Blood Simple 1984

     Julian Marty is a bar owner in Texas.  He’s generally regarded as a bad character.  He hires shady private detective Loren Visser to stalk his wife Abby and one of his bartenders Ray. Marty wants to know if something is going on between Abby and Ray.  Loren brings back pictures and this is more than Marty wanted to know?  Marty is enraged and he hires Loren to kill both Abby and Ray.  He will pay Loren $10,000 to kill them and get rid of their bodies. 

     Marty doesn’t know or even think about the possibility of being double-crossed by Loren?  But, Loren doesn’t want any loose ends to be left behind!  If Loren kills both Abby and Ray there is still Marty with this knowledge about the murders?  Will Julian have buyer’s remorse and spill the beans one day or can he be trusted to keep quiet for a long time?  The $10,000 is very nice and just what Loren wanted!  What about Abby and Ray, do they in any way deserve to be murdered because Marty thinks he owns Abby?  The title is correct and people start to come unglued, especially Ray!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

99 min, Crime directed by Joel and Ethan Coen with John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh, Samm-Art Williams, Deborah Neumann, Raquel Gavia, Van Brooks, Senor Marco, William Creamer, Loren Bivens, Bob McAdams, Shannon Sedwick, Nancy Finger.

Note:  Imdb 7.7 out of 10, 94% critic 88% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 287 reviews, Slant Magazine 3* out of 4*, 82 out of 100 with 23 critics 8.5 out of 10 with 87 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Pflugerville, Austin, Houston, Hutto and Round Rock, Texas.  The Coen brothers went door-to-door showing potential investors a two-minute trailer of this film.  They raised $750,000 in a little over a year.  The title is based on a phrase from the Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest.  Blood simple is a term coined to describe the addled and fearful mindset people are in after a prolonged immersion in violent situations.  A director’s cut was released in 2001 on the 15^th anniversary of this film.  This is the first film for Frances McDormand and the first film by the Coen brothers.  Frances and Joel Coen married the year this film was made.  They have a son, Pedro McDormand Coen and he was adopted from Paraguay in 1994.  Frances was the third and the youngest child adopted by her minister father Vernon McDormand and his wife Noreen.  She grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.  The Coen brothers have made 24 movies between 1984 and 2018.  They have another production in the works (Dark Web) with the release date to be announced.