Blood Simple (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Great start for the Coen Brothers. Nice quantity of special features

The packaging was delivered nicely.No broken case, no scratches, all good.A solid 4K transfer of an '80s crime-thriller gem.It's a dark crime story laced with the Coens' signature jet-black humor.

Great treatment of an amazing film.

What a treat to rewind to the beginning of Coen brothers cinematography and see the snippets of genius that blossomed as they grew.I frequently get the impression this duo take characters out of Flannery O'Connor short stories as inspiration, then flesh them in regional noir dramas to great effect. Here, were in Texas, Fargo of course, exploiting the Upper Midwest. To my taste the northern vernacular makes for better embellishment, southern drawl being overdone, but that's not to disparage here, merely note I suspect the Coen's may have picked up on that themselves, and moved the Fargo setting up north for similar reasons.Here, we've got southern cultivated fields as effective venue for dramatic doings, but the vast winter landscapes of Fargo were a subtle improvement to cinematic maturity.This film is terrific, the characters wonderfully loathsome, and violence inspired filmmaking. It rates 4 stars only because we're privileged to 5 star options as the Coen brothers progressed, but anyone would be proud to take credit for this film, and audiences should love it.

Great story. Classic Coen. Beautifully restored in 4K by Criterion.

I'd never seen this movie - the first by the Coen brothers - and I found it absolutely wonderful. The movie was a great thriller, and the Blu-Ray transfer was wonderful. But perhaps the greatest benefit was the very lengthy discussion between the Coen boys, and their cinematographer, about the making of it. The things that went well, and the things that didn't. To me, this is what the extras should be like - something to add to the viewing experience. Not a trailer, and certainly not what gets trotted out far too often - interviews with eveyone on the film saying how wonderful everyone else is. I can write these in advance - to me they add nothing to the movie watching experience. So, congratulations to Criterion. This is certainly a movie worth including in your library.

You know the movie's reputation at this point, so should you get the new edition? Yes. Of course. Buy it now.The Criterion BLOOD SIMPLE has a fantastic 4K restoration of the film, an hour of telecined discussion about shot choices, lighting and visual storytelling with Barry Sonnenfeld and the Coen Brothers, a 45-minute discussion between the brothers and David Eggers and interviews with some of the cast. Hell, even Carter Burwell shows up to talk about how he composed his first film score!

This is the very first Coen Brothers film that I ever watched (on a big screen theater in San Francisco).I purchased this DVD for a Buddy for Christmas.He loved it, which is no surprise.IMHO, this is one of the very best Coen Brothers films, period.