The blood-soaked Blood Simple represents the debuts of not only auteurs Joel & Ethan Coen, but also their star (and Joel's future wife) Frances McDormand. They don't seem to agree though with the widely-shared view that their first film was an expertly-plotted noir. It's one of their best movies, in fact. When the Coen Brothers go down to Texas to shoot a nihilistic movie about death and contract killings, classics like this and No Country For Old Men result. And considering it was an independent production without any stars, it was quite a hit. The brilliant highlight sequence is John Getz covering up what he thinks is the murder of Dan Hedaya, the man he's cuckolded. So enjoy episode #2 in Revenge Month and our 657th episode overall as we, yes ARE having a good time in our yellow suit and hat while we review Blood Simple.

Well, Actually: the Sundance film festival (the "Utah/US Film Festival" as it was known at first) got its start in 1978, while the Toronto International Film Festival got its start in 1976. Also, Dessau is a neighbourhood in Austin, Texas, so the "Dessau" in the sign outside the club must refer to that. Also also, the reason Ray stops the car and runs away in shock is because he hears noise coming from the "dead" body in the back seat.

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