There’s nothing that up-and-coming TV weather woman Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman, in one of her most audacious performances) won’t do to get what she wants. After marrying a man (Matt Dillon) for his business ties, she feels tied down by his desire for children and seduces a troubled teen (Joachin Phoenix) to get him to eliminate her bothersome husband. Buck Henry’s biting script uses the real-life Pamela Smart case as inspiration for riffs on naked ambition, the justice system and the media circus. Keep your eyes peeled for a cameo by director David Cronenberg as a mob hitman! "An irresistible black comedy and a wicked delight." – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Hangdog Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) hires a corrupt and corpulent detective (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill Abby, his unfaithful wife (Frances McDormand), and her lover (John Getz). What follows from this simple, familiar crime premise is one of the most assured moviemaking debuts of the 1980s. Full of intuitively stylish bite, poisonous one-liners and goosebump-inducing setpieces, this neo-noir put Joel and Ethan Coen on the map of filmmakers to watch.