Blood Simple

by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Gathers a screenplay about adultry, a husband's attempt at revenge, blackmail, and murder

Genres: Film, Crime, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1989

About the author

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are four-time Academy Award winning American filmmakers. For more than twenty years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy) to film noir (Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men), to movies where genres blur together (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink). The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share such a similar vision of what their films are to be that actors say that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blood Simple is the first chef d’oeuvre of the Coen Brothers

They are now established geniuses and cheered as a couple of cinema’s best creators and filmmakers.
Blood Simple was the work that launched their careers.

Ethan and Joel Coen explain in a documentary called American Cinema about this first project they launched in 1984.
It was followed by classics like:

Fargo- recently noted on by this viewer here: http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.ro/ - The Big Lebowsky, No Country For Old Men, True Grit, The Man Who Wasn’t There, O Brother, Where Art Thou and others

In the days of making Blood Simple, the unknown Coen Brothers did not have the funds that would pour their way today.
Therefore, they had to be frugal in the extreme, drawing up the scenes in detail, because they had little money.

Joel and Ethan Coen give the example of the scene wherein Ray is facing Julian, on a road where a truck is approaching.
They had no resources to film many takes and it had all to be perfect on only one or very few tries.

Frances McDormand- winner of the Oscar for Fargo and a favorite this year for her leading part in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri- has the role of Abby, married to Julian Marty.
She has an affair with an employee of her husband, Ray, who works at the bar where a murder will take place.
Julian is a heinous, resentful man who may deserve whatever he gets, even if his fate might be a bit too cruel.

He suspects his wife has an affair and hires another despicable man, detective Loren Visser who says:

- If the sum is right and it is legal, I’ll do it
- If the money is right, I will do it- this is the amendment advanced, when he is told that what he will have to do might not be legal.

These are the villains of the story and if they are ready to engage in anything, legal or not, if the pay is good enough says everything about them.
However, the detective is the more vicious and devious of the two, for he harbors a wicked plan for murder.

He is asked by the jealous, sadistic husband to kill the couple who have betrayed his trust and have been photographed together.
Loren Visser wants the ten thousand offered and tells his partner in crime to get away to fish and be noticed in another town.

However, he has a plan that will get him the money under circumstances that will be safest for him.
As this all happens way before the end, some details will be presented here, without the complicated twists that occur.

The detective and his employer meet at the bar, where the killer presents photographic proof of his murders.
He has pictures of Abby and Ray, embracing in bed, with their bodies apparently hit by bullets.

The coup de theatre is that Loren Visser kills Julian Marty.

Why would he do that?

Well, he has the gun that belongs to Abby and he places it at the murder scene, in this way the identity of the killer is obvious.
Only there are unforeseen developments.

Ray comes to ask for the money that Julian owes him, only to find him apparently dead and he thinks Abby must have done it.
Her revolver is there and the deceased has been shot.

An excellent crime story is only starting much of its intrigue and complicated narrative here, with Ray trying to help.

[Neve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this (again) in school instead of doing my work 10/10 experience way more exciting than my assignments would do it again

[Christopher Dove · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the screenplay of the 1984 movie by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is a tale of mayhem and murder. I have not seen the film, so as ever when reading a screenplay there are parts that are a little unclear as the written directions clearly do not convey as much information as the image on the screen. This is particularly true of the climax of the book where the relative positions of the main protagonists are unclear in print. This, of course, would be crystal clear in the film. A short and entertaining read (but probably better to see the film!).

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars. I was like mwah… next Miller's Crossing!

[Brian J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tight neo-noir plotting with true and colorful dialogue.

[Lennart_rohrjunge · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He was alive when I buried him."

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. Well, I guess I'm going to wait till I see the movie so I can figure out what exactly that was all about.

[Jilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best noir screenplays I have read.