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Fargo
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Fargo (1996)

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User Rating: 8.3/10 (121,486 votes)
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Overview

Director:
Joel Coen
more
Writers (WGA):
Joel Coen (written by) &
Ethan Coen (written by)
Release Date:
8 March 1996 (USA) more view trailer
Genre:
Crime | Drama | Thriller more
Tagline:
A homespun murder story. more
Plot:
Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of pregnant Marge Gunderson. full summary | full synopsis (warning! may contain spoilers)
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 52 wins & 30 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(20 articles)
The Trailer Park: Sony's 'Insanitarium' (From Bloody-Disgusting.com. 5 July 2008, 2:41 PM, PDT)
Full Casting For Paul Solet's 'Grace' (From Bloody-Disgusting.com. 12 May 2008, 11:54 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
You're darned tootin'! more

Cast

 (Cast overview, first billed only)

William H. Macy ... Jerome 'Jerry' Lundegaard

Steve Buscemi ... Carl Showalter

Peter Stormare ... Gaear Grimsrud
Kristin Rudrüd ... Jean Lundegaard
Harve Presnell ... Wade Gustafson

Tony Denman ... Scotty Lundegaard

Gary Houston ... Irate Customer
Sally Wingert ... Irate Customer's Wife
Kurt Schweickhardt ... Car Salesman
Larissa Kokernot ... Hooker #1

Melissa Peterman ... Hooker #2
Steve Reevis ... Shep Proudfoot (as Steven Reevis)
Warren Keith ... Reilly Diefenbach (voice)
Steve Edelman ... Morning Show Host
Sharon Anderson ... Morning Show Hostess
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality.
Runtime:
98 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby SR
MOVIEmeter: ?
^ 33% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The film is not, in fact, "Based on a true story". more
Goofs:
Factual errors: The Olds Cutlass Ciera models shown in the car showroom are mid 90's models according to the trim pieces on them, and were possibly taken off of a real showroom floor during filming as brand new cars, 1996 was the last year these cars were in production but they still looked similar to 1980s models. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Jerry Lundegaard: I'm, uh, Jerry Lundegaard.
Carl Showalter: You're Jerry Lundegaard?
Jerry Lundegaard: Ya. Shep Proudfoot said...
Carl Showalter: Shep said you'd be here at 7:30. What gives, man?
Jerry Lundegaard: Shep said 8:30.
Carl Showalter: We've been sitting here an hour. He's
[motioning to Gaer]
Carl Showalter: peed three times already.
Jerry Lundegaard: I'm sure sorry. Shep told me 8:30. It was a mix-up, I guess.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Office: The Fire (#2.4)" (2005) more

FAQ

How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
Was Fargo based on a true story?
A NOTE REGARDING SPOILERS
more
86 out of 107 people found the following comment useful:-
You're darned tootin'!, 2 April 2001
Author: Andrew Harmon (aharmon@erols.com) from Washington, DC

"What'd this guy look like anyway?"

"Oh, he was a little guy, kinda funny lookin'."

"Uh-huh. In what way?"

"Just a general way."

In that interplay between a Brainerd, MN., police officer and a witness discussing a criminal investigation, you have one of your principal pieces of dialogue from what is considered by many to be Joel and Ethan Coen's finest film.

Of course you can draw comparisons to others they've made, such as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, even Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski. But Fargo illustrates the Coen Brothers' takes on plot, art and drama more succinctly and emotionally than any of those others. Here you have a set of memorable, if not always likeable, characters in a plot that goes from clunky to chaotic in the most unspoiled manner, from Jerry Lundegaard's stilted conversation with Gaear and Carl in a bar in Fargo at the beginning of the movie - the only occasion in which the movie specifically shows you Fargo, N.D. - to Marge Gunderson's confrontation with Gaear and the wood-chipper.

Frances McDormand deservedly won an Oscar for playing a well-balanced, intelligent, pregnant police officer placing her own straightforward methodology on to an investigation of bizarre goings-on. And William H. Macy gives a true one-two punch playing a frenetically-charged, fearful and, in the end, inept used car salesman trying in the most remarkable manner to make money. The two best scenes in the movie are the two occasions in which Marge questions Jerry about the Brainerd murders and a car from his lot being involved -- I couldn't imagine an actress doing a better job of seriously but comically exclaiming, "He's fleeing the interview!"

Notable among the actors as well are Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare playing Carl and Gaear, the two hit men hired by Jerry to help him con his father-in-law out of money. There's comic brilliance watching Stormare silently grimace at Buscemi's violent but gregarious behavior, and Buscemi shines being able to play the most out-of-control of all the characters in the movie. Kristin Rudrüd also stands out playing Jean Lundegaard, Jerry's haplessly kidnapped wife.

If you can appreciate an intelligent look at not-always-so-intelligent life on this planet, you'll enjoy the little more than the hour and a half this movie has to show you.

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Message Boards

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Fargo (1996)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
B rate movie tresh_to
on his way to the car... briank0590
'the most repressed cultures are often the most violent' Tommy-Udo
Mr. Pink = Carl Showalter? jakobjensen2
I love the silly voices!!! Abe_Raman
A few scenes i don't get tsopranofu
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