My Life at the Movies 3.3.09: 1996 - Fargo
Posted by DC Perry on 03.03.2009
There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it.
1996 gave us several great movies. Baquiat, if only for David Bowie's delightfully demented Andy Warhol; Baz Luhrman's stylish, jump-cut crazy Romeo + Juliet; the rat pack redux Swingers; the ruined spoons and head-spinning babies of Trainspotting; Samuel L. Jackson's raw performance in A Time to Kill. But the best of the bunch is a story of incompetent swindler who gets seven people killed, and the mother-to-be with the stamp painting husband who catches him red handed.
1996 at a Glance
US President: Bill Clinton
Median annual salary: $35,492
Gallon of gas: $1.23
Dozen eggs: $1.31
New house: $166,400
New car: $18,563
Movie ticket: $4.42
Boston Red Sox: 85-77, third place, American League East
Me: Living in an apartment above a junk shop with a missionary and a drug dealer. I smell a sitcom!
THIS IS A TRUE STORY. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.
This is the first lie in Fargo. Yep. As much as you might hate to accept it, that white text on black background, very official-looking, friendly movie screen is lying to you. But it's preparing you for despicable behavior from seemingly innocent sources. Assumptions be damned.
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a sad sack car dealer with an inferiority complex the size of North Dakota. He runs his father-in-law Wade Gustafson's (Harve Presnell) dealership, and has managed to rack up a mountain of debt, presumably through get-rich-quick schemes that don't pay off. He's scamming the GM financing office for loans on cars that don't exist, and he's trying to get Wade to loan him the money to build a parking lot, though he's much more interested in the cash than the investment. Desperate for cash, Jerry hatches a scheme to have his wife Jean (Kristin Rudrud) kidnapped. Shep Proudfoot (Steve Reevis), a paroled mechanic, puts Jerry in touch with Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grismund (Peter Stormare), and he gives them a tan Oldsmobile Ciera and a promise of half of the $80,000 ransom, once Wade pays up.
Where is pancakes house?
Of course, Jerry has bigger plans – he tells Wade the kidnappers demanded $1,000,000, planning to pocket all but $40,000 of it. But the plan goes horribly wrong, as stupid plans are wont to do, and Carl and Gaear are pulled over in Brainerd, Minnesota, for driving without license plates. Carl clumsily attempts to bribe the police officer, and when that fails, Gaear shoots him in the head. A car passes while Carl struggles dragging the body off the road. Gaear follows the car, runs it off the road, and shoots both passengers. So much for a simple kidnapping.
Hey, let's watch that language there!
A very pregnant Officer Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) pieces all this together over a hot cup of coffee the next morning. She tracks Carl and Gaear's back to Jerry's dealership, and she suggests to Shep that since one of the murderers called his house, he might be an accessory. Shep finds Carl, who was going crazy out at the lake and looking for a little lady action, and gives him a taste of his belt. Carl, in turn, freaks out at Jerry, demanding the entire $80,000, and right damn quick. Wade agrees to pay the ransom, but doesn't trust Jerry to make the delivery. This, of course, queers Jerry's plan to skim a buck or two off the top, but it also freaks out Carl, who shoots Wade when he refuses to pay until Jean is returned safely. Wade shoots Carl in the face, and Carl empties his gun into Wade and drives off. Jerry, idiot as always, has followed Wade, and arrives just in time to nearly get hit by a swerving Carl. Now fully aware that everything has gone pear shaped, Jerry goes home and goes to bed.
The heck do ya mean?
Carl, meanwhile, has managed to tape his face shut and has opened the briefcase. He recovers from the shock quickly, pulls $80,000 out, and buries the rest by a snow fence. He drives back to the lake to find Gaear watching TV next to Jean's corpse, the latest victim of his silent but hair-trigger temper. Carl gives Gaear his half of the $80,000 and the keys to his truck, claiming the Ciera for himself. Gaear wants Carl to pay him for his half of the car, and level-headed Carl freaks, as is his custom. As Carl walks to the car to leave, Gaear storms out of the cabin with an ax.
After finding out her friend Mike (Steve Park) lied about his wife dying, Marge has an epiphany around a mouthful of cheeseburger. Lying, as a rule, had not occurred to her, but now she has a few more questions for Jerry about how he was so certain the car wasn't from his lot. She subjects him to the world's most polite interrogation, and when she asks to talk to Wade, Jerry bolts. Marge reports him, then stumbles on the Ciera on a scan of the lake. She arrives just in time to see Gaear feeding Carl's last leg through the chipper; he flees, and she shoots him in the leg and loads him into her prowler.
There's more to life than a little money, you know.
The single most important character in Fargo is the accent. Without it, this might be just another crime movie. With it, it becomes a commentary on everything superficial. Jerry's smiles, politeness, and you betchas all cover his scheming, sweaty, swindling nature, and they make it seem just that much more awful. Carl's speech and behavior, abrasive by anyone's standards, stand out even more against Gaear's silence and everyone else's upturned vowels and cheerful yeahs.
This is Lake Wobegon Wild. This is Garrison Keillor shooting up heroin. This is A Prairie Home Call Girl. Fargo shocks by putting horrible words and ideas in the mouths of people with accents that we associate with simple innocence. It's one of those "positive stereotypes," like Asians are Good at Math, and it's equally absurd. For exposing that, for weaving a damn fine yarn, and for excellence in dismemberment via wood chipper, Fargo is the best movie of 1996.
