January 2, 2024 • 59 mins
Brace yourself for a subzero cinematic journey as we explore the wintry wit and suspense of the Coen Brothers' "Fargo." Discover the complexities of Jerry Lundegaard's bumbling crime gone wrong, and how the frigid Minnesota landscape becomes a silent character in this tale of desperation and dark comedy. No guest needed; just you, me, and the quirky universe of a cult classic that defies genre boundaries and continues to freeze audiences in their tracks.
Hold onto your snow hats as we unravel the hilariously tense moment when Jean's quiet knitting is shattered by the intrusion of two bumbling kidnappers. Contrast that with Jerry's own unraveling in corporate meetings, painting a stark picture of a man whose schemes are as slippery as the ice-covered roads his ill-fated plans travel on. The episode's storytelling is as kinetic as a high-speed chase across a snow-blanketed landscape, capturing the chaos of a crime that's as absurd as it is deadly.
Finally, we wrap up snugly, examining the aftermath of a criminal plan skidding out of control. Marge's earnest sleuthing peels away the layers of Jerry's precarious web of lies, leading us to a wood chipper scene that's as gruesome as it is iconic. "Fargo" serves up a frosty reminder that, sometimes, greed leads to nothing but heartache and hilarity. So stoke the fire and join me for a deep dive into the frostbitten soul of this unique film, where the chill in the air is matched only by the warmth of our collective chuckles at human folly.
If you'd like to own your own copy for when this film isn't streaming, look no further!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, travis Dutting.
And welcome to 2024, new Yearsame mediocre podcast.
But hey, we're going to keeppushing anyway.
So, something I wanted to do forthe month of January.
I wanted to do another themedmonth, like I've been doing, but
(00:25):
I had the idea of doing snow orwinter movies that aren't
necessarily holiday related.
So, without further ado, let'sget into our first one of the
year.
This is the Colin BrothersClassic Fargo from 1996.
Great movie.
If you haven't seen it, Ihighly recommend it.
(00:47):
But yeah, very winter, heavyplot and everything like that,
and takes place during winter,takes place in the snow.
So that's why I wanted to coverit this month.
Let's get right into it.
So we open on a card that saysthat the story is a true story.
But I always love when thingsare marketed as a true story
(01:19):
when they obviously aren't.
Now some of the stuff mighthave happened in this one.
It says that the names andlocations were changed and all
that, and I probably should havelooked that up, but I honestly
didn't think about it sinceuntil now, like after writing
down that note.
But yeah, it says it's a truestory says the names and
(01:42):
locations were changed, but thestory's told exactly how it
happened in order to like honorthe dead, that type of thing,
and this one takes place inMinnesota in 1987.
Real quick, if you're familiarwith the movie but not familiar
(02:05):
with the TV show.
It is connected and I'll talk alittle bit about that.
Like once we get to that pointin the movie like where there is
a connection, but it's veryloosely connected and basically
all these events happen in theMidwest and Fargo is very
(02:28):
loosely related.
It's just kind of just onecentral location but everything
else usually happens in anotherMidwest city or state even.
But if you haven't seen theshow, check it out, especially
seasons one and two.
Three was okay and I haven'tseen four and five yet.
(02:51):
But that's another reason Iwanted to do this movie is
because it gave me a reason torewatch it and then I could
rewatch through the series andget more caught up on it and
everything like that, becausethe new season looks really good
and so did the last one.
But it was just a weird time ofmy life where I wasn't doing a
lot of TV watching.
(03:11):
But enough about that.
Opening shot is a snowy road.
The snow's blowing across, soit's very low visibility, but we
see a car pulling a trailerwith another car on the back and
just going down the road, thiscar pulls into the town of Fargo
(03:35):
and the last time we're goingto see that town of Fargo in the
whole movie but it pulls in andthis is where we meet one of
our main characters, because I'dsay that there's two leads and
two sides of a story basicallygoing on here.
Maybe three leads, but becausethere are like three plots going
(03:58):
on.
But so yeah, one of three mainprotagonists, jerry Lundergard,
played by William H Macy, who isjust amazing at doing this like
exacerbated pushover typecharacter and really bringing
(04:20):
out the big guns with this oneand I'd say another one that is
kind of like that is hischaracter in Boogie Nights and
his character in Magnolia, sotwo Paul Thomas Anderson
classics right there.
So he's having a meeting withCarl and Gare Carl played by
(04:47):
Steve Buscemi and Gare played byPeter Stormair, and you could
tell right off the bat thatthese guys are criminals they're
talking about.
So he's basically bringing themthis car, which is part of a
deal, and there's also thisgoing to be this $40,000 ransom.
(05:13):
Well, I think it's.
No, the ransom is $80,000.
And then the criminals keep$40,000 and he keeps $40,000.
And we understand that, that hehas a wealthy father-in-law and
that the plan is to kidnap hiswife and stage a kidnapping,
(05:42):
stage, a ransom.
Criminals keep the half of themoney and William H Jerry keeps
the other half of the money andthe plan is like the wife
doesn't get hurt or anythinglike that, they just kidnap her.
Each of them get their moneyand then they move on and
(06:02):
they're like okay, like, whydon't you ask the father-in-law
for money?
And then he's like no, I can'tdo that, because he doesn't like
me pretty much.
And I mean they're right offthe bat just poking oh my God, I
can't talk today.
They're poking all these holesin his logic of his plan and
(06:24):
everything like that and justpointing out, okay, there's all
these things that can go wrong.
Why don't you just do that?
Why don't you do all thesedifferent obvious things?
And he says, well, I'm intosome trouble and he'd rather not
have either of them know whatit is.
And I don't think we everreally hear what the trouble is
(06:47):
that he's in, if it's a gamblingdebt, like a loan shark thing
or what?
But he owes somebody money andthis is.
He's basically fallen to thisposition, hit rock bottom and
this is his only way out in hishead.
So we see Jerry come back to thehouse he's got groceries, goes
(07:09):
into the does he have groceries?
I don't know, I could begetting either way.
He comes home, his wife's inthe kitchen cooking.
His wife his name is Jean andthen we've learned that his
father-in-law is there also andhe's there for dinner.
He's just on the couch with aglass of probably, whiskey and
watching the hockey game on TV.
(07:30):
So during the scene at thedinner table, while they're
having dinner as a family, it'sJerry, his wife, his son and his
father-in-law, wade, and he hasthis business proposition for
Wade saying like, oh, like, Ihave this idea, like let's buy a
parking lot and like, basically, I just need you to invest in
(07:53):
upfront the money and you knowit's going to be a good
investment, it's going to bevery lucrative.
And he's Wade's very like.
No, I don't know, that doesn'treally sound like it's going to
a good idea, but still talk to Ithink it's Stan, another
accountant guy at the at thefirm, because they work for a.
Wade owns a car dealership andJerry is the chief chief sales
(08:20):
officer or something like that.
So Wade's just kind of blowingthem off about this, but not
outright saying no.
So we get a little bit of theinsight into how like difficult
Wade is to deal with and how hedoesn't really like Jerry all
that much.
And then the son asks if he canbe excused and gets up and
(08:45):
leaves and like he didn't finishhis dinner and the, his
grandpa's like okay, like youdidn't.
You know always saying to the,the parents, like what he
doesn't finish his dinner.
And then he gets to go toMcDonald's with his friends and
just like insinuating that he'sgoing to be just up to no good
there, whatever, he's just likea difficult old man.
(09:05):
But the mom was like he's fine,he's just young, he's just the
kid you know, they're just goingto hang out, whatever.
So then we get cut to Garin,carl.
They're arguing over like wherethey're going to eat dinner.
They're just driving.
Obviously they're on their wayfrom Fargo to wherever Jerry is
(09:29):
to kidnap the wife and they'rejust having this like argument
about what, where they're goingto eat.
Because Garin just wants to eatat House of Pancakes, so which
is?
Or pancake house is how he saysit, but he has an accent that
isn't.
But they don't really talkabout, like where he's from or
(09:52):
anything like that.
So but you could tell that he'snot a full American or not born
in America Not that it matters,but it's just just one of those
character traits that they justgive without a explanation,
which I think is always a littlemore effective.
(10:14):
You don't need a backstory foreverything about everyone.
You know you don't need to findout why Solo or Han Solo is
named Solo.
You know that's not necessary.
But so we got Gar.
He wants pancakes and he's likewhat?
Like we just had pancakes forbreakfast.
Carl says this and it's like wejust need to go somewhere with
(10:39):
a steak and beer and a shot.
You know, that's what I want.
And then it cuts back to Jerry.
We see him at work.
He is trying to sell a car tothis couple and he's arguing
with them and saying, like theguy's like calling him a liar,
saying like you said that thecar was ready to go at this
(11:00):
price.
And now I get down here andyou're trying to push this true
coat on and everything like this.
You know, sealant on the paintand everything like that and
he's like, ah, no, like it justcomes like that from the factory
.
But let me go talk to my bossand he's like, pretends, like to
go, which I'm sure this is amajor salesman trick anyway,
(11:22):
Like you know.
You know that you can.
He's basically trying to traphim into a certain price that's
above what he initiallyadvertised, but below like what
he's trying to make it seem likehe's given him a deal at where
he's really not.
He's still like the guy's stillpaying more money and he's not
(11:43):
falling for it.
But he does like he knows thathe's getting screwed over but he
still ends up buying the caranyway.
So then we cut back to Carl andGare.
They're pulling into Brainerd.
They make sure to show you thesign Welcome to Brainerd, a home
of Paul Bunyan and Babe, theBlue Ox giant, paul Bunyan
(12:06):
statue.
And they pull into the Blue OxMotel.
They get a couple of sexworkers that's one of the things
that they talked about I guessthat was the compromise for not
getting pancakes is that theyget prostitutes to have sex with
and they're like just one ineach bed with a different girl,
(12:27):
whatever.
A little awkward.
But hey, that's your thing.
That's your thing and it seemslike it's like a nothing scene.
It's just showing you like thisis what they're doing right now
, and then it cuts to them, likejust watching TV with them, you
know, and then it doesn't seemlike it's important, but it'll
come back later.
(12:49):
Then we get Jerry.
He's at home.
He gets a call from Wade, hisfather-in-law, and he's saying
like, hey, like I'm talking toStan, this deal sounds like it
might be a good thing, so whydon't you come in and we'll talk
about it?
You know me, you and Stan.
And he's like, oh, like, okay,like I might get the.
(13:12):
I think he says out loud.
He's like, oh, like I wouldneed the money up front and all
this stuff.
So he's like, okay, like Imight not need this kidnapping
thing to happen.
So he tries to have it calledoff.
He calls his middleman, whichis a Shep Proudfoot and we'll
(13:34):
actually see him later.
Oh, yeah, he's saying that hecan't get ahold of them, like
it's already it's going tohappen.
You know, I can't like call itoff at this point.
Cut back to Carl and Gare.
They're driving intoMinneapolis.
We can see like the, all thebig buildings and everything,
and he's just trying to like geta conversation out of Gare and
(13:58):
all of, and he doesn't like sayanything like at all.
And he's just like you knowwe're driving like four hours.
I'm doing all the driving Like,all I want to do is just like
talk.
You know, like can't you justsay like anything Like.
But you know it's just like oneof those strong silent types.
So I was just not really onefor conversation and you could
also tell that he's like veryannoyed with Carl and, which is
(14:21):
another character.
That's a type of character thatSteve Buscemi is really good at
is just playing like a weird,annoying guy.
Cut to Jerry he's back at hisoffice.
He gets a call from the banksaying like hey, um, so you send
us the paperwork over for thesecars that you put up as like a
(14:43):
collateral for us to loan you$300,000 basically.
But on the paperwork the serialnumbers are hard to read Like.
So I need you to just give methose serial numbers.
Obviously, jerry fudged thesenumbers and these cars probably
(15:03):
don't exist because he's tryingvery hard to like beat around
the bush and saying like okay,like I'll fax you over another
copy or you know all this stuff.
And he's like no, like this onewas a fax like and we can't
read it, so I need you to justtell them to me.
And he's like well, I don'thave that information on me
right now, so I'll have myassistant or secretary, whoever,
(15:26):
send you a copy, like an actualhard copy.
And the banker is like hesitant, but he's like, okay, that'll
do so.
Yeah, it's just like anotherscene that is showing like how
in over his head Jerry is andlike it's more than one thing
that he's got, like that he'sscrewed up on his own and he's
(15:49):
trying to like wiggle his wayout of.
So he's like got this kidnapthing, got whatever deal that he
has that he owes money for, andnow this like fraudulent loan
and everything like that.
So just like just the guythat's like just always trying
(16:12):
to get out of trouble and justdigs himself even deeper hole.
So now we cut to Gene.
She's at the house watching TVand knitting, I think, and as
she's watching TV she looks outthe sliding glass door and here
(16:33):
come to the two kidnappers withtheir.
They got the ski masks on andeverything.
And it's funny because she'sjust like watching them, like
all scared, like what's going onand which I don't know why,
like she should have called thecops like as soon as she saw
them.
But you know, but she's justlike watching them and they're
(16:56):
like just peeking in the housebut they don't see her and
they're just like trying tofigure out how to get in.
And then it's not until one ofthem breaks the window or breaks
the sliding glass door that shelike screams and tries to run.
Gare grabs her, but then shelike bites his hand.
And then she runs upstairs,grabs the phone and is trying to
(17:20):
call the police One of them,like because we don't, we don't
see who it is, but we see the,because it's a wired landline
phone, because it's 1987.
So someone pulls the phone cordthrough the bathroom door and
yanks it out of her hand beforeshe can dial anything.
(17:43):
She's in the bathroom, she, wesee her open the window like
she's going to jump out thewindow.
But then it cuts to them likebreaking the door open.
They get in there, they seethat the doors are, that the
windows open, and like Carl'slike oh, she must have got
outside, let me go get her.
(18:03):
And Gare is just like worriedabout the bite on his hand.
He's just looking for some likeointment or something in the
medicine cabinet and while he'sabout to put the ointment on, he
notices the shower curtain.
He's like, oh, I bet she's inthere.
And but before he can pull itopen and see that she's in there
, she like tries I don't know ifshe's trying to tackle him,
(18:25):
like with the shower curtain orand rush him or just like panics
and tries to run.
But she has the shower curtainon her because that, like she
pulls that off and it's coveringher face.
So she ends up falling down thestairs uh, cause she can't see
and knocks herself out.
So, uh, he made their job easy.
(18:48):
So then we see, uh, jerry'smeeting with Wade and Stan and
uh, they're like oh yeah, likeit looks like a really good deal
, it looks like it's going tomake like a lot of money and all
the numbers are right.
So, uh, what's your finders fee?
And Jerry's like, what do youmean Like finders fee?
Like, no, like this is this ismy deal, I just want the you
(19:10):
guys to invest in it.
And they're like well, whywould we do that?
Like, why would we just giveyou all this money?
And like, uh, he's like well,like, I'd pay you the, I'd pay
you back the principal plusinterest, and they're like no,
like that's, that's a terriblebusiness idea for us, like we'll
just give you the finders fee,like what's your fee?
(19:32):
And Jerry's like no, likefinders fees only, like 10%,
like I need more than that,basically, um.
And then it ends with uh, orthe meeting ends with Jerry like
turning them down on thefinders fee and walking away
with nothing, because they'relike all right, well, we're
still going to invest this, uh,this idea, um, but you know, if
(19:56):
you don't want the finders fee,then I don't know what to tell
you.
Uh, I think I get the, theprinciple behind Jerry being
like offended by this, like Iget it, but on their end, like
yeah it, it just makes moresense, um, and I think it is
(20:20):
because, well, just look at howin over his head he is in
multiple aspects of his life,he's not the most reliable
person.
So it's definitely a betterbusiness uh decision on the
weighed and stance part than itis for Jerry.
Uh.
(20:41):
One of the coolest shots, though, is like after um way or not
wait, uh, after Jerry leaves alldefeated.
It's just this overhead shot ofhim walking into the uh snow
covered parking lot, and his isthe only car in the parking lot
and it's just like a real coolshot that I always really liked.
But when he gets to his car,like he's trying to like scrape
(21:03):
the ice off, and then he haslike a little bit of a um, like
a little outburst and everything.
He's like hitting the icescraper on the windshield and
throws it and you know, justlike taking out his frustration
and uh.
But then we see him come homewith the groceries and he's like
hello, like Jean, like you home, and then sees like that the
(21:28):
kidnappers have done their part,uh.
And then we hear, uh, we justoverhear him, like like wait,
it's Jerry.
Like, oh my God, like Jean,like I don't know what happened,
you know, and.
But then he says it like acouple of different times in a
couple of different ways, andthen the camera pans over, then
we see that he's rehearsing howhe's going to uh call Wade and
(21:51):
tell her that or tell him thatJean is kidnapped, um, so, and
he's just trying to like get itright and everything.
Uh.
But I think the funniest partis like we keep hearing them
with all these like exacerbatedor uh, I keep not exasperated uh
voices and everything like thatUm.
(22:12):
But then when uh he calls,finally it's just like the um
receptionist.
So he's just like, uh, yeah, uh, wade please, but just it's
just like.
So matter of fact.
And then you, you think thathe's all like panicking and
everything like that, like if itwas real, then you know, I mean
, the kidnapping was real, buthe knows about it, he's in on it
(22:36):
, so you know what I mean.
So we see our two kidnappers.
They uh are going the other waydown the road, uh passing the
Paul Bunyan statue again that wesaw before Um, tregov's Paul
Bunyan, I guess and uh, theyhave a gene in the backseat, uh,
with like blankets over her orwhatever, and Gare's telling her
(22:57):
to shut up or I'm going to haveto shoot you, or one of them
says that I forget which one, um, and uh, they end up getting
pulled over by uh state trooperhighway patrolman, something
like that, um, I think it's astate trooper, uh.
And so they pull over and likeCarl's like haha, like I don't
have the tags on there, I neverput the tags on the license
(23:19):
plate.
And um, so he's like, don'tworry, like I got this, like
just play it cool.
And tells uh gene in the back,like, if you don't, like, if you
move, then I'll shoot you, youknow.
So the trooper gets up to thewindow and it's like, oh, like,
uh, how can I help you officer?
And he's like, oh, um, you know, like, if you uh, this says
(23:42):
like, is this a new car?
And he's like yeah, like, uh,it is.
And he's like, you're supposedto have the dealer plates, like
in the window or taped withlicense plate goes.
And yeah, he's like oh, yeah,sorry, like you know, I like I
meant to do that but, um, itjust slipped my mind, so I'm
sorry about that.
And he goes to hand him hislicense and registration and
(24:04):
it's his wallet, with thelicense there, but also a $50
bill, like, hanging out of thewallet.
And he's trying to like oh,like, I was hoping maybe we
could just take care of thishere and in Brainerd.
And the cops like, what are youdoing?
Like, and he's not, you couldtell he's not going to take the
bribe or anything like that.
(24:24):
And he's like all right, juststep out of the car.
Or like, put that back in yourpocket and step out of the car.
And this is where Gare reachesover.
Carl grabs the cop, I don'tknow who, grabs his tie,
something and pulls him down andshoots him in the head and like
(24:45):
literally like just blood, likelike all over Carl, all over
the inside of the car.
It's just like coming out likea fountain and it's just, it's
super intense, like the wholething.
And then they're like oh my God, oh my God, like Carl's like
okay, like that, gare's justlike take care of it yourself,
like whatever.
And he's like get him off theroad.
(25:06):
And so Carl gets out of the car.
He's trying to pull the copsbody off the road, like probably
put in the ditch or you knowsomething.
As he's struggling with pickinghim up, here comes a car down
the road and it's just like twolocals probably coming down the
highway and they kind of slowdown because they see like the
(25:27):
cop, you know the lights andeverything.
They slow down and see thatCarl has a dead cop in his arms
and they're like then they driveoff and then Gare, just like,
jumps over into the driver'sseat, closes the door and takes
(25:48):
off after these two guys or it'sa couple and so he's chasing
him down the road while Carl'sstill trying to get the cop off
the road and everything.
He's chasing him.
He's trying to catch up withthem because they like sped off
once they saw what was happening, like as anybody probably would
, and he's chasing them down theroad.
(26:11):
It's getting dark, he's kind oflosing the the tail lights, but
then he comes up on the car andit's flipped over in the snow.
So they, you know it's snowing,so it's easy to lose control,
especially when you're goingthat fast.
They went off the road, flippedthe car.
Gare gets out, he's got his gun.
(26:32):
He sees the guy big old red,puffy coat running out in the
snow and just gets shot in theback and then goes over to the
car that's flipped over andthere's the you know the
significant other, the womanthat's in there and she's in the
car, it's upside down andeverything, and then he just
(26:54):
like kind of stands back andkills her.
Now we get introduced to ourother main character, marge
Gunderson, played by FrancisMcDermott, and we see her
getting a call like late atnight and we're only here on
(27:15):
like her side of the car or ofeverything and everything like
that.
So she's getting out of bed,her husband's there with her.
I forget I always forget theactor's name, but he was the
zodiac killer.
And zodiac, well, the one thatthey strongly suggest is the
zodiac killer, but he's a greatactor.
(27:38):
And so he's like oh, like yougot to go to work.
And she's like yeah, like, butyou go back to sleep and he's
like no, like, I'll make youbreakfast, like you got to eat
before you go.
And so he insists on making hereggs.
We see that she's pregnant onceshe gets up, and then we see
them having their breakfasttogether.
(27:59):
She gets up to leave, you know,so it's goodbye and everything.
Goes out to the car and thencomes right back in and says
that the cop car needs a jump.
So now, then we see her at thecrime scene and out and
brainered on the side of theroad, there's another cop there
(28:22):
waiting for with coffee, hotchocolate, something hot, and so
just like, okay, triplehomicide, we got these two here.
And then the trooper back up theroad and like, right away, like
, puts it together, like, allright, like just the way that
they're shot and that the factthat there's a dead cop and
(28:43):
she's like I bet that they, youknow, traffic stop, gone wrong,
these two drive by and they getchased and taken care of after
that and sees that thefootprints are rather large
there.
But then when they go back towhere the state trooper was
(29:06):
killed, notices that thefootprints are different and
smaller.
And so, like she's right rightoff the bat, like figuring
everything out, like prettyquick, and they're like, oh,
like, what were the?
Like did you get the troopersnotebook?
Like, like, what's the licenseplate?
And they have the car type.
And then he says that thelicense plate just says DLR.
(29:28):
And he's like, oh, like I bet,like he got shot before he could
finish writing the number.
And she's like I don't know,like I'm gonna have to call you
on that police work, I bet,because what I think happened is
that it's dealer plates, dlr.
And he's like, oh, okay.
(29:49):
So then we see Jerry, wade andStan at a diner and they're
trying to figure out how they'regoing to handle this hostage
situation.
And Wade wants to get the copsinvolved and Jerry's like no,
they said no cops.
Like if something goes wrong,like they're going to kill her,
like, so, like we need to playthis their way.
(30:10):
And then Stan's like you knowwhat, I'm going to have to agree
with Jerry on this, likethey're holding all the cards
and you know.
So if we mess with them in anyway, like it can only go bad for
us.
And but Wade's still like no,like, like is my money, like all
(30:30):
this stuff.
And but like in the end, likethey're, the plan is to go with
the Jerry's plan.
And then we get like one of thelike most subtly sad parts is
Stan asked how the sun is doinglike with all this.
(30:51):
And you can tell that Jerrylike didn't even think about
that, like at all, like noregard for how this kidnapping
was gonna affect his son andanything like that.
And you just tell in his tonethat like oh yeah, he didn't
even think about that.
So he does go like talk to thesun, and the sun, you could tell
(31:12):
, is like freaked out andnervous and he's like what if
they come back, are they gonnahurt her?
What are they doing with her?
And Jerry's like yeah, it'sgonna be okay, like all they
want is money and they have noreason to hurt her.
So because if they do, thenthey won't get the money.
And like he's just trying tocomfort and he's, you know, not
(31:34):
doing a very good job of it.
But you know, then we see Carland Gar get to the, the, I guess
their safe house.
You know it's funny, you thinkof a safe house is more of like
a good guy thing, but it's theirhide out or whatever.
It's just a house out by a lakeor something like that.
(31:56):
And we see they open the cardoor to get Jean out.
She has a bag on her head andshe's like handcuffed hands
behind her back and everythingand she tries to run for it but
you know, again, can't seeanything.
And you see her like run in thesnow and fall and then get up
(32:17):
and try to run again and theCarl's just like laughing at her
, like, oh, like, and you know,eventually she just gives up and
then they take her inside.
So the cops figure out that thecar that they're looking for
had checked into the Blue OxMotel and that they it was two
(32:38):
guys and that they had two womenwith them.
And so she's like okay, likeyou know, figure that out, like
let me go talk to these two sexworkers and see what I can
figure out.
And so she's talking to them.
And this is actually the firstscene I ever seen of this movie
(33:01):
and it was when I got the, whenit first came out the game, seen
it, it was one of the movieclips that they played on the my
play or whatever, and it wasthis interview of with the Marge
and the two sex workers andit's, it's hilarious, like just
(33:22):
a lot of the real strongMidwestern accent, that oh yeah,
and stuff like that, and justall the lines are like really
funny to like.
She asked the one like oh, like, what can you tell me about the
like, what do they look like?
And she's like well, the littleone was really funny looking
and she's like funny looking,how like, can you be any more
(33:44):
specific than that?
And she's like no, just funny,looking like he was on a
circumcised.
And Marge is like oh, besidesthat, how was he funny looking?
And she's like I don't know.
And the other one says like,well, the other guy, the big guy
, was like remind me of theMarlboro man, but maybe that's
just because you smoked.
(34:05):
Marlboro is like, there's likea subconscious thing or
something like that.
And she's like not reallygetting anywhere with them.
But then one of them doesremember that they said that
they were going to the TwinCities, which is in Minneapolis,
and she was like, oh, like, isthat helpful?
And then Marge is like, oh yeah, like that helps me a lot.
(34:29):
So we see Marge back at thehouse.
She gets another.
Well, we see her come homefirst, then she's in bed with
her husband.
She gets a call late at nightfrom Mike Yanagida, and it's
like an old school friend ofhers, maybe ex-boyfriend, I
(34:50):
forget if they say likespecifically, but he's just like
, oh, like I saw you on the newsand like I couldn't believe it
was you, because he's callingher by her maiden name, like.
He's like, oh, like I'm in town, like and all this stuff, like
it'd be cool to like catch up.
And she's like, oh yeah, likecool.
Then we see Carl calling Jerryfrom a pay phone and he's like
(35:13):
hey, like we need more money,like shit got out of hand,
there's three people dead.
And like this isn't what wesigned up for, so you're going
to have to pay us more money.
And Jerry's like, freaking outabout this.
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Like like what?
What?
Who's dead?
Like, like this isn't part ofthe plan.
(35:34):
And like first you make surethat Jean's not the one that's
dead.
And then he's like no, likeJean's fine, but like, give me
more money or she won't be.
And he's basically Carl'sbasically saying like hey, I'm
going to take the full 80,000.
Now, you know there's nosplitting it now like now we get
all the money.
(35:55):
Right after he gets off thephone with Carl, phone rings
again and it's the bank and thistime they're a little more like
okay, like still didn't getthose serial numbers and we need
that.
And if we don't get that, thenI'm going to be that we're going
to have to report this to theIRS and all this stuff and also
get the money to take the whole300,000 back.
(36:15):
And so he's like no, like I'mgoing to send it.
Like it's on, it's in the mail,it's on its way.
And he's just like get morefrustrated and more things are
going wrong for him andeverything like that.
C-march gets the phone recordsfrom the Blue Ox Motel Lobby
(36:36):
phone.
I think this is while she's atdinner with her husband, norm,
and they're at like a buffet,other cop comes up to her, says
like hey, like we got the phonerecords and like they made two
calls, one to Minneapolis andone to a private residence of
(36:59):
Shep Proudfoot and like okay,like we'll check both of them
out.
We see another argument of Wadetrying to take control of the
situation and he's saying likehey, it's my money, I'm going to
do the drop and Jerry's.
Like no, like you can't, likethey said it has to be just me,
and like it's too risky.
(37:20):
Like you're going to, but forsome reasons, like, and that
does make sense, like, but forsome reason, I think because
money is involved then standslike siding with Wade this time.
So I don't know what likechanged his mind about that.
But you know, I get it fromWade's side to an extent.
But I think, if you know ifyour daughter is, if her life is
(37:45):
in danger, like why would youlike try to mess with that?
You know, I don't know.
We see Carl pull into an airportparking garage.
He goes up to the top floor,finds a or maybe it's not a
garage, it could just be aparking lot.
Either way.
He's in a parking lot, finds acar, steals the plates off the
(38:07):
back and puts them on his car,obviously, and then he goes to
leave the parking lot and he'slike hey, like I decided not to
park here in the parking tent.
It's like okay, but it's likewhat do you mean?
Like you didn't decide to parkhere, like it's an airport, like
um, he's like, oh, I decidednot to take the trip.
And he's like, okay, well, it'sstill like a four dollar flat
(38:29):
fee.
And Carl's just like arguingwith them and he's like, but I'm
not parking here, like I was inhere for like five minutes and
I just want to leave now.
And the guy's like, well, it'sstill like a four dollar fee.
And that, um, carl just likeberates him and but then, like,
throws him four dollars andleaves.
So now that uh Jerry ispanicking that Wade is going to
(38:52):
be the one to take the money andhe can't stop, you, can't talk
him out of it.
So he goes to talk to Shep inorder to get the get word to
Carl, like, hey, like I can'tstop this from happening, it's
going to be him Like, but ourdeal still stands, okay.
Another bit of informationthat's interesting is like we,
uh we hear the conversation thatuh Wade is having with Jerry
(39:15):
and Stan and he's saying like,oh, like, let's just uh offer a
half a million.
And they're like, no, that'stoo low, like we shouldn't like
lowball them.
So this is where we find outthat Jerry has told Wade that
it's more money than you knowwhat we heard before, because
(39:36):
before we heard 80,000 and nowit's obviously a lot more.
So I think it's Jerry trying tohave security for this bank
thing If that goes wrong, and hehas to pay that money back.
So, um, and I and that'sprobably the other reason that
he needs to get in contact withCarl like hey, it's going to be
(39:58):
more money, we're going to splitthat instead, or whatever.
You know, because if, uh, ifWade shows up with a million
dollars and in cash and it'sjust Carl there, then Carl's was
going to take the rest of themoney.
You know which down the line iswhat happens.
(40:18):
But, uh, so Jerry's there at thegarage where Shep works and he
goes to talk to him.
But Shep's inside talking toMarge, Like she's there
interviewing him because youknow that was the other one of
the calls that she'sinvestigating.
So obviously Jerry's freakingout about this.
(40:39):
Uh, he leaves, um, but uh, itdoesn't matter, because next
Marge goes to his office becausehe was the other call, like it
was to the dealership, um, sohe's trying to like throw her
off the set and doing a terriblejob, because he's doing nothing
but making himself looksuspicious, like even if she
wasn't suspicious of him.
(40:59):
She is not like before.
She definitely is now, becausehe's just like digging himself a
bigger hole, everything he says.
And she's like, hey, like we'reany cars stolen off the lot?
And he's like, nope, no carswere stolen.
She's like, are you sure?
Like you want to go doublecheck?
And she's like, no, likethere's definitely no cars
(41:24):
stolen any you know recently.
Um, but you know, I think shecould tell that there's
something going on with him.
For sure, you know, anyone cantell.
And uh, um, you know she getswhat she needs.
And then uh takes off, leavesand of course, jerry's just
sweating even more now.
Uh, she goes to um meet withMike cause she has to go.
(41:47):
She's staying in Minneapolis,uh, so it's obviously a little
bit of a drive.
So she was there for the uhinvestigation, but that's where
her old friend Mike was too.
So she's like, oh, like I'mgoing to go meet him for lunch.
And uh, she goes to meet himfor lunch.
Uh, he's like very, uh, I'd saylike touchy, feely a little bit
(42:09):
.
Um, I just like very happy tosee her and everything.
Uh tries to go sit on the sameside of the um booth as her and
she's like Nope, like I'd preferif you go sit on the other side
.
And then he, like he gets allembarrassed and she's like no,
like I just don't want to likehurt my neck.
(42:29):
Like looking at you, I want tolike you know straight ahead, uh
, but you could tell that likefrom the conversation that he's
very, uh, lonely.
He, I mean, he says outrightthat he's very lonely and that
his uh, that he has kids but hiswife died of cancer and all
this stuff and he's just havinga really hard time.
(42:49):
Um, but she's just like, hey,like you know, I'm, I'm here as
a friend, you know nothing likethat.
And uh, you know, after the uhlunch is over, we get a scene
with Carl and he's just out todinner by himself Well, apart
from Gar, because he's back atthe house watching Jean, but
(43:14):
he's out with this, uh, withanother sex worker.
Uh, they're out at uh like anightclub with like a live
performance.
Uh, it's Jose Feliciano, andhe's like, if like a live
performance, uh, it's JoseFeliciano.
Um, most widely known like ifyou're not listening to uh
Spanish music, everyone knowsFelice Navidad, so, uh, that's
(43:39):
who they're watching.
And uh, like the you can tellthe dates not really into it,
but you know they're, they'reout anyway.
Um, they're just cut back tothem.
Uh, having sex in the hotel roomand door, door bus open, it's
Shep.
He grabs the girl, throws heroff, or maybe Carl pushes her, I
(44:04):
forget.
Either way she's off and he'sbeating the shit out of Carl,
like I'm not going back toprison because of you.
Like what the fuck did you do?
And all this stuff.
And he's like yeah, just like.
Beats the crap out of him.
Then leaves.
Like like better not be talkingto cops about me or any of this
(44:26):
stuff.
Like leave me out of it.
Like all right.
So then Carl calls Jerry andhe's like pissed off.
And he's like, hey, like we'regetting this over with 30
minutes.
Dayton Radisson parking garage,top floor, and like doesn't even
give Jerry a chance to sayanything.
So Jerry can't warn him.
Like hey, it's not going to beme, it's going to be Wade.
(44:47):
But then phones hung up, wadegoes, goes there, we see him
that he has a gun and he has itlike in his jacket while he's
pulling into the garage, gets upto the top, gets out of the car
and Carl's like who the fuckare you?
(45:07):
Like?
What are you doing here?
Like where's Jerry?
And and he's like where's mydaughter and is like no, like no
gene, no money, and and Carl'sjust like had it at this point
pulls his gun out and shootsWade in the chest and so he goes
over there.
He's like yelling at Wade morelike as he's like laying there
(45:29):
dying on the in the snow.
Wade pulls out a gun, pulls outthe gun that we saw and shoots
Carl, but it just like goesthrough his mouth, like kind of
out his cheek maybe, or it justeither grazes his cheek or goes
like through and out, but eitherway like gets shot.
He's bleeding like crazy,shoots Wade a bunch more times
(45:52):
to make sure he's dead, takesthe money and is driving out,
gets to the parking attendantthere we go again with the
thumbs up.
I hate that gets to the parkingattendant and then he's like
open the fucking gate and he'slike bleeding like crazy.
And then scene cuts away toJerry driving there Like he's
(46:13):
like all right, like I got to bethere to ease, you know,
diffuse the tension if somethinggoes wrong.
But he sees Carl speeding outof there and gets to the top and
finds that Wade's dead and themoney's gone.
And then I think he pops.
(46:34):
He pops the trunk open.
We see him pop the trunk open.
So I don't know if he tookWade's body or what, but then,
as he's leaving, we see thatCarl also killed the parking
attendant because he's pullingout the gates busted and he
looks inside and there's a deadbody in there.
We get another cop isinterviewing the bartender at
one of the bars that Carl andGary were at and he's just
(46:58):
telling them this, this wholelong story about how these two
guys come in and they're havingdrinks and they're looking for
women, and he's like what makesyou think like I know anything
about that and like you know,he's just kind of like telling
the whole story of this likeconfrontation that he had with
(47:18):
Carl, basically, and but saysthat they let slip, that they're
out by the, that whereverthey're staying is out by the
lake, and so I was like okay,like it's got, it's got to be
like this lake I forget the nameof the lake, so they had no, at
least where like where aboutthey could be?
(47:40):
We see Carl like driving backto the they're hide away and
he's on like the long stretch ofroad and decides like hey,
there's way more money than whatwas agreed.
So let me hide the rest of it.
And he goes out to bury it inthe snow.
(48:01):
But then he's looking around.
He's like shit, like it's themiddle of nowhere, how am I
gonna know where to find it?
And then he has the red icescraper and just kind of sticks
it on the pile.
That way, hey, like it's, itwill look inconspicuous and he
probably only has to leave itthere for like a day or so.
(48:21):
So he's like all right, likeI'll just leave this and I'll
come back for it later once I'veparted ways with with my
partner in crime.
And so this is where it tiesinto Fargo season one, because
there is a like a rich, likesupermarket kingpin of the area
(48:44):
and it's this story about, likehow he got rich.
There's a flashback and the wayhe got rich was he him and his
wife broke down in the car andit happened to be right where
that red ice uh, ice scraper was.
He goes and digs up all themoney and that's how he became
(49:06):
rich.
So, like I said, very looselyconnected, but still connected
anyways, moving on.
So then he heads back to thehideout.
Then we get a scene of marge.
She's packing in her hotel roomand she's talking to one of her
friends, like another mutual ofMike, and he's like she's like,
(49:31):
oh, like he's just like reallysad and lonely ever since his
wife, linda died, and thefriend's like what, like no,
like he was never married toLinda and also she's not dead,
like he was always like buggingher all the time and basically
like he's just like pretendingthat he was married to this
(49:52):
other girl that he had a crushon.
Maybe she did die for real, butum, um, yeah, they were never
like even dating, let alonemarried and had children
together.
So, uh, and it was allpre-internet so it was easier to
get away with that stuff, butstill not not that easy, because
you just have to have onemutual person tell you the truth
(50:13):
.
But yeah, so Mike was lying andeverything just wanted some
sympathy, I guess, and just alsovery stalker prone, I guess, um
, um, stalker tendencies.
So, jerry's back at the office.
We see him, uh, writing down umthe fake serial numbers, uh, um
(50:33):
, a little more legible, andjust trying to make sure that
they're just right.
And as he's doing this, margecomes back to you know,
interrogate him again, um, buthe's getting just like way more
defensive with her this time.
And he's like, all right, likeyou know when's the last time he
(50:53):
did an inventory.
And he's like, like you want meto do a lot count, let's do it
right now.
Like come on and just like whoa, like hey, like you don't need
to get, you know, all snippywith me, like I'm just doing my
job and you're just doing yourjob, right, so let's just make
it easier, uh.
But so he's like, all right,like I'll be right back, um.
(51:13):
And so, as she's like waitingin the office, she hears some
tire screech and looks out thewindow and Jerry's making a run
for it.
And so she's like, so she callsuh, you know someone else in
the department, like hey, likehe's making a run for it.
So Carl gets back to the hideout.
Uh, gare's in there watchingsoap operas with the tv, dinner
(51:36):
and everything.
Jean's like passed out on thefloor and he's like what's with
her?
And Gare's like, well, she'sstarted like shrieking, so like
I hit her basically, uh, so wedon't know if she's dead or just
passed out like who knows um.
But Carl's like, all right,like here's the money, and gives
(51:58):
, uh, gives Gare his cut likehere's 40 000 um.
And he's like, oh, what aboutthe car?
And he's like how are you gonnasplit a car?
Like get a fucking chainsaw.
And Gare's like one of us paysfor half and it's like, oh my
god, like you're making thismore.
He's like I got shot, like Ipaid my price, like who cares
(52:23):
about the car.
And so he's like all right,like I'm not paying for that,
I'm taking the car.
And he goes to leave.
As he's like about to get inthe car, we see Gare come out of
the house with a axe and buryit right in, uh, carl's chest,
just like right there.
And then the scene cuts.
Then we see Marge, uh going offthe tip that like hey, maybe
(52:47):
they're at the lake and she'sdriving around.
And then she spots in thedriveway.
She's like, oh, that's the car.
Like you know, um, the thing is, uh, tan Sierra is what they're
looking for, um.
So she spots the car, says likeall right, like the whoever
she's talking to is like allright, we're sending back up.
(53:08):
Um, be careful, you know.
And so she parks the car, getsher gun out and starts like
walking towards the cabin.
Uh, as she's walking towards thecabin, we can hear like a
machine, like machine noises, uh, like some kind of motor, you
know, chainsaw, lawn mower,generator, something you know.
(53:30):
And so she's like on alert,she's taking it easy head in
there, she's got her gun drawn,she's going closer to the sound,
she gets close and then we see,uh, kind of obscured, that it's
a wood chipper and everythingon the uh output end of the wood
(53:52):
chipper is just like this biggiant puddle of blood, just
blood everywhere.
And you know, once we get acloser look, we see that Gare is
feeding uh Carl, uh, piece bypiece into the wood chipper and
we see him just like trying toput his like leg in there,
(54:12):
because we just see like the thefoot sticking out with the shoe
on and he's like it's not goingin and he's got this like piece
of wood and he's trying to likepush it in.
And she's like police, policeand you know, with their gun
drawn on him and you know hefinally hears her and tries to
(54:33):
take off, running across thelake, which is frozen, but uh,
she uh gets him in the leg andhe's down and you know uh
arrests him and everything.
And we see him in the back ofthe car and uh, she's saying
like man, like all of this justfor a little bit of money, like
I'm assuming that was Jean uhLundegard on the floor in there
(54:59):
and I'd.
So we kind of get from the tonethat, even though they don't
outright say it, that I thinkshe was dead.
And then she's like and thenthat was the uh, that was your
partner, the little guy, andthey're in the wood chipper
there and he's not sayinganything.
And then she's like you know,there's more to life than a
(55:20):
little bit of money.
Uh, and I forget he said hesaid something to that, but I I
forgot to write it down.
Um, or maybe he doesn't, maybehe's just staring out the window
and like thinking about whatshe's saying.
But uh, either way, uh, we get auh a scene at a motel where
(55:42):
they uh catch Jerry.
Um, they're uh knocking on hisdoor saying like, hey, is Mr
Anderson there because he used afake name checkin' in?
Uh, but it's still his car inthe parking lot.
And they're like hey, are youthe owner of such-and-such car?
And he's like, oh, yeah, bethere in a sec.
Uh, so that.
But they have the hotel managerthere, they open it with the
(56:03):
key.
They get in there, uh, and he'sin the bathroom trying to
escape through the window, buthe's stuck and they pull him out
and get him on the bed and cuffhim and everything, so he
finally he goes down.
Uh, then we get the final scene.
Is uh, marge getting into bedwith her husband for the night
(56:25):
and they just have like thisnice, uh normal conversation
about his uh, stamp collectingand everything like that, and
it's just like a nice.
It reminds me, um, I know thisis obviously a later movie, but
it reminds me of the end of, uh,no Country for Old Men.
How it's just this likeseemingly mundane conversation
(56:47):
but it is just like a slice oflife.
And then, just like that's howyou really see who these
characters are is by seeing themin their normal day to day, not
when they're catching murderersor getting shot at or you know
whatever.
Um, you just get to see them asthey are with their significant
(57:10):
other and uh, yeah, I justreally like that end part.
Um, but, yeah, great movieFargo, uh, probably, besides no
Country for Old Men, this wouldbe my favorite, uh, my second
favorite, cohen Brothers movie.
Um, not a lot of people areprobably like Big Lebowski, I do
(57:33):
like that one, but also I thinkI just need to give that one a
few more watches before I likereally appreciate it.
But Fargo is just so good andit's short too.
It's like only 98 minutes soyou can breeze right through it
and it's just like it's reallywell paced.
Nothing is, uh, unnecessary inmy opinion.
(57:53):
Um, but yeah, and greatperformances by everybody, like
everyone's like at the top oftheir game.
No one comes off like theydon't know what they're doing or
they're like too hammy or toobroad or anything like that.
Um, but yeah, great script,great performances, great
(58:14):
directing, great cinematography.
Like I said that one shot ofthe parking lot is just gorgeous
, like so well uh framed andeverything.
But yeah, uh, that's Fargo.
Um, thank you guys for watching.
Thank you for listening.
Dizzy, uh, you know, if you'rea listener, check out the
(58:36):
youtube if you prefer that.
If you're watching and youprefer to like have it on, the
go and just listen to it, checkit out on any of the platforms
apple music, spotify, whatever,like it's on all of them, I'm
pretty sure, uh, but yeah,thanks for watching, listening,
uh, please, uh, like, subscribe,review, whichever pertains to
(58:59):
the medium that you're consumingthis.
Uh, and stick around.
Next week, like I said, we'regoing to be doing more, uh,
winter or snow movies thataren't, uh, holiday related.
So, um, next one should be JohnCarpenter's the thing, and if
it's not next week, then it'ssomewhere in the month.
(59:20):
So, uh, thanks again, and uh,stick around and stay tuned for
what else we got later in themonth.
Thanks, bye.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Movies, colin
.
They're pretty good.
I'm your host, travis Dutting.
And welcome to 2024, new Yearsame mediocre podcast.
But hey, we're going to keeppushing anyway.
So, something I wanted to do forthe month of January.
I wanted to do another themedmonth, like I've been doing, but
(00:25):
I had the idea of doing snow orwinter movies that aren't
necessarily holiday related.
So, without further ado, let'sget into our first one of the
year.
This is the Colin BrothersClassic Fargo from 1996.
Great movie.
If you haven't seen it, Ihighly recommend it.
(00:47):
But yeah, very winter, heavyplot and everything like that,
and takes place during winter,takes place in the snow.
So that's why I wanted to coverit this month.
Let's get right into it.
So we open on a card that saysthat the story is a true story.
But I always love when thingsare marketed as a true story
(01:19):
when they obviously aren't.
Now some of the stuff mighthave happened in this one.
It says that the names andlocations were changed and all
that, and I probably should havelooked that up, but I honestly
didn't think about it sinceuntil now, like after writing
down that note.
But yeah, it says it's a truestory says the names and
(01:42):
locations were changed, but thestory's told exactly how it
happened in order to like honorthe dead, that type of thing,
and this one takes place inMinnesota in 1987.
Real quick, if you're familiarwith the movie but not familiar
(02:05):
with the TV show.
It is connected and I'll talk alittle bit about that.
Like once we get to that pointin the movie like where there is
a connection, but it's veryloosely connected and basically
all these events happen in theMidwest and Fargo is very
(02:28):
loosely related.
It's just kind of just onecentral location but everything
else usually happens in anotherMidwest city or state even.
But if you haven't seen theshow, check it out, especially
seasons one and two.
Three was okay and I haven'tseen four and five yet.
(02:51):
But that's another reason Iwanted to do this movie is
because it gave me a reason torewatch it and then I could
rewatch through the series andget more caught up on it and
everything like that, becausethe new season looks really good
and so did the last one.
But it was just a weird time ofmy life where I wasn't doing a
lot of TV watching.
(03:11):
But enough about that.
Opening shot is a snowy road.
The snow's blowing across, soit's very low visibility, but we
see a car pulling a trailerwith another car on the back and
just going down the road, thiscar pulls into the town of Fargo
(03:35):
and the last time we're goingto see that town of Fargo in the
whole movie but it pulls in andthis is where we meet one of
our main characters, because I'dsay that there's two leads and
two sides of a story basicallygoing on here.
Maybe three leads, but becausethere are like three plots going
(03:58):
on.
But so yeah, one of three mainprotagonists, jerry Lundergard,
played by William H Macy, who isjust amazing at doing this like
exacerbated pushover typecharacter and really bringing
(04:20):
out the big guns with this oneand I'd say another one that is
kind of like that is hischaracter in Boogie Nights and
his character in Magnolia, sotwo Paul Thomas Anderson
classics right there.
So he's having a meeting withCarl and Gare Carl played by
(04:47):
Steve Buscemi and Gare played byPeter Stormair, and you could
tell right off the bat thatthese guys are criminals they're
talking about.
So he's basically bringing themthis car, which is part of a
deal, and there's also thisgoing to be this $40,000 ransom.
(05:13):
Well, I think it's.
No, the ransom is $80,000.
And then the criminals keep$40,000 and he keeps $40,000.
And we understand that, that hehas a wealthy father-in-law and
that the plan is to kidnap hiswife and stage a kidnapping,
(05:42):
stage, a ransom.
Criminals keep the half of themoney and William H Jerry keeps
the other half of the money andthe plan is like the wife
doesn't get hurt or anythinglike that, they just kidnap her.
Each of them get their moneyand then they move on and
(06:02):
they're like okay, like, whydon't you ask the father-in-law
for money?
And then he's like no, I can'tdo that, because he doesn't like
me pretty much.
And I mean they're right offthe bat just poking oh my God, I
can't talk today.
They're poking all these holesin his logic of his plan and
(06:24):
everything like that and justpointing out, okay, there's all
these things that can go wrong.
Why don't you just do that?
Why don't you do all thesedifferent obvious things?
And he says, well, I'm intosome trouble and he'd rather not
have either of them know whatit is.
And I don't think we everreally hear what the trouble is
(06:47):
that he's in, if it's a gamblingdebt, like a loan shark thing
or what?
But he owes somebody money andthis is.
He's basically fallen to thisposition, hit rock bottom and
this is his only way out in hishead.
So we see Jerry come back to thehouse he's got groceries, goes
(07:09):
into the does he have groceries?
I don't know, I could begetting either way.
He comes home, his wife's inthe kitchen cooking.
His wife his name is Jean andthen we've learned that his
father-in-law is there also andhe's there for dinner.
He's just on the couch with aglass of probably, whiskey and
watching the hockey game on TV.
(07:30):
So during the scene at thedinner table, while they're
having dinner as a family, it'sJerry, his wife, his son and his
father-in-law, wade, and he hasthis business proposition for
Wade saying like, oh, like, Ihave this idea, like let's buy a
parking lot and like, basically, I just need you to invest in
(07:53):
upfront the money and you knowit's going to be a good
investment, it's going to bevery lucrative.
And he's Wade's very like.
No, I don't know, that doesn'treally sound like it's going to
a good idea, but still talk to Ithink it's Stan, another
accountant guy at the at thefirm, because they work for a.
Wade owns a car dealership andJerry is the chief chief sales
(08:20):
officer or something like that.
So Wade's just kind of blowingthem off about this, but not
outright saying no.
So we get a little bit of theinsight into how like difficult
Wade is to deal with and how hedoesn't really like Jerry all
that much.
And then the son asks if he canbe excused and gets up and
(08:45):
leaves and like he didn't finishhis dinner and the, his
grandpa's like okay, like youdidn't.
You know always saying to the,the parents, like what he
doesn't finish his dinner.
And then he gets to go toMcDonald's with his friends and
just like insinuating that he'sgoing to be just up to no good
there, whatever, he's just likea difficult old man.
(09:05):
But the mom was like he's fine,he's just young, he's just the
kid you know, they're just goingto hang out, whatever.
So then we get cut to Garin,carl.
They're arguing over like wherethey're going to eat dinner.
They're just driving.
Obviously they're on their wayfrom Fargo to wherever Jerry is
(09:29):
to kidnap the wife and they'rejust having this like argument
about what, where they're goingto eat.
Because Garin just wants to eatat House of Pancakes, so which
is?
Or pancake house is how he saysit, but he has an accent that
isn't.
But they don't really talkabout, like where he's from or
(09:52):
anything like that.
So but you could tell that he'snot a full American or not born
in America Not that it matters,but it's just just one of those
character traits that they justgive without a explanation,
which I think is always a littlemore effective.
(10:14):
You don't need a backstory foreverything about everyone.
You know you don't need to findout why Solo or Han Solo is
named Solo.
You know that's not necessary.
But so we got Gar.
He wants pancakes and he's likewhat?
Like we just had pancakes forbreakfast.
Carl says this and it's like wejust need to go somewhere with
(10:39):
a steak and beer and a shot.
You know, that's what I want.
And then it cuts back to Jerry.
We see him at work.
He is trying to sell a car tothis couple and he's arguing
with them and saying, like theguy's like calling him a liar,
saying like you said that thecar was ready to go at this
(11:00):
price.
And now I get down here andyou're trying to push this true
coat on and everything like this.
You know, sealant on the paintand everything like that and
he's like, ah, no, like it justcomes like that from the factory
.
But let me go talk to my bossand he's like, pretends, like to
go, which I'm sure this is amajor salesman trick anyway,
(11:22):
Like you know.
You know that you can.
He's basically trying to traphim into a certain price that's
above what he initiallyadvertised, but below like what
he's trying to make it seem likehe's given him a deal at where
he's really not.
He's still like the guy's stillpaying more money and he's not
(11:43):
falling for it.
But he does like he knows thathe's getting screwed over but he
still ends up buying the caranyway.
So then we cut back to Carl andGare.
They're pulling into Brainerd.
They make sure to show you thesign Welcome to Brainerd, a home
of Paul Bunyan and Babe, theBlue Ox giant, paul Bunyan
(12:06):
statue.
And they pull into the Blue OxMotel.
They get a couple of sexworkers that's one of the things
that they talked about I guessthat was the compromise for not
getting pancakes is that theyget prostitutes to have sex with
and they're like just one ineach bed with a different girl,
(12:27):
whatever.
A little awkward.
But hey, that's your thing.
That's your thing and it seemslike it's like a nothing scene.
It's just showing you like thisis what they're doing right now
, and then it cuts to them, likejust watching TV with them, you
know, and then it doesn't seemlike it's important, but it'll
come back later.
(12:49):
Then we get Jerry.
He's at home.
He gets a call from Wade, hisfather-in-law, and he's saying
like, hey, like I'm talking toStan, this deal sounds like it
might be a good thing, so whydon't you come in and we'll talk
about it?
You know me, you and Stan.
And he's like, oh, like, okay,like I might get the.
(13:12):
I think he says out loud.
He's like, oh, like I wouldneed the money up front and all
this stuff.
So he's like, okay, like Imight not need this kidnapping
thing to happen.
So he tries to have it calledoff.
He calls his middleman, whichis a Shep Proudfoot and we'll
(13:34):
actually see him later.
Oh, yeah, he's saying that hecan't get ahold of them, like
it's already it's going tohappen.
You know, I can't like call itoff at this point.
Cut back to Carl and Gare.
They're driving intoMinneapolis.
We can see like the, all thebig buildings and everything,
and he's just trying to like geta conversation out of Gare and
(13:58):
all of, and he doesn't like sayanything like at all.
And he's just like you knowwe're driving like four hours.
I'm doing all the driving Like,all I want to do is just like
talk.
You know, like can't you justsay like anything Like.
But you know it's just like oneof those strong silent types.
So I was just not really onefor conversation and you could
also tell that he's like veryannoyed with Carl and, which is
(14:21):
another character.
That's a type of character thatSteve Buscemi is really good at
is just playing like a weird,annoying guy.
Cut to Jerry he's back at hisoffice.
He gets a call from the banksaying like hey, um, so you send
us the paperwork over for thesecars that you put up as like a
(14:43):
collateral for us to loan you$300,000 basically.
But on the paperwork the serialnumbers are hard to read Like.
So I need you to just give methose serial numbers.
Obviously, jerry fudged thesenumbers and these cars probably
(15:03):
don't exist because he's tryingvery hard to like beat around
the bush and saying like okay,like I'll fax you over another
copy or you know all this stuff.
And he's like no, like this onewas a fax like and we can't
read it, so I need you to justtell them to me.
And he's like well, I don'thave that information on me
right now, so I'll have myassistant or secretary, whoever,
(15:26):
send you a copy, like an actualhard copy.
And the banker is like hesitant, but he's like, okay, that'll
do so.
Yeah, it's just like anotherscene that is showing like how
in over his head Jerry is andlike it's more than one thing
that he's got, like that he'sscrewed up on his own and he's
(15:49):
trying to like wiggle his wayout of.
So he's like got this kidnapthing, got whatever deal that he
has that he owes money for, andnow this like fraudulent loan
and everything like that.
So just like just the guythat's like just always trying
(16:12):
to get out of trouble and justdigs himself even deeper hole.
So now we cut to Gene.
She's at the house watching TVand knitting, I think, and as
she's watching TV she looks outthe sliding glass door and here
(16:33):
come to the two kidnappers withtheir.
They got the ski masks on andeverything.
And it's funny because she'sjust like watching them, like
all scared, like what's going onand which I don't know why,
like she should have called thecops like as soon as she saw
them.
But you know, but she's justlike watching them and they're
(16:56):
like just peeking in the housebut they don't see her and
they're just like trying tofigure out how to get in.
And then it's not until one ofthem breaks the window or breaks
the sliding glass door that shelike screams and tries to run.
Gare grabs her, but then shelike bites his hand.
And then she runs upstairs,grabs the phone and is trying to
(17:20):
call the police One of them,like because we don't, we don't
see who it is, but we see the,because it's a wired landline
phone, because it's 1987.
So someone pulls the phone cordthrough the bathroom door and
yanks it out of her hand beforeshe can dial anything.
(17:43):
She's in the bathroom, she, wesee her open the window like
she's going to jump out thewindow.
But then it cuts to them likebreaking the door open.
They get in there, they seethat the doors are, that the
windows open, and like Carl'slike oh, she must have got
outside, let me go get her.
(18:03):
And Gare is just like worriedabout the bite on his hand.
He's just looking for some likeointment or something in the
medicine cabinet and while he'sabout to put the ointment on, he
notices the shower curtain.
He's like, oh, I bet she's inthere.
And but before he can pull itopen and see that she's in there
, she like tries I don't know ifshe's trying to tackle him,
(18:25):
like with the shower curtain orand rush him or just like panics
and tries to run.
But she has the shower curtainon her because that, like she
pulls that off and it's coveringher face.
So she ends up falling down thestairs uh, cause she can't see
and knocks herself out.
So, uh, he made their job easy.
(18:48):
So then we see, uh, jerry'smeeting with Wade and Stan and
uh, they're like oh yeah, likeit looks like a really good deal
, it looks like it's going tomake like a lot of money and all
the numbers are right.
So, uh, what's your finders fee?
And Jerry's like, what do youmean Like finders fee?
Like, no, like this is this ismy deal, I just want the you
(19:10):
guys to invest in it.
And they're like well, whywould we do that?
Like, why would we just giveyou all this money?
And like, uh, he's like well,like, I'd pay you the, I'd pay
you back the principal plusinterest, and they're like no,
like that's, that's a terriblebusiness idea for us, like we'll
just give you the finders fee,like what's your fee?
(19:32):
And Jerry's like no, likefinders fees only, like 10%,
like I need more than that,basically, um.
And then it ends with uh, orthe meeting ends with Jerry like
turning them down on thefinders fee and walking away
with nothing, because they'relike all right, well, we're
still going to invest this, uh,this idea, um, but you know, if
(19:56):
you don't want the finders fee,then I don't know what to tell
you.
Uh, I think I get the, theprinciple behind Jerry being
like offended by this, like Iget it, but on their end, like
yeah it, it just makes moresense, um, and I think it is
(20:20):
because, well, just look at howin over his head he is in
multiple aspects of his life,he's not the most reliable
person.
So it's definitely a betterbusiness uh decision on the
weighed and stance part than itis for Jerry.
Uh.
(20:41):
One of the coolest shots, though, is like after um way or not
wait, uh, after Jerry leaves alldefeated.
It's just this overhead shot ofhim walking into the uh snow
covered parking lot, and his isthe only car in the parking lot
and it's just like a real coolshot that I always really liked.
But when he gets to his car,like he's trying to like scrape
(21:03):
the ice off, and then he haslike a little bit of a um, like
a little outburst and everything.
He's like hitting the icescraper on the windshield and
throws it and you know, justlike taking out his frustration
and uh.
But then we see him come homewith the groceries and he's like
hello, like Jean, like you home, and then sees like that the
(21:28):
kidnappers have done their part,uh.
And then we hear, uh, we justoverhear him, like like wait,
it's Jerry.
Like, oh my God, like Jean,like I don't know what happened,
you know, and.
But then he says it like acouple of different times in a
couple of different ways, andthen the camera pans over, then
we see that he's rehearsing howhe's going to uh call Wade and
(21:51):
tell her that or tell him thatJean is kidnapped, um, so, and
he's just trying to like get itright and everything.
Uh.
But I think the funniest partis like we keep hearing them
with all these like exacerbatedor uh, I keep not exasperated uh
voices and everything like thatUm.
(22:12):
But then when uh he calls,finally it's just like the um
receptionist.
So he's just like, uh, yeah, uh, wade please, but just it's
just like.
So matter of fact.
And then you, you think thathe's all like panicking and
everything like that, like if itwas real, then you know, I mean
, the kidnapping was real, buthe knows about it, he's in on it
(22:36):
, so you know what I mean.
So we see our two kidnappers.
They uh are going the other waydown the road, uh passing the
Paul Bunyan statue again that wesaw before Um, tregov's Paul
Bunyan, I guess and uh, theyhave a gene in the backseat, uh,
with like blankets over her orwhatever, and Gare's telling her
(22:57):
to shut up or I'm going to haveto shoot you, or one of them
says that I forget which one, um, and uh, they end up getting
pulled over by uh state trooperhighway patrolman, something
like that, um, I think it's astate trooper, uh.
And so they pull over and likeCarl's like haha, like I don't
have the tags on there, I neverput the tags on the license
(23:19):
plate.
And um, so he's like, don'tworry, like I got this, like
just play it cool.
And tells uh gene in the back,like, if you don't, like, if you
move, then I'll shoot you, youknow.
So the trooper gets up to thewindow and it's like, oh, like,
uh, how can I help you officer?
And he's like, oh, um, you know, like, if you uh, this says
(23:42):
like, is this a new car?
And he's like yeah, like, uh,it is.
And he's like, you're supposedto have the dealer plates, like
in the window or taped withlicense plate goes.
And yeah, he's like oh, yeah,sorry, like you know, I like I
meant to do that but, um, itjust slipped my mind, so I'm
sorry about that.
And he goes to hand him hislicense and registration and
(24:04):
it's his wallet, with thelicense there, but also a $50
bill, like, hanging out of thewallet.
And he's trying to like oh,like, I was hoping maybe we
could just take care of thishere and in Brainerd.
And the cops like, what are youdoing?
Like, and he's not, you couldtell he's not going to take the
bribe or anything like that.
(24:24):
And he's like all right, juststep out of the car.
Or like, put that back in yourpocket and step out of the car.
And this is where Gare reachesover.
Carl grabs the cop, I don'tknow who, grabs his tie,
something and pulls him down andshoots him in the head and like
(24:45):
literally like just blood, likelike all over Carl, all over
the inside of the car.
It's just like coming out likea fountain and it's just, it's
super intense, like the wholething.
And then they're like oh my God, oh my God, like Carl's like
okay, like that, gare's justlike take care of it yourself,
like whatever.
And he's like get him off theroad.
(25:06):
And so Carl gets out of the car.
He's trying to pull the copsbody off the road, like probably
put in the ditch or you knowsomething.
As he's struggling with pickinghim up, here comes a car down
the road and it's just like twolocals probably coming down the
highway and they kind of slowdown because they see like the
(25:27):
cop, you know the lights andeverything.
They slow down and see thatCarl has a dead cop in his arms
and they're like then they driveoff and then Gare, just like,
jumps over into the driver'sseat, closes the door and takes
(25:48):
off after these two guys or it'sa couple and so he's chasing
him down the road while Carl'sstill trying to get the cop off
the road and everything.
He's chasing him.
He's trying to catch up withthem because they like sped off
once they saw what was happening, like as anybody probably would
, and he's chasing them down theroad.
(26:11):
It's getting dark, he's kind oflosing the the tail lights, but
then he comes up on the car andit's flipped over in the snow.
So they, you know it's snowing,so it's easy to lose control,
especially when you're goingthat fast.
They went off the road, flippedthe car.
Gare gets out, he's got his gun.
(26:32):
He sees the guy big old red,puffy coat running out in the
snow and just gets shot in theback and then goes over to the
car that's flipped over andthere's the you know the
significant other, the womanthat's in there and she's in the
car, it's upside down andeverything, and then he just
(26:54):
like kind of stands back andkills her.
Now we get introduced to ourother main character, marge
Gunderson, played by FrancisMcDermott, and we see her
getting a call like late atnight and we're only here on
(27:15):
like her side of the car or ofeverything and everything like
that.
So she's getting out of bed,her husband's there with her.
I forget I always forget theactor's name, but he was the
zodiac killer.
And zodiac, well, the one thatthey strongly suggest is the
zodiac killer, but he's a greatactor.
(27:38):
And so he's like oh, like yougot to go to work.
And she's like yeah, like, butyou go back to sleep and he's
like no, like, I'll make youbreakfast, like you got to eat
before you go.
And so he insists on making hereggs.
We see that she's pregnant onceshe gets up, and then we see
them having their breakfasttogether.
(27:59):
She gets up to leave, you know,so it's goodbye and everything.
Goes out to the car and thencomes right back in and says
that the cop car needs a jump.
So now, then we see her at thecrime scene and out and
brainered on the side of theroad, there's another cop there
(28:22):
waiting for with coffee, hotchocolate, something hot, and so
just like, okay, triplehomicide, we got these two here.
And then the trooper back up theroad and like, right away, like
, puts it together, like, allright, like just the way that
they're shot and that the factthat there's a dead cop and
(28:43):
she's like I bet that they, youknow, traffic stop, gone wrong,
these two drive by and they getchased and taken care of after
that and sees that thefootprints are rather large
there.
But then when they go back towhere the state trooper was
(29:06):
killed, notices that thefootprints are different and
smaller.
And so, like she's right rightoff the bat, like figuring
everything out, like prettyquick, and they're like, oh,
like, what were the?
Like did you get the troopersnotebook?
Like, like, what's the licenseplate?
And they have the car type.
And then he says that thelicense plate just says DLR.
(29:28):
And he's like, oh, like I bet,like he got shot before he could
finish writing the number.
And she's like I don't know,like I'm gonna have to call you
on that police work, I bet,because what I think happened is
that it's dealer plates, dlr.
And he's like, oh, okay.
(29:49):
So then we see Jerry, wade andStan at a diner and they're
trying to figure out how they'regoing to handle this hostage
situation.
And Wade wants to get the copsinvolved and Jerry's like no,
they said no cops.
Like if something goes wrong,like they're going to kill her,
like, so, like we need to playthis their way.
(30:10):
And then Stan's like you knowwhat, I'm going to have to agree
with Jerry on this, likethey're holding all the cards
and you know.
So if we mess with them in anyway, like it can only go bad for
us.
And but Wade's still like no,like, like is my money, like all
(30:30):
this stuff.
And but like in the end, likethey're, the plan is to go with
the Jerry's plan.
And then we get like one of thelike most subtly sad parts is
Stan asked how the sun is doinglike with all this.
(30:51):
And you can tell that Jerrylike didn't even think about
that, like at all, like noregard for how this kidnapping
was gonna affect his son andanything like that.
And you just tell in his tonethat like oh yeah, he didn't
even think about that.
So he does go like talk to thesun, and the sun, you could tell
(31:12):
, is like freaked out andnervous and he's like what if
they come back, are they gonnahurt her?
What are they doing with her?
And Jerry's like yeah, it'sgonna be okay, like all they
want is money and they have noreason to hurt her.
So because if they do, thenthey won't get the money.
And like he's just trying tocomfort and he's, you know, not
(31:34):
doing a very good job of it.
But you know, then we see Carland Gar get to the, the, I guess
their safe house.
You know it's funny, you thinkof a safe house is more of like
a good guy thing, but it's theirhide out or whatever.
It's just a house out by a lakeor something like that.
(31:56):
And we see they open the cardoor to get Jean out.
She has a bag on her head andshe's like handcuffed hands
behind her back and everythingand she tries to run for it but
you know, again, can't seeanything.
And you see her like run in thesnow and fall and then get up
(32:17):
and try to run again and theCarl's just like laughing at her
, like, oh, like, and you know,eventually she just gives up and
then they take her inside.
So the cops figure out that thecar that they're looking for
had checked into the Blue OxMotel and that they it was two
(32:38):
guys and that they had two womenwith them.
And so she's like okay, likeyou know, figure that out, like
let me go talk to these two sexworkers and see what I can
figure out.
And so she's talking to them.
And this is actually the firstscene I ever seen of this movie
(33:01):
and it was when I got the, whenit first came out the game, seen
it, it was one of the movieclips that they played on the my
play or whatever, and it wasthis interview of with the Marge
and the two sex workers andit's, it's hilarious, like just
(33:22):
a lot of the real strongMidwestern accent, that oh yeah,
and stuff like that, and justall the lines are like really
funny to like.
She asked the one like oh, like, what can you tell me about the
like, what do they look like?
And she's like well, the littleone was really funny looking
and she's like funny looking,how like, can you be any more
(33:44):
specific than that?
And she's like no, just funny,looking like he was on a
circumcised.
And Marge is like oh, besidesthat, how was he funny looking?
And she's like I don't know.
And the other one says like,well, the other guy, the big guy
, was like remind me of theMarlboro man, but maybe that's
just because you smoked.
(34:05):
Marlboro is like, there's likea subconscious thing or
something like that.
And she's like not reallygetting anywhere with them.
But then one of them doesremember that they said that
they were going to the TwinCities, which is in Minneapolis,
and she was like, oh, like, isthat helpful?
And then Marge is like, oh yeah, like that helps me a lot.
(34:29):
So we see Marge back at thehouse.
She gets another.
Well, we see her come homefirst, then she's in bed with
her husband.
She gets a call late at nightfrom Mike Yanagida, and it's
like an old school friend ofhers, maybe ex-boyfriend, I
(34:50):
forget if they say likespecifically, but he's just like
, oh, like I saw you on the newsand like I couldn't believe it
was you, because he's callingher by her maiden name, like.
He's like, oh, like I'm in town, like and all this stuff, like
it'd be cool to like catch up.
And she's like, oh yeah, likecool.
Then we see Carl calling Jerryfrom a pay phone and he's like
(35:13):
hey, like we need more money,like shit got out of hand,
there's three people dead.
And like this isn't what wesigned up for, so you're going
to have to pay us more money.
And Jerry's like, freaking outabout this.
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Like like what?
What?
Who's dead?
Like, like this isn't part ofthe plan.
(35:34):
And like first you make surethat Jean's not the one that's
dead.
And then he's like no, likeJean's fine, but like, give me
more money or she won't be.
And he's basically Carl'sbasically saying like hey, I'm
going to take the full 80,000.
Now, you know there's nosplitting it now like now we get
all the money.
(35:55):
Right after he gets off thephone with Carl, phone rings
again and it's the bank and thistime they're a little more like
okay, like still didn't getthose serial numbers and we need
that.
And if we don't get that, thenI'm going to be that we're going
to have to report this to theIRS and all this stuff and also
get the money to take the whole300,000 back.
(36:15):
And so he's like no, like I'mgoing to send it.
Like it's on, it's in the mail,it's on its way.
And he's just like get morefrustrated and more things are
going wrong for him andeverything like that.
C-march gets the phone recordsfrom the Blue Ox Motel Lobby
(36:36):
phone.
I think this is while she's atdinner with her husband, norm,
and they're at like a buffet,other cop comes up to her, says
like hey, like we got the phonerecords and like they made two
calls, one to Minneapolis andone to a private residence of
(36:59):
Shep Proudfoot and like okay,like we'll check both of them
out.
We see another argument of Wadetrying to take control of the
situation and he's saying likehey, it's my money, I'm going to
do the drop and Jerry's.
Like no, like you can't, likethey said it has to be just me,
and like it's too risky.
(37:20):
Like you're going to, but forsome reasons, like, and that
does make sense, like, but forsome reason, I think because
money is involved then standslike siding with Wade this time.
So I don't know what likechanged his mind about that.
But you know, I get it fromWade's side to an extent.
But I think, if you know ifyour daughter is, if her life is
(37:45):
in danger, like why would youlike try to mess with that?
You know, I don't know.
We see Carl pull into an airportparking garage.
He goes up to the top floor,finds a or maybe it's not a
garage, it could just be aparking lot.
Either way.
He's in a parking lot, finds acar, steals the plates off the
(38:07):
back and puts them on his car,obviously, and then he goes to
leave the parking lot and he'slike hey, like I decided not to
park here in the parking tent.
It's like okay, but it's likewhat do you mean?
Like you didn't decide to parkhere, like it's an airport, like
um, he's like, oh, I decidednot to take the trip.
And he's like, okay, well, it'sstill like a four dollar flat
(38:29):
fee.
And Carl's just like arguingwith them and he's like, but I'm
not parking here, like I was inhere for like five minutes and
I just want to leave now.
And the guy's like, well, it'sstill like a four dollar fee.
And that, um, carl just likeberates him and but then, like,
throws him four dollars andleaves.
So now that uh Jerry ispanicking that Wade is going to
(38:52):
be the one to take the money andhe can't stop, you, can't talk
him out of it.
So he goes to talk to Shep inorder to get the get word to
Carl, like, hey, like I can'tstop this from happening, it's
going to be him Like, but ourdeal still stands, okay.
Another bit of informationthat's interesting is like we,
uh we hear the conversation thatuh Wade is having with Jerry
(39:15):
and Stan and he's saying like,oh, like, let's just uh offer a
half a million.
And they're like, no, that'stoo low, like we shouldn't like
lowball them.
So this is where we find outthat Jerry has told Wade that
it's more money than you knowwhat we heard before, because
(39:36):
before we heard 80,000 and nowit's obviously a lot more.
So I think it's Jerry trying tohave security for this bank
thing If that goes wrong, and hehas to pay that money back.
So, um, and I and that'sprobably the other reason that
he needs to get in contact withCarl like hey, it's going to be
(39:58):
more money, we're going to splitthat instead, or whatever.
You know, because if, uh, ifWade shows up with a million
dollars and in cash and it'sjust Carl there, then Carl's was
going to take the rest of themoney.
You know which down the line iswhat happens.
(40:18):
But, uh, so Jerry's there at thegarage where Shep works and he
goes to talk to him.
But Shep's inside talking toMarge, Like she's there
interviewing him because youknow that was the other one of
the calls that she'sinvestigating.
So obviously Jerry's freakingout about this.
(40:39):
Uh, he leaves, um, but uh, itdoesn't matter, because next
Marge goes to his office becausehe was the other call, like it
was to the dealership, um, sohe's trying to like throw her
off the set and doing a terriblejob, because he's doing nothing
but making himself looksuspicious, like even if she
wasn't suspicious of him.
(40:59):
She is not like before.
She definitely is now, becausehe's just like digging himself a
bigger hole, everything he says.
And she's like, hey, like we'reany cars stolen off the lot?
And he's like, nope, no carswere stolen.
She's like, are you sure?
Like you want to go doublecheck?
And she's like, no, likethere's definitely no cars
(41:24):
stolen any you know recently.
Um, but you know, I think shecould tell that there's
something going on with him.
For sure, you know, anyone cantell.
And uh, um, you know she getswhat she needs.
And then uh takes off, leavesand of course, jerry's just
sweating even more now.
Uh, she goes to um meet withMike cause she has to go.
(41:47):
She's staying in Minneapolis,uh, so it's obviously a little
bit of a drive.
So she was there for the uhinvestigation, but that's where
her old friend Mike was too.
So she's like, oh, like I'mgoing to go meet him for lunch.
And uh, she goes to meet himfor lunch.
Uh, he's like very, uh, I'd saylike touchy, feely a little bit
(42:09):
.
Um, I just like very happy tosee her and everything.
Uh tries to go sit on the sameside of the um booth as her and
she's like Nope, like I'd preferif you go sit on the other side
.
And then he, like he gets allembarrassed and she's like no,
like I just don't want to likehurt my neck.
(42:29):
Like looking at you, I want tolike you know straight ahead, uh
, but you could tell that likefrom the conversation that he's
very, uh, lonely.
He, I mean, he says outrightthat he's very lonely and that
his uh, that he has kids but hiswife died of cancer and all
this stuff and he's just havinga really hard time.
(42:49):
Um, but she's just like, hey,like you know, I'm, I'm here as
a friend, you know nothing likethat.
And uh, you know, after the uhlunch is over, we get a scene
with Carl and he's just out todinner by himself Well, apart
from Gar, because he's back atthe house watching Jean, but
(43:14):
he's out with this, uh, withanother sex worker.
Uh, they're out at uh like anightclub with like a live
performance.
Uh, it's Jose Feliciano, andhe's like, if like a live
performance, uh, it's JoseFeliciano.
Um, most widely known like ifyou're not listening to uh
Spanish music, everyone knowsFelice Navidad, so, uh, that's
(43:39):
who they're watching.
And uh, like the you can tellthe dates not really into it,
but you know they're, they'reout anyway.
Um, they're just cut back tothem.
Uh, having sex in the hotel roomand door, door bus open, it's
Shep.
He grabs the girl, throws heroff, or maybe Carl pushes her, I
(44:04):
forget.
Either way she's off and he'sbeating the shit out of Carl,
like I'm not going back toprison because of you.
Like what the fuck did you do?
And all this stuff.
And he's like yeah, just like.
Beats the crap out of him.
Then leaves.
Like like better not be talkingto cops about me or any of this
(44:26):
stuff.
Like leave me out of it.
Like all right.
So then Carl calls Jerry andhe's like pissed off.
And he's like, hey, like we'regetting this over with 30
minutes.
Dayton Radisson parking garage,top floor, and like doesn't even
give Jerry a chance to sayanything.
So Jerry can't warn him.
Like hey, it's not going to beme, it's going to be Wade.
(44:47):
But then phones hung up, wadegoes, goes there, we see him
that he has a gun and he has itlike in his jacket while he's
pulling into the garage, gets upto the top, gets out of the car
and Carl's like who the fuckare you?
(45:07):
Like?
What are you doing here?
Like where's Jerry?
And and he's like where's mydaughter and is like no, like no
gene, no money, and and Carl'sjust like had it at this point
pulls his gun out and shootsWade in the chest and so he goes
over there.
He's like yelling at Wade morelike as he's like laying there
(45:29):
dying on the in the snow.
Wade pulls out a gun, pulls outthe gun that we saw and shoots
Carl, but it just like goesthrough his mouth, like kind of
out his cheek maybe, or it justeither grazes his cheek or goes
like through and out, but eitherway like gets shot.
He's bleeding like crazy,shoots Wade a bunch more times
(45:52):
to make sure he's dead, takesthe money and is driving out,
gets to the parking attendantthere we go again with the
thumbs up.
I hate that gets to the parkingattendant and then he's like
open the fucking gate and he'slike bleeding like crazy.
And then scene cuts away toJerry driving there Like he's
(46:13):
like all right, like I got to bethere to ease, you know,
diffuse the tension if somethinggoes wrong.
But he sees Carl speeding outof there and gets to the top and
finds that Wade's dead and themoney's gone.
And then I think he pops.
(46:34):
He pops the trunk open.
We see him pop the trunk open.
So I don't know if he tookWade's body or what, but then,
as he's leaving, we see thatCarl also killed the parking
attendant because he's pullingout the gates busted and he
looks inside and there's a deadbody in there.
We get another cop isinterviewing the bartender at
one of the bars that Carl andGary were at and he's just
(46:58):
telling them this, this wholelong story about how these two
guys come in and they're havingdrinks and they're looking for
women, and he's like what makesyou think like I know anything
about that and like you know,he's just kind of like telling
the whole story of this likeconfrontation that he had with
(47:18):
Carl, basically, and but saysthat they let slip, that they're
out by the, that whereverthey're staying is out by the
lake, and so I was like okay,like it's got, it's got to be
like this lake I forget the nameof the lake, so they had no, at
least where like where aboutthey could be?
(47:40):
We see Carl like driving backto the they're hide away and
he's on like the long stretch ofroad and decides like hey,
there's way more money than whatwas agreed.
So let me hide the rest of it.
And he goes out to bury it inthe snow.
(48:01):
But then he's looking around.
He's like shit, like it's themiddle of nowhere, how am I
gonna know where to find it?
And then he has the red icescraper and just kind of sticks
it on the pile.
That way, hey, like it's, itwill look inconspicuous and he
probably only has to leave itthere for like a day or so.
(48:21):
So he's like all right, likeI'll just leave this and I'll
come back for it later once I'veparted ways with with my
partner in crime.
And so this is where it tiesinto Fargo season one, because
there is a like a rich, likesupermarket kingpin of the area
(48:44):
and it's this story about, likehow he got rich.
There's a flashback and the wayhe got rich was he him and his
wife broke down in the car andit happened to be right where
that red ice uh, ice scraper was.
He goes and digs up all themoney and that's how he became
(49:06):
rich.
So, like I said, very looselyconnected, but still connected
anyways, moving on.
So then he heads back to thehideout.
Then we get a scene of marge.
She's packing in her hotel roomand she's talking to one of her
friends, like another mutual ofMike, and he's like she's like,
(49:31):
oh, like he's just like reallysad and lonely ever since his
wife, linda died, and thefriend's like what, like no,
like he was never married toLinda and also she's not dead,
like he was always like buggingher all the time and basically
like he's just like pretendingthat he was married to this
(49:52):
other girl that he had a crushon.
Maybe she did die for real, butum, um, yeah, they were never
like even dating, let alonemarried and had children
together.
So, uh, and it was allpre-internet so it was easier to
get away with that stuff, butstill not not that easy, because
you just have to have onemutual person tell you the truth
(50:13):
.
But yeah, so Mike was lying andeverything just wanted some
sympathy, I guess, and just alsovery stalker prone, I guess, um
, um, stalker tendencies.
So, jerry's back at the office.
We see him, uh, writing down umthe fake serial numbers, uh, um
(50:33):
, a little more legible, andjust trying to make sure that
they're just right.
And as he's doing this, margecomes back to you know,
interrogate him again, um, buthe's getting just like way more
defensive with her this time.
And he's like, all right, likeyou know when's the last time he
(50:53):
did an inventory.
And he's like, like you want meto do a lot count, let's do it
right now.
Like come on and just like whoa, like hey, like you don't need
to get, you know, all snippywith me, like I'm just doing my
job and you're just doing yourjob, right, so let's just make
it easier, uh.
But so he's like, all right,like I'll be right back, um.
(51:13):
And so, as she's like waitingin the office, she hears some
tire screech and looks out thewindow and Jerry's making a run
for it.
And so she's like, so she callsuh, you know someone else in
the department, like hey, likehe's making a run for it.
So Carl gets back to the hideout.
Uh, gare's in there watchingsoap operas with the tv, dinner
(51:36):
and everything.
Jean's like passed out on thefloor and he's like what's with
her?
And Gare's like, well, she'sstarted like shrieking, so like
I hit her basically, uh, so wedon't know if she's dead or just
passed out like who knows um.
But Carl's like, all right,like here's the money, and gives
(51:58):
, uh, gives Gare his cut likehere's 40 000 um.
And he's like, oh, what aboutthe car?
And he's like how are you gonnasplit a car?
Like get a fucking chainsaw.
And Gare's like one of us paysfor half and it's like, oh my
god, like you're making thismore.
He's like I got shot, like Ipaid my price, like who cares
(52:23):
about the car.
And so he's like all right,like I'm not paying for that,
I'm taking the car.
And he goes to leave.
As he's like about to get inthe car, we see Gare come out of
the house with a axe and buryit right in, uh, carl's chest,
just like right there.
And then the scene cuts.
Then we see Marge, uh going offthe tip that like hey, maybe
(52:47):
they're at the lake and she'sdriving around.
And then she spots in thedriveway.
She's like, oh, that's the car.
Like you know, um, the thing is, uh, tan Sierra is what they're
looking for, um.
So she spots the car, says likeall right, like the whoever
she's talking to is like allright, we're sending back up.
(53:08):
Um, be careful, you know.
And so she parks the car, getsher gun out and starts like
walking towards the cabin.
Uh, as she's walking towards thecabin, we can hear like a
machine, like machine noises, uh, like some kind of motor, you
know, chainsaw, lawn mower,generator, something you know.
(53:30):
And so she's like on alert,she's taking it easy head in
there, she's got her gun drawn,she's going closer to the sound,
she gets close and then we see,uh, kind of obscured, that it's
a wood chipper and everythingon the uh output end of the wood
(53:52):
chipper is just like this biggiant puddle of blood, just
blood everywhere.
And you know, once we get acloser look, we see that Gare is
feeding uh Carl, uh, piece bypiece into the wood chipper and
we see him just like trying toput his like leg in there,
(54:12):
because we just see like the thefoot sticking out with the shoe
on and he's like it's not goingin and he's got this like piece
of wood and he's trying to likepush it in.
And she's like police, policeand you know, with their gun
drawn on him and you know hefinally hears her and tries to
(54:33):
take off, running across thelake, which is frozen, but uh,
she uh gets him in the leg andhe's down and you know uh
arrests him and everything.
And we see him in the back ofthe car and uh, she's saying
like man, like all of this justfor a little bit of money, like
I'm assuming that was Jean uhLundegard on the floor in there
(54:59):
and I'd.
So we kind of get from the tonethat, even though they don't
outright say it, that I thinkshe was dead.
And then she's like and thenthat was the uh, that was your
partner, the little guy, andthey're in the wood chipper
there and he's not sayinganything.
And then she's like you know,there's more to life than a
(55:20):
little bit of money.
Uh, and I forget he said hesaid something to that, but I I
forgot to write it down.
Um, or maybe he doesn't, maybehe's just staring out the window
and like thinking about whatshe's saying.
But uh, either way, uh, we get auh a scene at a motel where
(55:42):
they uh catch Jerry.
Um, they're uh knocking on hisdoor saying like, hey, is Mr
Anderson there because he used afake name checkin' in?
Uh, but it's still his car inthe parking lot.
And they're like hey, are youthe owner of such-and-such car?
And he's like, oh, yeah, bethere in a sec.
Uh, so that.
But they have the hotel managerthere, they open it with the
(56:03):
key.
They get in there, uh, and he'sin the bathroom trying to
escape through the window, buthe's stuck and they pull him out
and get him on the bed and cuffhim and everything, so he
finally he goes down.
Uh, then we get the final scene.
Is uh, marge getting into bedwith her husband for the night
(56:25):
and they just have like thisnice, uh normal conversation
about his uh, stamp collectingand everything like that, and
it's just like a nice.
It reminds me, um, I know thisis obviously a later movie, but
it reminds me of the end of, uh,no Country for Old Men.
How it's just this likeseemingly mundane conversation
(56:47):
but it is just like a slice oflife.
And then, just like that's howyou really see who these
characters are is by seeing themin their normal day to day, not
when they're catching murderersor getting shot at or you know
whatever.
Um, you just get to see them asthey are with their significant
(57:10):
other and uh, yeah, I justreally like that end part.
Um, but, yeah, great movieFargo, uh, probably, besides no
Country for Old Men, this wouldbe my favorite, uh, my second
favorite, cohen Brothers movie.
Um, not a lot of people areprobably like Big Lebowski, I do
(57:33):
like that one, but also I thinkI just need to give that one a
few more watches before I likereally appreciate it.
But Fargo is just so good andit's short too.
It's like only 98 minutes soyou can breeze right through it
and it's just like it's reallywell paced.
Nothing is, uh, unnecessary inmy opinion.
(57:53):
Um, but yeah, and greatperformances by everybody, like
everyone's like at the top oftheir game.
No one comes off like theydon't know what they're doing or
they're like too hammy or toobroad or anything like that.
Um, but yeah, great script,great performances, great
(58:14):
directing, great cinematography.
Like I said that one shot ofthe parking lot is just gorgeous
, like so well uh framed andeverything.
But yeah, uh, that's Fargo.
Um, thank you guys for watching.
Thank you for listening.
Dizzy, uh, you know, if you'rea listener, check out the
(58:36):
youtube if you prefer that.
If you're watching and youprefer to like have it on, the
go and just listen to it, checkit out on any of the platforms
apple music, spotify, whatever,like it's on all of them, I'm
pretty sure, uh, but yeah,thanks for watching, listening,
uh, please, uh, like, subscribe,review, whichever pertains to
(58:59):
the medium that you're consumingthis.
Uh, and stick around.
Next week, like I said, we'regoing to be doing more, uh,
winter or snow movies thataren't, uh, holiday related.
So, um, next one should be JohnCarpenter's the thing, and if
it's not next week, then it'ssomewhere in the month.
(59:20):
So, uh, thanks again, and uh,stick around and stay tuned for
what else we got later in themonth.
Thanks, bye.
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