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Marty, a brooding Texas bar owner, is estranged from his younger wife. She leaves him for a bartender. Marty hires a sleazy, onerous hit man to kill his wife, and her lover. . .
This mid-West thriller has been described as the "Crime and Punishment" of the modern B-movie, and certainly, the 'original sin' sets into motion forces and circumstances the protagonist cannot control. But the central ingredients -the murder, the husband, the wife, the infidel, the private detective, the gun - are more the makings of film noir, and within this genre, Blood Simple is vastly superior to recent efforts like Body Heat, Strangers Kiss and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Joel and Ethan Coen, associated with Sam Raimi's smash horror hit The Evil Dead, sprinkle false clues and ironic sub- texts throughout their film with an effortless ease, playfuIly manipulating the 'keep'em guessing' film noir genre, Blood Simple is so well crafted - its intelligence and sense of style so perfectly matching its humour and film buff references -- as to make it almost impossible to dislike.
"Blood Simple infiltrates the central nervous system ... watch this film and these filmmakers closely. Neither will disappoint.”
Time