No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I am stunned. von Mudra had hooked me up with one of those "see it for free" sites for There Will Be Blood (which I will comment on in "Milkshake" thread), and I was so knocked out to know you could find still-in-release movies I watched it and Old Men within 8 hours of each other. Just finished NCFOM. What a movie. What a book it was taken from. What actors.

Even if this movie were meant to be nothing more than a straight-up crime caper it would be magnificent. A great, if not original plot, reminiscent of the premise of A Simple Plan. There is not too much mystery to it, but it is full of suspense, tension and dread. You cannot stop watching it, even though you know from the first few minutes how it all will end...how it all must end, in such a brutal and unforgiving landscape as the West Texas of 1980.

The characters are absolutely memorable, although not unique, and all fairly recognizable: a strong-minded, hard-scrabble West Texas redneck, who is not about to be bullied or intimidated, nor afraid to take a huge risk that chance offers him in order to escape being ground into dust by life; an oddly principled yet truly sociopathic hitman, as memorable as Hannibal Lecter, who gives new meaning to the term "single-minded"; a third-generation Texas sheriff, who is decent, tough and duty-driven, but despairing of how drugs and drug money and human nature seem to be destroying all sanity in his world.

But it is so much more than just a crime movie. This is due to Cormac McCarthy, the author of the book, and the Coen Brothers, the directors who were wise enough to keep much of McCarthy's book, even its dialogue, intact. I had not remembered the title is from the first line of the first version of the Yeats poem "Sailing To Byzantium". The poem alludes to aging and loss and the eternal changes which we can do nothing to stop. These are main elements of the film, which is richly multi-layered yet at the same time a perfectly seamless whole.

The dialogue is wonderful, and sounds absolutely perfect in the mouths of the actors, with one exception.The acting overall is understated, which gives it a feel of incredible richness and truth. The Coens show us how real people face terrible choices and fates in the kind of country which is so hard that old men fail there. Even the bit roles are perfectly on pitch, capturing the almost witless natural kindness and guilelessness of so many persons in that barren country. Even a throwaway scene, of two old sheriffs sitting in a coffee shop and asking each other what the hell is wrong with people nowadays, is wonderful.

Such a small part is that played by Barry Corbin. He is the character actor everybody recognizes but can't remember the name of. He was Uncle Bud of Urban Cowboy, the retired astronaut in the old tv program Northern Exposure, and the bumbling Arkansas deputy Roscoe Brown in the Lonesome Dove mini-series. Here he is on screen for perhaps 5 minutes, but his performance is so wonderful and true it hurts to watch. It is sublime.

But it is Tommy Lee Jones that is the linchpin of the movie. He has turned in yet another magnificent performance which feels as if it is not a role, but reality itself. He makes it look so natural and authentic that I wonder whether Oscar voters assume he isn't acting at all. If Daniel Day-Lewis had not given such an electrifying performance in There Will Be Blood, I would have given the Best Actor award to Jones for NCFOM. Josh Brolin looks and sounds like a younger Jones (probably intentionally) and gives a solid performance as the kind of Texan who is a welder when he can get work, who lives in a trailer and likes his beer and doesn't bother anyone - but you better by God not cross him, because he won't go down easy.

The counterpoint to Jones is the Spanish-born Javier Bardem. Bardem plays his role as the emotionless Mexican hitman Anton Chigurh, in whispers and barely spoken sentences. The Coens have given Chigurh such a doofus-looking haircut that it is immediately frightening. It frightens because you instinctively know any man who is so obviously threatening and who wears that stupid-looking haircut, must be crazy too - and you'd be right. He is so relentless and deadly that you actually dread seeing him come on screen, because almost every time he does, someone dies a completely needless death.

The only unsatisfying role in the whole ensemble is Woody Harrelson, who is miscast as the counter-hitman who Chigruh's employers, concerned at the number of bodies he is leaving in his wake, send after the Mexican. He tries to be a good ol' boy who is dangerous, confident and fearless enough to take on the killing machine that is Chigurh, but he just doesn't have the gravity to do it. His scenes don't have the energy or tension of almost all the others in the movie. But that is a minor annoyance.

This movie would not have been possible but for McCarthy's wonderful prose. The man understands the people of the American West of the 20th century, whether lawmen or its gas-station owners. He knows how they talk, walk, look...and think. He also understand the nature of the land, its stark and sometimes brutal beauty, and how it breeds people who can be surprisingly gentle and kind, or shockingly and gratuitously cruel...sometimes in the same person. And the Coens capture McCarthy's word-portraits perfectly.

Anyone here could enjoy this movie because, as I said, it's a great crime flick if nothing else. But it is so subtly layered, addressing the issues of aging and loss, even of what seems to be the advancing tide of evil, that it is the equal of any "serious" film I can remember seeing. And it is because of that, that viewers who are a little older, and who have experienced and seen some of what life can do to us, will be able to enjoy the different levels of meaning.

What a rich film this is. A goddam genuine masterpiece.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Hmm, for a work of film to get such a huge jumjum "Seal O' Approval" I must see it.

It took alot of academy awards. Sadly, college has made me poor and going to movies hasn't been at the top of my priorities list.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

We actually, agree on something...?

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I'm kinda interested in how you came to the conclusion Chigurh was working for the Mexicans though.

NCFOM spoiler

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Chigurh was supposed to be Mexican, but I thought he was working for the same guy who hired Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), whoever he was. I felt things were left intentionally confused and tangled about who was who, partly because that was the feeling Sheriff Ed Tom Bell had about the case in particular and the world in general.

Interesting side note: Woody Harrelson's father was a real, live, no-shit hit man. He worked mostly freelance, but did more than one hit IIRC, for the Jimmy Chagra drug ring out of south Texas. Chagra hired Daddy Harrelson to kill a federal judge - let me repeat that - a federal judge, in the early 1980s. He was convicted and died in prison.

Sort of sheds some light on the rage against authority which Woody has hung on to about 20 years after most adolescents mature out of it.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

From what I can tell he worked for the man in the skyscraper, but got pretty pissed at his employers for what he saw as violations of the code of conduct, and kept going after Lewelyn outta principle.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Is this movie about JumJum? xD? *runs*

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I want to watch it even if his "Entry method" is not possible. Still looks like a good movie.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Coen Brothers... seriously.

Everything is just absolutely right on time, no, I have yet to see NCFOM, but I know we're in for a ride. Especially casting/dialogue. William H Macy in Fargo deserves a best actor of all time award if there ever was one... but then you start remembering all the others... Jeff Bridges' Dude and his buddy John Goodman/ Jesus The female cop in Fargo and Macy's dad. Seriously, I get chills watching him fall apart from the contempt of his father-in-law... damn man, I can go on.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

NCOL on Blu-ray. My house, tonight! Bring Beer.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Yeah it was a fantastic movie. I loved it.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I would like to take this space to say the book All The Pretty Horses was waaay better than The Road.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I saw it again this weekend, and was even more knocked out by Tommy Lee and Josh Brolin, and more creeped out by Anton Chigurh. And even more confused by why they bothered with Woody Harrelson's part - waste of celluloid.


ATPH was my first Cormac, and it made me read 4-5 others. But the characters - have you ever known any 16-year-old to be that damn competent, confident and just all-around deadly? Hell, I was a full-grown man when I read it, and that kid made me feel like an idiot child by comparison.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

It was ok, the ending is what put me off, the rest was excellent!

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Best New Movie in quite a while

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

It's kind of strange that my first post in a gaming forum i've been lurking for a long time is in the off-topic section discussing a movie...

but well,... Hello everybody

Saw the movie 3 days ago and loved it. It is a masterpiece no doubt.

In my opinion Woody Harrelson's part is quiet important for the whole movie

One way of seeing it is that one concern of NCFOM revolves around principles. Their characteristics, their implementaion, their usefulness or their impact on a individual's conception of life.

Unlike the sheriff, Chigurh and to a certain extent Llewelyn, Harrelson's character was the only one without principles except his own good,...without a moral compass. A individual only devoted to himself with no ideal or vision to back up his actions.
Thus when his end comes he is utterly helpless, unable to understand the motives of his oppenent and most of all forlorn. Great acting on behalf of Harrelson where i thought that in his face you could see and feel his last inner struggle in which he realized the following:
Though his life probarbly had meaning for him while he lived it, his concept didn't give him any explanation nor any guide whith which he would be able to grasp, to accept, let alone embrace life's last consequence.

Second i thought it was very amusing to see a character which would have had a prominent role in every Tarantino movie beeing executed this way.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I think it should have ended with Javier Bardem walking away after the car crash, not had that extra Tommy Lee Jones dream recollection.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Not bad. Although it sounds a tad like some English Lit paper bs, the lacking-a-code thing has real merit. Rep worthy.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

This movie made a strong impression on me as well, for personal reasons. As a 61-year old cop, I'm beginning to feel a bit "overmatched" (as Bell says) myself.

Many have complained about the ending, expecting perhaps a big, climactic shootout between Bell and Chirgur. I found the ending entirely appropriate. Bell realizes that it's "no country for old men", and takes his retirement.

I picked up a copy of the book AFTER seeing the film, and McCarthy makes "muscular" writing almost a fashion statement. None of those sissy conventions like quotation marks and such for him.... Takes a bit of getting used to.

I have to admit the casting was terrific; Jones was dead-on perfect as Bell.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

wat


that is the best part of the whole movie

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Yossarian you are a fool. The best parts of the movie will forever be "Hey Mr. Sportin' Goods, you a sport?" and "Call it, friendo."



No, but I wasn't raised on ranch on the border in the 50s. But I know what you mean, the series of events becomes alot more extraordinary when you remember his age. On the other hand, beign closer to his age I can understand his "Ain't no problem I can't fix" attitude better, especially about the novia. I intend to finish the border triology, but someone really needs to take McCarthy on a road trip. 2/3s of his books are set on the Texas/Mexico border. Oh well, keeps my Spanish servicable.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

The stylie reaction...

First off... wow.

Secondly, while the movie was great, Im not so sure about the hype that surrounded it. As a story... well it was OK, the performances, dialogue, cinematography, outstanding. I felt like I was right there with them. Crying out for that old man in the gas station, flipping a coin... Compressed airgun? Wow, that totally added to this obviously effed-up individual and pretty useful too.

That said... I have my issues. Why would Anton kill his employer? I didnt think Harrelson was sent out to clean up Anton's killing, I thought that was to have a few people out there looking and it pissed him off that there were others that may screw up his work/get in the way. Also, it was only $2 million... are you gonna send out 2 different guys and a group of Mexicans looking for 2 million? How much were they gonna get paid to do all of that killing? And how the hell do you get pulled over by a cop and look in your rear-view and see a plainclosed guy walking up to you with an airtank? How do you let him get anywhere near your forehead without, at the very least a "WTF are you doing" and at least trying to, I dont know, move a little bit? Even if your a kind hearted soul from West Texas... I didnt buy that one.

Keeping in mind this was 1980 so that haircut wasnt weird jum, that was pretty standard fare in those days! Just think Rob Reiner in All in the Family or our old frind Bun E. Carlos. Hell I even think my dad rocked that one!

The dream recollection had no purpose to me. I was disappointed in that, I dont know, maybe this one went over my head, but I usually pay attention to those things!

However, I too had that overwhelming sense of dread that you spoke of. I want you all to know that this movie was, absolutely great and Id recommend it to anyone...

but IMHO, it was no Fargo.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

:rofl: Perfect. I think I called it somewhere in here his "conversation without clues" style.

Yeah, I too understood the sheriffs' (both Ed Tom and his Del Rio countertpart) confusion and inability to understand the criminals they were beginning to see. Up to that point most of the crime they had come across at least had a recognizable motive - but by the time depicted in the movie they had begun to see senseless, inhuman acts by criminals motivated by some hidden need or force...such as Anton Chigurh. When you think about the last few minutes of the movie, you realize that after Chigurh (absolutely needlessly) killed Llewellyn's wife, Ed Tom must have discovered it. It likely was that last inexplicable crime that pushed him from thinking about retiring to quitting right then.

A lot of McCarthy's stuff is "big picture" "it's all a mystery" stuff, in which he depicts the world as a place which can be mindlessly brutal. Blood Meridian, set in the early says of Texas Rangers and Comanches, takes brutality and insanity even further than NCFOM - and I think it's going to be released as a movie next year.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

So I watched it again last night, girlfriend slept through the first viewing so I relented. I have to say, my views of the movie actually lessened a bit. I may be nit-picking here, but I saw and heard some things that well, follow along, but I know these are just detailed...

disclaimer. The first death was the cop. That scene was absolutely riveting. but here goes my little rant...

How did Anton allow himself to be arrested in the first place? He kills for the fun of it?

Remember when he killed the guy on the road after he pulled him over? Why was there a fine mist coming out of the back of his head? -very cool but upon further review...- when the deputy tells the sherriff it wasnt a bullet, the sherriff reminded him that there was no exit wound.

I can be wrong on this one but... do you think that the survivor of the "OK Corrall" killed himself? At first I did, but then I rememberred that not only did the Lewellyn leave his door open when he walked away... He also took his gun and bullets (granted there was plenty of ammo lying around!!!) but it also begs the question, Why the hell did he even go back in the first place, he already had the dough!!!

600 lbs. Steer?!? Huh? you can just go ahead and triple that weight. (cafe scene, describing the use of the bolt in slaughter)

Remember when Harrelson was pleading for his life? He offered Anton $14,000 from an ATM. 2 issues here, first, you're not getting that money from an ATM, sorry I think the most I might get would be $300. Ok OK Obviously he's trying to make it sound sweet so he can live buuuuuuuuuuuut... I was around in 1980... There was no such thing as an ATM back then!!!

allllllllllllright I just checked, they were being used in 1967... but Im still suspicious of them being in west texas!!! cmon!!!

Im not trying to hate the movie, I liked it, but I suspect some kool-aid here!

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Yeah, I wondered how the heck Chigurh allowed himself to be taken in the first place. I didn't notice the rest of what you've mentioned. But I do know the reason Llewellyn went back out to the OK Corral was to take water to the dying man. And I don't know how "agua man" died, unless the two guys Chigurh killed at the OK Corral had already been there before they brought Chigurh, and finished off agua man then. But then there were so many weapons out there it's very possible Llewellyn overlooked a gun in the truck with agua man.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

It seems most likely to me Agua Hombre died to illistrate the point that someone was already there, and probably followed Lewellyn in. Lot more likely than the Mexicans deciding to check up on a drug deal obviously gone wrong just before dawn, and just moments after Lewellyn arrived.

Also worth noting to piss of Stylie, in the back ground of the gas station is a whole rack of perfectly visable Jack Links.

Edit: Yeah, now that I think about it, the drugs were gone when he went back. Guess Agua Hombre's buddies got there second.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I thought of these possibilities but in appreciation of the Coens, their ability not to have to spell it out for you is always a good thing. Thats why I really didnt like Gladiator. I mean, great story but they really went to great lengths in that movie to spell it all out. But goig back to bring him water? well maybe that goes back to what you were saying about being a "good" man and then getting sucked in. However, a simple anonymous call to the po po would have avoided the whole thing, no? But I guess that wouldnt make a good movie!!!

Why would that piss me off?

Oh I thought about another thing, I guess maybe I wasnt in the mood and was really way too analytical for this one that night.I have been a pretty pissed off individual this week!!!

Remember the chase scene? He looks, sees the two trucks with dark dark skies (moon had just set) and in 1 minute he's floating down a river in the early morning. BTW while he was being chased by the truck he would look back and each look back had a brighter sky with a totally different arrangement of clouds!!!


... yeah Ive been a real bitch this week!!!

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Did they have Jack Links in 1985 and I've just been wholly ignorant of them untill two years ago?

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Dude I have no clue! I had to google them to find out what the hell you were talking about!!! :rofl:

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

This movie (last time I checked...) had generated over 800 comments on the IMDB page.
There is always a certian amount of ambiguity with the Coen's stuff, but from my reading of the novel (about halfway through) it's pretty much dead-on.

I'm not one to overly analyze these things; looking for each little continuity error and out-of-place prop item. If it "works" as a whole, I'm usually happy.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

From what I could tell they were extremely faithful to the book. In fact the last scene, where a just-retired Ed Tom, already at loose ends about what to do that day, tells his wife about the recurring dream of his father going ahead in the snowstorm to light a fire, is IIRC word-for-word the last para of the book.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Did the accountant guy who asked Chigurh "Are you going to shoot me?" die?
Also, I was very happy for the old man in the gas station. I had written him off, but he lived! Yay!

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Not sure about that guy... but I did like how they left some things to the imagination. Like when he checks his shoes leaving the wifes house... that was cool though.

Also, I kept coming back to the first killing... the cop in the police station. They can really capture some powerful moments with just a camera shot... the marks left by the soles of their feet... brutul...

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

shoes! Damn edit button is gone!

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

I just wonder where in the hell that troopers gun went to.

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

Who needs a gun when you have the Spectacular Pneumatic Frontal Lobe-Borer?

Re: No County For Old Men - Masterpiece
 

"Yeah, I'm just gonna throw my gun out the side of my cruiser. Then, when me and this wierd drifter I just arrested are alone, I'll turn my back to him for an extended period of time. Cop of the year, here I come. Shit yeah"

Also, this: (spoiler for size, not for.. spoilering.)