Although "film noir" more or less died off as a genre in the 1950s, it continues to reverberate in such conscious homages as Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" and the work of the Coen brothers ("Fargo," "Blood Simple," etc.) We can now add to this body of work Sam Raimi's 1998 "A Simple Plan."

In the classic noir film we encounter desperate men and women who turn to crime because society allows them no other outlets. Since radical politics never appears as an option, the only way to escape class oppression might be to rob a bank as depicted, for example, in "Odds Against Tomorrow". The themes of such films are actually traceable to the great naturalist novels of the late 19th century, which also depict an underclass struggling against a web of formidable economic circumstances.

Film noirs would almost inevitably make their debut during the Great Depression, when the inescapable reality of economic hardship would inspire screenwriters such as Abraham Polonsky to depict the opposite side of a Tom Joad. While Tom Joad, ever the idealist, declares his intention to change America in the final moments of "Grapes of Wrath," a typical film noir character ends up in the clutches of the law only regretting having been captured.

It was almost inevitable that the long, economic decline of the 1980s and 90s would eventually spawn a neo-noir genre. Although I doubt if Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" is the first such film, it certainly is one of the most explicit. It tells the story of three men living in the rural farmland of the northern United States who stumble across a downed small airplane in the forest in the dead of winter. The plane contains the pilot's corpse and a duffel bag containing over four million dollars. On the spot they decide to keep the money to themselves. They convince themselves that their "simple plan" can not go wrong and as we expect from the classic noir films, everything does go wrong.

Two of the men are brothers. Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton) is an accountant at a feed mill, while his brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) oscillates between low-paying odd jobs and welfare. Jacob's best friend is Lou (Brent Briscoe), the town trunk, who resents the college-educated Hank. You know that there is going to be tension between the two when in the early scene when they discover the loot, Lou accuses Hank of using high-falutin' words like "insinuate." Why the fuck couldn't he use a simple word like "hint".

Although Hank has the trappings of a successful man, he too is barely scraping by, like a clerk in one of Dickens' novels. His pregnant wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda) is expecting her first child and when she learns of their discovery not only encourages him to keep the money, but even resort to further crimes in order to cover their trail. At one point when he complains to her about the risks involved, she lashes out at him. Is he going to be satisfied working at the feed mill his entire life, waiting until his boss dies in order to get a raise? What about their child? The other kids would laugh at her in school when she is forced to wear hand-me-downs. And, finally, what about her? Sarah knows that there is a better world out there and the only keeping her from it is the lack of money.

Even though Hank is close to the bottom, his brother Jacob is even lower. He lives in a cheap apartment and dresses shabbily. His eyeglasses are kept together by adhesive tape. He is too poor to date and spends most of his time alone or getting drunk with Lou. This is not the bounteous farmland depicted in television commercials, but the real one in which farms collapse and their owners are reduced to poverty, just like Jacob. In a poignant scene at their abandoned family farm, Jacob tells Hank that his dream is to buy back the farm and start it back up. With millions available, he simply wants to return to his roots. We discover that one of the reasons the farm collapsed was that their father could no afford to keep it going while Hank remained in college. Finally facing foreclosure, he drove his truck into a tree and killed himself.

Their "simple plan" unravels almost from the beginning. Lou is at odds with Hank and Jacob is torn between the two men. Raimi's direction is superb as he captures the bleak and desperate mood of men trapped in a situation which allows them to neither return to their original innocence before discovering the money, nor a successful realization of their criminal dreams.

Raimi is an odd figure. His best known film was "Darkman", a feverish treatment on a comic book character who, after being disfigured in a fire, seeks revenge against the criminals who were responsible. He is also the producer of the highly successful tongue-in-cheek mythology TV shows "Xena" and "Hercules". I was surprised to discover him capable of such a nuanced film. Highly recommended.