THIS IS A TRUE STORY
The events depicted in this film
took place in Minnesota in 1987.
At the request of the survivors,
the names have been changed.
Out of respect for the dead,
the rest has been told exactly
as it occurred.
“I guess we were about three weeks into the shooting when I said, tell me a little bit about the case… The actual case. And they said, ‘no, it’s just made up’. I said, no but I mean you know the one, the story that it’s based on. They said, ‘It’s not based on any story, we just made it up’.”
- William H. Macy
The opening title card to “Fargo”, above, is… in the plainest terms, complete bullshit.
The film is not based on a true story. It was a calculated way to get an audience to buy into the film, and accept the events as true. The Coens were “setting the hook”.
In order to suck the audience in to their tale of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder, they would lead the film off with a lie.
It was a genius idea. I’m sure many people still believe “Fargo” is a factual recreation (especially since there have been similar crimes). It’s that type of original thinking that illustrates why Joel and Ethan Coen are two of the most acclaimed filmmakers working today.
Ethan earned a degree in philosophy from Princeton. Joel studied film at NYU, then worked as a production assistant on industrial films and music videos prior to becoming an assistant editor on Sam Raimi’s first feature film, “The Evil Dead” (1981). Three years later, he and his brother would write and direct their first film together, 1983′s “Blood Simple”. Between then and 1996′s “Fargo”, the two released “Raising Arizona”, “Miller’s Crossing”, “Barton Fink”, and “The Hudsucker Proxy”. Though all were great movies to varying degrees, only “Raising Arizona” connected at the box office (taking in $23 million). None of the others eclipsed the $10 million mark.
It was “Fargo” that would get the movie going public to see them as great directors.
“Fargo” is a violent crime drama, full of dark comedy.
In Minnesota in 1987, a desperate, broke car salesman (William H. Macy) hires a couple of criminals (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife. They’ll keep her safe, he’ll negotiate the ransom from her wealthy father, at the end, they’ll all split the loot.
Of course, Lundegaard (the car salesman) underestimates the violent tendencies of these men. He also underestimates the numerous things that could go wrong with such a plot… all the myriad complications that could arise.
Things go awry and turn violent very quickly.
Enter Marge Gunderson.
Marge, certainly isn’t your prototypical crime drama hero. In fact, she may intentionally be the antithesis. Marge is police chief in a small town. She’s happily married, and seven months pregnant. When the kidnappers commit a multiple homicide on the frozen stretch of highway passing through her jurisdiction, she’s called in to investigate.
Marge figures out what took place quickly, and immediately starts narrowing in on the killer’s trail. She’s obviously razor-sharp.
But she’s more than that.
She’s “Minnesota nice”.
Wikipedia defines “Minnesota nice” as “the stereotypical behavior of people born and raised in Minnesota to be courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered. The cultural characteristics of Minnesota nice include a polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a fuss or stand out, emotional restraint, and self-deprecation.”
That super polite behavior, accompanied with her strong, regional accent, makes Marge Gunderson a unique and special character. Especially for a violent crime drama. You simply don’t expect to have the lead cop be a pregnant woman with a sing-song accent who’s always saying things such as “Oh Geez”, “Yah?” and “You Betcha”.
Therein lies the charm of “Fargo”. It’s a violent tale of a crime gone wrong, complete with criminals who kill those who get in their way and then eventually turn on each other, and a man who slowly burns on a turning spit, roasting in guilt and anxiety as his dim-witted plan backfires on himself and everyone around him. But it’s set in the super polite Minnesota heartland, where everyone is smiling and friendly, in spite of the bitter cold outside. It’s a juxtaposition that comes across as completely absurd, and thus, comical.
The Coens grew up in Minnesota, and they wanted to make a film set in that world. The two of them describe it as “Siberia, with family restaurants”.
Every word the characters said was written into the script, by them. Which is amazing considering all the stammering of Macy’s Lundegaard character and all of Marge’s “nice” affectations. The Coens found a way to capture the dialect and create these colorful characters in the script, and then brought them to life in a frozen, white-out setting onscreen. Eventually arriving at a film that had a completely original and unique (if not mildly bizarre) feel.
Which isn’t to diminish the role of the cast, certainly.
Macy was originally called in to read for the part of the state trooper. But the Coens liked his accent and asked him to read for the Lundegaard part. He read, and they asked him if he’d like 
to work on it overnight and come in and read again the next day. He did. Later, however, Macy heard they were still auditioning actors for the role in New York City. So, at the risk of alienating them by being pushy, he flew out and got in front of them again. He told them he was afraid they were going to mess up the film by giving the part to another actor. He felt that it was the role he was born to play.
He was right.
Of course, the character is a schmuck.
With his half-baked kidnapping scheme, and his mishandling of things on his end, Lundegaard deserves every wrong that visits him. You can see how he arrived at where he is 
in life, too, with his stammering, push over nature. To me the Coens brilliantly deconstruct him for the audience with one scene where he needs to scrape the ice off his windshield. In frustration over the way things have been unraveling, he hacks at the ice rapidly in anger at one point, to no avail. He loses his temper in a bit of a fit and slams the scraper against the windshield, causing it to bounce off into the snow. After a moment, he resigns himself to his fate and glumly picks it back up and starts again. The powerlessness, the frustration, the glum resignation to his fate… Lundegaard is all right there in one moment.
Standing in stark contrast is Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson.
Gunderson is chipper and optimistic. Safe and secure in her relationship. Maternal, through her pregnancy. She’s bright and clever (in spite of being too nice to see through the lies she’s told at a meeting with an old friend from high school who has a crush on her). She represents the goodness, and wholesomeness of the world in which these crimes are being committed. I think it’s left to the “Fargo” audience to decide which world view is aberrant, hers or Lundegaards.
McDormand does an incredible job. The role was written for her (She and Joel Coen have been married since the early 80s, after meeting on “Blood Simple”), but she still had to work with a dialogue coach in order to nail the accent. The pregnancy suit she wore was filled with bird seed, to give it weight. It all came together into a brilliant performance that would win her an Academy Award.
With Steve Buscemi and Peter Sormare rounding out the cast as the two violent criminals – one rapid talking, the other almost completely silent – and the Coen brothers directing, the film was loaded with talent, and bound to be something special.
The brilliance of “Fargo”, I believe, is that on initial viewing, it’s a straight up crime thriller. It’s completely possible to take it (almost) totally seriously. A viewer might even find it to be bleak… unsettling. There really are no winners except Marge, and many, many people meet untimely ends. Subsequent viewings reveal the dark comedy within, though, and so many things become funny. In fact, AFI has it at #93 on their “100 Years… 100 Laughs”, their list of the best American comedy films. The relationship between Buscemi and Stormare, the fumbling befuddled putz that is Macy’s Lundegaard, and of course McDormand’s wide-eyed, smiling, chipper Marge wading neck-deep into a horrendous crime.
“Fargo” was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (William H. Macy) and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins). Frances McDormand won for Best Actress, and the Coens won for Best Original Screenplay.
AFI placed it at #84 on their “100 Years… 100 Movies” listing, though it slipped off the charts on the 10th Anniversary Edition.
It was selected for the National Film Registry in 2006.
It’s a remarkable film, to me. It’s a comedic crime thriller set in a world that’s real, but will strike most as off kilter. It features one of the most unlikely heroines you’ll see in film, but one who’s undeniably winsome. At the end of the day, the sweet, maternal officer of the law takes down the evil doers and snuggles with her husband in bed, talking about 3 cent stamps.
It’s definitely a “Movie That Everyone Should See“.
Great review!! I have a question unrelated to the movie. How do you get 20 people (now 21) to comment on a movie that is 17 years old. That’s Impressive!
It’s a great movie! Plus, I put out some serious content about it.
That’s 1,500 words or so, tons of pics, etc etc. Solid analysis, good writing, etc. You know what I’m sayin’.
Real slice of life don’t ya know. Great film. Cold, quirky, crazy never looked so good. Yah; it’s a heck of a write up then.
Jean Lundegaard: Hiya, hon! Welcome back! How was Fargo?
Jerry Lundegaard: Yah, real good now.
Jean Lundegaard: Dad’s here.
Jerry Lundegaard: Is he stayin’ for supper then?
Jean Lundegaard: I dunno… I think so. Dad?
Wade Gustafson: What?
Jean Lundegaard: You stayin’ for supperrrrr?
Wade Gustafson: Yah!
Oh, geez, thanks then! LOL Yeah, the way it juggles the dark, violent stuff and the humorous “look how polite these people are” stuff is inspired. There’s no other way to put it.
Another good job at highlighting great films we all should be familiar with. I especially liked the whole deconstruction of the windshield scene. That is Jerry Lundegaard in twenty seconds. His whole life is out of his control and he ends up resigned to it. “He’s fleeing the interview”.
Marge is one of my favorite characters of all time. Nice does not mean stupid and pregnant woman does not mean helpless. The whole monologue in the car at the end with Stormare in the back seat was a good summary of how decent people try to cope with the insanity of everyday violence.
The opening shot of the cars in the bleak winter storm driving down the highway with Carter Burwell’s music playing is just a terrific intro to the whole context of the film. Later, when the deputy is talking to the helpful citizen as he is scraping off his drive way, I had to laugh hard when they commented on the coming weather as looking pretty bad. They will freeze to death in that drive way in five minutes but it is the coming storm that is going to be bad.
We flew to Minnesota to spend Christmas with my wife’s sister in 1996, 20 degrees below at midday. The woman who played Jerry’s wife was on the plane sitting behind us, how small a world is that?
Pretty small indeed.
You’re right about Marge being a great character, and I like how you put it “Nice does not mean stupid and pregnant woman does not mean helpless”. Movies are so used to having cynical leads that it was totally funny to see someone just plain nice at the helm. LOL. You’re right, too, that monologue to Stormare is what its all about… she just doesn’t understand it. And she shouldn’t!
That whole windshield scraping scene cracked me up. I had to comment on it!
Thanks Richard, appreciate your support on this!
Fargo: The Best American Foreign Language film of 1987!
Oh? Ohhhh, oh, Ya. I gotcha now. That’s funny, then.
Sometimes, I get wasted and blast that creepy Carter Burwell score that plays over the end credits. It’s called “The Lost Sheep”, and it’s a Norwegian piece of music. And yes, I’m a huge nerd, I know.
Needless to say, I think Fargo is bonerific.
Nice. Nice.
A little strange, but, sure, I can see that. LOL
Perfect choice for a Wintry Minnesota weekend, Fogs!
Heh. Glad you enjoy Ruth. Do you live where people have the accent? Or more in the cities?
I’m in the Twin Cities suburbs, I think there are ppl who still have a strong MN accent but I haven’t met too many of ‘em. More so in smaller towns like St Cloud where I went to college (1.5 hr from Twin Cities). In fact a guy I was dating gave me a book on ‘How to speak like a Minnesotan’
Ha! Thats awesome. I dont know how much use I’d have gottn out of it, but that is pretty funny.
Great writeup, man. I just revisited Fargo myself recently, and it was just as great as I remembered. I didn’t realize that AFI put it on their 100 Laughs list… that’s awesome.
A worthy inclusion for sure.
Thanks brother. Yeah, the fact that AFI put it on their comedies list is something, isnt it? I mean, it IS funny and I definitely get plenty of chuckles, but I dont know if I’d think of it as a comedy, you know?
That was my experience too, though, revisiting it… it was just as great as I remembered.
Loved this review. Made me wanna go rewatch this movie.
My work here is done!
Hope you do, man, it had been a few years since I had seen it, but I enjoyed it as much as I ever had this time!
Definitely a MTESS! Love Fargo. Big fan of the Coens. McDormand and Macy were perfect in their roles.
Weren’t they though? LOL. Its totally true. The true test – I cant imagine anyone else in either role.
The villains too, Stormare and Buscemi? I can’t picture the movie being the same with anyone else in either part!
Yes, that’s true as well.
This would also be on my Best of the ’90s list. It’s not even the Coen Brothers best script of that decade (I’d put Lebowski and Miller’s Xing above it), but the ACTING is absolutely top-notch, maybe the best of all their movies. Definitely a MTESS.
Thanks Man, yeah, the acting was incredible… but the casting was great in that regard too. These people were perfect for those roles. LOL
The Coens are so great that its tough to pick out their “Best”. Maybe I should do a top ten or something and clear it up just for my own sake if nothing else.
Always love these MTESS segments. I haven’t seen Fargo and it is now in my list of movies I need to see. Didn’t know that it was a “real” story! Thanks for the spotlight on this movie man! Great work as usual
Well, thank you sir.
If you havent seen Fargo, you definitely should. Its one of the Coen Brothers best. They’re such great directors… This movie is super violent, yet funny at the same time!
Oh gosh! I LOVE this movie to death!!! People always ask me what my favorite movie is, and I usually answer “Fargo.” “Really?” “Yah.”
Well, cool. Hope you enjoyed the write up then.
I dont know if it would be my favorite film, or anything, but its definitely a great one. Top 100 for me, easily.
Loved your writeup of course! I tweeted it man! haha
Awesome, thats great! Thanks man!
Oh yah. No problem. Haha
High up on my to-watch list. Very high up. And with that admission that I haven’t yet seen Fargo, I’ll disappear again and not show my face in public until I do. Adieu!
LOL. Awwww, dont be embarrassed! LOL. You definitely should check it out though. The Coens at their finest, no doubt. Quirk and Killing abound.
You’ll dig it!
Excellent post, the part I always remember is when Marge is in the car and says “And for what? For a little bit of money”.
I like the fact that she adds in how beautiful a day it is outside, too. LOL. Like he’s a kid that wasted a day inside or something. LOL
This is one of my all time favorite movies. In my top 10. Which to me is funny because the first time I watched it I didn’t love it. I just thought it was ok (which happened with the Big Lebowski). But then I watched it again, and like you said, so much more comes out upon repeat viewings(as did the same with Lebowski). This is one of those films I can watch start to finish at any time and be completely caught up in it. It is about as perfect as a film as possible. I think it would be a good double with No Country for Old Men.
Great review Fogs. I know I didn’t bring much to the table with my comments, but this is seriously a film I could talk about for hours
Hey Seth, howve you been? Long time.
I can relate to the not latching on to it thing, that happened with me and Lebowski, too. Rewatching allows you to get comfortable with the oddities that the Coen Brothers always have, plus you get to pick up on more of the more subtle humor, you know?
And dont sweat “bringing things to the table” LOL. Thats my job, here man!
I’m good man, just busy as hell lately. Ready for a moment to breathe haha! I’m still reading, luriking in the shadows haha
Lurkinnnn… LOL. Gotcha man gotcha.
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