Every Coen Brothers Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Despite being their first feature length film, Blood Simple already showed that the Coen Brothers were destined for bigger and better things. Though the script and the direction isn't quite as refined as their later projects, the plot is there from the get-go, and is about as vintage Coen as you get.

The film sees a man called Julian (Dan Hedaya) hire a private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill his cheating wife (Frances McDormand, in her feature film debut) and her lover (John Getz), only for things to go horribly wrong.

Though lacking the Brothers' future love for dark humour, Blood Simple works wonders without the laughs, allowing the pair to craft a dark and troubling crime thriller with minimal characters and a simple but effective narrative. The acting is spot-on, the tension rich, and the characters all very well realised creations.

As noted, it's not quite as effective as their later films, but Blood Simple does have many of the trademarks that would make the filmmakers Hollywood mega-stars in time, and as a debut is an impressive achievement promising big things.