaxing in the wondrous "Fargo" of a few years back, and they're about to release a new film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," which they describe as the third in their "hayseed trilogy" after this film and "Raising Arizona." I can't hardly wait.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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8
eva3si0nJun 19, 2022
Blood Simple directorial debut of the Coen brothers. Despite the budget of the film, it looks great now. The film is almost 40 years old and still relevant. It's always nice to see the still young Frances McDormand. Blood Simple is a goodBlood Simple directorial debut of the Coen brothers. Despite the budget of the film, it looks great now. The film is almost 40 years old and still relevant. It's always nice to see the still young Frances McDormand. Blood Simple is a good thriller that can be advised to watch not only by fans of the Coen brother's creativity… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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7
rmurray847Aug 10, 2023
BLOOD SIMPLE was a film I very much enjoyed back in the day when it first came out on home video (I think I sought it out after being blown away by RAISING ARIZONA from the Coen Brothers). And I've seen it one other time, perhaps 15 yearsBLOOD SIMPLE was a film I very much enjoyed back in the day when it first came out on home video (I think I sought it out after being blown away by RAISING ARIZONA from the Coen Brothers). And I've seen it one other time, perhaps 15 years ago. But revisiting it now, decades later, is really revelatory.

It's a film-noir set in Texas. Bar owner (Dan Hedaya) is suspicious of the faithfulness of his young wife (Frances McDormand, in her film debut) and has hired a sleazy private eye to follow her (M. Emmett Walsh, in the role of his lifetime). Turns out, she is just embarking on an affair with an attractive bartender (John Getz), and incriminating photos are provided to the cuckolded husband. He wants bloody revenge. The private detective has other ideas. Unexpected twists and turns ensue. I don't want to share much more, in case you haven't seen this. But while the movie contains many solid scenes, lots of tension and really nice performances...there are two scenes that for me are iconic. Mid-way through the film, an uncooperative body needs to be buried. The scene is surprising, funny and tense as hell. And the final long set-piece that concludes BLOOD SIMPLE is fantastic. Super exciting, extremely well acted and concluding in a surprising and even chilling way. So enjoyable!

Everyone is very solid in this film. It's a treat to see a young McDormand. The no-nonsense, hard-edge is already in evidence, but she makes a surprising femme fatale (of a sort; she doesn't even realize she's being one). Hedaya is perfectly cast. Getz is less compelling, but I'd argue his character is underwritten. And Walsh is absolutely riveting. He's a sweaty, gross, imposing man who thinks he's pretty slick and witty, when instead he's deeply off-putting.

The movie doesn't tell us anything new about humanity. It doesn't REALLY make us care about any of the characters as people. It's a showcase for two young, technically brilliant filmmakers (the Coen Brothers), who, in their first feature film, already show the incredible sense of style that became their hallmarks. Creative cinematography (thanks Barry Sonnenfeld), crisp writing and plotting, and atmosphere to burn. They aren't really trying to move you emotionally. They want to take you on a thrill ride. In this case, a low-budget and occasionally clumsy (the sub-plots with the other bartended Meurice) thrill ride, but a blast nontheless. Essential viewing for Coen Brothers fans, for sure.… Expand
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10
TheBadfellaAug 16, 2023
This is one of my favorite directorial debuts in cinema history. Possibly even my favorite. Everything I love about Coen brothers movies that's in this movie is perfected here. The snappy dialogue, the graphic violence, the sharply drawnThis is one of my favorite directorial debuts in cinema history. Possibly even my favorite. Everything I love about Coen brothers movies that's in this movie is perfected here. The snappy dialogue, the graphic violence, the sharply drawn characters. Everything about this movie is awesome. One of my personal favorites ever made.… Expand
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