Fargo is a black comedy crime film written, directed, produced and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Frances McDormand stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant Minnesota police chief investigating a triple homicide that takes place after a desperate car salesman William H. Macy hires two dim-witted criminals Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare to kidnap his wife in order to extort a hefty ransom from her wealthy father Harve Presnell. The film was an American and British co-production.
The film was both a critical and commercial success, earning particular acclaim for the Coens' direction and script and the performances of McDormand, Macy and Buscemi. In , the American Film Institute named it one of the greatest American films in history the most recent film on the list up to that point but it was subsequently de-listed in In , the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
In , Jerry Lundegaard is the executive sales manager of a Minneapolis car dealership owned by his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson. However, Wade and his accountant Stan Grossman inform Jerry that Wade will handle the deal himself, offering Jerry only a modest finder's fee. Carl and Gaear kidnap Jean and transport her to a remote cabin in Moose Lake. A state trooper stops them near Brainerd for not displaying temporary registration tags. The trooper rejects Carl's clumsy bribe attempt, and orders Carl out of the car.
The trooper hears Jean whimpering in the back seat, so Gaear shoots the trooper dead, then kills two passers-by who witnessed the scene. Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson, who is seven months pregnant, begins investigating. She correctly deduces that the dead trooper was ticketing a car with dealer plates. She later learns that two men driving a dealership vehicle checked into a nearby motel with two call girls and placed a call to Shep. Marge visits Wade's dealership, where Shep feigns ignorance and Jerry nervously insists no cars are missing.
While in Minneapolis, Marge reconnects with Mike Yanagita, a high school classmate. Mike awkwardly tries to romance her before breaking down and telling her his wife has died. Shep finds Carl with a call girl in Shep's Minneapolis apartment and beats him for bringing Shep to the police's attention. Carl angrily calls Jerry and demands that he bring the money immediately. Wade insists on delivering the ransom himself and meets Carl at a parking garage.
