Fargo is a 1996 film created by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It is set in the Upper Midwest (the opening and closing scenes are set in North Dakota and the rest in Minnesota, USA) and tells the tale of a car salesman (William H. Macy), who has hired two hit men (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife (Kristen Rudrud) for a ransom of $80,000. It sets off a chain of murders in the region and the ensuing investigation by pregnant policewoman Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand).

Fargo won two Academy Awards in 1996 — for Best Screenplay and another for Best Actress for Frances McDormand. The film also won the British BAFTA Award and several other international film awards, including the Award for Best Director (Joel Coen) at the Cannes Film Festival of 1996.

The film was ranked #84 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Movies" list and #93 on its "100 Years...100 Laughs" list. In addition, Marge Gunderson was ranked #33 on the AFI's list of greatest film heroes.

The film was released on DVD initially on July 8, 1997. The Special Edition DVD was released on September 30, 2003.

In 1987, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a car salesman from Minneapolis, Minnesota with financial troubles, hatches a simple plan. Through his mechanic, a former criminal named Shep Proudfoot, he enlists the service of two hit men, Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), at a bar in Fargo, North Dakota to kidnap his wife, Jean, who will be returned unharmed for a payment of $80,000. Jerry's secret plan is to tell his wealthy but antagonistic father-in-law, Wade, that the ransom is $1,000,000 intending to use the large difference to settle enormous unspecified debts he has accrued.

Everything seems to then go according to plan. Jean is kidnapped and Jerry tells Wade about the situation. However, the kidnapping plan takes a dramatic turn for the worse when a state trooper pulls over the kidnappers near Brainerd, Minnesota. After an unsuccessful bribe attempt by Carl, Gaear murders the trooper and two witnesses who happen to drive by. The deaths are investigated by the local police chief, a very pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). She quickly figures out the chain of events and follows leads through Minneapolis and the backwoods of Minnesota, quietly piecing together clues. She discovers that Shep is linked to the murderers through phone records. After Marge interviews him, Shep goes after Carl and beats him with a belt, and also attempts to strangle him, for getting him in trouble and threatening his freedom on parole. Recovered and on edge, Carl demands Jerry deliver him the money in a parking garage; Wade decides to deliver the ransom himself but, unwisely, bullies Carl. Carl and Wade exchange gunfire, leaving Wade dead and Carl bleeding heavily from a bullet wound to the jaw. Leaving the parking garage, Carl also shoots and kills the lot attendant.

Discovering that the case contains a million dollars, Carl buries most of the money by the side of the highway and marks it with an ice scrapper as he plans to retrieve it later. Carl returns to the shack where Gaear is staying with the expected $80,000. Gaear has in this time killed Jean. Carl, initiates a dispute over who gets the car, ending with a threat against Shep and storming out. Seemingly disturbed by this threat or by the loss of the car, Gaear follows Carl and dispatches him with an axe.

Marge questions Jerry at the auto dealership because of Shep, but Jerry panics and flees the interview. She gets an idea of where the kidnappers are holing up and comes on the property just in time to see Gaear pushing the last of Carl into a wood chipper. As Gaear flees, Marge shoots him in the leg and arrests him. On the drive back to the station, Marge tries to talk to the clearly sociopathic Gaear, unable to comprehend how he can do what he does "for a little bit of money." Jerry is later arrested in a motel outside of Bismarck, North Dakota. In the final scene, Marge and her husband, Norm, sit in bed together watching television, sharing a loving conversation. In the end, nobody gets the money.

The unseasonably mild winter weather of early 1995 forced the crew to move locations frequently to find suitable snow-covered landscapes. Fake snow had to be used for many scenes. Pools and streams of meltwater are visible in many scenes. Fargo was also shot very cheaply after the Coen's recent box office failure, The Hudsucker Proxy.

Locations used during production include:
King of Clubs, a bar shown at the beginning of the film was located in Northeast Minneapolis on Central Avenue. It has since been razed to make way for housing for people who are HIV-positive.
The Pillsbury Ave, Minneapolis home of Doug Melroe and Denny Kemp includes the kitchen of the Lundegaards'. house.
The "Wally McCarthy Oldsmobile" car dealership located in the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield, off of Interstate 494 and Penn Avenue. It has since been razed, and the site is currently home to Best Buy's corporate headquarters.
Ember's, a restaurant just west of the Louisiana exit on the frontage road (Wayzata Blvd.) of Highway 394 in St. Louis Park. The location is now out of business.
Scenes with the Paul Bunyan statue were filmed on Pembina County Highway 1 near Bathgate, North Dakota.
The kidnapper's hideout cabin is located north of Stillwater, Minnesota.
The Edina, Minnesota Police Station was used for interior shots of the Brainerd Police Station.
Carl steals a license plate from the parking lot of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.
Chanhassen Dinner Theatre was used for the José Feliciano concert.
The Minneapolis Club Parking Ramp (located on 8th St. and 3rd Ave, Minneapolis, Minnesota) was used for the scene where Wade delivers the money to Carl.

Fargo begins with the opening text: "THIS IS A TRUE STORY. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred."

Although the film itself is completely fictional, the Coens claim that many of the events that take place in the movie were actually based on true events from other cases that they threw together to make one story. Joel Coen said, "We weren't interested in that kind of fidelity. The basic events are the same as in the real case, but the characterizations are fully imagined." He later noted, "If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept."

The main reason for the film's Minnesota setting was based on the fact that the Coens were born and raised in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis.

On the Special Edition DVD's triva track for Fargo, it is revealed that the main case for the movie's inspiration was based off the infamous murder of Helle Crafts from Connecticut by the hands of her husband, Richard, who killed her and disposed her body through a woodchipper.

The end credits to Fargo bear the standard disclaimer for a work of fiction.