150: Fargo (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1996)

This film is simply one of the greatest ever made. That's how I view the Coen brothers' blood-spattered, frost-bitten thriller. It's arguably their finest work to date, and certainly the film that put them on the radar of many a diehard movie-goer. A quiet, self-contained, beautifully written and gloriously performed blend of humour, tension, tragedy and eccentricity.

I love everything about this film - from the tongue-in-cheek prologue declaring the movie to be based on a true story, to the stark closing sequence as police squad cars plow through snowdrifts against Carter Burwell's swooping score. In between we witness what the Coens do best - tell a darkly comic tale of oddball characters getting totally out of their depths, with sometimes hilarious, but ulitmately devastating consequences.

In the case of Fargo, we centre on the tragic character of Jerry Lundegaard (William H Macy), a down-on-his-luck car salesman in the snowy city of Fargo, North Dakota. Plagued by debt but shackled by pride, Jerry schemes to have his wife kidnapped by two hired goons (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare), so that he may pocket the ransom money provided by his wealthy father-in-law (Harve Presnell). A seemingly simple plan turns into a nightmare as Jerry's father-in-law refuses to play ball, the goons prove increasingly inept at kidnapping but totally efficient at indiscriminate murder, and super-sharp, heavily pregnant police detective Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) quickly picks up the trail.

Many moments in the film are brilliantly funny - Marge's interview with two homely prostitutes, Steve Buscemi's snappy outbursts and an old local's witness statement - others are shockingly violent - the goons' encounter with a police officer and a passing family - and still others lie perfectly between the two - "step in" the woodchipper...

A superbly original and exquisitely witty bloodbath which gets better upon each viewing. Despite being nearly 20 years old, it hasn't aged a day. And does it deserve its place in the IMDb top 250 list? "You betcha ya!"