release dateMarch 1996director Joel CoenstarringFrances McDormand
William H. Macy
Steve Buscemi
Peter Stormarewritten by Joel & Ethan Coenfun factThe wood chipper is on display at the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center.where to watchAmazon Prime

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Fargo, the highly praised and award-winning film by the Coen brothers, is rarely mentioned as a car movie. Besides cars playing a pivotal role, it all boils down to one character: Jerry Lundegaard. As inhabitants of the third rock from the sun, we have, all of us, had to deal with some version of Jer Lundegaard. He’s a literal bête noire of our world.
The Trope That’s True

The slimy car salesman is a trope, a cliché, a banal semi-insult that, like a bad Italian accent or the blond surfer dude airhead, is simultaneously hackneyed, familiar, correct, and wrong. Literally, 99 percent of the dealers I’ve interacted with are good people; they know cars, and they want your business. They’re not cheaters, underhanded, or crooks. Like mechanics, they labor under the common belief that they are nefarious people out to take your money.

They’re not, but Jer Lundegaard sure is. Stuttering, shifty, awkward, surreptitiously needy, and as trustworthy as a sideshow barker, if Lundegaard weren...