# Yer Darn Tootin': The "Fargo" Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316 "2009-09-16T13:46:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/121 "2009-09-18T23:52:21Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > And what’s stupid about chasing down a murderer when you’re pregnant? She was a police chief. It’s her job to chase down murderers and stuff. That was my first thought as well but I figured the poster meant that she should have stopped working, being in the last trimester or whatever, for the sake of the baby. She could have done some desk work or something else if she wanted to work till the baby came instead of putting herself in a situation that could be physically demanding. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/122 "2009-09-19T00:32:57Z")
My favourite bit has no dialogue. It’s Marj pointing at the badge on her hat and the “get it?” look on her face. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/123 "2009-09-19T01:06:52Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > “Well, that’s…I’m not gonna get into…See, I just need the money.” > > The mystery of why Jerry needs the money isn’t ever spelled out, but it’s not very mysterious. He’s under the thumb of his wealthy domineering father in law. He’s got a middling job selling cars, but it doesn’t compare to his father in law. And so he starts cooking the books to bring in a little extra money now and then. And then he has to steal a bit more to cover up the first bit. And pretty soon he’s juggling large sums of money. And it’s going to crash, and everyone will see that he’s a worthless crook, who Jeanie never should have married in the first place. So he tries to arrange the parking lot deal, but Wade jerks it out from under him. And so he goes ahead with the kidnapping scheme, because he doesn’t want his wife to know what a loser he is. This could be it of course, and Jerry doesn’t come off as the hooker/blow/philandering type. More like a frustrated everyman/loser/knucklehead. But just like the mystery of whats in the breifcase in Pulp Fiction (same year I believe), I like thinking it was something more sinister! ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/124 "2009-09-19T01:10:24Z")
No one has mentioned FARGO’s music…fantastic I thought, and it really added to the snowy desolation/isolation. Brrrrrrrrrrr. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/125 "2009-09-19T02:48:54Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > This could be it of course, and Jerry doesn’t come off as the hooker/blow/philandering type. More like a frustrated everyman/loser/knucklehead. > ! I agree, he just doesnt seem like the hooker/philandering type. Yet, he is MASSIVELY in debt - not just a little under water. Furthermore, his father in law doesnt seem to suspect Jerry, so Jerry’s massive debt is probably a secret to Jean and her dad. Jerry also doesnt seem to be a very fun guy who lost money doing anything that would be interesting, or from something that is real fun. He is not overtly mean , or overtly suspicious, else Jean or her dad would not be so respectful to him, and not so trusting of him. If I was to guess Jerry’s problem, I would venture a “guess” that he lost a massive amount of money in a very mundane and boring manner, that Jerry has been embezzling money from GMAC for several years, pyramiding his fradulent debt to GMAC, by financing a long series of unsuccessful gambles in the stock market that have finally added up to almost a million dollars and now too large to prevent GMAC from detecting. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/126 "2009-09-19T02:51:27Z")
I remember seeing Elton John on a talk show right after this movie came out and he used Mike Yanagita in conversation! I was so impressed. I mean, after just one viewing (although, who knows, maybe he had a print…rich people…) being able to remember Mike Yanagita’s name is pretty cool. This is definitely one of my favorite movies. “You okay there Margie?” “Yeah, just think I’m gonna barf.” It’s so cool that we’ve probably covered the whole movie via quotes in this thread!!! ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/127 "2009-09-19T02:56:56Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > So how many died in this flick? > > My count: > -The State Trooper and the two witnesses on the highway > -Mrs. Lundegaard at the cabin on the lake > -Wade on top of the parking garage > -The parking garage attendant > -Carl Schowalter in the chipper > > That’s seven. Missing any? When I first heard about this movie, I thought it was about a bunch of murders, occuring in Fargo, North Dakota… …and we all know that in real life, North Dakota has the least amount of murders than any other state in the union. Being from North Dakota myself, I was reluctant to watch it the first time because “if” it was going to be about lots of murders in North Dakota, I just wouldnt be able to watch the movie in any accepting manner. Once I figured out that the murders were occuring in Brainard Minnesota, the movie suddenly became believable, and so I could “drop my shields” and really get into and enjoy the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/128 "2009-09-19T03:14:03Z")
It was a much-welcome break from all the knock-off Tarantino indies of the mid-90’s. Every damn movie back then was some hipster and his girlfriend in a rundown motel in the Mojave desert, with a suitcase that a bunch of badguys were after. Fargo still had the comic amorality that was in vogue at the time, but it didn’t suggest it was funny when people’s lives were casually snuffed out. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/129 "2009-09-19T03:15:34Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Tan Ciera! Tan Ciera! Every time I pass a Ciera on the street, no matter what the color, I shout this out. I never fail to crack myself up. Also, it is a complete travesty that **Fargo** lost out to **The English Fucking Patient** for best picture. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/130 "2009-09-19T03:20:24Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > My favourite bit has no dialogue. It’s Marj pointing at the badge on her hat and the > “get it?” look on her face. My favorite “no dialogue” scene was when Jerry was scraping the snow and ice off his windshield and just lost it, beating against the windshield with his scraper in cold, cold frustration. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/131 "2009-09-19T03:38:15Z")
What if Jerry just needed money from Wade/kidnapping to pay back the car guy? Perhaps he was attempting to scam them for some easy money (as he is wont to do with that damn Tru Coat) and it backfired. So when the guy starts badgering him for his monies, he sets Plans B and C into motion. That is, the parking lot and kidnapping. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/132 "2009-09-19T03:54:37Z")
My dad used to drive a tan Ciera when I was a little kid. I always hated it; my mom had a yellow [Oldsmobile Starfire](http://www.adclassix.com/images/76starfire.jpg) and some European moped, also yellow, which I thought was the coolest thing in the world. I always called my dad’s Ciera “the brown car”, never the actual name, because the drab brown colors of it depressed me so. The emblem had been ripped off, years ago, back in New York (which cemented in my little-kid mind, along with a lot of movies like _Home Alone 2_, the idea that New York was a dangerous wasteland where people ripped parts off of cars for no reason.) ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/133 "2009-09-19T03:54:38Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > My favorite “no dialogue” scene was when Jerry was scraping the snow and ice off his windshield and just lost it, beating against the windshield with his scraper in cold, cold frustration. This is actually one of my favorite scenes from any movie, dialogue or not. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/134 "2009-09-19T04:19:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But when things get dangerous, and a cold, heartless, psycho killer is on the loose in a previously safe, idyllic small town… Marge comes through with flying colors … She was a descendant of farm wives, and they were a lot harder and more ruthless than we tend to give them credit for. My grandmas were hard-core. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/135 "2009-09-19T04:21:50Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > **I agree, he just doesnt seem like the hooker/philandering type. Yet, he is MASSIVELY in debt - not just a little under water. Furthermore, his father in law doesnt seem to suspect Jerry, so Jerry’s massive debt is probably a secret to Jean and her dad.** > If I was to guess Jerry’s problem, I would venture a “guess” that he lost a massive amount of money in a very mundane and boring manner, that Jerry has been embezzling money from GMAC for several years, pyramiding his fradulent debt to GMAC, by financing a long series of unsuccessful gambles in the stock market that have finally added up to almost a million dollars and now too large to prevent GMAC from detecting. My guess for why Jerry needs the money? I think he’s realized that he’s trapped in his desperate life and he wants to escape. He’s using all of his schemes to allay suspicion until he gets the money and he can fake his death (probably ineptly) and escape from the situation. All he has to do is try to keep all the balls he’s juggling up in the air just long enough to cover his escape. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/136 "2009-09-19T04:33:37Z")
When the movie first came out, there was universal agreement around here (I’m in MN) that the only guy who sounded right was the old guy out shoveling his driveway. I’ve since heard that he is the only non-actor in the movie, being an old guy out shoveling his driveway near where they were shooting, and they gave him a couple of lines. It’s was also fun for a long time going to local theater productions and seeing actors who were in Fargo. “Look! It’s the parking lot attendant!” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/137 "2009-09-19T05:02:16Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Sure, she was superficially friendly, in the way that every other damn character except the criminals was. They all do the “you betcha” polite shit as a cover for their real personalities and real feelings. They may not even be aware anymore that they’re putting masks, after a lifetime of doing it. Didn’t that come across at all? Wasn’t Mike shown for the purpose of showing that the characters’ friendly behavior really was superficial, forced on them by a lifetime of being Minnesotans, and that what lay underneath was sometimes pretty ugly? Nah. The really incredible thing for folks not raised there to understand is that THEY REALLY ARE THAT NICE. :eek: And damn, once your personality has been poisoned by moving away, it embarrasses you to find that you are not. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/138 "2009-09-19T05:11:13Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Nah. The really incredible thing for folks not raised there to understand is that THEY REALLY ARE THAT NICE. What about the whole “Minnesota nice, Minnesota ice” some of us hear about? Sorta, “Don’t let the smarmyness fool ya” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/139 "2009-09-19T06:28:16Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > A character who was isolated from Minnesota society, despite his efforts to fit in, was Asian, and IIRC the only non-Scandinavian in the film. Um, Showalter is German, not Scandinavian. And you are suggesting a camaraderie between people from the several nations that border the Baltic that is belied when you have to live with them. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316/140 "2009-09-19T06:40:08Z")
> [@rock\_party](#): > > What about the whole “Minnesota nice, Minnesota ice” some of us hear about? > Sorta, “Don’t let the smarmyness fool ya” I never heard that one, being part of several of the clans so I could usually find a distant relative. 😉 But I spend a lot of my time with these people, and I know that the nice part is genuine, though they may not offer to cosign a loan. They are nice people whose ancestors came from a land that, much of the time, is a barren desert. Their niceness comes from the same root as the hospitality of Bedouins: I hope for reciprocation when I need it, but after many generations it becomes part of the culture. Yeah, they can sometimes seem less than charitable: today we buried an in-law I would describe as a “grumpy, old Swede,” but I’d also say that Eric was a good man who would give the shirt off his back as long as you didn’t interrupt his White Sox game too much. ETA: I mean, we’re not freakin’ ITALIANS, y’know. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yer-darn-tootin-the-fargo-thread/510316.md?page=8)