Joel and Ethan Coen – The Last Drive In

BLOOD SIMPLE (1983)

In a small Texas town, M. Emmett Walsh plays the ruthless and unsavory cowboy hat wearing, cigarette flickin’ Loren Visser, the Private ‘Dick’ who surly club owner Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) hires to shadow his unfaithful wife Abby played by Francis McDormand.Â Abby’s been stepping out with quiet, soft spoken bar tender Ray played by John Getz.

Jealousy, human cruelty, repressive machismo, and a lack of morality send the players into a whirlwind of stunning events. Ethan and Joel Coen wrote, produced, and directed this starkly gripping Neo Noirish thriller with a streak of mucky black humor and fine performances, that manages to paint an environment of alienation and passionless rage. The film creates a disturbing atmosphere of an Americana hell.

A quiet little masterpiece of suspense and mayhem, from the prolific brothers Coen!

Walsh is masterful as the sweaty, pale, and flabby lurking beast who manages to attract flies to his sweat-beaded forehead, and has the self-composure to not even swat them away. The impression is that he is human garbage that attracts flies, yet is comfortable understanding his place in this world. His cool and sardonic demeanor begins to unwind as the events spiral out of control, and the unrestrained beast within starts to emerge. Visser is truly a memorable fiend of the film!