Blood Simple
Movie, 1984, The '80s, Set in A Texas bar owner
Blood Simple is #1 of 21 in release order and #1 of 21 in chronological order in the The Coen Brothers.
The story
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Blood Simple recap
Blood Simple (1984) follows a Texas bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover, a double-cross that leaves no one sure who did what. Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) learns that his wife Abby (Frances McDormand) is sleeping with his bartender Ray (John Getz). He pays the sleazy investigator Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) $10,000 to kill them both. Visser instead fakes photos of their deaths, collects the money, and shoots Marty with Abby's own pistol, but leaves his lighter behind. Ray finds the body and the gun, assumes Abby did it, and cleans up the scene; when he discovers Marty still breathing, he buries him alive in a field. Each character now holds a wrong idea of what happened. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote and made it together, Joel credited as director. As the brothers' debut feature, it is the first film in their career.
Blood Simple ending explained
Blood Simple ends with Abby shooting Visser through a bathroom door, never knowing who he is. Visser realises Marty kept one of the doctored photos in his safe and that his lighter is missing. When Ray opens the safe and goes to warn Abby, Visser shoots him from across the street. In the dark apartment, Abby pins Visser's hand to a windowsill with a knife, then fires through the door. Believing she has shot Marty, she says she is not afraid of him, and the dying Visser laughs. A director's cut followed in 2001.
Post-credits scenes
No. Blood Simple has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Blood Simple
Blood Simple is streaming on HBO Max in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes 94%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before Raising Arizona.
- Chronological order: first, before Raising Arizona.
Cast
- John Getz as Ray
- Frances McDormand as Abby
- Dan Hedaya as Julian Marty
- Samm-Art Williams as Meurice
- M. Emmet Walsh as Private Detective
- Deborah Neumann as Debra
- Raquel Gavia as Landlady
- Van Brooks as Man from Lubbock
- Señor Marco as Mr. Garcia
- William Creamer as Old Cracker
- Loren Bivens as Strip Bar Exhorter
- Bob McAdams as Strip Bar Senator
Directed by Joel Coen.