Fargo (1996) * * * *

Directed by:  Joel Coen

Starring:  Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrud, Harve Presnell, John Carroll Lynch

Marge Gunderson is among the unique characters in the movies.   She is a skilled police officer whom people may underestimate because she is cheerful and uses phrases like "You betcha."   She has yet to be worn down by the daily grind of being the chief of Brainerd, Minnesota's police department.     Frances McDormand creates a special, three-dimensional person and rightfully earned her Best Actress Oscar for the role. 

Marge doesn't appear until about roughly thirty minutes in.    She is woken up in the middle of the night to investigate a grisly murder scene involving three murdered people (including one highway trooper) and a flipped over car.   She intuitively recreates the scene to her deputy Lou pretty much as it happened.    She is also many months pregnant and suffers bouts of morning sickness in between eating big meals at buffets.   

But I'll backtrack a little to what drew Marge into this mess.    Fargo opens with an auto salesman named Jerry (Macy), who works at his father-in-law's dealership.    He wants to get out from under the thumb of his stubborn boss and open a group of parking lots in the Minneapolis area.    How will he do that?   By hiring two thugs from Fargo, ND to kidnap his wife and ask for ransom.    Jerry instructs the thugs named Carl and Gaer (Buscemi and Stormare) to ask for $80,000.    Jerry has other ideas.    He tells his father-in-law Wade (Presnell), whom he is sure will pay the ransom, that the kidnappers want $1 million.    He'll pay the ransom on his father-in-law's behalf, pay the thugs $80,000 and walk away with the rest.    He will even steal a car from the dealership lot for the kidnappers to use.   This goes nowhere nearly as planned.

The murders in Brainerd are just one example of how poorly everything goes with the plan.    With Jerry's wife in the trunk, the guys are pulled over for a routine late-night traffic stop.    Carl offers a bribe, which raises further suspicions with the trooper and forcing Gaer to shoot the cop in the head.    The other victim was a passerby in a vehicle whose vehicle veers off the road, flips over, and the driver and passenger are shot dead by a pursuing Gaer.    "Oh daddy," Carl says as he sees the carnage unfold.    He wasn't expecting this level of difficulty with what appeared to be a routine crime.

Things only get worse for Jerry, Carl, and Gaer.    The worst thing possible for them is having Marge on the case.    Because she is an intelligent, experienced, determined cop, she is able to find herself at Jerry's doorstep quickly.    The would-be criminals do not make it hard for her.    They leave clues everywhere, starting with the ticket book of the slain trooper, who began writing the plate number before he was shot.    Marge's deputy claims he could find no match to the plate which begins with "DLR".    Marge delicately replies, "I don't think I agree with you 100% on your police work there Lou."   Lou feels stupid, but Marge soon tells him a joke about a man who wanted personalized license plates and changed his name to numbers and letters.    This is a nice touch, establishing Marge as someone who wants to preserve Lou's dignity.    Yet, she is far from a softie, especially when dealing with suspects.    She assertively, but kindly interviews Jerry and others, maintaining her pluckiness and determination to solve the crime.

Fargo takes place in the dead of Minnesota winter circa 1987.    The landscape is whited out with snow that seems to be permanently affixed to the ground.    You wonder if it will ever get warm enough to thaw it all.    There are no sunny days, just clouds and gray, but the film is not depressing or bleak.   We remain hopeful that good will triumph over bad.     These are not the sort of criminals that could outsmart anyone, much less a professional like Marge.    Fargo mixes crime drama with dark humor successfully.    Jerry's attempts to hold it all together while his scheme crumbles is elevated to high comedy.     Macy is brilliant in this film.    He tries to maintain the façade of folksiness that comes naturally to someone like Marge, but he reeks of desperation from every pore.  

Fargo remains a unique movie experience.     Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed, draw these characters lovingly, with nice human touches.    Even the villains.    It is difficult not to love this world of desolate cold and snow as far as the eye can see.    It is remarkable how well the Coens can introduce this world, shake it up, and return it to normalcy.     It is even more remarkable to see Marge walk through this world of crap and come out clean on the other side.