A Simple Plan (film)

A Simple Plan
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Sam Raimi
Screenplay by	Scott Smith
Produced by	James Jacks Adam Schroeder Mark Gordon Gary Levinsohn
Starring	Bill Paxton Billy Bob Thornton Bridget Fonda
Cinematography	Alar Kivilo
Edited by	Arthur Coburn
Music by	Danny Elfman
Production companies	Savoy Pictures Mutual Film Company Renaissance Pictures The Mark Gordon Company
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 11, 1998 (1998-12-11)
Running time	121 minutes
Countries	France United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$16,311,763 (US)

A Simple Plan is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Raimi, based on the novel of the same name by Scott Smith, who also wrote the screenplay of the film. It was shot in Delano, Minnesota and Ashland and Saxon, Wisconsin. Billy Bob Thornton was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Scott Smith was nominated for the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.

Several prominent critics praised the film for its complexity and taut suspense (four stars from Roger Ebert and Critic's Choice from The New York Times).

Plot

Hank Mitchell (Paxton) and his pregnant wife, Sarah (Fonda), live in rural Minnesota. Hank, one of the town's few college graduates, works in a feed mill, while his wife is a librarian. Hank's brother, Jacob (Thornton), is a dim-witted but good-hearted fellow. The story begins with Hank, Jacob, and Jacob's friend, Lou (Briscoe), chasing a fox into the woods, where they find a crashed airplane. The pilot is dead and the only cargo is a bag full of unmarked bills totaling $4.4 million.

Hank suggests turning the money in, but is persuaded not to by Jacob and Lou. Hank's condition is that he keep the money safe at his house and no one spends anything until winter ends and everyone moves away when they divvy up the cash. All agree to keep the discovery a secret. When they return to their vehicle, Carl, the sheriff, appears and Hank nervously talks to him while Jacob mentions hearing a plane in the area. Hank breaks the pact when he reveals the discovery to his wife, who is overjoyed.

When Hank and Jacob return to the plane to put some of the money back as part of a larger plan to avoid suspicion, they come across an old man on a snowmobile. Jacob, thinking their cover is blown, bludgeons the man. When the man regains consciousness and asks for the police, Hank suffocates him in order to make it look like an accidental death. Jacob reneges on his promise to move away during the summer, and tells his brother about his intention to buy his father's farm with his share of the money. Hank thinks that his brother is being ridiculous as neither of them know anything about farming.

Lou drunkenly demands some of the money from Hank, because he has spent recklessly since the discovery and needs cash fast. Hank refuses and Lou threatens to tell the authorities about the old man's death. Hank and Jacob team up against Lou. Lou, drunk and enraged that the two conspired against him, pulls a gun on the two brothers. Jacob kills Lou to save his brother, and then Hank kills Lou's wife when she appears, firing another gun. Hank concocts a plan as to what to tell the police to avoid arrest. The plan works, thanks to Hank's solid reputation in the community and Jacob's rehearsed speech to the police. Jacob tells Hank that this whole turn of events is wearing on him and that he "feels evil".

Later, the sheriff calls Hank and tells him that an FBI agent has arrived, looking for a downed plane that may have crashed in the area. Because Jacob mentioned a plane earlier, the sheriff asks the brothers to assist in the search of the woods. Sarah is immediately skeptical and discovers that the FBI man is actually involved with the money and is looking for his lost cash. Hank still goes with him in order to protect Carl, he brings a gun with him just in case. Then the sheriff, the FBI man, Hank, and Jacob split up and head into the woods. When they find the plane, the FBI man pulls a gun, kills the sheriff, and says that he is looking for the lost money. Hank manages to kill the man with a hand gun brought along as a precaution. When Jacob arrives at the site, Hank starts to concoct another story to tell the authorities, but Jacob announces he doesn't want to live with these bad memories, and will shoot himself to end it. He encourages Hank to kill him instead and frame the FBI man, so that Hank can still tell any story he wants. After grappling with the decision, Hank kills Jacob, and starts sobbing.

At the police station, Hank tells his story to real FBI agents. As Sarah had predicted, no one would believe that this upstanding member of the community could be capable of such wrongdoing, and he is cleared of any crime. But he gets some unexpected bad news. The money in the plane is actually ransom money paid to kidnappers, and before it was delivered, many of the bills' serial numbers were written down to track the cash and find whoever was using it. Hank realizes he cannot use the money without fear of being caught. He goes home and burns all the money, with his wife struggling to stop him. Hank and Sarah go back to their old lives and Hank reflects on their losses.

Cast

• Bill Paxton as Hank Mitchell
• Bridget Fonda as Sarah Mitchell
• Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob Mitchell
• Brent Briscoe as Lou Chambers
• Jack Walsh as Tom Butler
• Chelcie Ross as Sheriff Carl Jenkins
• Becky Ann Baker as Nancy Chambers
• Gary Cole as Neil Baxter
• Bob Davis as FBI Agent Renkins
• Peter Syvertsen as FBI Agent Freemont
• Tom Carey as Dwight Stephanson

Reception

A Simple Plan was met with critical acclaim, receiving a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Billy Bob Thornton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but lost against James Coburn of Affliction. The film earned two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert and is often thought of as one of Sam Raimi's best films, and an improvement upon the book it is based on.

In an article for the journal Post Script, scholar Jane Hill writes,

Although Richard Schickel links the film to Robert Frost's poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and a number of reviewers make note of its similarities to the Coen brothers' Fargo, as well as to such classic films as John Huston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, it is through even deeper intertextual roots that Smith and Raimi reveal their complicated ideological statement regarding the state of the American dream at the end of the twentieth century... Smith and Raimi transpose three specific sign systems, or texts, central to the western canon: Shakespeare's Macbeth, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Through their complicated interweaving of these language "systems," the filmmakers achieve a new articulation of the relationship between the American dream and ambition, between Christian morality and capitalistic expectations.

Box office

IMDB lists a total US box office of $16,311,763.

Home media

A Simple Plan was released as a Region 1 DVD on June 22nd, 1999.

The film was released as a region-free blu-ray disc in Germany on November 12th, 2012.

External links

• A Simple Plan at IMDb
• Roger Ebert's Review
• New York Times review