''Fargo'' is a 1996
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...
crime film written, produced and directed by
Joel and Ethan Coen
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
.
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emm ...
stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
police chief
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...
investigating a triple homicide that takes place after a desperate car salesman (
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...
) hires two criminals (
Steve Buscemi and
Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife in order to extort a hefty
ransom from her wealthy father (
Harve Presnell
George Harvey Presnell (September 14, 1933 – June 30, 2009) was an American actor and singer. He began his career in the mid-1950s as a classical baritone, singing with orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States.
His career re ...
). The film was an American-British co-production.
Filmed in the United States during the end of 1995, ''Fargo'' premiered at the
1996 Cannes Film Festival
The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996 in film, 1996. The Palme d'Or went to ''Secrets & Lies (film), Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh.
The festival opened with ''Ridicule (film), Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and cl ...
, where Joel Coen won the festival's ''
Prix de la mise en scène
The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Co ...
'' (Best Director Award) and the film was nominated for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
. The film was both a commercial and critical success, earning particular acclaim for the Coens' direction and script and the performances of McDormand, Macy, and Buscemi. ''Fargo'' received seven
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
nominations at the
69th Academy Awards
The 69th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 24, 1997, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the cerem ...
, including
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
, and
Best Supporting Actor for Macy, winning two:
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
for McDormand and
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
for the Coens.
The film was selected in 2006 for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"—one of only seven films designated in its first year of eligibility.
In 1998, the
American Film Institute named it one of the
100 greatest American films in history (being the most recent film on the list up to that point) but it was subsequently de-listed in 2007. A Coen-produced
FX television series of the same name, inspired by the film
and taking place in the same
fictional universe, premiered in 2014 and received critical acclaim.
Plot
In 1987, Jerry Lundegaard, the executive sales manager of a
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...
dealership owned by his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, is desperate for money. On the advice of mechanic and convicted felon Shep Proudfoot, Jerry travels to
Fargo, North Dakota, and hires Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud to kidnap his wife, Jean. He gives them a new
Cutlass Ciera and promises them half of the $80,000 ransom he says he intends to extract from Wade.
Jerry
pitches Wade a lucrative real estate deal and believes Wade has agreed to lend him $750,000 to finance it, so he attempts to call off the kidnapping. Wade and his accountant Stan Grossman inform Jerry that Wade will make the deal himself and pay Jerry only a modest finder's fee.
Carl and Gaear kidnap Jean and transport her to a remote cabin in
Moose Lake. A
state trooper stops them near
Brainerd for not displaying temporary registration tags. The trooper rejects Carl's clumsy bribe attempt and hears Jean whimpering in the back seat. Gaear shoots him, then chases down and kills two passers-by who witnessed the scene.
The following morning, Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson, who is seven months pregnant, begins investigating. She correctly deduces that the dead trooper was ticketing a car with
dealer plates. She later learns that two men driving a dealership vehicle checked into the nearby Blue Ox Motel with two
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
s and placed a call to Proudfoot. After questioning the girls, Marge visits Wade's dealership, where Proudfoot feigns ignorance and Jerry insists no cars are missing. While in Minneapolis, Marge reconnects with Mike Yanagita, a high school classmate, who awkwardly tries to romance her before breaking down and saying his wife has died.
Jerry tells Wade the kidnappers have demanded $1 million and will deal only through him. In light of the three murders, Carl demands Jerry hand over all of the $80,000 he believes is the entire ransom. Carl is with another call girl in a Minneapolis hotel room when Proudfoot enters and attacks him for bringing Proudfoot to the attention of the police. Carl then calls Jerry and orders him to deliver the ransom immediately. Wade insists on bringing it and meets Carl at a parking garage. He refuses to hand over the money without seeing his daughter, so an enraged Carl shoots him. Wade is armed and fires back, wounding Carl in the jaw. Carl kills Wade and a garage attendant, then drives away with the briefcase containing the ransom.
On the way to Moose Lake, Carl discovers the briefcase contains $1 million. He removes $80,000 to split with Gaear, then buries the rest in the snow alongside the highway. At the cabin, Carl finds that Gaear killed Jean because she would not be quiet. Carl says they should split up and leave immediately, and they argue over who will keep the Ciera. Carl uses his injury as justification, shouts insults at Gaear, and attempts to take the vehicle. Gaear kills Carl with an axe.
Marge learns from a friend that Yanagita lied; he has no wife and is mentally ill. Reflecting on this, Marge returns to Wade's dealership. Jerry nervously insists no cars are missing and promises to double-check his inventory. Marge sees Jerry driving off the lot and calls the state police.
Marge drives to Moose Lake after a local bartender reports having heard a "funny-looking guy" brag about killing someone. She drives by the cabin, sees the Ciera, then discovers Gaear feeding Carl's dismembered body into a
woodchipper
A tree chipper or woodchipper is a machine used for reducing wood (generally tree limbs or trunks) into smaller woodchips. They are often portable, being mounted on wheels on frames suitable for towing behind a truck or van. Power is general ...
. Gaear attempts to flee, but Marge shoots him in the leg and arrests him. Shortly afterwards, Jerry is arrested at a motel outside
Bismarck, North Dakota.
Marge's husband, Norm, tells her the
Postal Service has selected his painting of a
mallard for a three cent
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
and complains that his friend's painting won the competition for a twenty-nine cent stamp. Marge reminds him that many people use smaller denomination stamps whenever prices increase and they need to make up the difference between the face value of their old stamps and the new cost of first class postage. Norm is reassured, and the couple happily anticipates the birth of their child.
Cast
Production
Casting
The Coens initially considered
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...
for a smaller role, but they were so impressed by his reading that they asked him to come back in and read for the role of Jerry. According to Macy, he was very persistent in getting the role, saying: "I found out that they
he Coen brotherswere auditioning in New York still, so I got my jolly, jolly Lutheran ass on an airplane and walked in and said, 'I want to read again because I'm scared you're going to screw this up and hire someone else.' I actually said that. You know, you can't play that card too often as an actor. Sometimes it just blows up in your face, but I said, 'Guys, this is my role. I want this. Ethan Coen later remarked, "I don't think either of us
oen brothersrealised what a tough acting challenge we were handing Bill Macy with this part. Jerry's a fascinating mix of the completely ingenuous and the utterly deceitful. Yet he's also guileless; even though he set these horrible events in motion, he's surprised when they go wrong."
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emm ...
learned how to use and fire a gun, spent days talking with a pregnant police officer and developed a backstory for her character along with
John Carroll Lynch
John Carroll Lynch (born August 1, 1963) is an American character actor and film director. He first gained notice for his role as Norm Gunderson in '' Fargo'' (1996). He is also known for his television work on the ABC sitcom '' The Drew Carey ...
. After seeing the movie, McDormand noted that much of Marge was modeled on her sister Dorothy who is a
Disciples of Christ minister and chaplain.
Filming
''Fargo'' was filmed during the winter of 1995, mainly in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and around
Pembina County, North Dakota
Pembina County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. At the 2020 census its population was 6,844. The county seat is Cavalier.
History
For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples inhabited the area along the Pembina and Red ...
. Due to unusually low snowfall totals in central and southern Minnesota that winter, scenes requiring snow-covered landscapes had to be shot in northern Minnesota and northeastern North Dakota, though not in or near the actual towns of Fargo and Brainerd.
![Movie Fargo Paul Bunyan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Movie_Fargo_Paul_Bunyan.jpg)
Jerry's initial meeting with Carl and Gaear was shot at a pool hall and bar called The King of Clubs in the northeast section of Minneapolis. It was demolished in 2003, along with most other buildings on that block of Central Avenue, and replaced by low-income housing. Gustafson's auto dealership was actually Wally McCarthy Oldsmobile in
Richfield, a southern suburb of Minneapolis. The site is now occupied by
Best Buy's national corporate headquarters. The 24-foot
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the o ...
statue was built for the film (and subsequently dismantled) on Pembina County Highway 1, four miles west of
Bathgate, North Dakota
Bathgate is a city in Pembina County, North Dakota, United States. It sits on the banks of the Tongue River. The population was 47 at the 2020 census. Bathgate was founded in 1881. In 1908, the North Dakota School for the Blind was placed in ...
, near the Canadian border.
The Blue Ox motel/truckstop was Stockmen's Truck Stop in
South St. Paul
South St. Paul is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, located immediately south and southeast of Saint Paul, Minnesota, St. Paul. It is also east of West St. Paul, Minnesota, West St. Paul. The population ...
, which is still in business. Ember's, the restaurant where Jerry discusses the ransom drop with Gustafson, was located in
St. Louis Park, the Coens' hometown; the building now houses a medical outpatient treatment center.
The Lakeside Club, where Marge interviewed the two call girls, was a family restaurant—now closed—in
Mahtomedi, Minnesota
Mahtomedi ( ) is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 7,676 at the 2010 census. Mahtomedi is considered to be a suburb of St. Paul, and is located between St. Paul and Stillwater.
Geography
Mahtomedi i ...
. The kidnappers' Moose Lake hideout actually stood on the shore of
Square Lake, near
May, Minnesota. The cabin was relocated to
Barnes, Wisconsin, in 2002. The
Edina
EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group.
Services
EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use for ...
police station where the interior police headquarters scenes were filmed is still in operation, but has been completely rebuilt. The Carlton Celebrity Room was an actual venue in
Bloomington, Minnesota, and
José Feliciano
José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...
did once appear there, but it had been closed for almost ten years when filming began. The Feliciano scene was shot at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre in
Chanhassen
Chanhassen is a city about southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rural ...
, near Minneapolis.
The ransom drop was filmed in two adjacent parking garages on South 8th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Scenes in the Lundegaards' kitchen were shot in a private home on Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis, and the house where Mr. Mohra described the "funny looking little guy" to police is in
Hallock, in northwest Minnesota. The motel "outside of Bismarck", where the police finally catch up with Jerry, is the Hitching Post Motel in
Forest Lake, north of Minneapolis.
While none of ''Fargo'' was actually filmed in Fargo, the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau exhibits original script copies and several props used in the film, including the wood chipper prop.
After the movie's release, by some accounts, Brainerd was invaded by shovel-toting moviegoers searching for the buried ransom cash, inspired by the spurious "based-on-a-true-story" announcement in the opening credits. In 2001, a Japanese woman named
Takako Konishi was found frozen to death near
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Detroit Lakes is a city in the State of Minnesota and the county seat of Becker County. The population was 9,869 at the 2020 census. Its unofficial population during summer months is much higher, estimated by citizens to peak at 13,000 midsum ...
. A rumor emerged that she had been searching for the buried money, but her death was actually ruled a suicide.
Music
As with all the
Coen brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
' films, except ''
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' is a 2000 comedy drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and ...
'' and ''
Inside Llewyn Davis'', the score to ''Fargo'' is by
Carter Burwell.
The main musical
motif is based on a Norwegian folk song, "The Lost Sheep" ( no, Den bortkomne sauen).
Other songs featured in the film include: "
Big City" by
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...
, heard in the King of Clubs while Jerry meets with Carl and Gaear; "
These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin' is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No.1 in the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart.
Su ...
" by
Boy George
George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...
, which plays in the
garage
A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include:
*Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...
as Shep works, and "Let's Find Each Other Tonight", a live nightclub performance by
José Feliciano
José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...
that is viewed by Carl and a female escort. In the diner, when Jerry is urging Wade not to get police involved in his wife's kidnapping,
Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, voice actor, trumpeter and composer.
He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother ...
's "
Feels So Good" can be heard faintly in the background. An instrumental version of "
Do You Know the Way to San Jose
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose" is a 1968 popular song written and composed for singer Dionne Warwick by Burt Bacharach. Hal David wrote the lyrics. The song was Warwick's biggest international hit to that point, selling several million copies ...
" plays during the scene where Marge and Norm are eating at a buffet. The restaurant scene with Mike Yanagita is accompanied by a piano arrangement of "
Sometimes in Winter" by
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
. All the songs heard in the film are featured only as background music, usually on a radio, and do not appear on the soundtrack album.
The soundtrack was released in 1996 on
TVT Records
TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...
, combined with selections from the score to ''
Barton Fink
''Barton Fink'' is a 1991 American period black comedy psychological thriller film written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hir ...
''.
Claims of factual basis
The film opens with the following text:
However, the closing credits bear the standard
fictitious persons disclaimer used by works of fiction. Regarding this apparent discrepancy, the Coen brothers claimed that they based their script on an actual criminal event, but wrote a fictional story around it. "We weren't interested in that kind of fidelity", said Joel Coen. "The basic events are the same as in the real case, but the characterizations are fully imagined ... If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept."
The brothers have modified their explanation more than once. In 1996, Joel Coen told a reporter that—contrary to the opening graphic—the actual murders were not committed in Minnesota.
Many Minnesotans speculated that the story was inspired by
T. Eugene Thompson, a
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
attorney who was convicted of hiring a man to murder his wife in 1963, near the Coens' hometown of
St. Louis Park; but the Coens claimed that they had never heard of Thompson. After Thompson's death in 2015, Joel Coen changed the explanation again: "
he story wascompletely made up. Or, as we like to say, the only thing true about it is that it's a story."
The film's special edition DVD contains yet another account, that the film was inspired by the 1986
murder of Helle Crafts
Helle Crafts (; born Helle Lorck Nielsen; July 7, 1947 – November 19, 1986) was a Danish flight attendant who was murdered by her husband, Eastern Air Lines pilot Richard Crafts. Her death led to the state of Connecticut's first murder conv ...
, a Danish-American flight attendant from
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
at the hands of her husband, Richard, who disposed of her body through a wood chipper.
Accent
The film's illustrations of "
Minnesota nice
Minnesota nice is a cultural stereotype applied to the behavior of people from Minnesota and Wisconsin implying residents are unusually courteous, reserved, mild-mannered and passive-aggressive against people who are not like them. The phrase als ...
" and distinctive
regional accents
In sociolinguistics, an accent is a way of pronouncing a language that is distinctive to a country, area, social class, or individual. An accent may be identified with the locality in which its speakers reside (a regional or geographical acce ...
and expressions made a lasting impression on audiences; years later, locals reported continuing to field tourist requests to say "Yah, you betcha", and other tag lines from the movie.
Dialect coach Liz Himelstein said that "the accent was another character". She coached the cast using audiotapes and field trips. Another dialect coach, Larissa Kokernot (who also played one of the prostitutes), noted that the "small-town, Minnesota accent is close to the sound of the Nords and the Swedes", which is "where the musicality comes from". She taught McDormand "Minnesota nice" and the characteristic head-nodding to show agreement. The strong accent spoken by Macy's and McDormand's characters, which was exaggerated for effect, is less common in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...
, where over 60% of the state's population lives. The Minneapolis and St. Paul dialect is characterized by the
Northern Cities Vowel Shift
Inland Northern (American) English, also known in American linguistics as the Inland North or Great Lakes dialect, is an American English dialect spoken primarily by White Americans in a geographic band reaching from the major urban areas of U ...
, which is also found in other places in the Northern United States as far east as
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...
.
Release
''Fargo'' premiered at the
1996 Cannes Film Festival
The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996 in film, 1996. The Palme d'Or went to ''Secrets & Lies (film), Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh.
The festival opened with ''Ridicule (film), Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and cl ...
, where it was nominated for the competition's highest honor, the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
. Joel Coen won the top directorial award, the ''
Prix de la mise en scène
The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Co ...
''. Subsequent notable screenings included the
Pusan International Film Festival
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...
in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, the
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, and the
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
Film Festival.
In 2006, the sixth annual
Fargo Film Festival marked ''Fargo''s tenth anniversary by projecting the movie on a gigantic screen mounted on the north side of Fargo's then tallest building, the
Radisson Hotel
Radisson Hotels is an international hotel chain headquartered in the United States. A division of the Radisson Hotel Group, it operates the brands Radisson Blu, Radisson Red, Radisson RED, Radisson Collection, Country Inn & Suites, and Park In ...
.
Released theatrically in the United States on March 8, 1996, ''Fargo'' launched in 36 theaters, and grossed $1,024,137 in its first week. In the film's third week, ''Fargo'' was released in 412 theaters, and accumulated a total box office gross of $5,998,890. Overall it grossed $24,281,860 in the United States and Canada. Internationally, ''Fargo'' was released in Canada on April 5, 1996; in the United Kingdom on May 31, 1996 grossing $2.3 million; in Australia on June 6, 1996 grossing $1.5 million; in France on September 4, 1996 grossing $3.9 million; and in Germany on November 14, 1996 grossing $2.4 million.
Overall, the film's international gross was an estimated $36 million for a worldwide total of $60.6 million.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''Fargo'' holds an approval rating of 94% based on 104 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Violent, quirky, and darkly funny, ''Fargo'' delivers an original crime story and a wonderful performance by McDormand." At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
![Frances_McDormand_2015_(cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Frances_McDormand_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Arnold Wayne Jones, writing for the ''
Dallas Observer
''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...
'', called the film an "illuminating amalgam of emotion and thought", praising the directing and writing from the
Coen brothers
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
. From ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'',
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013.
Career
She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mov ...
lauded the performance from Frances McDormand and stated that the film was "dizzily rich, witty, and satisfying". In ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'',
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane is a British journalist who is a film critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine.
Career Education and early career
Lane attended Sherborne School and graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he also ...
singled out McDormand for praise: "Her character—seven months pregnant, polite to a fault, smart yet slow—is only a breath away from caricature, yet McDormand unearths a surprising decency there, and in the process she pretty well rescues the film." ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' journalist Mike Clark also praised the performance of McDormand:
On the other side of the spectrum, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine film critic
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.
He was the former editor-in-chief of '' Film Commen ...
criticized ''Fargo'' for its use of
Minnesota nice
Minnesota nice is a cultural stereotype applied to the behavior of people from Minnesota and Wisconsin implying residents are unusually courteous, reserved, mild-mannered and passive-aggressive against people who are not like them. The phrase als ...
, the accent used in the film. In his review, Corliss stated that "After some superb mannerist films, the Coens are back in the deadpan realist territory of ''
Blood Simple
''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 w ...
'', but without the cinematic elan." (Conversely,
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
, in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', deemed ''Fargo'' "much more stylish and entertaining" than ''Blood Simple'').
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
, writing for his own website, ''ReelThoughts'', gave the film three stars out of five, stating that it was "easy to admire what the Coens are trying to do in ''Fargo'', but more difficult to actually like the film."
John Simon of ''
The National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'' wrote "The Coen brothers' ''Fargo'' is their best film so far, which isn't saying very much". Simon elaborated further that "''Fargo'' could have been a nice little film noir if they hadn't compounded it with black comedy, absurdism, and folksy farce: Scandinavian-American midwesterners up, or down, to their hickish shenanigans. Some of this surprisingly, works, some of it ranges from the unpalatable to the indigestible".
Gene Siskel and
Roger Ebert both ranked ''Fargo'' as the best film of 1996, with Ebert later ranking it fourth on his list of the best films of the 1990s. ''Fargo'' was added to the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
National Film Preservation Board
The United States National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) is the board selecting films for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. It was established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988. The National Film Regis ...
on December 27, 2006.
In 2010, the
Independent Film & Television Alliance
The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) is the trade association that represents companies that finance, produce and license independent film and television programming worldwide. The association is headquartered in Los Angeles, but has ...
selected the film as one of its "30 Most Significant Independent Films" of the last 30 years. The
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Gu ...
ranked the film's screenplay the 32nd greatest ever.
Accolades
Home media
''Fargo'' has been released in several formats:
VHS,
LaserDisc,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
,
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
, and
iTunes download. The first home video release of the film was on November 19, 1996, on a
pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown in fullscreen proportions of a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus ...
cassette. A collector's edition widescreen VHS was also released and included a
snow globe
A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm, or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sph ...
that depicted the woodchipper scene which, when shaken, stirred up both snow and "blood".
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a British film studio founded in 1979 which became a European competitor to Hollywood, but was eventually sold to Seagram Company Ltd. in ...
released ''Fargo'' on DVD on July 8, 1997. In 1999,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, who acquired the rights to the film through their purchase of Polygram's pre-March 31, 1996, library, released the film on VHS as part of its "Contemporary Classics" series. A "Special Edition" DVD was released on September 30, 2003, by
MGM Home Entertainment
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC ( d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video division of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
History ...
, which featured minor changes to the film, particularly with its subtitles. The opening titles stating "This is a true story" have been changed in this edition from the actual titles on the film print to digitally inserted titles. Also, the subtitle preceding Lundegaard's arrest "Outside of Bismarck, North Dakota" has been inserted digitally and moved from the bottom of the screen to the top. The special edition of ''Fargo'' was repackaged in several Coen brothers box sets and also as a double feature DVD with other MGM releases. A Blu-ray version was released on May 12, 2009, and later in a DVD combo pack in 2010. On April 1, 2014, in commemoration for the 90th anniversary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was remastered in
4K and reissued again on Blu-ray. On May 3, 2017,
Shout! Factory announced a 20th anniversary collector's
Steelbook
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
...
edition on Blu-ray, limited to 10,000 copies. The Steelbook was released on August 8, 2017.
Television series
In 1997, a
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
was filmed for an intended television series based on the film. Set in Brainerd shortly after the events of the film, it starred
Edie Falco
Edith Falco (born July 5, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Carmela Soprano on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), and Nurse Jackie Peyton on the Showtime series ''Nurse Jackie'' (2009–2015). She also ...
as Marge Gunderson and Bruce Bohne reprising his role as Officer Lou. It was directed by
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actor and director. Known for her roles in comedic and dramatic films and television programs, she has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, includ ...
and featured no involvement from the Coen brothers. The episode aired in 2003 during
Trio's ''Brilliant But Cancelled'' series of failed TV shows.
A follow-up
TV series inspired by the film, with the Coens as executive producers, debuted on
FX in April 2014. The
first season received acclaim from both critics and audiences. Existing in the same
fictional continuity as the film, each season features a different story, cast, and decade-setting. The episode "
Eating the Blame" reintroduced the buried ransom money for a minor three-episode subplot. Three further seasons have been made thus far; the fourth was released on September 27, 2020.
See also
* ''
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
''Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter'' is a 2014 American drama film co-written and directed by David Zellner. The film stars Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, and Kanako Higashi. Alexander Payne and Kikuc ...
''—a film about a young Japanese woman who becomes obsessed with ''Fargo'', believing the events it depicts to be real.
References
Further reading
* A collection of scholarly essays by several authors about the film and related subjects.
External links
*
*
*
* ''Fargo'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 817-81
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fargo
Fargo,
1996 films
1996 comedy-drama films
1996 crime drama films
1996 crime thriller films
1990s crime comedy films
1990s English-language films
American black comedy films
American crime comedy films
American neo-noir films
BAFTA winners (films)
British crime comedy films
British neo-noir films
British pregnancy films
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo–Moorhead
Films about kidnapping
Films adapted into television shows
Films directed by the Coen brothers
Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance
Films scored by Carter Burwell
Films set in 1987
Films set in Minnesota
Films set in Minneapolis
Films set in North Dakota
Films shot in Minnesota
Films shot in North Dakota
Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award
Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award
Gramercy Pictures films
Independent Spirit Award for Best Film winners
American independent films
1996 independent films
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
TVT Records soundtracks
United States National Film Registry films
Working Title Films films
1990s American films
1990s British films