FARGO

PLOT SUMMARY

Jerry Lundegaard, a shady salesman at his wealthy father-in-law's car dealership, tows a tan Dodge Sierra on a trailer to a meeting with two hardened criminals. It's part of a scheme he concocted with them to kidnap his wife and split the ransom the father-in-law will pay. There is a disagreement: the criminals want $80,000 plus the car; Lundegaard says he will turn the money over later. Finally they accept his promise to deliver it, and take off in the Sierra.

However, the two — one small, dark-haired, and garrulous (Carl Showalter), the other big, blond, and taciturn (Gaear Grimsrud) — having kidnapped Lundegaard's wife, soon show us their ineptness. Driving along a snowy road with her bound in the back seat, they are pulled over by a state trooper because they don't have temporary plates on the car. Showalter tries to talk his way out of it but fails, whereupon Grimsrud pulls a gun and offs the trooper. Two civilians drive by while Showalter is dragging the body off the road.1 They flee, but roll their car; Grimsrud catches up in the Sierra and kills them too.

The two hole up in a remote cabin, still holding the wife. They call Lundegaard to arrange the ransom. Now they want a million dollars. Lundegaard's father-in-law (Wade Gustafson) puts up the money but insists on delivering it himself. Showalter becomes enraged at not meeting just Lundegaard. He shoots Gustafson, but the father-in-law has a gun too. He manages to get off one shot, hitting Showalter in the jaw. That is his last act.

Showalter takes the money and leaves, nursing his jaw. Lundegaard arrives just in time to see him tearing out of the parking garage. He finds Gustafson's body and puts it in the trunk of his vehicle. As he leaves he sees the body of the attendant, shot in his booth. He's out of his depth; he returns home, calls someone and asks what to do.

Parking along an endless fence, Showalter counts out $80,000 and buries the rest beside a fencepost. To mark the location, he plants a windshield scraper next to the briefcase holding the cash. Then he rejoins his accomplice, finding that he's already killed the wife. "She was shrieking," Grimsrud explains. Showalter tosses him $40 grand. They quarrel about who gets the Sierra.

Meanwhile Marge Gunderson,2 the chief of police in Brainerd, MN where much of this goes down, is on the case. She performs competently in an understated way, and soon locates Lundegaard. The second time she interviews him, he escapes in a car. She puts out an APB. Next she talks to a bartender and two prostitutes, getting a clue to the location of the killers. She cruises the area and spots the Sierra. Carefully approaching the house, she finds Grimsrud stuffing the body of his erstwhile partner into a wood chipper. He runs. She shoots him in the leg and takes him into custody.

Capsule review: Imagine a crime spree so bizarre, and criminals so grotesquely stupid, that they would strain credulity as fiction. That's Fargo. But the performances of the normal people are what make the film so compelling.