Wonkette Movie Night: Fargo

'Say, Lou, didya hear the one about the guy who couldn't afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L2404?'

Fargo starts with this:

This is a true story.

The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987.

The events that happen in the film are a perfect example of why everyone should follow the advice that when you are in a hole, stop digging. Car salesman Jerry Lundegaard is the one in the hole and he is not putting the shovel down till he reaches the Earth’s core.

Jerry has gotten himself in a bit of a financial situation while trying to make a deal on real estate. To secure a loan he has invented some new cars out of thin air. But the bank might not be as easy to scam as his customers who do not want the TruCoat but are going to pay for it anyways. The bank wants proof that this collateral exists and the illegible VINs he offers are not going to satisfy a bank that has just handed him hundreds of thousands of dollars. But answering the bank’s questions is the least of his worries.

Spoilers ahead.

Jerry’s wealthy father-in-law is also part of the deal. A greedy man who has no problem cutting Jerry out of the real estate purchase to make a very profitable parking lot. And yet Jerry keeps digging. He has another scheme in mind that will get him all the money he needs and screw over his father-in-law in the process.

Jerry hires a couple of bad guys to kidnap his wife. These two criminal masterminds have brought their own shovels to Jerry’s hole digging party. You’d think things couldn’t get much worse for him, but they do. From white collar crime to kidnapping to murder. He has gotten in way over his head and some innocent people are going to suffer.

The two knuckleheaded hired thugs escalate the violence in their slapstick kidnapping of Jerry’s spouse which leads to murder. Police chief Marge Gunderson may be 7 months pregnant and hungry most of the time but that won’t stop her from solving the case.

Fargo was written by the Cohen brothers and they give us the snow covered landscape of Minnesota where you can feel the cold in the air. There are long sweeping shots of big sky with a single car passing through all that white, contrasted with the loving warmth shown between Marge and her husband. They show how their simple life gives them all they need. In the end Marge does get the bad guys. As she drives the arrested murderer Karl to the station she mentions all those killed and says to him,

And for what? For a little bit of money.

There’s more to life than a little money you know.

Fargo stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrud, John Carroll Lynch, and Steve Reevis. Directed by Joel Coen.

Fargo is available with subscription on Prime. $3.99 in the usual places.

To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.

The animated short is Sounds Between The Crowns by Filip Diviak.

Our next Movie Night selection is The Tuskegee Airmen. It is available with subscription on Max and Sling TV. $3.99 in the usual places.