Monday Movie on the Mind: Fargo

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies With Abe: Monday Movie on the Mind. I’ll be kicking off each week with a clip or trailer from a film that happens to be on my mind, designed as a retrospective look at some well-known, forgotten, or underappreciated classic from movie history, be it antique or current. Chime in with your thoughts about the film or any other movies that you might be thinking of this week!

Fargo
Directed by Joel Coen
Released April 5, 1996

After reading G1000’s short but entirely accurate review and writing about the score in my Thursday Token Themes post last week, it would be hard for me not to have this movie on my mind right now. It’s easily the best film ever made by the Coen Brothers, and I’d rank it as one of the top five films I’ve ever seen. It’s a dark, moody thriller ripe with violence, yet it includes some of the funniest characters – with extremely nutty accents – ever to grace the screen. It’s hard to accurately convey just how incredible the performances of Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi are, and it’s unlikely there will ever again be another character quite as memorable as pregnant policewoman Marge Gunderson. It’s impossible to pick just one scene to accurately capture the awesomeness of the film – this is a must-see. Start with the tone-setting opening scene, continue with this “Dealer Plates” scene (below), two other memorable scenes, and then the infamous wood chipper scene below if you’ve seen the film already. This movie is just incredible, and watching clips from it makes me want to watch it all over again.