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A SIMPLE PLAN
Greed and the power of money and how said power can trigger unspeakable modes of self preservation seem to be the motivations behind a 1998 drama called A Simple Plan, a suspenseful and sometimes moving drama that takes some really ugly turns that force the viewer's attention. This was my first re-watch in honor of the late Bill Paxton, who offers one of his strongest performances here.
Paxton plays Hank Mitchell, an accountant in a feed & grain store, who is married to Sarah (Bridget Fonda) and has a baby on the way. One snowy night Hank, his slightly dim brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jacob's BFF Lou (Brent Briscoe) find an airplane crashed in the woods buried underneath the snow. Hank enters the plane and encounters the dead pilot still in the cockpit and finds a large gym bag that contains four million dollars.
Jacob and Lou's first instinct is to split the money and never mention it to anyone. Hank appears to have a slightly cooler head and suggests that he hold the money until the thaw or until someone comes looking for the plane. If the snow melts and no one has come around about the plane or the money, Hank agrees to split the money between the three of them as long as they all leave town after they do so. But Hank's greed comes to light as well when he brings the money home to hold and shows it to Sarah almost immediately, whose first instinct is to turn the money in, but when it comes to light that the possibility of no one coming after the money seems imminent, even Sarah's greed kicks in, spring boarding a truly disturbing story that holds surprises at every turn.
Director Sam Raimi really scores here creating an atmospheric drama that takes on an added richness with the story being buried in snow and the eerie cinematic symbolism of black crows overlooking the story...every shot of the snow buried plane is overseen by intrusive black crows warning the viewer of the evil that men do, even though we don't need any reminders...the effect of greed has rarely been so effectively showcased as screenwriter Scott B. Smith does here, adapting his own novel for the screen. Stories about people who find large amounts of money never end pleasantly, and even though you want to slap the characters involved for even considering for a minute that they're going to get away with what they're intending, it doesn't make the story any less watchable and this particular story leaves a lot of bodies in its wake.
Paxton is first rate in a complex performance, as are Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination and Briscoe as Lou. Raimi has employed top notch production values here, with special nods to art direction and cinematography. There's some slow spots about halfway through, but the film bounces back to a powerful and uncompromising conclusion.
Greed and the power of money and how said power can trigger unspeakable modes of self preservation seem to be the motivations behind a 1998 drama called A Simple Plan, a suspenseful and sometimes moving drama that takes some really ugly turns that force the viewer's attention. This was my first re-watch in honor of the late Bill Paxton, who offers one of his strongest performances here.
Paxton plays Hank Mitchell, an accountant in a feed & grain store, who is married to Sarah (Bridget Fonda) and has a baby on the way. One snowy night Hank, his slightly dim brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jacob's BFF Lou (Brent Briscoe) find an airplane crashed in the woods buried underneath the snow. Hank enters the plane and encounters the dead pilot still in the cockpit and finds a large gym bag that contains four million dollars.
Jacob and Lou's first instinct is to split the money and never mention it to anyone. Hank appears to have a slightly cooler head and suggests that he hold the money until the thaw or until someone comes looking for the plane. If the snow melts and no one has come around about the plane or the money, Hank agrees to split the money between the three of them as long as they all leave town after they do so. But Hank's greed comes to light as well when he brings the money home to hold and shows it to Sarah almost immediately, whose first instinct is to turn the money in, but when it comes to light that the possibility of no one coming after the money seems imminent, even Sarah's greed kicks in, spring boarding a truly disturbing story that holds surprises at every turn.
Director Sam Raimi really scores here creating an atmospheric drama that takes on an added richness with the story being buried in snow and the eerie cinematic symbolism of black crows overlooking the story...every shot of the snow buried plane is overseen by intrusive black crows warning the viewer of the evil that men do, even though we don't need any reminders...the effect of greed has rarely been so effectively showcased as screenwriter Scott B. Smith does here, adapting his own novel for the screen. Stories about people who find large amounts of money never end pleasantly, and even though you want to slap the characters involved for even considering for a minute that they're going to get away with what they're intending, it doesn't make the story any less watchable and this particular story leaves a lot of bodies in its wake.
Paxton is first rate in a complex performance, as are Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob, a performance that earned him an Oscar nomination and Briscoe as Lou. Raimi has employed top notch production values here, with special nods to art direction and cinematography. There's some slow spots about halfway through, but the film bounces back to a powerful and uncompromising conclusion.