Perhaps you’ve seen the Coen brothers’ movie Fargo, which had a really good time making fun of Minnesota accents. Much of the movie was shot in Brainerd and other parts of western Minnesota, and the plot takes place in those cities as well as Minneapolis. Part of it was shot up in Pembina County as well. But one of the final scenes in the movie, where a fleeing William H. Macy is apprehended at a small hotel, takes place in Bismarck:

Scene from “Fargo”
This is the Hi-Way Motel, located east of Bismarck, featured in the movie. If you follow Main Avenue past the intersection with the Bismarck Expressway, you’ll find it down the road a ways, near the intersection with 66th Street. I was told that the scene was actually shot here, although the picture in the movie doesn’t look quite right. Some of the roof lines and tree lines look different, although the movie was released ten years ago. It could have been renovated since then. Here’s how the motel looks now:

The last I heard, this place was purchased by my friend Mary, who I used to work with at KFYR-TV, and has been turned into studio apartments. I keep forgetting to ask her about that. I wonder if they have any visitors stopping in and asking about the movie?

While we’re on the subject of that movie, you may remember the sad story about a Japanese woman who came through this area after seeing the movie. She didn’t speak any English. The police (somehow) spoke to her at the Oasis truck stop, helped her get on a bus eastward, and she apparently got off in Fargo and headed towards Brainerd. Law enforcement found her dead of exposure by the road in western Minnesota somewhere. She’d apparently been looking for the briefcase with $920,000 in it that the bad guys buried in a snowbank next to the road! Apparently she was unaware that 1) it’s only a movie, 2) snow thaws up here, and 3) that scene was shot up in Pembina County. There wasn’t enough snow down here that year.

“Fargo” has been airing on the Bravo network lately, if you’re interested.