FAQ for
Fargo (1996) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. It is assumed that no one who is diligently avoiding spoilers will be visiting this page in the first place.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Fargo can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116282/parentalguide.

No. The "Based on a True Story" opening is not true, but was included by Joel and Ethan Coen to set a tone for the story. After all, at the end of the credits, one can see the standard "This movie is fictional..." legal clause.

HOWEVER...

There were two separate cases, one in the 1960s and one in the 70s, in Minnesota that bore many similarities to the storyline of Fargo.

They are discussed in the trivia section, and as the Coen brothers are native Minnesotans they would have been aware of the cases, two of the most famous in Minnesota criminal history. Read the trivia section above to find out more.

No. As is evidenced at a story on the Guardian website, at http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,970908,00.html, the story of a Japanese woman dying because she believed the story of Fargo to be real and froze to death searching for the case of money is simply untrue - it seems more plausible and believable that she did, indeed, die for the love that she had lost, as is suggested by the letter received by her parents weeks after her death. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takako_Konishi_(office_worker)