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"FARGO"
(1996) (Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi) (R)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Mild Extreme Heavy Moderate Heavy
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Minor Minor Moderate None Extreme
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Moderate Moderate Minor Moderate Extreme


QUICK TAKE:
A northern Minnesota sheriff investigates a kidnaping scheme gone bad.
PLOT:
A car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard (WILLIAM H. MACY), has devised a new way to make quick money. He arranges the kidnaping of his wife, the daughter of a rich businessman, and then will split the ransom money with the two kidnappers. Lundegaard hires Carl Showalter (STEVE BUSCEMI) and Gaear Grimsrud (PETER STORMARE) to do the kidnaping and they perform the deed. However, they run into trouble when Grimsrud, the strong silent type, gets homicidal which brings Marge Gunderson (FRANCES McDORMAND) into the story. Marge is a pregnant sheriff who finds some bodies in her jurisdiction and then begins snooping around looking for answers. Lundegaard's plot begins to unravel as all kinds of things go wrong and Marge gets closer to solving the case.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
No. They may have heard about the good reviews the film has received, but a story about a pregnant sheriff from northern Minnesota? Nah, the kids will stay away.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For strong violence, language and sexuality.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • FRANCES McDORMAND plays a pregnant northern Minnesota sheriff who gets the job done and still manages to be nice to everyone.
  • WILLIAM H. MACY plays a slime ball car salesman who decides to have his wife kidnaped in order to make some money.
  • STEVE BUSCEMI and PETER STORMARE play the kidnappers who resort to deadly violence when things start going bad.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • People are seen drinking beer in a bar.
  • There is another bar scene where people are drinking.
  • Showalter and a prostitute drink champagne.
  • Grimsrud is seen drinking beer several times.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • A police officer is shot point blank in the head and a large, thick geyser of blood erupts and splatters Showalter.
  • The dead, and very frozen, officer is seen laying in the snow with a bullet hole in his head.
  • The wife's father shoots Showalter in the face, which erupts in blood and is later seen many times as a bloody mess.
  • A dead parking toll collector is seen in his booth.
  • A man is ground up in a wood chipper. His leg is being pushed down into the chipper as a red bloody goopy mess is shot out of the chipper and onto the white snow.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Lundegaard has a bad attitude throughout the movie (plotting to kidnap his wife to make money, lying to people, etc...)
  • The two kidnappers have very bad attitudes (first they kidnap, then they kill).
  • The two kidnappers laugh at the bound and hooded wife as she unsuccessfully tries to escape in the snow-covered wilderness.
  • FRIGHTENING/TENSE SCENES
  • See the listing under "Violence" for the tense scenes.
  • The most tense scene is where Marge moves in on the kidnapper's hideout and danger lurks all around her.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • Handgun: Used to shoot a police officer in the head.
  • Handgun: Used to shoot two witnesses. One in the back, the other in the face.
  • Handgun: Used by the father and Showalter to shoot each other -- one in the face, the other to the body many times.
  • Handgun: Used to kill a parking toll collector (we don't see the act, but later we see the body).
  • Axe: Used to swing at a man (and kill him because later he's seen in a...)
  • Wood chipper: Used to grind up the axe victim from above.
  • Handgun: Used to shoot a man in the leg.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Hopefully none (the story's full of kidnaping, violence, and murder).
  • JUMP SCENES
  • Grimsrud races out of a house and attacks Showalter.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • There is suspenseful music accompanying many of the tense and violent scenes.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • 76 (and maybe more) "f" words (2 with the prefix "mother"), 11 "s" words, 9 damns, 3 asses, 1 hell, 1 S.O.B., and 7 uses of "Jesus" and/or "Christ," 14 uses of "Geez," and 5 uses of "God damn" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • The two kidnappers talk about stopping at a place to get laid.
  • The two kidnappers have sex with two women in the same motel room. One woman bounces up and down on Showalter and there is moaning heard from everyone. There is no nudity but there's no mistaking what they're doing.
  • One of the above women talks to Marge about how Showalter wasn't circumcised.
  • Showalter and another prostitute have sex and the woman bounces up and down on top of him.
  • Later, as she's chased from the room, the woman's bare butt is seen.
  • SMOKING
  • Grimsrud smokes throughout the movie.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Lundegaard's son asks emotional questions about his kidnaped mother and whether they'll let her live.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • Kidnaping and murder.
  • Using violence to make money.
  • VIOLENCE
  • The wife is kidnaped as two hooded men break into her house and chase her into the bathroom. She hides and then attempts to flee but ends up falling down the stairs knocking herself out.
  • Grimsrud grabs a police officer and shoots him in the head.
  • Grimsrud chases two witnesses and shoots one in the back as he runs away, and then shoots the other who's trapped in an overturned car. Both die.
  • A man enters a room where Showalter and a prostitute are having sex. He throws her to the ground and hits Showalter. He then chases her out of the room where he beats up on a passerby (slamming his head into the wall). He kicks her to the hallway floor and then returns to the room where he kicks Showalter, strangles him with a belt and then beats him with the belt.
  • Showalter threatens Lundegaard on the phone saying he'll kill his wife and kid.
  • Showalter and the father shoot each other: Showalter gets it in the face, the father is killed by many shots to the body.
  • Showalter kills a parking toll collector.
  • A man kills another man with an axe and then grinds him up in a tree chipper.
  • A man is shot in the leg.



  • Reviewed May 18, 1996

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