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Blood Simple [DVD] [1983]
 
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Blood Simple [DVD] [1983]

DVD ~ John Getz
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.78 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Blood Simple [DVD] [1983] + Miller's Crossing [1990] [DVD] [1991] + Barton Fink [DVD] [1991]
Total RRP: £39.97
Price For All Three: £14.34

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Blood Simple [DVD] [1983]
73% buy the item featured on this page:
Blood Simple [DVD] [1983] 3.9 out of 5 stars (14)
£4.78
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Product details

  • Actors: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh, Samm-Art Williams
  • Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
  • Writers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
  • Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Daniel F. Bacaner, Mark Silverman
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Universal Pictures UK
  • DVD Release Date: 1 Jan 2001
  • Run Time: 95 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004W4H4
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7,997 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance) and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh


Amazon.co.uk Review

The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance) and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
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 (4)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a real masterpiece... even better than "Fargo", 26 Jul 2006
By H. Serkan SILAHSOR (Ankara, TURKEY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I watched this movie three times and really liked it. Coen Brother's cinematic debut is a wonderful example of how to let the pictures tell most of the story. In essence, the story is real simple: A greasy and sleazy bar owner hires an even sleazier private eye to kill his wife and her paramour. But things do not turn out quite as planned. There are enough twists and turns to keep a viewer guessing even after the movie is over. Especially, second part of the movie is a first-grade thriller with violent, bloody, suspenseful, and endless twists. The last word: an absolutely fantastic film - one of the best I have ever seen. Dark entertainment at its best!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Blood simple is........... the work of pure genius!, 20 April 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Blood Simple [VHS] [1983] (VHS Tape)
This is the perfect example of a totally underrated masterpiece! Less obvious comic than the Coen's susequent films, this has a degree of beyond-black humour, but is mostly a study of the way things go wrong when people don't use their heads. "Who looks stupid now?" is an appropriate send off line delivered from a murderer to a victim, as all the dumbness naturally leads to death.

This has everything that a good film must have; a good story, good direction, good acting, great music and enough twists to keep the jive bunny happy! The razor-sharp debut of Oscar nominated Joel and Ethan Coen will have you on the very edge of your seat. This is a great film and is definately one of the best crime films ever made....ever.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Macabre, even for Texas, 7 Jan 2006
By Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Blood Simple [DVD] [1984] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Even though there may be one or two instances where the squeamish will want to avert their gaze, they'll still be mesmerized by BLOOD SIMPLE until the last drip of gore. Even my wife hung tough to the end, though remarking at one point, "No one dies quickly in this movie."

Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) is a creepy Texas bar owner whose wife Abby (Frances McDormand) is spending quality time in the sheets with one of her husband's employees, Dan (John Getz). After an initial confrontation during which his finger gets broken and his groin kicked, Marty hires a slimeball private eye (Loren Visser) to kill Abby and Dan while he (Marty) goes fishing. What should be a straightforward bloodletting becomes grotesquely complicated by a series of mistaken identities.

Don't expect a plausible plot. Don't be surprised that law enforcement makes no appearance whatsoever. Indeed, enough clues are left in the commission of assorted crimes for a trainee to make an arrest after only one day in the police academy watching COLUMBO reruns. No matter, however, because justice is served all around.

The fascination of this production derives from the camera perspectives, sound and video editing, set lighting, and the vision of the directing and producing Coen brothers. The sight and sound of a rolled-up newspaper smacking a screen door, the slow drip of blood from the end of a finger, the sudden appearance of a streetlamp-lit VW Beetle on a darkened street, the approaching headlights of a far-off truck, the slow decay of fish on an office desk, the labored stab of a knife through living bone and gristle, the anticipation of a sniper's bullet through a window. All are these, and more, send thrills of delight and/or dread up the viewer's spine. The fact that all acting performances are flawless is almost a bonus.

This is imaginative entertainment, capable of inspiring both an appreciative "Oh, wow!" or shocked "Eeeewww!", best seen on a dark and lonely night clutching a bowl of popcorn and your favorite teddy bear.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Blood Simple - The Coen Brothers first film
Blood Simple is the first feature film made by the Coen Brothers and it shows. There is none of the authentic characterisation that would be seen in their later films but... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Justin Cox

4.0 out of 5 stars good show
Blood Simple ", the first Coen brothers film, is a little gem of film noir, and it is obvious watching it that the Coens would go on to make some absolute classics... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Treefingers

3.0 out of 5 stars thematic art
If you got a lot out of "A Simple Plan" or "Fargo" watching this will make you realise that although the Coen Bros know how to entertain, they know how to string out a story... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Harry Nicholas

5.0 out of 5 stars a glimpse of the future
I saw this film first time round in 1984 and have only just seen it a second time. There are many echoes of Fargo and No Country For Old Men and gripping tension throughout as the... Read more
Published 19 months ago by the scribbler

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch this film!!!
Probably the darkest Coen Brothers film, and in my opinion, the best next to Fargo. The preformances are spot on but the best thing here is the fantastic dialoge. Read more
Published on 13 May 2006 by O. Frawley

3.0 out of 5 stars Did do better
The Coen Brothers first film has few of the surreal characters and inspired comedy which characterized their later works, and although it has some deeply black humour its... Read more
Published on 8 May 2006 by J. S. Meins

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD - ONCE YOU'RE IN THE COEN MINDSET
I would not recommend this film as an introduction to the Coen Brothers. They have since made many a film more suited to the novice Coener (I would recommend Fargo particularly,... Read more
Published on 14 Jul 2004 by filthmonkey

5.0 out of 5 stars buy it region 1!
Yes this is a great film, and especially when considering it as a debut(although it is actually one of the last of the Coen Brothers' films Isaw). Read more
Published on 20 April 2004 by Pieter Hounslow

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie poor DVD
Blood Simple is a truly great noir movie. It is a movie to be savored not only for its story but for the intricate and clever cinematography that matches its dark plot and... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars Good film, Bad DVD.
Great Coen Brothers film, but unfortunately a poor DVD. I was very disappointed to discover that this film is not in widescreen, but a poor 4:3 version taken from what looks like... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2001

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