Pretty much all of the Coen brothers’ movies have scripts containing dialogues that fans just love to repeat, and Fargo certainly qualifies here too. Although it happens to be one of the darkest films in the directors’ credits, Fargo is simultaneously pretty funny.
The movie contains black comedy and thrills that make sense given the context surrounding the story’s events, and each quote has an underlying meaning attached to it. This makes Fargo one of the smartest films ever made, containing themes that some might even overlook. In order to best illustrate the humor and violence, here are 10 best quotes from Fargo, along with context provided.
"We're Not Just Going To Give You $750,000! We're Not A Bank, Jerry."
After figuring his father-in-law Wade would simply give him 750 grand based on his word about a business deal, Jerry Lundegaard was left shellshocked when Wade’s business partner Stan Grossman continually reminded him that they weren’t a bank. They only went so far as to offer him a measly finder's fee.
The ironic thing about this quote was that it was the first time in his life Jerry had actually done something competent, only for Stan and Wade to completely overlook it. It’s no wonder Jerry felt so inferior, but Stan did have a point that nobody in their right mind would lend someone such a big amount. They weren’t a bank, after all.
"You're A Smooth Smoothie, You Know."
Gaear, the sociopathic associate of Carl, was a mostly silent fellow, yet could be the stuff of nightmares. Choosing the oddest moments to make a snarky remark, he uttered this quote just after mercilessly shooting a cop in the head multiple times.
This was in response to Carl earlier making several attempts to make Gaear communicate with him, claiming he was the de facto leader of their duo. After witnessing Gaear so casually murder a cop, he was speechless and it was the Gaear's moment to make fun of Carl now.
"You're Such A Super Lady...I'm So Lonely."
In this scene, Mike Yanagita kept attempting to win Marge over with several cheap comments, going so far as to lying that he had become a widower. Everything was bizarre until Mike completely broke down crying, admitting he was lonely to the point to make the moves on a married woman.
It was here when it became clear this man was just pathetic, who tried to use his loneliness as justification for his lies. More importantly, it was hearing these exact words that made Marge realize that Jerry Lundegaard had been lying all along as well.
"Oh, Geez..."
There wasn’t just the one character who uttered this phrase in the film, and a majority of them exclaimed it whenever something went south. The genius of this simplistic comment is its representation of how everyone in Fargo was dealing with matters way in over their heads.
No-one was prepared for such kind of violence to break out in a small and seemingly unimportant town, and saying, “Oh, Geez!” was the only way they knew how to react. If there’s a quote to summarize the film, this would be it.
"Blood has been shed, Jerry. We Need More..."
On paper this sounds like a very intimidating quote. However, this was Carl doing the talking, that too with the coward that was Jerry Lundegaard. The interpretation is two-fold, in that Carl wasn’t actually tough but appeared that way to Jerry, and how greed knows no limits.
Despite having a surefire deal his way for bagging $40,000, Carl gave into his appetite for more, blaming Jerry for his and Gaear’s own violent crimes. It went to show that even a wimpy criminal like Carl could become vicious when greed consumed him. This kind of gluttonous appetite was later displayed by V.M. Varga in the TV series as well.
"I'm Cooepratin'... Darn Tootin'!"
It seemed like only a matter of time before Jerry would snap. After spending all his life being stepped on by other people and being bullied, he chose this moment with Marge to explode into rage when he was about to be cornered for fraud.
Unfortunately for him, his attempt at being assertive only made him seem like more of a joke, as even in a fit of rage Jerry displayed his cowardly nature. Despite not actually cooperating, he claimed that he was and could only come up with “darn tootin’” as a means to look intimidating. Both attempts promptly failed.
"Sir, You Have No Call To Get Snippy With Me. I'm Just Doing My Job Here."
Right after Jerry tried to look like a big shot to Marge, the latter dropped her kindly tone and showed Jerry what being intimidating really looks like. While she’d been nice to him when asking her questions before, Jerry’s aggression brought the no-nonsense Marge out.
Here, she zipped up Jerry’s mouth within seconds by reminding him that, being the police officer, she was the one doing the questioning and that Jerry had no choice but to comply. This quote confirmed that Marge’s cheery nature was by no means the only side of her.
"He Was A Little Guy, Kinda Funny-Looking...Oh, Just In A General Kind Of Way."
One of the recurring bits from the movie had to do with everybody identifying Carl as a "funny-looking" kind of guy, a description that was of absolutely no use to the police. The funniest instance for this had to be the questioning of a bystander, who went off on his own little tangent.
After talking the ears off the officer when describing why Carl was so strange, the man finally got to the point, only to come up with this quote. The man himself realized how unhelpful he was as he could only stare at the officer awkwardly once finished.
"No Jean, No Money!"
Right up until his final moments, Wade thought of himself as a big shot who could bully anyone into listening to him. Even when facing Carl, who was clearly a remorseless killer, Wade had the guts to demand to see Jean or he wouldn’t hand over the money.
Of course, that’s what got him shot, ending the John Wayne act he liked to think himself to have; even carrying around a gun as if he were from the Old West. These final words of him are still remembered as an example to not believe one’s own hype. In the end, Wade didn't get Jean, and his money was taken anyway at the cost of his life.
"There's More To Life Than A Little Money, You Know...And Here Ya' Are, And It's A Beautiful Day."
In the end, all the deaths and tragedies that happened were for naught, as no-one benefitted from it. Marge put it best by telling the captured Gaear that all the riches he killed for really didn’t matter, since he sacrificed his humanity for it.
It also drew parallels between Marge’s innate optimistic nature and the things she’d learned over the story, in that she couldn’t comprehend how such brutality could happen when the world looked so beautiful. Still, her bringing this topic up did prove that evil would never permanently triumph.