"What an Evil Dead shot" well, there's a reason for that, when Blood Simple was being worked on the Coen's were roommates and buddies with Evil Dead director Sam Raimi.
I just watched an interview with the Coens about this film, and they said that Raimi raising money for his films himself from investors basically convinced them that they could do the same thing and make Blood Simple. Raimi is the one who told them they needed a piece of film to show or nobody would be interested.. So they made a little short demo reel styled like a movie trailer and would go around to lawyers, dentists, bankers and other rich guys' houses with a projector, show the reel and try to convince them to invest.
Way ahead of their time. In this film alone I see the more sophisticated 90s style of filmmaking, such as Silence of the Lambs. Story-wise I see Pulp Fiction and even Breaking Bad here. The Coen brothers influenced future decades of filmmaking.
@@susanalexander6721 Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, A Serious Man, Hail Caesar. What about yourself? Any criticisms or disappointments in the Coen’s filmography?
This movie blew my mind when I first saw it. Like an Elmore Leonard crime novel. Miscommunication, incompetence and some grimy characters that get in too deep. I love it
M Emmett Walsh is one of the greatest character actors in the last 50 years. The lack of communication , for me, raised the tension and anxiety. A devious little Coen trick lol. The lighter was a classic McGuffin...an item that is a diversion and manipulation. Hitchcock loved McGuffins
@@batmanvsjoker7725I think the lighter did trigger a lot of the plot. The PI went back to get it (and the picture) then decided to kill them to get the lighter back. It's what he was searching for.
You could call it an inverted mystery. You know what's going on but none of the characters know. Very clever. This has been a favorite film of mine for almost 40 years. The water drop at the end highlighted the sheer absurdity of it all.
Woo, Coen bros debut! I really took this movie for granted a while back when I got into the Coen brothers filmography. It's an amazing movie and has a ton of hallmarks that you recognize in their work later on. Great reaction as always guys!
Coen Brothers wanted Holly Hunter as the female lead. She was committed to a play in NYC, but recommended they audition her roommate. Frances McDormand.
Frances mcdormed actually played in the first dark man an Mississippi burning very great recommendation movies to see! My great information for today. Have a great fabulous wonderful day.
The first film from The Coen Brothers. Despite not being a box office success, it's gained a cult following, regarded as one of the best noir thrillers ever made, and the bathroom scene was on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, where M. Emmett Walsh gets his hand trapped by Frances McDormand and stabbed with a knife.
FINALLY. M. Emmitt Walsh is perfection...as is Mrs. Coen. Saw this when it was released...knew it was fantastic...didn't think they would be supported by anyone, especially any studio. Yay.
Oh, man...what a movie! Caught me completely off guard when I first saw it back when it came out. No one knew who the Coen Brothers were and I had no idea what to expect!
@7:17 Your Evil Dead reference is right on target. Sam Raimi and the Coens have known each other for decades. The Coens borrowed Sam Raimi's shaky-cam for this shot and the foot chase in Raising Arizona.
The thing about this movie is that, no one is very bright, and almost everything is a darkly comic misunderstanding, and yet it has a brilliantly executed Hitchcockian stranglehold on the audience from the very first scene.
I took a class at University on Film Noir and detective movies and chose to write my final paper on Blood Simple. The brothers have said that their inspiration came from Dashiell Hammett who once wrote that faced with a murder scene people tend to become blood simple. They make huge and dumb mistakes under the influence of their own adrenaline. Ray is the archetypical noir protagonist in a love triangle. Self sacrificing, trying desperately to protect his woman. The whole sequence from him arriving at the bar and discovering Marty's body to his battery being run down at dawn because he left the headlights on all night long while he was burrying Marty is a masterclass in suspense. In 2021, Joel Coen struck out on his own to make an adaptation of MacBeth, starring Denzel Washington as the thane of Cowder and Frances McDormand as Lady MacBeth. Ethan Coen decided to sit that one out (as he usually produces his brother's movies). They have now resumed their collaboration. They have not yet announced their next project however.
Ethan Coen, made a long-simmering film with another writing partner of his, Tricia Cooke. "Drive-away Dolls" comes out in September. The trailer is out.
This is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve been waiting for some reaction channel to FINALLY do this movie. Didn’t realize you guys had done this a few months back. Kudos. Great reaction. I was particularly impressed with the way you kept the plot straight. It’s a confusing movie and it can be difficult to keep track of who knows what and why the are doing what they’re doing. Thanks so much for doing this!!!
I saw it in cinema back in 1984 in Stockholm and it blew me away. I was nineteen. “Now there’s a director to remember”. Them as brothers weren’t established.
Great job! Joel Coen worked as an assistant editor on The Evil Dead, which is where he picked up the rushing shakycam shot we see in this one. Much more of that in Raising Arizona.
I saw this in n the theater and it blew me away. Especially the amusing shot of the camera maneuvering over the slumped bar patron and the bullets creating shafts of light. “This was something new …”. Have been a Coen fan(atic) ever since.
I like it so much that after I bought the DVD, I discovered a copy of the script and had have it. This and, "No Country For Old Men," pretty my tie for my favorites from the Bro's. Great reaction / review. I've been waiting soooo long for someone to react to this great film. As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
"Miller's Crossing" and "Barton Fink" are must watch movies from The Coen Brothers. Both from the late 80's/early 90's period. John Goodman gives one of his best performances in Barton Fink and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) in Miller's Crossing is awesome. John Turturro is in both and he is next level good.
I love Miller's Crossing. I first saw it when I was a (dumb) late teen and I didn't appreciate it because it was so stylized, but upon seeing it again in my late 30s, I loved it FOR that reason. My culturing improved over the years as it does for most people. Another far different flick whose brilliance I had no conception of as a teen was the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I saw it twice circa 92/93 and didn't see it again in full for another 20 years. On that watching I was blown away by things like the aesthetic qualities (grubby/grainy/washed out film) and some of the perspective shots and especially by the set design (bone collages, etc). I realized how it lived up to the hype and I was very surprised to learn as an adult that it was absolutely a postmodern arthouse film instead of a slasher flick. It's in the MoMA's permanent film collection and has been assessed by numerous egghead university types because it is so impactful. It also nearly touches the feel of a real snuff film in certain scenes more than any other horror movie I've ever seen. It's truly an art film, just a disturbing and morbid one. Spielberg, who's the master of perspective shots, even asked Tobe Hooper how they did the under-the-swing camera shot of the girl walking into the house. That was somehow achieved before the advent of the steady cam (using a track system). The wide perspective shot of Leatherface, Sally, the truck driver, and the pickup truck driver all in the same shot was also a brilliant and absurdly comedic encapsulation of an absolute clusterfuck. I try to imagine the pickup driver's "WTF?!?!?!" reaction upon driving up to THAT, heh.
The Coens don't (or didn't for a long time) like doing director commentaries so for the first DVD release of "Blood Simple" they had a comedian improvise a fake commentary track for the whole movie in the style of a breathlessly reverent film scholar. The guy bullshits this elaborate, tortured production history for the movie - apparently the Coens butchered a five hour Hungarian historical epic and shamelessly stole credit from the original filmmakers, or some ridiculous thing. The fly in one scene was animatronic and cost half the budget, the driving the car in the rain scene had to be shot upside down and backwards for awesome auteurist reasons - pretty wild, but all delivered with a perfectly straight "face." It really annoyed some people who were interested in the Coens' work but as a creative effort the commentary is rather amazing. They didn't port it over onto the Criterion release, unfortunately, so I'll probably be hanging onto my old DVD for a while.
When the movie was over in the theater where I saw it in I had to hold onto the seats to stand up and steady myself to walk out of theater, that's how drained I was was from the tension I went through watching this movie.
Any mention of "Blood Simple" immediately makes me think of "A Simple Plan", an unrelated movie but definitely one worth watching. It stars Bill Paxton & Billy Bob Thornton & falls in the crime-thriller category but it's not a typical story. Hope y'all look into it! 💙💫💙💫💙💫💙💫💙💫💙
M. Emmet Walsh had previously been in The Jerk with Steve Martin. The following year, he played a doctor in Fletch with Chevy Chase. Several years later, he played the Michael Keaton character's sponsor in Clean and Sober.
I look at the final shots of the plumbing under the sink and interpret it in 3 ways: 1. The plumbing is unusually complicated-looking for a very basic sink. There's more pipes and turns and valves then there need to be. It's symbolism for how the story turns out, which becomes more complicated with all the twists and turns. It could have been a straightforward murder. It could have been straightened out earlier if the characters made different choices or communicated. But it all plays out like the pipes under the sink. 2. It's a bleak depiction of nihilism, which the Coens frequently have in their movies. The guy is dying and there is no big revelation, no god, no meaning. Just a guy looking at some pipes as he dies. Randomness. Unless he is having the same thought and interpretation as me in point #1 and a cathartic moment. 3. It's a bit of off-beat humor at the end of a tense story, with no real meaning. A release and a resolution. And the droplet of water is about to let go and drop. Someone mentioned that the water droplet could also represent a cleansing. This would be an interesting and funny interpretation. If you think of the water about to fall on the guy as some sort of a cleansing or baptism then the reaction on his face seems to indicate that he doesn't want it. He's terrified of it. It's going to burn. Think throwing holy water on satan or a possessed person. It's going to burn them. He's going to pass on to Marty what Abby just told him if he sees him because they both may soon meet... in hell. If you think of it, the PI, played so great by M Emmet Walsh, is sort of like the Anton Chigurh character. He's evil, or the devil personified. A cleansing water droplet, a baptism, is probably his worst nightmare. The counter to this is that the Coens rarely get this religious in their movies. But they could have used this element. Maybe there are even more interpretations.
Please add The Hudsucker Proxy onto your list of Cohen brother films that you have to watch. I was addicted to this movie when it first came out and watched it religiously every week. This is an amazing film and still holds up today.
Nice pick! Blood Simple was on cable ALL the time when I was a kid. It's still one of my favorite Coen Bros films, and its production history is nearly as interesting as the movie itself. I own this movie on DVD and watch it every few years, usually in the summer. Daniel and Samantha continue to surprise me (in the best ways); I was so stoked to see this pop up in my sub page.
I love the Coen Brothers! Especially the characters they created, they all have one thing in common - they all think they were smart, but all of them FAR from perfect, which makes them so real. I highly recommend you to watch the complete season of Fargo the TV show. Season 1 & 2 were just awesome!!
Thanks guys. I think Samantha would like ( miller's crossing ) by the coen brothers . Prohibition organised crime gangster movie. . Incredible writing. . Irish , Italian and Jewish mob .20s .
They have done one re-make, the western True Grit, that is really well done. The child actor gave an amazing performance (Hailey Stanfield, I think) and Jeff Bridges played the lead male role more believably than John Wayne. As always though, definitely more violent than the original 1969 version.
I am psyched you guys finally got to see this one!!! I saw it when it came out (one of the few!), this and then "Raising Arizona". To this day, those two (plus "Fargo") are my faves of their filmography, so I'm super happy you've now seen all three!!!! ("Burn After Reading" also has Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and J.K. Simmons. That's much more recent Coen Brothers, but also a lot of fun!) LOVED this reaction!!!! 1984 was a great year for edgy, weird, cutting edge movies (that WEREN'T mainstream). Repo Man came out in '84, totally wild and hilarious, this one.....Scorsese's After Hours came out the next year. "Spinal Tap" was '84. "Broadway Danny Rose". Even the mainstream was good in '84: "Splash", "Ghostbusters" and "Amadeus". Nicholas Cage in "Birdy" was great. But the 90s indie movement really got kicked off by the success of "Blood Simple".
Neo-noir at its grittiest! I saw this movie only once, at a 15th anniversary screening in the theatre. Really good stuff. Stacked cast comprised of character actors.
Absolutely delighted to finally see a reaction to this wonderful film. The Big Lebowski seems to be the one everyone else looks at, and whilst it's a lot of joyous fun and makes for an easy re-watch this Coen movie is in my opinion far superior. A film for grown-ups.
The detective actor M. Emmet Walsh (who was also in Bladerunner) pulled the Cohn brothers aside and told them he refused to work until he got paid up front in cash. Because he didn't know these guys from Adam and expected his eventual paycheck to bounce.
Now you have to see "The Last Seduction". Film noir AND revolutionary in that a woman (somewhat) breaks really bad and...no spoilers...but a unique, riveting protagonist...excellent plot, dialogue, performances.
When this movie came out, all the critics made a big thing about that burial sequence, how long it went without dialog......most of us who DID see it in the theatre went in expecting that sequence. The same thing happened with the supermarket scene in "Raising Arizona", and a John Turturro scene from "Miller's Crossing" I won't mention here. That burial sequence IS fantastic though! (as is the supermarket scene in "Raising Arizona"!) No mystery why they singled out those sequences!
Frances is my second favorite actress after Toni Collette. I saw her first in RAISING ARIZONA and then went back and watched this later. This is what they called a neo noir. Those started popping up in the 80s. You guys should go back and watch a regular noir from back in the day. Your patrons will know what the classics are.
This is just one of a handful of Coen Bros. movies I haven't seen, I regret to say. And I love the Coen Bros.! Most folks hate it, but I absolutely love The Ladykillers.
I just saw this movie for the first time a few weeks ago and I’m 47. I’ve seen most every 80s flick, but I hadn’t even HEARD of this one til I saw a YT user view on it and was intrigued. M Emmet Walsh (bad guy/stabbed hand) is one of the GOAT character actors. Did over 100 flicks, but this one was probably his closest to a main character, at least that I know of.
Humble request because I don't have Patreon type of money but since you guys are doing Blood Simple. Please do Miller's Crossing for your next Coen Brothers film. I mean I can't really express what an amazing film it is in its writing and direction but...damn. If you kids haven't seen it yet ya should. Love the channel. You guys rock
Seconded, thirded and fourthed, even though those aren't even real words. They absolutely must watch Miller's Crossing. I've been advocating for that film for years.
Yes! I love this movie! Great cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld (see also Three O'Clock High from 1987), and music by Carter Burwell. The screenplay is available as a paperback book and it's a good read.
PLEASE put Guillermo del Toro on your Directors list!!!!! All of his work is great! Hellboy, Pan's Labrinth, Crimson Peak, and one of my favorite movies, The Devil's Backbone.
I think you would enjoy “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” starring Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. James Gandolfini and Jon Polito play pivotal roles. The Cohens were mainly influenced by the film noir of the 1940s, focusing heavily on the crime novels by James M. Cain. Add a touch of existentialism, resulting in the loneliness of despair, and the movie transitions unexpectedly in true Cohen stellar fashion.
M.Emmett Walsh is such a hardcore character actor. He was the swimming coach in Ordinary People and the diving coach in Back to School . He's in a movie stealing scene in Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman. And he has a small part in a movie you guys would love The Pope of Greenwich Village. Dan Hedaya who plays Marty has been in everything from Buckaroo Banzai to Nick Tortelli on Cheers to Clueless to Monk's dad on Monk
1984 was such an insane year in film. Some other films that year: The Terminator Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom Beverly Hills Cop Ghostbusters Once Upon a Time in America A Nightmare on Elm Street Gremlins Footloose The Karate Kid The Neverending Story
Golly I remember I was allowed to go to the cinema in the next city on my own that year with my Dad picking me back up from on the corner as long as I promised to be there when he passed in traffic,, as he wouldn't b able to park and I was just meant to open the door as he swung past ✨😏
In case no one brought this up, this was the Coen Bros. first film and they got funding for it by making a fake trailer for the film, but instead of highlighting it was a neo noir they intentionally made it seem like a horror movie (since slasher movies were the craze). Needless to say, they got the funding.
Another very good film that very much has a similar feel to Blood Simple and Fargo is a movie directed by Sam Raimi, A Simple Plan, with Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda.
Good job, guys! Instead of sticking to ONLY the most popular movies (even if they aren't very good), you are sprinkling in some critical favorites. This is excellent noir. If you liked this, maybe check out The Last Seduction (1994).
I remember Siskel and Ebert saying great things about this movie. Not very many reactors have done this one. That single hand-stab is one of the most painful things I have ever seen. Excellent analysis, and a difficult editing task well done. Thanks for a good time.
The first, and still the best! U gotta read about, how this movie even gotade! Basically, it was a fake movie, they made a fake trailer for, with no actors screenplay etc., And took the trailer to a film festival, and showed it, and got backing financially, to make it!
The cinematographer for Evil Dead and Blood Simple is Barry Sonnenfeld who would go on to direct the Adams Family duo of films, Get Shorty and the Men in Black trilogy. He created a whole film visual language all his own that the Coans and Sam Rami totally co-opted and carried this style over to their other films as well.
A great debut feature, no doubt about it, but now you simply have to watch Miller's Crossing. It's their third film, after this and Raising Arizona, and is probably the best film I've ever seen. Seriously, trust me on that.
I'm not a fan of 'fun facts', but one neat thing I haven't seen anyone mention so far is that to get funding for the movie, the Coens shot a fake trailer on no money (starring Bruce Campbell) and showed it around to financiers as an example of what the movie would look like. Humbly requesting Barton Fink (1991) for Next Coens. It will show you the life of the mind!!
You gotta watch the trailer for this movie. Sam Raimi did it, with Bruce Campbell in the lead role. This was part of the Coen’s campaign to get the movie released. It was filmed in 1982 and released in 84.
How's that for a low-budget calling card to leave to Hollywood? "Hi, you don't know us, but..." And what was their next movie? The totally opposite Raising Arizona. Followed by... Miller's Crossing, a remarkable script with remarkable performances by Albert Finney and John Tuturro. Unfortunately, the lead actor is Gabriel Byrne, an Irish actor playing an Irish gangster--who has an Irish accent in half of the scenes and doesn't in the other half. But there's at least one scene in the movie that Hitchcock would have been absolutely proud to have filmed. I strongly recommend it as your next venture into the Coen brothers. Thanks as always for sharing!
Great one guys! Miller´s Crossing and definitely The Man who wasn´t there should be your next Coen Bros films. Also, looking at that poll it bums be out that Paul Thomas Anderson is low on the list, Magnolia is a must watch.
Magnolia turned me into an emotional trainwreck. The simple decency of some of the characters just floored me. Sadly, it would probably have to be broken into several parts, and the editing would be a nightmare as several storylines converge over several hours. Cheers.
If u liked this, watch 3 masterclasses in writing film making and direction, written and or directed by Bill Paxton Billy Bob Thorton and Matthew McConaughey. A Simple Plan, One False Move, and Frailty! Completely epic small movies!
This is good for a debut but they really started to hit their stride with Miller's Crossing & Barton Fink. Im kind of surprised this won a poll but hopefully it'll inspire you to keep exploring as you guys have barely scratched the surface with the Coen Bros
When we see Visser the P.I. stalking Ray in his VW Beetle, it’s also homaged by the Coen Brothers in The Big Lebowski when DaFino the P.I./Brother Seamus is stalking The Dude from his VW Beetle as well.
Cool movie, never seen it. It received a 7.6/10 on IMDB. Coen brothers did a good job. Nice reaction, I do suggest for Patreon the film Scanners (1981), it's one of my favorite films starring Michael Ironside. If you want to see Frances McDormand again, I highly suggest Darkman (1990) with Liam Neeson. The husband, Dan Hedaya, played a bad guy in Commando (1985) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, you did a reaction to it two years ago.
This was both the Coen brothers and Frances's first movie. .. She was fresh out of drama classes at 24 They had wanted a young Holly Hunter for the part but she had just gotten her first break with a 6 month gig on Broadway so Francces got her break... she also got involved romantically with Joel Coen during shooting... they have been married ever since
What a great movie. The first Coen Brothers movie I saw was Raising Arizona when it was released. Then I saw this one (their first film, Raising Arizona was their second). Talk about thematic whiplash...
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
"What an Evil Dead shot" well, there's a reason for that, when Blood Simple was being worked on the Coen's were roommates and buddies with Evil Dead director Sam Raimi.
Wow that's wild.
Sam Raimi was even in Miller’s Crossing, another Coen bros. Movie. One of the brothers worked on evil dead, as well.
I just watched an interview with the Coens about this film, and they said that Raimi raising money for his films himself from investors basically convinced them that they could do the same thing and make Blood Simple. Raimi is the one who told them they needed a piece of film to show or nobody would be interested.. So they made a little short demo reel styled like a movie trailer and would go around to lawyers, dentists, bankers and other rich guys' houses with a projector, show the reel and try to convince them to invest.
Way ahead of their time. In this film alone I see the more sophisticated 90s style of filmmaking, such as Silence of the Lambs. Story-wise I see Pulp Fiction and even Breaking Bad here. The Coen brothers influenced future decades of filmmaking.
The Coen Brothers are almost supernaturally gifted. The level of writing genius between the two of them is overwhelming.
I’m largely in agreement, but their later works really paled in comparison.
@@michaelsegriff3362which ones disappointed you? Just curious.
@@susanalexander6721 Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, A Serious Man, Hail Caesar. What about yourself? Any criticisms or disappointments in the Coen’s filmography?
@michaelsegriff3362 you pretty much covered it. I appreciate all of their films, they are genius, but something the intensity is a bit over the top.
@@susanalexander6721 No question. Be well.
This movie blew my mind when I first saw it. Like an Elmore Leonard crime novel. Miscommunication, incompetence and some grimy characters that get in too deep. I love it
now THAT'S a directorial debut👏👏
I knew a guy who was impressed with "Clerks" for that reason. Then I showed him Blood Simple and he stfu'ed.
M Emmett Walsh is one of the greatest character actors in the last 50 years.
The lack of communication , for me, raised the tension and anxiety. A devious little Coen trick lol.
The lighter was a classic McGuffin...an item that is a diversion and manipulation. Hitchcock loved McGuffins
Two cool movies with him are "The Pope Of Greenwich Village" and "Music Of Chance"
Wrong, that's actually called a "red herring". A McGuffin is something that triggers the plot.
So was Harry Dean Stanton (Paris Texas, Alien, The Green Mile, Escape from New York, Godfather II, etc.)
@@jamesdamiano8894 Don't forget Blade Runner.
@@batmanvsjoker7725I think the lighter did trigger a lot of the plot. The PI went back to get it (and the picture) then decided to kill them to get the lighter back. It's what he was searching for.
You could call it an inverted mystery. You know what's going on but none of the characters know. Very clever. This has been a favorite film of mine for almost 40 years. The water drop at the end highlighted the sheer absurdity of it all.
I am a simple person when I see TBR Shcmitt, I click. This film and Big Lebowski are my favorites.
Woo, Coen bros debut! I really took this movie for granted a while back when I got into the Coen brothers filmography. It's an amazing movie and has a ton of hallmarks that you recognize in their work later on. Great reaction as always guys!
Now you're ready for their next one, best movie ever... Miller's Crossing !
Coen Brothers wanted Holly Hunter as the female lead. She was committed to a play in NYC, but recommended they audition her roommate. Frances McDormand.
Believe it or not, Holly Hunter did have a bit part in this movie. She was the voice you heard on the answering machine.
@@rpg7287 Awesome catch! 👍🏻
Well, Joel certainly seems to have liked that audition ;)
@@aBoyHasNoName87 Frances was cute back in the day.
Frances mcdormed actually played in the first dark man an Mississippi burning very great recommendation movies to see! My great information for today. Have a great fabulous wonderful day.
The first film from The Coen Brothers. Despite not being a box office success, it's gained a cult following, regarded as one of the best noir thrillers ever made, and the bathroom scene was on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, where M. Emmett Walsh gets his hand trapped by Frances McDormand and stabbed with a knife.
FINALLY.
M. Emmitt Walsh is perfection...as is Mrs. Coen.
Saw this when it was released...knew it was fantastic...didn't think they would be supported by anyone, especially any studio.
Yay.
That scene with the bullet holes appearing with the light streaming thru floored me when I saw this movie at the theater.
Oh, man...what a movie! Caught me completely off guard when I first saw it back when it came out. No one knew who the Coen Brothers were and I had no idea what to expect!
Perhaps you, like me, saw the 'Siskel & Ebert' episode when they raved about the originality of 'these new filmmakers, Joel & Ethan Coen'?
@7:17 Your Evil Dead reference is right on target. Sam Raimi and the Coens have known each other for decades. The Coens borrowed Sam Raimi's shaky-cam for this shot and the foot chase in Raising Arizona.
This movie ranked at #73 in the 100 scariest movie moments on Bravo, cool reaction as always Schmitt & Samantha, you both have a good night
The thing about this movie is that, no one is very bright, and almost everything is a darkly comic misunderstanding, and yet it has a brilliantly executed Hitchcockian stranglehold on the audience from the very first scene.
I took a class at University on Film Noir and detective movies and chose to write my final paper on Blood Simple.
The brothers have said that their inspiration came from Dashiell Hammett who once wrote that faced with a murder scene people tend to become blood simple. They make huge and dumb mistakes under the influence of their own adrenaline.
Ray is the archetypical noir protagonist in a love triangle. Self sacrificing, trying desperately to protect his woman. The whole sequence from him arriving at the bar and discovering Marty's body to his battery being run down at dawn because he left the headlights on all night long while he was burrying Marty is a masterclass in suspense.
In 2021, Joel Coen struck out on his own to make an adaptation of MacBeth, starring Denzel Washington as the thane of Cowder and Frances McDormand as Lady MacBeth. Ethan Coen decided to sit that one out (as he usually produces his brother's movies).
They have now resumed their collaboration. They have not yet announced their next project however.
Ethan Coen, made a long-simmering film with another writing partner of his, Tricia Cooke. "Drive-away Dolls" comes out in September. The trailer is out.
That final act is still one of the most shocking and suspenseful sequences of all time.
This is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve been waiting for some reaction channel to FINALLY do this movie. Didn’t realize you guys had done this a few months back. Kudos. Great reaction. I was particularly impressed with the way you kept the plot straight. It’s a confusing movie and it can be difficult to keep track of who knows what and why the are doing what they’re doing. Thanks so much for doing this!!!
Miller's Crossing, and/or Barton Fink, both by the Coen Bros, are incredible.
Two of my favorites. John Turtorro is great in both! John Goodman gives his best acting performance in Barton Fink. Underrated actors and movies.
I really need to watch Miller's Crossing again. It's one of those movies I can fall asleep to.. weird to say but it's a comfy movie.
Barton Fink has got to be one of most under-reacted to movies ever. So many memorable scenes in just one film.
Miller's Crossing is better than The Big Lebowski.
I'll second that. Saw Miller's Crossing last week.
Finally! Someone reacts to Blood Simple! I loved this when I first saw it, and put the Coens on my 'must watch any movie they make' list...
I saw it in cinema back in 1984 in Stockholm and it blew me away. I was nineteen. “Now there’s a director to remember”. Them as brothers weren’t established.
Great job! Joel Coen worked as an assistant editor on The Evil Dead, which is where he picked up the rushing shakycam shot we see in this one. Much more of that in Raising Arizona.
I saw this in n the theater and it blew me away. Especially the amusing shot of the camera maneuvering over the slumped bar patron and the bullets creating shafts of light. “This was something new …”. Have been a Coen fan(atic) ever since.
I like it so much that after I bought the DVD, I discovered a copy of the script and had have it. This and, "No Country For Old Men," pretty my tie for my favorites from the Bro's.
Great reaction / review. I've been waiting soooo long for someone to react to this great film.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
"Miller's Crossing" and "Barton Fink" are must watch movies from The Coen Brothers. Both from the late 80's/early 90's period. John Goodman gives one of his best performances in Barton Fink and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) in Miller's Crossing is awesome. John Turturro is in both and he is next level good.
I love Miller's Crossing. I first saw it when I was a (dumb) late teen and I didn't appreciate it because it was so stylized, but upon seeing it again in my late 30s, I loved it FOR that reason. My culturing improved over the years as it does for most people. Another far different flick whose brilliance I had no conception of as a teen was the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I saw it twice circa 92/93 and didn't see it again in full for another 20 years. On that watching I was blown away by things like the aesthetic qualities (grubby/grainy/washed out film) and some of the perspective shots and especially by the set design (bone collages, etc). I realized how it lived up to the hype and I was very surprised to learn as an adult that it was absolutely a postmodern arthouse film instead of a slasher flick. It's in the MoMA's permanent film collection and has been assessed by numerous egghead university types because it is so impactful. It also nearly touches the feel of a real snuff film in certain scenes more than any other horror movie I've ever seen. It's truly an art film, just a disturbing and morbid one. Spielberg, who's the master of perspective shots, even asked Tobe Hooper how they did the under-the-swing camera shot of the girl walking into the house. That was somehow achieved before the advent of the steady cam (using a track system). The wide perspective shot of Leatherface, Sally, the truck driver, and the pickup truck driver all in the same shot was also a brilliant and absurdly comedic encapsulation of an absolute clusterfuck. I try to imagine the pickup driver's "WTF?!?!?!" reaction upon driving up to THAT, heh.
OH MAN you Scmittheads are in for a treat! Watch everything from the Coen's early catalog. I love it all
I haven't seen this for years. Loved it when it came out and it served as my intro to the Coen Bros.
The Coens don't (or didn't for a long time) like doing director commentaries so for the first DVD release of "Blood Simple" they had a comedian improvise a fake commentary track for the whole movie in the style of a breathlessly reverent film scholar. The guy bullshits this elaborate, tortured production history for the movie - apparently the Coens butchered a five hour Hungarian historical epic and shamelessly stole credit from the original filmmakers, or some ridiculous thing. The fly in one scene was animatronic and cost half the budget, the driving the car in the rain scene had to be shot upside down and backwards for awesome auteurist reasons - pretty wild, but all delivered with a perfectly straight "face." It really annoyed some people who were interested in the Coens' work but as a creative effort the commentary is rather amazing. They didn't port it over onto the Criterion release, unfortunately, so I'll probably be hanging onto my old DVD for a while.
When the movie was over in the theater where I saw it in I had to hold onto the seats to stand up and steady myself to walk out of theater, that's how drained I was was from the tension I went through watching this movie.
Any mention of "Blood Simple" immediately makes me think of "A Simple Plan", an unrelated movie but definitely one worth watching.
It stars Bill Paxton & Billy Bob Thornton & falls in the crime-thriller category but it's not a typical story.
Hope y'all look into it!
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Glad you are seeing this. A very overlooked gem.
M. Emmet Walsh had previously been in The Jerk with Steve Martin. The following year, he played a doctor in Fletch with Chevy Chase. Several years later, he played the Michael Keaton character's sponsor in Clean and Sober.
I forgot about The Jerk. He's also Deckard's boss in Blade Runner.
This still holds up as one of their best. One of the best debuts ever
I look at the final shots of the plumbing under the sink and interpret it in 3 ways:
1. The plumbing is unusually complicated-looking for a very basic sink. There's more pipes and turns and valves then there need to be. It's symbolism for how the story turns out, which becomes more complicated with all the twists and turns. It could have been a straightforward murder. It could have been straightened out earlier if the characters made different choices or communicated. But it all plays out like the pipes under the sink.
2. It's a bleak depiction of nihilism, which the Coens frequently have in their movies. The guy is dying and there is no big revelation, no god, no meaning. Just a guy looking at some pipes as he dies. Randomness. Unless he is having the same thought and interpretation as me in point #1 and a cathartic moment.
3. It's a bit of off-beat humor at the end of a tense story, with no real meaning. A release and a resolution. And the droplet of water is about to let go and drop.
Someone mentioned that the water droplet could also represent a cleansing. This would be an interesting and funny interpretation. If you think of the water about to fall on the guy as some sort of a cleansing or baptism then the reaction on his face seems to indicate that he doesn't want it. He's terrified of it. It's going to burn. Think throwing holy water on satan or a possessed person. It's going to burn them. He's going to pass on to Marty what Abby just told him if he sees him because they both may soon meet... in hell. If you think of it, the PI, played so great by M Emmet Walsh, is sort of like the Anton Chigurh character. He's evil, or the devil personified. A cleansing water droplet, a baptism, is probably his worst nightmare. The counter to this is that the Coens rarely get this religious in their movies. But they could have used this element.
Maybe there are even more interpretations.
Please add The Hudsucker Proxy onto your list of Cohen brother films that you have to watch. I was addicted to this movie when it first came out and watched it religiously every week. This is an amazing film and still holds up today.
Nice pick! Blood Simple was on cable ALL the time when I was a kid. It's still one of my favorite Coen Bros films, and its production history is nearly as interesting as the movie itself. I own this movie on DVD and watch it every few years, usually in the summer. Daniel and Samantha continue to surprise me (in the best ways); I was so stoked to see this pop up in my sub page.
Finally. I’ve been hoping you would give this a viewing. I love the raw grittiness of this neo-noir.
One of the greatest directorial debut movies of all-time alongside Terrence Malick's Badlands, which I also highly recommend :-)
I love the Coen Brothers! Especially the characters they created, they all have one thing in common - they all think they were smart, but all of them FAR from perfect, which makes them so real. I highly recommend you to watch the complete season of Fargo the TV show. Season 1 & 2 were just awesome!!
Thanks guys. I think Samantha would like ( miller's crossing ) by the coen brothers . Prohibition organised crime gangster movie. . Incredible writing. . Irish , Italian and Jewish mob .20s .
Greatest movie ever made. Somehow, I don't think anyone has reacted to it on RUclips.
@Corn_Pone_Flicks yes I haven't seen one. Sadly its underrated imo
They have done one re-make, the western True Grit, that is really well done. The child actor gave an amazing performance (Hailey Stanfield, I think) and Jeff Bridges played the lead male role more believably than John Wayne. As always though, definitely more violent than the original 1969 version.
I am psyched you guys finally got to see this one!!! I saw it when it came out (one of the few!), this and then "Raising Arizona". To this day, those two (plus "Fargo") are my faves of their filmography, so I'm super happy you've now seen all three!!!! ("Burn After Reading" also has Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and J.K. Simmons. That's much more recent Coen Brothers, but also a lot of fun!) LOVED this reaction!!!! 1984 was a great year for edgy, weird, cutting edge movies (that WEREN'T mainstream). Repo Man came out in '84, totally wild and hilarious, this one.....Scorsese's After Hours came out the next year. "Spinal Tap" was '84. "Broadway Danny Rose". Even the mainstream was good in '84: "Splash", "Ghostbusters" and "Amadeus". Nicholas Cage in "Birdy" was great. But the 90s indie movement really got kicked off by the success of "Blood Simple".
“Burn after reading” is one of my personal Coen Brothers films that also showcases Francis Mcdormands acting abilities.
Neo-noir at its grittiest! I saw this movie only once, at a 15th anniversary screening in the theatre. Really good stuff. Stacked cast comprised of character actors.
Absolutely delighted to finally see a reaction to this wonderful film. The Big Lebowski seems to be the one everyone else looks at, and whilst it's a lot of joyous fun and makes for an easy re-watch this Coen movie is in my opinion far superior. A film for grown-ups.
That's a wonder breakdown of how the Coen brothers work. They are genius. And you guys are great.
I remember watching this back in the 80s after watching Siskel and Ebert talk about it, thanks y’all
The detective actor M. Emmet Walsh (who was also in Bladerunner) pulled the Cohn brothers aside and told them he refused to work until he got paid up front in cash. Because he didn't know these guys from Adam and expected his eventual paycheck to bounce.
This was their first, and in my opinion their best.
Now you have to see "The Last Seduction". Film noir AND revolutionary in that a woman (somewhat) breaks really bad and...no spoilers...but a unique, riveting protagonist...excellent plot, dialogue, performances.
Miller's crossing next??
Was greatly delighted to see this reaction to pop up. I hope you do more early movies from great directors. Like Scorsese's Mean Streets.
,, mean streets is also waaaay more satisfying than taxi driver, yet hardly regarded as much
You've seen the bloke with the cleft chin before (Dan Hedaya); he was the man who wanted to be 'El President' in Commando, with Arnold S.
When this movie came out, all the critics made a big thing about that burial sequence, how long it went without dialog......most of us who DID see it in the theatre went in expecting that sequence. The same thing happened with the supermarket scene in "Raising Arizona", and a John Turturro scene from "Miller's Crossing" I won't mention here. That burial sequence IS fantastic though! (as is the supermarket scene in "Raising Arizona"!) No mystery why they singled out those sequences!
Frances is my second favorite actress after Toni Collette. I saw her first in RAISING ARIZONA and then went back and watched this later. This is what they called a neo noir. Those started popping up in the 80s. You guys should go back and watch a regular noir from back in the day. Your patrons will know what the classics are.
This is just one of a handful of Coen Bros. movies I haven't seen, I regret to say. And I love the Coen Bros.!
Most folks hate it, but I absolutely love The Ladykillers.
I just saw this movie for the first time a few weeks ago and I’m 47. I’ve seen most every 80s flick, but I hadn’t even HEARD of this one til I saw a YT user view on it and was intrigued. M Emmet Walsh (bad guy/stabbed hand) is one of the GOAT character actors. Did over 100 flicks, but this one was probably his closest to a main character, at least that I know of.
Humble request because I don't have Patreon type of money but since you guys are doing Blood Simple. Please do Miller's Crossing for your next Coen Brothers film. I mean I can't really express what an amazing film it is in its writing and direction but...damn. If you kids haven't seen it yet ya should. Love the channel. You guys rock
Yep, they have still not seen Millers Crossing. I'd say their best ever.
Seconded, thirded and fourthed, even though those aren't even real words. They absolutely must watch Miller's Crossing. I've been advocating for that film for years.
Miller's Crossing is a good movie
@@bbwng54 darn tootin'! 😂
I would never have thought in a life time that anybody would've done a review/reaction on this (almost 40yr) year old movie. 😳🥺
Yes! I love this movie! Great cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld (see also Three O'Clock High from 1987), and music by Carter Burwell. The screenplay is available as a paperback book and it's a good read.
Yeah, the music in Blood Simple is haunting.
PLEASE put Guillermo del Toro on your Directors list!!!!! All of his work is great! Hellboy, Pan's Labrinth, Crimson Peak, and one of my favorite movies, The Devil's Backbone.
Check out Burn After Reading!! Very underrated Cohen Brothers film. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Francis McDormand. Super underrated film.
I think you would enjoy “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” starring Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. James Gandolfini and Jon Polito play pivotal roles. The Cohens were mainly influenced by the film noir of the 1940s, focusing heavily on the crime novels by James M. Cain. Add a touch of existentialism, resulting in the loneliness of despair, and the movie transitions unexpectedly in true Cohen stellar fashion.
It's a great film
M.Emmett Walsh is such a hardcore character actor. He was the swimming coach in Ordinary People and the diving coach in Back to School . He's in a movie stealing scene in Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman. And he has a small part in a movie you guys would love The Pope of Greenwich Village. Dan Hedaya who plays Marty has been in everything from Buckaroo Banzai to Nick Tortelli on Cheers to Clueless to Monk's dad on Monk
He's also in Blade Runner as Deckard's boss.
MILLER'S CROSSING by the Coens. My personal fav movie - amazing cast. Hope you do this one!
Frances McDormand was awesome in “Burn After Reading”. There are several big names in that movie that you’ll recognize.
Big props for reacting to this!
Hudsucker Proxy is my favorite Coen Brothers film after Raising Arizona. It was the Coen Brothers teamed up with Sam Raimi!
1984 was such an insane year in film. Some other films that year:
The Terminator
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
Beverly Hills Cop
Ghostbusters
Once Upon a Time in America
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Gremlins
Footloose
The Karate Kid
The Neverending Story
Sixteen Candles, Romancing The Stone, Splash, Bachelor Party, Police Academy, Purple Rain
Golly I remember I was allowed to go to the cinema in the next city on my own that year with my Dad picking me back up from on the corner as long as I promised to be there when he passed in traffic,, as he wouldn't b able to park and I was just meant to open the door as he swung past ✨😏
In case no one brought this up, this was the Coen Bros. first film and they got funding for it by making a fake trailer for the film, but instead of highlighting it was a neo noir they intentionally made it seem like a horror movie (since slasher movies were the craze). Needless to say, they got the funding.
Another very good film that very much has a similar feel to Blood Simple and Fargo is a movie directed by Sam Raimi, A Simple Plan, with Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda.
Raimi and the Coens are good friends and this came out only 3 years after, so it makes sense they would reference his style.
The Coen Bros are masters of cinema, and it was apparent in their first. Keep adding them to your qeueu.
Highly recommend Miller's Crossing for your next Coen Bros movie to react to. Great job on this one!
Good job, guys! Instead of sticking to ONLY the most popular movies (even if they aren't very good), you are sprinkling in some critical favorites. This is excellent noir. If you liked this, maybe check out The Last Seduction (1994).
I remember Siskel and Ebert saying great things about this movie. Not very many reactors have done this one. That single hand-stab is one of the most painful things I have ever seen. Excellent analysis, and a difficult editing task well done. Thanks for a good time.
The first, and still the best! U gotta read about, how this movie even gotade! Basically, it was a fake movie, they made a fake trailer for, with no actors screenplay etc., And took the trailer to a film festival, and showed it, and got backing financially, to make it!
Hell yeah! Another Coen Brothers movie 😎
There's a Chinese language remake called A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop. It's set, I believe in the early 1800s.
*Miller's Crossing* and *Barton Fink* are both must-see Coen brothers movies.
Great film. Definitely get Rear Window vibes from it.
The cinematographer for Evil Dead and Blood Simple is Barry Sonnenfeld who would go on to direct the Adams Family duo of films, Get Shorty and the Men in Black trilogy. He created a whole film visual language all his own that the Coans and Sam Rami totally co-opted and carried this style over to their other films as well.
A great debut feature, no doubt about it, but now you simply have to watch Miller's Crossing. It's their third film, after this and Raising Arizona, and is probably the best film I've ever seen. Seriously, trust me on that.
As always, an excellent movie by the Coen Brothers.
I'm not a fan of 'fun facts', but one neat thing I haven't seen anyone mention so far is that to get funding for the movie, the Coens shot a fake trailer on no money (starring Bruce Campbell) and showed it around to financiers as an example of what the movie would look like.
Humbly requesting Barton Fink (1991) for Next Coens. It will show you the life of the mind!!
You gotta watch the trailer for this movie. Sam Raimi did it, with Bruce Campbell in the lead role. This was part of the Coen’s campaign to get the movie released. It was filmed in 1982 and released in 84.
How's that for a low-budget calling card to leave to Hollywood? "Hi, you don't know us, but..."
And what was their next movie? The totally opposite Raising Arizona.
Followed by... Miller's Crossing, a remarkable script with remarkable performances by Albert Finney and John Tuturro. Unfortunately, the lead actor is Gabriel Byrne, an Irish actor playing an Irish gangster--who has an Irish accent in half of the scenes and doesn't in the other half. But there's at least one scene in the movie that Hitchcock would have been absolutely proud to have filmed. I strongly recommend it as your next venture into the Coen brothers. Thanks as always for sharing!
Great one guys! Miller´s Crossing and definitely The Man who wasn´t there should be your next Coen Bros films.
Also, looking at that poll it bums be out that Paul Thomas Anderson is low on the list, Magnolia is a must watch.
Magnolia turned me into an emotional trainwreck. The simple decency of some of the characters just floored me. Sadly, it would probably have to be broken into several parts, and the editing would be a nightmare as several storylines converge over several hours. Cheers.
If u liked this, watch 3 masterclasses in writing film making and direction, written and or directed by Bill Paxton Billy Bob Thorton and Matthew McConaughey. A Simple Plan, One False Move, and Frailty! Completely epic small movies!
This is good for a debut but they really started to hit their stride with Miller's Crossing & Barton Fink. Im kind of surprised this won a poll but hopefully it'll inspire you to keep exploring as you guys have barely scratched the surface with the Coen Bros
When we see Visser the P.I. stalking Ray in his VW Beetle, it’s also homaged by the Coen Brothers in The Big Lebowski when DaFino the P.I./Brother Seamus is stalking The Dude from his VW Beetle as well.
Coen's are great and casting actors to play against type. M. Emmett Walsh is so great in this. His best performance, probably.
I think this was her first acting role . She married one of the brothers.. ( still married)
Millers Crossing will always be their best in my opinion. But this is the best shot of their films. Beautifully moody
Cool movie, never seen it. It received a 7.6/10 on IMDB. Coen brothers did a good job. Nice reaction, I do suggest for Patreon the film Scanners (1981), it's one of my favorite films starring Michael Ironside. If you want to see Frances McDormand again, I highly suggest Darkman (1990) with Liam Neeson. The husband, Dan Hedaya, played a bad guy in Commando (1985) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, you did a reaction to it two years ago.
This was both the Coen brothers and Frances's first movie. .. She was fresh out of drama classes at 24 They had wanted a young Holly Hunter for the part but she had just gotten her first break with a 6 month gig on Broadway so Francces got her break... she also got involved romantically with Joel Coen during shooting... they have been married ever since
What a great movie. The first Coen Brothers movie I saw was Raising Arizona when it was released. Then I saw this one (their first film, Raising Arizona was their second). Talk about thematic whiplash...