It doesn't even seem like she suspected him at first, she probably thought he was just incompetent. You can see the exact moment the penny drops for her. Astounding performances.
I think the scene in which she meets her old high school friend is what leads her to check up on this guy again. He managed to fool her just by acting so emotional and it was all a ruse. These two men are the same, in terms of their ability to manipulate people with emotions.
He actually (the character) pulled out of it pretty well. First he seemed suspicious and then he did an incredible job of showing her that he was just lazy.
William Macy's facial expressions in this conversation are priceless. He shows nervousness, frustration & stifled anger perfectly by stuttering, talking incoherently & dodging the question put by McDormand... Awesome acting...
It looks like Macy's character Jerry has become completely insane finally aware of the mess that he created and how miserably all of his assorted schemes have failed. Also notice how Marge's character turns from cheerful and polite to dead serious after Jerry snaps at her.
Matt P. - especially when she asks if she can talk to Mr. Gustafson, and Jerry is thinking "well, that might be kinda hard, ya know, seein' as how he's dead and all."
Deserved an Oscar too tbh. There was feck all on that year either. IMHO one of the two great injustices. Depp for the The Libertine was nailed on and never got a mention.
I just watched an interview of his yesterday regarding his casting. He was obsessed with attaining the role. Check it out. I think he said when he got word that the part was his, he was alone at his cabin in Vermont, "smoking dope and turning bowls." Hilarious.
@@mysoncrumphaseveryinjury3853 Jerry Lundegaard was an easier character to play, a one dimensional scumbag. He played it well, but I don’t think it was Oscar worthy.
Good acting but the accents are atrociously inaccurate. I should know, i live in the area, yes we have accents but they are not nearly that extreme. I dont know anyone who talks like that.
Funny, GMAC fell for a similar scam back in Long Island in the 80’s. A big GM Dealer in Port Jefferson pulled that exact scam and embezzled millions before GM finally caught on! I wonder if the writers of Fargo modeled that after the real event. Great movie, one of those I can watch over and over.
The one unique thing about this movie more than any movie I've ever seen: it's just fascinating to watch them act - how they deliver their lines - body language, facial expressions. With this movie it's just fascinating to watch them. This scene is just one prime example of it: Lundegard is saying 10X more than just the words coming out of his mouth and it's fascinating to watch lol!
1000% agreed. I like how McDormand's character through the whole movie asserts dominance and authority without ever being what one might call disagreeable. Always smiling, nodding, and being polite, but it's very plain she's in charge.
+ForumLight Exactly. The self indictment when Jerry touches his face and lips after replying. "I'm cooperating..were doin all we can" Plain to see this man is lying.
I think the best part of the movie is right after this when she starts freaking out and says to herself: "He's fleeing the interview... HE'S FLEEING THE INTERVIEW!" I never get tired of watching this movie.
what scares me so much about this movie is, that i sympathise so much with jerry even though he might the prime example of how despicable a human being can get.
He is the classic example of greed. Good job, nice house, family, wealthy future (when father in law passes) but he wants more now. Hense why he is committing fraud at work and extorting his father in law. He is creating this trouble really
@@jsilva4847 I would say that the actual reason he owes money is irrelevant: The fact that he owes money to such an extent that he is desperate to commit a crime indicates his very poor decision making skills. It's kind of the initial subtle set up of that character trait before he completely demonstrates it throughout the movie.
The look on her face when he "gets snippy", the way she drops the aw-shucks gee-whiz persona and goes into full hardass cop mode, the way she lets him stammer and weasel until he is forced to flee. I would honestly be hard-pressed to think of a better performance by any other American actor than Francis McDormand in Fargo.
She did win the Oscar for this role. I would call Jessica Walter's spine chilling performance in Play Misty for Me my absolute favorite over this though. A crime she didn't win an award for it.
@@ApartmentKing66 hey, you're right that OP misspelled McDormand's name, but I'm not sure why you insist she shouldn't be referred to as an "actor". The term is used for women as well. It's gender neutral, like "doctor" or "musician". www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2011/sep/25/readers-editor-actor-or-actress And to say there isn't a performance by any actor better than Frances McDormand's in Fargo communicates that she is one of the country's finest thespians... of any gender.
One of the themes of this film--and this scene in particular--is that politeness does not equal goodness. Both Jerry and Marge are practitioners of "Minnesota Nice"; always seemingly appearing friendly, helpful, and positive on the outside. But only Marge is a genuinely good person on the *inside*; Jerry is in reality a greedy, duplicitous, murdering shitbag. So even though their approach to social interactions are on the surface similar, they couldn't be more different.
Jerry didn't directly murder anyone. But his incompetence and lack of control over this whole scheme he started out of desperation and yes, greed, is what ultimately got all of those people killed. Obviously, he didn't plan for anyone to get killed. Just a simple planned hire-for-kidnap scheme that completely derailed and spiraled out of control. Partially because Gaear was sociopathic and Carl was a knucklehead.
Really? After seeing that other movie called North Country about the female miners all being sexually harassed based on a true story I don't think "Minnesota nice" exists just women being made to say I'm sorry sir for daring to question their male superiors.
Lots of brilliant scenes in this film. Frances McDormand's character as the unassuming, friendly, pregnant Cop who is actually very perceptive and cunning in her work is perfection.
Such a bad liar and bad criminal lol. I love the other scene when she asks him a question, he stares at her and starts laughing about the Paul Bunyan story. You can tell he was trying to think of a lie. LMAO
imo, France's performance for her role is more nuanced and sophisticated even though her character appears unassuming, that's why she won the Oscar. Macy's acting is more straightforward which is suitable for his character, but it's not exactly Oscar worthy
Imo people probably just believed that William H Macy was just like his character. In reality he's nothing like him. His performance was so good that people couldn't even separate him from the character.
I love when dialogue wouldn't seem even remotely funny on paper, but is hysterical when spoken. The smile on Marge's face when she asks to speak to Mr. Gustafson is hysterical.
I absolutely freakin’ love this movie. The writing, directing and especially the casting are perfect. Macy’s face in this soft interrogation, McDormand’s sharp questions in the nicest tone, the looks they exchange, love this scene.
This is one of my favorite movies but when I recommend it to someone that never seen it before and they ask , Whet's it about? I can see as I describe the plot their facial expression tells me they think it doesn't sound very exciting or nothing they haven't seen before, but I will continue trying to sell it with Yeah, it doesn't sound like much but the acting and characters are what is the entertaining part
As far as I'm concerned this is one of the best films I've ever seen, definitely one of my all time favourites. The writing is absolutely genius, the acting by Macy and McDormand (and pretty much everybody else) is amazing, the directing is fantastic.
Love the way Frances pauses after Macy breaks the confidence with "Ma'am! I answered your question!!" It's so obvious he's a liar...he knows perfectly well where that missing Sierra is..! ;-) Brilliant movie.
His eyes have such a look of fear in them. Those little facial twitches. You can't teach an actor those little things, Macy is a master to be able to become this character in every little way.
Her smile at :55 just shows how proud of herself she is that she connected the dots on the clues. And look how quick she rushes into his office to tell him. McDormand plays that innocence and humble honesty absolutely perfect.
She’s so good. She plays the local yokel, but is so calm and collected. She interviews like she already knows what to expect. Her scene with Shep Proudfoot, is stellar.
William H. Macy said he felt born to play this role because he understood exactly the kind of character the Coen Brothers wanted. They liked his audition but they went to New York for more auditions, so William H. Macy got on a plane and crashed the NY auditions and he told the Coen Brothers that he worried they will ruin the movie by giving the character to someone else, and if they don't give him the part he will shoot Ethan's dog. William H. Macy saved this movie. I can't picture any other actor to play Jerry Lundegaard.
Scribbling on the notepad to wear the pencil down so that the books might appear sloppy and ambiguous. It's such a nice little character building detail.
I can't imagine Jerry Lundegard played by anyone other than William H Macy, he was truly born to play the role. An oscar-worthy performance if I ever saw one.
I loved it but I am originally from the Upper Midwest and I could hear people I know in the speech and cadence and mannerisms, though sometimes exaggerated. But you don’t need that personal connection. This movie works on so many levels, and IMO is a brilliant film. The acting, direction, staging, cinematography, soundtrack is all perfect. For instance, I love how the snow/flat, bleak landscape/ice is almost a character in the storyline. Always there, very evocative. I think it’s the Coens’ best work.
I love this film. I've lived in the Twin Cities forever, so this story is close to my heart. I only have one problem. People keep referring to the "accents" in this film. Accents? I don't hear no accents!
Macy is so perfectly cast, and plays the part so brilliantly, that his performance makes me cry. Check out the story behind him getting the part. Now there's a life of self-confidence to imulate.
An underrated brilliant part of this scene is his response to “they called someone who works here” was simply “yeah I see”. You’d think normally someone as high up as he in the dealership would respond “they called someone who works here?’ Who?!” That sort of just makes him look guilty that he was so uninterested in that fact
I love how certain Coen brothers movies revolve around crises of guilt and human weakness. There’s an inescapability of the consequences we create in our lives. Darn Tootin. None are without sin.
The fact that Jerry sells Oldsmobiles (ceased production early 2000s) also helps successfully seal this film in a particular TIME, not just a place. Brilliant!
William H Macy. This scene is iconic and to me he's in hall of fame for this scene. Frances as well. Another movie i would like to tip about is Southern Comfort whit Powers Booth and Peter Coyote. Another type of movie but it's clearly in my iconic vault of movies. What's connect them is very good music. In Fargo it's Norwegian folklore and in Southern Comfort its cajun music by balfa brothers.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Some say it was not a true story, but was inspired by true events. Other's say it was loosely based on the Helle Craft story.
When the FBI showed up to ask William Macy, "So has your wife been slipping a little illegal $500K to get her daughter into an elite Ivy League university?" he looked just like this. "No ma'am! I'm cooperating! Darn tootin' I'm absolutely cooperating with this investigation!"
I love this scene because of the interplay between Frances McDormand and William H. Macy. They had great chemistry and this scene was just plain perfect. I loved how calm she was asking the questions and also how frazzled and tense Macy's character was you could just tell from the look on his face as she was asking about the car's plates that he was really losing his cool and I loved her reaction after he snapped at her. He knew he was in deep after that. Fargo is a film I can watch again and again the acting from the whole cast is just phenomenal. The script is terrific and the direction is masterful. Fargo is an incredible movie and one my favorite films ever.
you betcha I had some good times in Fargo i grew up 65 miles away from there 28 years living in North Dakota if wanted to do any good shopping you had to go to Fargo. I live in Reno now people look at me funny all the time i say things like Yaw and you betcha .. kinda miss home sometimes
All he had to do was say that he'll do a lot count and get back to her later. Later on, when she's out of town, call her and tell her that no cars are missing after doing the inventory. He would've been fine if he kept his cool
What makes him so pitiful is that he bit off much more than he could chew when he started all this shit. I can't even hate him. I think you're right about what he should have done.
You know, people still can't agree if Jerry was either a moron who didn't think his plan through or a sociopath who didn't care how his plan affected everyone else.
The wiping of the lips/mouth covering is a sign of lying. Great acting by Macy! Also great acting by McDormand, you can tell she really doesn’t suspect him until he raises his voice at her. Great subtle face change.
