How much does Jerry tell his father-in-law the ransom is in "Fargo"?

In Fargo, Jerry Lundegaard tells his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson, that the ransom is one million dollars. Jerry claims that kidnappers are demanding the money for Wade’s kidnapped daughter, Jean, and insists that he should handle the payment.

The figure is part of Jerry’s larger scheme. He has arranged Jean’s kidnapping through criminals Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud, expecting to pay them far less than the amount he requests from Wade. The ransom demand is therefore not simply a response to the kidnapping; it is Jerry’s attempt to secretly profit from his own plan.

The actual amount Jerry has agreed to pay the kidnappers is $80,000. He hopes to keep the difference, but his plan quickly becomes uncontrollable as the kidnappers’ violence escalates and Wade refuses to remain passive.

Fargo, released in 1996 and written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, uses the ransom plot to expose Jerry’s mixture of desperation, dishonesty, and poor planning. The film’s dark humor comes partly from the enormous gap between the amount Jerry tells Wade and the smaller amount he intends to deliver.