Blood Simple

This article is about the film. For the metal band, see Bloodsimple.
Blood Simple
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Coen
Written byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Produced byEthan Coen
Starring
CinematographyBarry Sonnenfeld
Edited by
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
companies
  • River Road Productions
  • Foxton Entertainment
Distributed byCircle Films
Release date
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5 million[2]
Box office$2.7 million[2][3]

Blood Simple is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who is having a love affair with his boss’s wife. When his boss discovers the affair, he hires a private investigator to kill the couple. It was the directorial debut of the Coens and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a director, as well as the feature-film debut of McDormand.

The film's title is derived from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (1929), in which the Continental Op muses: “This damned burg's getting me. If I don't get away soon I'll be going blood-simple like the natives.”[4][5] Stylistically, the film has been noted for its blending elements of neo-noir, pulp crime stories, and low-budget horror films.[6] In 2001, a director's cut was released, the same year that it was ranked No. 98 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills.


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  1. ^ a b "Blood Simple". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Blood Simple (1985) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2022-04-10. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  3. ^ "Blood Simple (1985)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  4. ^ George Orr (September 8, 2014). "30 Years of Coens: Blood Simple". The Atlantic.
  5. ^ Falsani, Cathleen. (2009). The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. p. 31.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference criterion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).