Fargo (1996) Frances McDormand Marge Gunderson William H. Macy Jerry Lundegaard Steve Buscemi Carl Rolvaag Peter Stormare Gaear Grimsrud Kristen Rudrud Jean Lundegaard Harve Presnell Wade Gustafson Tony Denman Scotty Lundegaard Gary Houston Irate Customer Sally Wingert Irate Customer's Wife Kurt Schweickhardt Car Salesman Larissa Kokernot Hooker No 1 Melissa Peterman Hooker No 2 Steve Reevis Shep Proudfoot Warren Keith Reilly Diefenbach Steve Edelman Morning Show Host Sharon Anderson Morning Show Hostess Larry Brandenburg Stan Grossman James Gaulke State Trooper Michelle Suzanne LeDoux Victim in Car John Carroll Lynch Norm Gunderson Bruce Bohne Lou Directed by: Joel Coen Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Ethan Coen Jerry Lundegaard is a car salesman in Minneapolis who has gotten himself into debt and is so desperate for money that he hires two thugs to kidnap his own wife. Jerry will collect the ransom from her wealthy father, paying the thugs a small portion and keeping the rest to satisfy his debts. The scheme collapses when the thugs shoot a state trooper and two innocent bystanders in rural Minnesota, drawing local Police Chief Marge Gunderson into her first homicide investigation. At first unaware that the homicides are connected to a Minneapolis kidnapping, Chief Gunderson draws closer to Jerry Lundegaard as his situation further unravels. ========== Jerry works in his father-in-law's car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the bloodshed, which turns loose a pregnant sheriff from Brainerd, MN who is tenacious in attempting to solve the three murders in her jurisdiction. ========== Jerry Lundegaard is in a financial jam and, out of desperation, comes up with a plan to hire someone to kidnap his wife and demand ransom from her wealthy father, to be secretly split between Jerry and the perpetrators. Jerry, who is not the most astute of individuals, hires a couple of real losers from the frozen northern reaches of Fargo, North Dakota for the job. Then things begin to slip from bad to worse as Jerry helplessly watches on. ========== Jerry hires two men to kidnap his wife so he can get his rich father in law to pay the ransom of $1 million. Once the ransom is paid the kidnappers will get $40,000 and Jerry gets the rest. That's the plan, but what happens is something totally different. Blood is shed when a cop and two innocent people are killed. Marge Gunderson is the Chief who investigates the murders. While Marge investigates, Jerry gets involved in deeper problems, ranging from financial troubles, to threats from the kidnappers.