No. 12 - Fargo (1996)

a lot can happen in the middle of nowhere.

Wikipedia Link

Rated: R (Restricted) for strong violence, language and sexuality

Directors and Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Harve Presnell, Peter Stormare

Movie Introduction: Set in frigid 1987 Minneapolis, Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) is a car salesman who has gotten himself into debt. In his desperation, he concocts a plan to stage his own wife’s kidnapping. Jerry will collect the ransom from her wealthy father (Presnell), paying for her release, then keep the rest to satisfy what he owes. The scheme collapses when the escaping kidnappers (Buscemi and Stormare) shoot first a state trooper, then a young couple who drive by and become witnesses. Police Chief Marge Gunderson (McDormand) now has a triple homicide to figure out.   

Defining Moment: the parking garage

As part of the plan, Jerry is to pay the kidnappers the money, provided that he delivers it alone, all part of the ill-conceived scheme to fleece the money from his stern stepfather Wade. When the meek Jerry is overruled regarding the cash exchange, Wade drives to the top of the snow-covered parking garage, where, the deal goes horribly wrong. Before this moment in the film, we almost think that Jerry might, somehow, get away with it. That possibility comes to a brutal, bloody end.

Something subtle you might have missed:  "Yah, you betcha."

You aren’t imagining things, the folks in this film, well, talk kinda funny. Minnesota Nice is a thing. The directors employed two dialect coaches who agreed “the accent was another character in the film”. This dialect is known as the Inland Northern American English. Its main characteristic is that is sounds scrubbed of any ethnic influences. For the film, you will notice that many words are over-pronounced, exaggerated, for effect, as are the smiles and head-nods, common in the northern Midwest.

Memorable Quotes:

"Well, the little guy was kinda funny-lookin'." – Hooker #1

"Sir, you have no call to get snippy with me. I'm just doing my job here." - Marge Gunderson

Dad's Review:

What is it about Fargo... ?

Is it the frozen wasteland of sparse open spaces and seedy truck stops? The setting is absolutely necessary to create a place so bleak and depressing that from it hatches the central plot: to pull off a fake kidnapping and embezzle ransom money from a wealthy relative. It is also the setting that aids and abets this plot, nudging it to go so completely, horribly wrong.

Is it car salesmen Jerry Lundegaard? Meek, unsure, completely lacking in guile – he puts events in play simply because he is unable to man-up and ask his father-in-law for money. Yet he strives so valiantly to hold it all together and keep up the facade.  Henry H. Macy’s performance is incredibly engaging as he slowly unravels when things go south.

Is it our duo of kidnappers? One a silent, empty psychopath; the other a small, chatty wise-guy who just cannot shut his mouth. Their job is so simple. Kidnap a lady, then return her when the money comes in. What could go wrong? In most movies, henchmen like this are cookie-cutter simple with little character development. Not here. We are introduced to Carl and Gaear, and we spend a lot of time getting to know them. Their toxic relationship is as much a catalyst to the plot's disaster as Jerry's repeated bumbling. 

Is it police chief Marge Gunderson? Here she is, investigating a double homicide, yet somehow her timid husband’s duck artwork, and the remote possibility that it will end up on a 3 cent postage stamp, is still more important. After a million cop TV shows and movies, I have never seen a police officer interrogate a witness with more politeness! Did I mention she endures the entire film at seven months pregnant? Her character drives home the point that you don't have to be tough, or harsh - you just have to be competent at your job.  

Yah, to all of the above. This movie is kinda outstanding, er, in a general, sort of a wonderful way. Oh yah.

The film is classified as a "dark comedy crime drama", but I disagree. It is ALL crime drama. The only thing that is funny, and I mean it IS funny, is how these North Westerners act and talk. You'll love it. Those wacky accents, the deadpan Dakota humor in the midst of a bloody kidnapping and killings, it all works and feels completely apropos.

Onto No. 13... The Tranquility of the Baby Muttons