Director Joel Coen's and producer Ethan Coen's Blood Simple (1984, River Road Prods/Circle Releasing/Palace) is a contemporary noir thriller set in Texas. A taut, convoluted plot and imaginative direction made the independent release a word-of-mouth hit and established the Coen brothers' reputation for originality. Actors John Getz, Frances McDormand, and Dan Hedaya appear in the story in which a woman commits adultery, and her enraged husband hires a killer for revenge. Blackmail, violence, and mistaken assumptions lead to an edgy, exhilarating climax.

Blood Simple (ST MARTIN'S ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY SERIES)

Humor & Entertainment

Coen, Ethan

Coen, Joel

Movies

St Martins Pr

It's easy to see why Raising Arizona is one of the best and most beloved films that Ethan and Joel Coen have yet to create. The cultish humor, original characters, fresh cinematography, catchy soundtrack, and zany yet well-structured plot to be found in this film are all Coen brothers trademarks. Nicholas Cage plays a veteran criminal who marries a prison guard named Edwina (Holly Hunter). Because he and his wife cannot conceive, our convict-hero kidnaps, with only the most earnest intentions, one of the famous "Arizona Quintuplets." A hellacious bounty-hunting biker and two old pals who have just escaped from the pen make it very hard for the couple to raise their child properly. This is a movie—and a screenplay—marked by breathless chases, improbable scenes, and hilarious dialogue throughout.

Raising Arizona (ST MARTIN'S ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY SERIES)

St. Martin's: Griffin

The award winning Barton Fink is a dark psychological thriller set in Hollywood in the 1940s. It concerns an aspiring writer who gradually becomes sucked into a grisly world of violence and terror. Miller's Crossing reinventsthe 1930s gangster film in a complex story of love, friendship, and betrayal. Also in this edition is an introduction by Coen brothers' sometime editor Roderick Jaynes, who offers a rare insight into their world.

Barton Fink/Miller's Crossing. Screenplays for the Motion Pictures

Faber&Faber

Barton Fink & Miller's Crossing

Winner of the Academy Award as the best Original Screenplay of 1996. Set in the midst of the bleak midwinter snow drifts of the American Midwest, Fargo is a story of murder and mayhem. Stylistically, Fargo-in its observation of a specific Minnesota community-is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the post-modernism of The Hudsucker Proxy and the baroque hallucinations of Barton Fink. Fargo exposes the dark side of existence, but the grimness of the tale is alleviated by the laconic humor with which the characters greet their fates. The plot is executed with brilliance, and yet the writing also reveals a humanity at its core.

Fargo

Winner of the Academy Award as the best Original Screenplay of 1996.Set in the midst of the bleak midwinter snow drifts of the American Midwest, Fargo is a story of murder and mayhem.Stylistically, Fargo-in its observation of a specific Minnesota community-is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the post-modernism of The Hudsucker Proxy and the baroque hallucinations of Barton Fink. Fargo exposes the dark side of existence, but the grimness of the tale is alleviated by the laconic humor with which the characters greet their fates. The plot is executed with brilliance, and yet the writing also reveals a humanity at its core.

Fargo (Faber Reel Classics S.)

Joel and Ethan Coen are among America's best-loved and most lauded independent filmmakers. With their latest work, O Brother, Where Art Though?, The Oscar-winning team returns to the period-piece films of their earlier career (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy) and showcase once-again their pitch-perfect ear for hilarious and outrageous dialogue, as well as their penchant for the fantastic. Based on Homer's Odyssey, the movie stars George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill, along with Coen-mainstay John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as fugitives from a chain gang who embark on a mystical and musical journey through 1930s Mississippi. History and allegory are expertly entwined as, along the way, the three escapees encounter a blind prophet, are tempted by sirens, do battle with a Cyclops (in the form of a one-eyed Klansman), fall in with George "Baby Face" Nelson on a bank heist, and cut a blues record with a young guitar prodigy who bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Robert Johnson.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with the hilarious. Of the scripts included here, Barton Fink--an intense look at the psychological ruin of a New York playwright trying to make it in 1940s Hollywood--is a masterful culmination of these themes.

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

From the creators of Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou? From the Coen brothers, "two of our most dependably provocative filmmakers" (Mike Clark, USA Today), comes a darkly funny thriller that harkens back to their earlier classics such as Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and Barton Fink. Set in 1950s California, the film stars Billy Bob Thornton as Ed, a mild-mannered barber whose wife, Doris (Frances McDormand), is having an affair with her department store boss, Big Dave. Although Ed is initially apathetic about his wife's adultery, his life is turned upside down when one of his customers tells him about "the biggest business opportunity since Henry Ford"-dry cleaning-and he decides to blackmail Big Dave for the venture capital to start a chain. From there things go horribly wrong: Dave discovers Ed's identity as the blackmailer and tries to strangle Ed, who winds up killing Dave in self-defense, yet, ironically, it's Doris who the police arrest for the murder. As Ed tries to figure out what to do next his world begins to unravel, piece by piece. Full of the same kind of slow-burn character studies, biting humor, and pitch-perfect dialogue that their fans have come to love, the Coen brothers' latest film is sure to take a place among their finest work.

The Man Who Wasn't There

From the creators of Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Intolerable Cruelty is the story of a fabulously successful Los Angeles divorce attorney, Miles Massey (George Clooney). Bored and restless with his success, Massey's on the lookout for new challenges when he encounters the much-divorced Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a hard-nosed beauty pursuing financial independence through serial matrimony. As the two square off both personally and professionally, what follows is the mother of all battles of the sexes. Full of the same sharp wit, snappy dialogue, and charmingly corrupt characters that their fans have come to love, the Coen brothers' latest film is a screwball comedy for the current age.

Intolerable Cruelty

STONE, MATTHEW

Ramsey, Robert

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Books by Coen, Joel