Blood Simple (1984) - Breaking Up Is Hard Enough To Do Without the Psychopathic Hitman

Welcome back. Again, I'm surprised to be back here this early, but it's a good surprised.

As discussed last time, this marks the official kick-off on the Criterion backlog project (I'll need to come up with a snappier name for this in the future.)

Also, as promised, we're kicking things off with Famous Firsts, and fittingly, this pick is actually a movie of several famous firsts.

Blood Simple is, first and foremost, remembered as the directorial debut for Joel and Ethan Coen (though Joel is the only one of the two credited). Besides that, the film is also the acting debut of Frances McDormand – marking several collaborations and an eventual marriage to Joel - and the first feature film cinematography for Barry Sonnenfeld (if we're being technical, he worked on a documentary called In Our Water before this.)

With all that praise built up in its wake, one would almost worry the movie itself can't live up to what followed (and let's be clear, there has been some genuinely great work to come from these people since.) Fortunately, even watched with that legacy in mind, Blood Simple still holds up quite well, both as a first feature as well as just a general part of the larger Coen filmography.

As has become a pattern for me (and will continue with these) I'll start with an aspect of this hadn't really caught on to before (at least where rewatches are concerned.) In this case, the surprisingly lean nature of the film is something I'd never really properly take in before. A handful of principle players, a few key locales – three in particular – and a fairly grim, darkly comic tale of an affair and the Hell unleashed when the husband finds out. Granted, this is a neo-noir, so there are twists in store, but even those twists feel like logical extensions of the way the best laid plans of the movie's players all slowly go awry, rather than feeling like an arbitrary twist to keep the movie rolling.

There's still something darkly funny to me about the fact
that future couple Frances McDormand and Joel Coen first worked
together on a movie that starts from an affair then ends in a body count.

With that, I do have to give a shout-out to the players as they run through the movie's blood-soaked comedy of errors (I'll stand by this description, dammit.) Again, this was feature debut for Frances McDormand, and even before considering her later career (hello, future Oscar winner) she hits the ground running, carrying a role that could have been largely forgettable in less capable hands. As the two men making up the other sides of this movie's deadly love triangle, John Getz and Dan Hedaya likewise both shine, with Hedaya in particular straddling the line with a short fuse that can go from comic to dangerous as the scene calls for it.

As the supporting cast goes, I made it a point watching to give a shout-out to Samm-Art Williams. Besides having a great introductory scene (semi-related, this movie has left “It's the Same Old Song” stuck in my head for the past week), he takes on the relatively thankless role of being the movie's voice of reason and makes him a genuinely sympathetic, at times exasperated figure watching this drama play out from the sidelines.

Finally, yes, he needs his own paragraph, we have M. Emmet Walsh, the first in a long line of characters I have take to referring to as the Coen Brothers Nightmare Squad (without giving a full roster, I will say off the bat John Goodman in Barton Fink is part of the starting line.) Like McDormand, Walsh has a role that can fly or fall easily based on how it's played. In this case, Walsh plays the villainous Lorren with a sort of sick glee. He's definitely not going to turn down being paid for his services, but there is also a sense he is genuinely enjoying what he does even without the financial incentive. He goes from spy to assassin for Hedaya without even skipping a beat – it's a sick game to him and he is having the most fun out of anyone playing it.

One will protect you
One will stop at nothing to end your life
By the time you figure out which is which, it's already too late.

Part of why I had to give Visser his own paragraph, besides the fact that it's a Hell of a performance, is that the character is a big part of why Blood Simple stands out for me. The three leads are all well written and likable – even if I'll always first and foremost associate Getz with his later role in The Fly – but it's the dash of chaos and horror that is added by Visser that really ratchets the movie up, both from the obvious fact he is the devil on Hedaya's shoulder, as well as from the 'all bets are off' feeling that sinks in as he clearly starts running his own plans counter to those around him. That feeling marks the first of many times in the Coens' career where their filmography has flirted with horror without going full tilt into it.

With that said, I have to give a shout-out to another first here – this marks the first of a long list of collaborations composer Carter Burwell has had with the brothers, and while it's not his first movie period, his score is a great fit for the movie's slow shift into increasingly more chilling territory. While not as much of a earworm as the film's use of The Four Tops, I'd be lying if I said the piano score in this has not also stuck with me.

Honestly, the more I let this sink in, the more this really felt like the perfect pick to start this project off. It's a genuinely well made film that launched several careers, and even just within its own confines, goes well with evolving from a noir about infidelity before taking a violent turn care of a human devil in a cowboy hat.

That's as far as I can safely put it without spoiling anything, but I feel satisfied with it.

With a few days left in January, we've got another notable directorial debut on the docket for this weekend.

See you then!