Blood Simple
Joel and Ethan Coen’s career-long darkly comic road trip through misfit America began with this razor-sharp, hard-boiled neonoir set somewhere in Texas, where a sleazy bar owner releases a torrent of violence with one murderous thought. Actor M. Emmet Walsh looms over the proceedings as a slippery private eye with a yellow suit, a cowboy hat, and no moral compass, and Frances McDormand’s cunning debut performance set her on the road to stardom. The tight scripting and inventive style that have marked the Coens’ work for decades are all here in their first film, in which cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld abandons black-and-white chiaroscuro for neon signs and jukebox colors that combine with Carter Burwell’s haunting score to lurid and thrilling effect. Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film’s look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
- New conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the film’s production, from inception to release
- New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
New cover by Michael Boland
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the film’s look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations
- New conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the film’s production, from inception to release
- New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich
New cover by Michael Boland
Cast
- John Getz
- Ray
- Frances McDormand
- Abby
- Dan Hedaya
- Julian Marty
- M. Emmet Walsh
- Private detective
- Samm-Art Williams
- Meurice
- Deborah Neumann
- Debra
- Raquel Gavia
- Landlady
- Van Brooks
- Man from Lubbock
- Señor Marco
- Mr. Garcia
- William Creamer
- Old cracker
- Loren Bivens
- Strip bar exhorter
- Bob McAdams
- Strip bar senator
- Shannon Sedwick
- Stripper
- Nancy Finger
- Girl on overlook
- Rev. William Preston Robertson
- Radio evangelist
Credits
- Director
- Joel Coen
- Produced by
- Ethan Coen
- Written by
- Joel Coen
- Written by
- Ethan Coen
- Executive producer
- Daniel F. Bacaner
- Associate producer
- Mark Silverman
- Director of photography
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Production designer
- Jane Musky
- Music by
- Carter Burwell
- Edited by
- Roderick Jaynes
- Edited by
- Don Wiegmann
- First assistant director
- Deborah Reinisch
- Casting
- Julie Hughes
- Casting
- Barry Moss
Edition introduction to Blood Simple
Trailer for Blood Simple
