A Simple Plan (1998)

In director Sam Raimi's neo-noirish, dramatic and violent crime-thriller, first-time scriptwriter Scott B. Smith adapted his own compelling and grim 1993 thriller novel (a NY Times best-seller) for which he was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (losing to Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters (1998)). The film's only other Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actor (Billy Bob Thornton) who lost to James Coburn in Affliction (1998).

The story told about the fortunes (and misfortunes) of a trio of rural, blue-collar Midwesterners who happened to find millions of dollars in cash, and then concocted "a simple plan" to abscond with the money - before everything began to inevitably unravel. As with all tales of this kind, greed, mistrust, unpredictable complications, paranoia, deceitfulness, and both stupid and deadly mistakes doomed the small-town residents to seek irreversible, desperate and failing measures.

The suspenseful, cautionary film with slowly-escalating tensions portrayed the dark side of corruptible human nature of the three richly-displayed characters, also exemplified by the bleak and grayish winter skies (shot mostly on location in Minnesota, with a low-key black and white color scheme). The discontentedness and moral compromises made by the basically-decent but corrupted principal characters were also described in the film's taglines:

• "Sometimes good people do evil things."
• "Four million dollars and plenty of change."
• "They've worked hard all their lives, but they still can't afford the American Dream. Stealing it is even better."

Its main plot ("money (and/or greed) is the root of all evil") was considered to be a reworking of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ("The Pardoner's Tale"), and also loosely based on the well-known fable: "The Three Thieves and a Purse of Gold." Other films echoing the film's message included John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave (1994), and one of the last lines of dialogue in the Coen Brothers' similar film Fargo (1996): "And for what? For a little bit of money? There's more to life than a little money, you know."

On a total budget of $30 million, the film made only $16.3 million in gross revenues, due to its limited release. Danny Elfman's haunting music compositions (with flutes, zithers, hand-drums, banjos, and pianos) and superb cinematography by Alar Kivilo made the absorbing film extremely memorable.

• before the opening title credits, there was a close-up view (filling the screen) of an ominous black crow on a tree branch surveying a wintry landscape; during the titles, a crafty red fox stalked a chicken coop for its next meal
• on New Years' Day in a small rural town in Wright County, Minnesota, humble and sensible, well-educated feed-mill accountant Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton), an employee at the Delano Feed and Grain Mill, reminisced (in voice-over) about the ingredients for a a happy life:
  • "When I was still just a kid, I remember my father telling me what he thought that it took for a man to be happy....Simple things, really. A wife he loves, a decent job, friends and neighbors who like and respect him. And for a while there, without hardly even realizing it, I had all that. I was a happy man"
• after leaving work early, Hank walked home to his modest house in the neighborhood, where he was greeted by his very-pregnant wife Sarah Mitchell (Bridget Fonda), a librarian; in the afternoon, he joined his older brother Jacob Mitchell (Billy Bob Thornton) and his often-drunk friend Lou Chambers (Brent Briscoe) who drove up in Jacob's 1971 Chevrolet C-20 red pickup truck; the slow-witted, near-sighted, dopey-looking, lonely and morose sad-sack Jacob was buck-toothed (with an overbite) who held the bridge of his glasses together with duct tape; in the back of the truck was golden retriever Mary Beth
• the group drove out to visit the town's cemetery to put poinsettias on the grave of the two brothers' deceased father; Jacob was distracted by Lou writing his name in the snow while urinating and ran off to join him
• as they drove back toward town, the red fox - now with a hen in its mouth - crossed their path, causing Jacob to swerve his truck to avoid it; he crashed into a tree and as a result of the accident, Mary Beth ran off into the woods after the fox into a nature preserve; the threesome set off to find the fox, as both Jacob (with his hunting gun) and Lou foreshadowed what they would find: "We're collecting the dead"; while traversing through the snow, they noticed black crows gathered above them - Jacob remarked about the nature of the scavengers: "Those things are always waitin' on something to die so they can eat it, right? What a weird job"

After Truck Crash, the Threesome Set Off Into the Woods, Beneath Observant Crows

• Jacob borrowed a beer from Lou, and as he drank it, he imitated lawyer George Hanson's (Jack Nicholson) quirky drinking routine of flapping one arm like a chicken while saying "nic-nic-nic" ("Wonk! Dit-dit") in Easy Rider (1969); Lou haphazardly threw a snowball that uncovered a small, crashed plane in the snowbound woods; they had stumbled upon an unreported crash site; inside the wreckage after pulling open the plane's side door, Hank viewed the dead pilot in the cockpit having his face pecked at by crows, followed by an attack that wounded him with a gash in his forehead (resembling the bird attacks in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963))

Crashed Plane Discovered in a Snow Bank

Dead Pilot Pecked at by a Crow

Hank With Gash in Forehead After Crow Attack

• a large black duffel-gym bag was dragged from the belly of the plane, and inside were dozens of wrapped $100 dollar bills; Lou and Jacob surmised that it was "drug money" and that the pilot was a "dope dealer" with "dirty money" (Jacob: "I saw it on 20/20"); Hank suggested that it was a "police matter" and that they should immediately turn in the money; however, the tempted, broke and destitute Lou and Jacob preferred to keep the money, but Hank continued to have moral qualms: ("You want to keep it?"): he argued that it would be regarded as stealing, and they'd inevitably end up caught and would go to prison; Lou disagreed: "Nobody knows about this, but us"; Jacob added: "It's like we came out here just on a hike, And found lost treasure. Right?", and Lou concurred: "It's the American dream in a god-damn gym bag, and he just wants to walk away from it!"
• Hank continued to debate with them about the proper thing to do: "You work for the American dream. You don't steal it"; Lou argued: "Then this is even better," and he attempted to convince Hank to see the money as an easy opportunity to advance in life: "You got a beautiful wife at home. You're about to have a baby. I know you ain't pullin' down that much at the feed mill. Wouldn't you love to have a piece of this?"; the two were able to easily convince Hank to at least keep the money for themselves for awhile, hidden away until they could confirm one way or the other if anyone was looking for it: ("Hank, why, why turn it in until we know whether or not somebody's lookin' for it?")
• ultimately, Hank was persuaded by the others to keep the money, but only under his firm conditions: "Suppose I was the one to keep it?...Just till spring, till they find the plane....Then, if you're right and nobody mentions the money, we split it up, and we all leave town...That's the only way I'll do it. Otherwise, we can just turn it in right now"; he forced them to agree to his demanding terms; they chuckled as they began to count the bundles of money back at the truck as it turned dark; the haul amounted to $4.4 million dollars
• they were interrupted by the arrival of Sheriff Carl Jenkins (Chelcie Ross), who pulled up after noticing Jacob's truck by the side of the road; as Hank innocently chatted with the Sheriff, Jacob and Lou sat in the truck; when the Sheriff was about to leave, Jacob walked back to greet the Sheriff and foolishly asked Hank: "Did you tell him about the plane? It sou-sounded like a plane"; Hank was able to deflect the question: ("Uh, I don't know what he heard. You know he's always hearing s--t"), and he escaped further inquiries

Arrival of Sheriff Jenkins (Chelcie Ross) at the Truck

The Sheriff Innocently Chatting with Hank

Jacob's Foolish Question to Hank - in the Sheriff's Presence ("Did you tell him about the plane?")

• on the way back into town, Hank was exasperated by the stupidity of Jacob's question and threatened to destroy the money: "You want me to burn the money?! I am not going to prison over this! If it looks like there's even the slightest chance of us getting caught, I swear to God, it's all gonna vanish! Do you understand?"
• in the book-ended conclusion, Hank again looked back - with a narrated voice-over: "There are days when I manage not to think of anything at all. Not the money. Or the murders. Or Jacob. Days when Sarah and I try to pretend we're just like everyone else as if none of it ever happened. Those days are few and far between"