Blood Simple: The Director's Cut

Back in the early Eighties when, film-wise at least, Texas was best known for its urban cowboys and best little whorehouses, there came along a movie in early 1985 that not only blew those myths out of the water but also reinvigorated the classic film noir style and lent a credible face to the burgeoning independent film movement. Filmed the year before around Austin and Hutto by the out-of-town, filmmaking brother duo, Joel and Ethan Coen, Blood Simple grabbed the national spotlight with its audacious visual stylings, down-and-dirty story about a marriage gone rotten, and the perception that the film and its makers sprang out of nowhere, fully formed. While that's not quite accurate, it is true that many of the film's first-timers have proven themselves over the years to be maverick talents (Coen brothers: Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski; cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld: directed Men in Black and The Addams Family; music coordinator Carter Burwell: Being John Malkovich, among many others). Now comes the director's cut, which is, in the brothers' words, “digitally enhanced and tastefully restored,” with “all the boring parts taken out.” Amazingly, this results in a cut that is shorter than the original release, even though it includes a prologue in which a tongue-in-cheek host tells us, Masterpiece Theatre-style, about the significance of Blood Simple and its restoration. Ultimately, it would require a side-by-side comparison to notice most of the changes. However, certain things never change. Frances McDormand appears radiantly natural and M. Emmet Walsh's sleazy and sweaty private investigator remains the actor's signature role. Blood Simple remains as good as it ever was, and improved slightly by hindsight, experience, and extra cash.