Blood Simple (1984) on Netflix
Abby is married to Julian Marty, who owns a bar in Texas, and is having an affair with Ray, one of Marty's bartenders. Marty hires private detective Loren Visser to follow her.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.5/10115,146 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
In a Texas town, bar owner Julian Marty suspects that his wife, Abby, is involved with Ray, a bartender who works for him. Marty hires private detective Loren Visser to follow Abby, and Visser photographs her and Ray at a motel. A telephone caller lets the couple know they are being watched. Ray goes to the bar to demand the back pay he is owed, and the meeting with Marty goes badly; Ray quits. Marty offers Visser ten thousand dollars to kill Abby and Ray and get rid of the bodies. Following Visser's suggestion, Marty leaves town so that he will have an alibi for the night of the killing.
Cast
- Van Brooksas Man from Lubbock
- Señor Marcoas Mr. Garcia
- William Creameras Old Cracker
- Loren Bivensas Strip Bar Exhorter
- Bob McAdamsas Strip Bar Senator
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Blood Simple (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Before Blood Simple existed, Joel and Ethan Coen shot a dummy theatrical trailer to persuade investors to fund a feature, with Bruce Campbell playing the Julian Marty role and recent film-school graduate Barry Sonnenfeld behind the camera.
- The film has a long, late-night tracking shot down the Neon Boot bar that runs along the surface of the bar itself; when it reaches a drunk passed out on the counter, the camera lifts up, flies over him and continues on its route, as Janet Maslin noted.
- Carter Burwell wrote his first feature-film score for Blood Simple, the start of a partnership with the Coen brothers that by 2024 had covered sixteen of their films.
- The 1985 theatrical version made prominent use of The Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song", but rights issues led the Coens to swap in Neil Diamond's "I'm a Believer" for the 1995 U.S. VHS edition; their Director's Cut later restored the Four Tops track.
- The film's score mixes solo piano with electronic ambient sounds, and one track, "Monkey Chant", is based on kecak, the "Ramayana Monkey Chant" of Bali.
