CLASSIC MOVIES: FARGO (1996)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brief Movie Synopsis [courtesy of The Internet Movie Database]:

A car salesman's inept crime falls apart due to
his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent
work of a pregnant Minnesota police chief.
Nominated for seven Academy Awards,
including Best Picture of 1996.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

REVIEWS:

ROGER EBERT'S 1996 REVIEW:

"Fargo begins with an absolutely dead-on familiarity with smalltown life in the frigid winter landscape of Minnesota and North Dakota. Then it rotates its story through satire, comedy, suspense and violence, until it emerges as one of the best films I've ever seen. To watch it is to experience steadily mounting delight, as you realize the filmmakers have taken enormous risks, gotten away with them and made a movie that is completely original, and as familiar as an old shoe. .... Ethan and Joel Coen...have elevated reality into a human comedy--into the kind of movie that makes us hug ourselves with the way it pulls off one improbable scene after another. Films like 'Fargo' are why I love the movies."

-- Roger Ebert; March 8, 1996

ROGER EBERT'S 2001 REVIEW:

"The snow and cold provide the Coens with visual punctuation and a pervasive sense of place...and in the middle, in their warm cocoon, are Chief Marge and her hubby, Norm, the painter of ducks. Without them, 'Fargo' might have been
'In Cold Blood' laced with unseemly humor. .... Marge is the catalyst, and her
speech at the end is Shakespearean in the way it heals wounds and restores
order: 'There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don't you know
that? And here you are. And it's a beautiful day.'"

-- Roger Ebert; April 5, 2001

SISKEL & EBERT: