Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Allan C — 28 Dec 2015

The Coen Brother's debut film is still a knockout today. I recorded this off of MGMHD and believe this was the original theatrical cut and not the later released director's cut, which was a slightly tighter version of the original.

For their first film, they made a dark, moody modern noir. John Getz steps out with the boss' wife, Frances McDormand. Dan Hedaya hires a PI, played by the great M. Emmet Walsh, to check up on his wife.

To reveal much more of the plot would spoil the fun, but if you've read any James M. Cain, you probably know where the plot is headed. While the story is strong, like most Coen Brothers' scripts, it's really the visual the burn themselves into your memory (the close up of Hadaya's broken finger, headlights on a lonely highway, a moving pile of dirt, and the light shaft through bullet holes in a wall, which I believe is the first film to do this).

Barry Sonnenfeld did the photography on this film, as he did for the first three Coen Brother films and his mark is unmistakable as well. The Coens found some very talented replacements for Sonnenfeld when he left to produce and direct, but Sonnenfeld is a talent unto himself, leaving a mark on all of the film he shot as a director of photography,which ranged from working with the Coens, to "Big," to the underrated "Three O'Clock High," to "Throw Momma from the Train," to his final film as a DP, "Misery.

" Really, all of his films as a cinematographer were great. He did a few TV movies and a documentary I haven't seen, but all of his feature films are amazing. But back to "Blood Simple," this film is an amazingly tight and suspenseful thriller.

The finale, is something that feels as tough and brutal a finale as you'd find in the ultra violent films of the early 90s, ALA "Shallow Grave" or Tarantino. And I totally missed it, but apparently Holly Hunter did uncredited voice acting as Helene Trend.