Product Details

• Actors: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Kristin Rudrüd
• Directors: Ethan Coen, Jeffrey Schwarz, Joel Coen
• Writers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
• Producers: Andrew Reznik, Chris Sikorowski, Eric Fellner
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: September 30, 2003
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (499 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009W5CA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,141 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #100 in Movies & TV > DVD > Documentary
• Learn more about "Fargo (Special Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Leave it to the wildly inventive Coen brothers (Joel directs, Ethan produces, they both write) to concoct a fiendishly clever kidnap caper that's simultaneously a comedy of errors, a Midwestern satire, a taut suspense thriller, and a violent tale of criminal misfortune. It all begins when a hapless car salesman (played to perfection by William H. Macy) ineptly orchestrates the kidnapping of his own wife. The plan goes horribly awry in the hands of bumbling bad guys Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (one of them being described by a local girl as "kinda funny lookin'" and "not circumcised"), and the pregnant sheriff of Brainerd, Minnesota, (played exquisitely by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning role) is suddenly faced with a case of multiple murders. Her investigation is laced with offbeat observations about life in the rural hinterland of Minnesota and North Dakota, and Fargo embraces its local yokels with affectionate humor. At times shocking and hilarious, Fargo is utterly unique and distinctly American, bearing the unmistakable stamp of its inspired creators. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Nominated* for seven Oscars(r) and winner of two, this darkly amusing thriller combines a first-rate cast, "a dazzling mix of mirth and malice" (Rolling Stone) and a bizarre kidnapping plot that unravels the Midwest like never before. Starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi, Fargo is a brilliant tour de force from the creators of Raising Arizonaand O Brother, Where Art Thou? *1996: Best Picture, Director, Actress (McDormand, won), Supporting Actor (Macy), Original Screenplay (won), Cinematography, Editing

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Coen's pay tribute to Middle America July 2, 2003

By M. Dog VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Of all the Cohen Brother's tremendously entertaining movies, this is the best. This is the one that they will be remembered for. William H. Macy plays Jerry Lundegaard, a man in a spot. He's a used car salesman that has been securing loans for cars that are not really in his lot. The bank is calling in the loans, threatening legal action, and he needs money fast. He forms a plan to have his own wife kidnapped, thereby splitting the ransom money between himself and the kidnappers.

It's a terrible plan, and it quickly unravels into a bloody mess of murder and betrayal. When bodies begin to mount, a local police officer, Marge Gunderson, is called in. Frances McDormand plays Marge Gunderson, and she makes the movie magical.

McDormand won an Oscar for the role, and this is one instance when the recipient deserved the award. She plays "Margie" with a huge dose of humanity. She is a character that sneaks up on you. When she is introduced, you wonder if perhaps she is just a small town officer in way over her head. She is pregnant, speaks in small town (Minnesota) idioms, and throws up from morning sickness when investigating the first brutal murders. She seems more like a nice, Minnesotan housewife than a cop. But early you get the feeling that there is something special about her.

The killings involve a traffic cop that was killed while issuing a ticket for a missing plate. In his log book, he was written DLR. When Marge's fellow officer says that he has run a search for all tags starting with DLR, Marge says gently, "I'm not sure I agree with you 100 percent on your police work there, Irv." She explains to Irv that DLR means that it was a new car, a dealer's car. "Oooh" says Irv, staring into space. Then Marge tells Irv a joke about the guy that couldn't afford a vanity license plate, so he changed his name to FGS1135. "That's a good one," says Irv, but it is clear Marge's wit has gone over his head.

The brilliance of the scene is that Marge is never cruel or condescending to Irv, never thinks less of him, and is not making fun of him. She is simply enjoying her own intelligence, and we can see the very private sparkle in her eyes.

Marge also has a core of steel. Watch the scene where she gets information from a menacing suspect by reminding him, with almost motherly concern, about all the trouble he has been in with the law, and the fact that he is actually in violation of his parole. She cracks him like an egg without ever loosing her smile.

All actors concerned give great performances. Steve Buscemi brings his pitch-perfect snide larceny to the table, playing one of the kidnappers; and Peter Stormare (who once played Hamlet in an Igmar Bergman production) utters perhaps 15 words in a terrifying performance as the other kidnapper. And, of cource, William H. Macey couldn't have played it Better. His Jerry Lundegaard is so full of stress and fear, you can't watch him without squirming.

I have read where this film has been criticized for making fun of the people of Minnesota, poking fun at their accents and manners. This is not true. The Coen Brothers grew up in Minneapolis, and this is their homage to their own people. The folks in Minnesota may talk funny to the reviewers watching movies in New York and Los Angeles, but this film in no way makes fun of them. At the end of the day, Marge and her husband are happily going to sleep in their bed, in love with one another and content with their shared life. How many other couples portrayed in a Coen Brother's film can make this claim?

How anyone can watch Marge Gunderson in action and think the Coen's were making fun of her is beyond me. Like Marge, they are simply enjoying their own intelligence.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You betcha! May 31, 2009

By K. Oppegaard

Format:Blu-ray

Having owned Fargo both on laserdisc and DVD, watching the Blu-ray transfer projected onto a 200 inch screen is like experiencing the film for the first time at the cinema. If not reference quality (this was a low-budget, independant production), the picture and detail are vastly improved compared to any previous home video presentation - the blood really gushes out of the screen. One can now actually see all the unsavoury goings-on in all the murky interior scenes. There is a lot of film grain visible, so thankfully little or no digital noise reduction applied here. The aspect ratio and framing are correct and the sound and dialogue are much clearer than on the very thin-sounding DVD. There are minor edge-enhancement gripes, as other reviewers have pointed out: halos around black objects placed against white backgrounds (see the opening titles, or the lamp posts in Gunderson's car lot) - but this shouldn't prevent any film fanatic from shredding the DVD in the wood-chipper and upgrading to this version.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You Betcha! July 5, 2003

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Whenever I rave about a movie I've recently seen, there's the inevitable question "What's it about?" With regard to this film, I recall responding that it's about a pregnant police chief who eventually solves a series of brutal murders somewhere in the Upper Midwest. (Brainerd, Minnesota? Fargo, North Dakota?) It is always a pleasure to observe Frances McDormand's performance in a role for which she received an Academy Award for best actress in 1996. The film was directed by Joel Coen who co-wrote the screenplay with brother Ethan. This film effectively combines some of the most dead-on (albeit affectionate) cultural satire of Scandinavian Americans in "Small Town U.S.A." with severe physical violence as when one victim is stuffed upside-down in a wood chip machine. (When I first observed "Margie" methodically gathering information, I was reminded of Colombo whose keen mind is also underestimated.) The basic story involves Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a desperate swindler. After his wealthy father-in-law Wade Gustafson (played by Harve Presnell whom I did not recognize) refuses to become involved in a real estate project, Lundegaard hires Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimstad (Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife Jean (Kristin Rudrud) so that he can use most of the ransom to cover his debts and thereby conceal his crimes. Of course, his plan fails and several lose their lives as a result. As the film ends, the camera focuses on Chief Gunderson as drives her police sedan across the bleak winter landscape (think of the surface of the moon beneath three feet of snow and ice), with one of the two kidnappers in custody. She claims not to understand how anyone could behave badly in such a "beautiful" world.

Yes, this is a nasty film...at times severely violent. It also has a number of delightful comic moments, notably during Chief Gunderson's conversations with her husband Norm (John Carroll Lynch) as well as with Lundegaard. The acting by all members of the cast is consistently brilliant under Coen's crisp direction. After numerous viewings, what I still enjoy most in this film is McDormand's performance. Chief Gunderson may have a trusting heart but also a remarkably sharp mind. She wants so much to believe in goodness, to think the best of others, but she is by no means naive. As played by McDormand, she invests this film a warmth which is all the more remarkable, given the physical setting and time of the year.