Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #994 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Colour, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Czech, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Leave it to the wildly inventive Coen brothers (Joel directs, Ethan produces, they both write) to concoct a fiendishly clever kidnap caper that's simultaneously a comedy of errors, a Midwestern satire, a taut suspense thriller and a violent tale of criminal misfortune. It all begins when a hapless car salesman (played to perfection by William H. Macy) ineptly orchestrates the kidnapping of his own wife. The plan goes horribly awry in the hands of bumbling bad guys Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (one of them being described by a local girl as "kinda funny lookin'" and "not circumcised"), and the pregnant sheriff of Brainerd, Minnesota, (played exquisitely by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning role) is suddenly faced with a case of multiple murders. Her investigation is laced with offbeat observations about life in the rural hinterland of Minnesota and North Dakota, and Fargo embraces its local yokels with affectionate humour. At times shocking and hilarious, Fargo is utterly unique and distinctly American, bearing the unmistakable stamp of its inspired creators. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk Review
Leave it to the wildly inventive Coen brothers to concoct a fiendishly clever kidnap caper with Fargo that's simultaneously a comedy of errors, a Midwestern satire, a taut suspense thriller and a violent tale of criminal misfortune. It all begins when a hapless car salesman (played to perfection by William H. Macy) ineptly orchestrates the kidnapping of his own wife. The plan goes horribly awry in the hands of bumbling bad guys Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (one of them being described by a local girl as "kinda funny lookin'" and "not circumcised"), and the pregnant sheriff of Brainerd, Minnesota, (played exquisitely by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning role) is suddenly faced with a case of multiple murders. Her investigation is laced with offbeat observations about life in the rural hinterland of Minnesota and North Dakota, and Fargo embraces its local yokels with affectionate humour. At times shocking and hilarious, this is utterly unique and distinctly American, bearing the unmistakable stamp of its inspired creators. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD:Fargo, Special Edition presents the movie in anamorphic widescreen (16:9) with Dolby 5.1 available in a choice of English, French or Spanish. Extras include a rare 20-minute interview with the Coens and Frances McDormand, dating from the time of the movie's release, and the 27-minute retrospective documentary, "Minnesota Nice", which has more interviews with the principal cast and crew. There's a "Coen Brothers' Family Tree" listing actors who have collaborated with the duo, and an on-screen trivia track which, among other nuggets, provides a history of pancakes after Peter Stormare's character famously demands "Where is pancakes house?". Cinematographer Roger Deakins provides an intermittent commentary mostly concerned with technical issues. The text of an American Cinematographer article about Deakins and the Coens, trailers and a behind-the-scenes photo gallery complete the package. --Mark Walker

Special Features
English
Region 2

Customer Reviews

The Coen Brothers finest work
'Fargo' is the often funny and brutal story of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a cars salesman who is a heavily in debt who devises what he hopes to be a sinister and harmless plan to end all of his worries. He hires two criminals Carl and Gaear (Steve Buscemi & Peter Stormare, respectively) to kidnap his wife, with the aim of getting his rich father-in-law to pay a ransom which he will give split between himself and the kidnappers, $40,000 each. He plans to use his share to invest in a real estate project that he believes will be the solution to all of problems.

However, with this being a Coen Brothers movie, Lundegaard's plans are never going to be that straight forward. Carl and Gaears' kidnap and getaway results in a triple murder near the small Minnesota town of Brainerd, which leads them to demand all of the ransom money from Jerry. Enter the heavily pregnant Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, who won an Oscar for her performance), who slowly unravels Lundegaard's plot through a series of wonderful scenes that only the Coens could write.

As ever, the Coen Brothers Oscar winning script is dazzling; full of wit, sharp dialogue and memorable characters, which are brought to life through great performances from the ensemble cast. The dialogue - the Coens wrote all of the "ums" and broken sentences into the script - and Scandinavian dialect has a musicality to it, with the constant "Yah?" and overly polite "Do you think?" at the end of sentences proving to be very funny as well as adding character.

The film is littered with wonderful jokes and memorable scenes. Starting with the disclaimer "This is a true story"; to Marge's questioning of two young prostitutes, ("He was kinda funny looking"); to her reunion with an old school friend Mike Yanagita (a brutally funny comment on the surge of Japanese businessmen committing suicide at the time); to the strange relationship between Carl and Gaear, which slowly disintegrates as the film progresses. Even the bleak landscape of Minnesota, covered in snow and darkness, adds to the sense of looming tragedy.

The genius of 'Fargo' is that despite so many of the characters being so despicable and holding no redeeming features, you still find it difficult to dislike them. The film is a relentless attack on greed: Jerry telling his father-in-law that the ransom is one million dollars, not $80,000; his father-in-laws complete disdain of his son-in-law and reluctance to help him, despite him being married to his daughter and the father to his grandson; Carl hiding the million dollar ransom from his partner in crime. The only people to survive are the characters with the simplest pleasures in life - Marge and her wonderfully loving and caring husband, Norm (sympathetically played by John Carroll Lynch), an artist whose ambition is to get one of his duck paintings commissioned in a State stamp competition.

The Special Edition of 'Fargo' includes an interview with the Coen Brothers and Frances McDormand, a short documentary about 'Fargo' called 'Minnesota Nice', plus the usual audio commentary, trailers and photo gallery, etc.

'Fargo' is a very dark, brutal and funny film, full of great performances from a talented cast, and an incredible Coen Brother's script which packs more into its hour and half running time than most directors/writers will manage in their careers - absolute brilliance.

An extremely original and entertaining movie. One of the Coen Brothers' cleverest.
This movie grabs you from the start. The inept bungling characters provide a fascinating dialog and a constant source of dark and clever humour. In the midst of this Frances McDormand's character methodically hones in on her suspects like a pregnant slow motion heat-seeking missile.

Steve Buscemi, Frances McDormand, and William H Macy play their roles to perfection and top off a cast that is rarely bettered. Steve Buscemi again provides the perfect conduit for Coen Brothers dialog "[as a police officer approaches the kidnappers' car]... just keep it still there lady or we're gonna have to...you know...shoot ya"

This movie has achieved cult status which is no mean feat for one that has also won Oscars...just an indication of the Coen Brothers appeal and propensity to cross boundaries with their work.

Fargo
Easily up there with 'The Big Lebowski' as one of the Coen brothers' best films, Fargo was nominated for seven Oscars, and deservedly so. The plot follows the mishaps of executive car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (Macy), who is so deep in debt that he formulates a plan to have his wife kidnapped by two thugs in a cunning scheme to have his wealthy father-in-law pay the ransom. Unfortunately for Jerry, he doesn't anticipate that one of the thugs is a psycho or that seven-month pregnant Police Chief Marge (McDormand), when she isn't eating, will do anything to solve the case.

The film is fantastic in everyway. The script and dialogue are absolutely awe-inspiring, and the performances from everyone are superb (especially McDormand who scooped the best actress oscar for her role). It's almost impossible to forget the brilliant wood-chipper scene at the end, a moment of pure comic-genius. A combination of mystery, dark humour, suspense and horror make this a movie that everyone should see, and that can be watched time and time again. You betcha, yah.