Ed-Shullivan The Cohen brothers did a marvellous job in delivering a suspenseful film noir in which a tavern owner named Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) is betrayed by his wife Abby (Frances McDormand) who is having an extra marital affair with one of Julian's tavern employee's named Ray (John Getz). Julian wants to confirm his suspicions so he hires an overweight and slimy private detective named Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) to follow his wife Abby to see if she is in fact involved in a sexual relationship with Ray.Not only does Loren Visser confirm Julian's worst suspicions about his wife Abby's sexual relationship with Ray, Loren gleefully provides to Julian some compromising photographs of Abby and Ray that take Julian by surprise and lead to his wanting to confront his wife Abby about her affair. Julian's reaction to seeing those dirty photos sends him over the edge and when his attempt to physically pull Abby out of the arms of her lover Ray fails, Julian reluctantly seeks the assistance of the slimy private detective Loren Visser once again. Julian wants Loren Visser to murder his wife Abby and her lover Ray and do away with their bodies where no one will ever find them.The plot thickens and the four main characters in this Cohen brother film noir being Abby (Frances McDormand), her lover Ray (John Getz), Abby's revenge filled husband Julian (Dan Hedaya), and the overweight slimy Private Detective Loren Visser (M. Emmett Walsh) who Julian hires carry this film from beginning to end with a generous amount of intrigue sprinkled in as well as to whom really betrays whom. This is in my humble opinion an under rated film noir and respecting of more recognition than the over rated (1990) Millers Crossing. I thought Dan Hedaya's portrayal of the tavern owner Julian Marty whose employee barman and wife are having an illicit affair right under his nose and in his attempt to seek revenge results in his own destruction is poignant. The betrayal by all four of the key characters is what makes this Cohen brothers film deserving of belonging in the criterion collection. I give this fast paced film noir a nine (9) out of ten (10) rating. Dan Hedaya was definitely robbed and should have been Oscar nominated for either a Best Actor or at least Best Supporting Actor for his emotional and vengeful portrayal of Julian Marty.

Filipe Neto This is another "film noir" signed by the Cohen Brothers, who sign the direction and the script. One more on a sizable list, as they like the "noir" style and a clever twist of cynical irony. However, this film isn't new and I don't know to what extent it will age well, or it will turn into a minor work of Cohens' cinematography.The film has many interesting aspects, mainly in the most technical questions. Cinematography is very elegant and cleverly uses the light and shadow, high contrast, washed colors and car headlights. Although I don't have any data in my hands right now, I dare to hypothesize that they have used wide-angle lenses during filming. I'm just guessing. However, the main problem of this film is the script.The whole plot is based on a love triangle between Abby, her lover, Ray, and her husband, Marty, who decides to kill them, driven by jealousy, corrupting a private investigator to do the dirty work. But things end up going bad for Marty and everything gets complicated, as the plot gives several twists. The virtual absence of soundtrack, the focus on dialogue, the atmosphere of latent suspicion between characters and their moral ambiguity are characteristics that we can see, and that are usual in "noir" movies. This is all very good and would have been even better if there weren't problems in between: to begin with, the film takes too long to engage and arouse our interest. In fact, the beginning is too slow to have a significant initial impact. Dialogues can also be very boring. Finally, there is another problem: it is absolutely loaded with holes. If I were a CSI technician, it would have been the quickest and easiest criminal investigation of my career.About as the actors, I liked them overall, but I was not impressed. John Getz and Frances McDormand, despite being the main actors, didn't shined, doing only what they had to do. Dan Hedaya had the task of giving life to an obnoxious but fundamental character, and I liked his work. However, I think M. Emmet Walsh deserves more prominence than them. It's through the cynical and obtuse look of his character that we see the film (he works, partly, as a narrator) and it's he who assumes preponderance in the way events unfold, giving him a protagonism that would hardly have had if wasn't the case. The actor really struggled, so the character can almost be absolutely repellent by embodying, in a visual and palpable way, his dubious morality and lack of scruples.In short, this is an interesting worth-watching movie but may not please most of the audiences, as it's rather slow and takes it's time to develop. However, being one of the first Cohen's films, it's a milestone for their careers.

christopher-underwood Whenever this film has come up in conversation, I have always said how good it is but barely remembering much beyond a wincingly tense scene involving a window, a crazy burial scene and the fact that the image was always very dark. That viewing must have been on some less than wonderful video because although most of the film is shot at night, it looks marvellous. Indeed, the visuals, the dialogue, the use of music, the pacing and the performances are near faultless. I still feel that burial scene is a bit too crazy but then allowing for the delirious state the main protagonist was in maybe it is fine, just not what any thinking person would choose to do. But no matter because it makes for great viewing, as does the entire film. There are moments when we do not know quite what is going on (and doubt the characters do too) but this is noir or at least neo- noir and that's all good.

movieliker1 This maybe the worst movie I have ever seen. The character are all stupid, slow and amoral. Most them stand around for most of the movie doing nothing, with their mouths open. The movie is incredibly slow. The scenery is bleak and unattractive. The music is cheap and unappealing. None of the characters are interesting or appealing. None of them are good people. There is nothing to be learned from this movie. It is not enjoyable or entertaining. And the fact that the characters are so slow makes the movie slow. I often found myself screaming at the screen saying, "Do something you freaking idiot !!!" Nothing --- nothing happens --- nobody moves. They just stand around with their mouths open, doing nothing and saying nothing. One of the main characters "Ray" has no affect. He never shows any emotion. No smiles, no happiness, no anger, etc. He just stands around with his mouth open like he is a brain dead zombie. There was never any drama or suspense for me because I didn't care about any of the characters. The movie is incredibly slow and there is this pretentious music playing that is supposed to suggest drama and suspense. But there isn't any because the characters are so slow, uninteresting and unappealing. And they all do terrible things with no understanding of right and wrong. I don't believe any of them are even smart enough to know the difference. It is basically a movie about a bunch of brain dead morons who bumble around and about each other doing terrible things until most of them die. All in super slow motion. This is a movie about mentally retarded people made for mentally retarded people. And did I mention.. . . it is incredibly, aggravatingly and excruciatingly slow.