A Simple Plan (1998)

When three blue collar acquaintances come across millions of dollars in lost cash they make a plan to keep their find from the authorities but find complications and mistrust weaving its way into their plan.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers:

Scott B. Smith (novel), Scott B. Smith (screenplay)

Stars:

Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Paxton	...	Hank
Bridget Fonda	...	Sarah
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Jacob
Brent Briscoe	...	Lou
Jack Walsh	...	Tom Butler
Chelcie Ross	...	Carl
Becky Ann Baker	...	Nancy Chambers
Gary Cole	...	Baxter
Bob Davis	...	FBI Agent Renkins
Peter Syvertsen	...	FBI Agent Freemont
Tom Carey	...	Dwight Stephanson
John Paxton	...	Mr. Schmitt
Marie Mathay	...	News Reporter
Paul Magers	...	Anchorman
Joan Steffand	...	Anchorwoman

Storyline

Three diverse characters, for the most part intellectually challenged, find a deserted plane with a bag full of millions of dollars inside. They devise a simple plan to keep the money if no-one claims it. Ofcourse, nothing turns out simple...

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Plot Keywords:

stolen money | secret | fbi agent | suspicion | suffocation | 

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Taglines:

Four million dollars and plenty of change.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

France UK Germany USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 December 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Thousand Miles

Filming Locations:

Ashland, Wisconsin, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£139,087 (UK) (21 May 1999)

Gross:

£506,625 (UK) (11 June 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Mutual Film Company, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A scene with Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton was lost by Northwest Airlines in January 1998 while in transit from Minnesota to Los Angeles. The missing scene had been shot in Minnesota. The film was insured, and the missing scene was re-shot.

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Goofs

When Hank and Jacob are sitting in the car, the window is up, but when Jacob gets out, the window is down

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Quotes

Hank Mitchell: Everything goes to sleep.

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Connections

References Fargo (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Deliver Me"
Written by Christina Schlieske
Performed by Tina & the B-Sides
Courtesy of Sire Records Group
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Simply Terrific

Simply one of the best films of the year, perhaps the decade! A Simple Plan is about three men who find a huge amount of money in a plane wreck. They decide to keep the dough. It's like winning the lottery. It's the American Dream except that " you're supposed to work for the American Dream. But that just makes this better" replies one of the characters.

A Simple Plan stars Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton as two Minnesotan brothers Hank and Jacob who find the money with Jake's friend Lou played by Brent Briscoe.

The film is directed by Sam Raimi, the creator of the Evil Dead movies and there are some suitably macabre and funny Evil Dead touches to this masterpiece, although Raimi doesn't botch A Simple Plan up as he did with Sharon Stone's The Quick And The Dead a couple of years ago. This is a restrained, delicate Raimi.

A Simple Plan instead is on one plane a wry incisive comment on the human condition, but it's also a cautionary tale about the evil good men can do.

The characters are fascinating. Paxton as Hank is the brainy one of the three. He's been to college and has a wife (Bridget Fonda) who's just about to have a baby. Jacob is slow and sad with a big touch of goodness about him. His hair is lank, his teeth are dirty, he's in his thirties and has never had a girlfriend.

Jake gets drunk most days and nights with his boozing friend Lou, and both are unemployed. The prospect of a ton of money is as unsettling and exciting to this lot as it would be to any honest person who becomes suddenly very rich unexpectedly and illegally. This find is guaranteed to turn their lives up side down.

But things take increasingly violent turns until A Simple Plan has the air of a Shakespearian tragedy solidly biased by Hitchcockian twists. Add to this Raimi's weird sense of humour and a Coen Brothers, Fargo like frozen air and you have a superb film that will have you laughing uncomfortably as you ponder the extent to which men and women will go nuts and nasty when greed overcomes them.

Quite rightly both Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton are being touted for big acting awards as a result of their work in this marvellous film.