Did anybody watch "No Country For Old Men?"

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If you want lots of laughs a la Blood Meridian and NCFOM, then read The Road by the same guy. It is a laugh fest from beginning to end. It is a SHTF book like no other.

Ever since reading it, I can't look at a shopping cart the same way...SERIOUSLY.
 
he was hired after the money came up missing and Moss' truck was sitting there...Why did he ever go back to give that guy water.
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You realize Chigur or The Mexicans would have found the money even if Moss hadn't gone back, don't you? Going back tipped off Moss that they might be looking for him; otherwise he would have been ambushed at home, pretty much unaware.
 
Only a rube or cave-dwelling hermit four decades out of touch with modern technology wouldn't have figured on a transponder. Those things became SOP about the time "Hawaii Five-O" first fit the airwaves. So that was Moss's Fatal Mistake #1. Fatal Mistake #2 was worse -- going back with the water. :rolleyes:

A couple more notes on the book:
CM made me wince every third page or so by calling magazines "clips." He knew better.

The other thing was a chapter in the book not filmed: Chigur taking the money back to original organization to establish his bona fides. His version of submitting his resume, I think.
 
Minor point, but I don't think that would be a transponder at all, it doesn't respond to anything, all it does is transmit.

It's a transmitter...

Either way he should have ditched the bag right away and thrown the money in a pillowcase or something. But that would have eliminated a major plot device.
 
I really liked it...a nice change from the usual Hollywood ending.

I also really like Moss' character. In the beginning he's not terrified or desperate, just a regular guy who makes a deliberate decision that $2 million is worth risking his life for. Then when he realizes that Chigur isn't going to play by the rules (and will go after his wife) he gets pissed (as would any good ol' trailer-livin' Texas redneck) and makes it personal.
 
Watched "No Country for Old Men" last night at home, with full bowl of buttered popcorn. I enjoyed it (the movie and the popcorn), not because of the blood and guts aspect, but saw it as an all too true possibility in real life. The "cow knocker" seemed a bit of a contrivance, and awkward to boot, but it is a story/movie, after all. I cannot imagine anyone being stopped by "police", stepping out of the car, then standing there while a goon sticks the "cow knocker" up to your forehead - again, it is a story. Well done for set, props, dialogue & story, but the ending does leave you dangling. I guess I am off to the library to start checking out his books.
sailortoo
 
If you want lots of laughs a la Blood Meridian and NCFOM, then read The Road by the same guy. It is a laugh fest from beginning to end. It is a SHTF book like no other.
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My wife gave me The Road for Christmas and I read it in January. "Bleak" doesn't begin to describe this book. I could only read a little bit of it at a time because I simply could not deal with more extended portions. No other book has ever had that effect on me. Maybe it was because my son is the age of the boy in the book, but it was a bizarre experience.
 
I read NCFOM, and I thought the plot and characters were great, but the ending, the last ten percent, plain sucked.

OTOH, his book "The Road" is super memorable, with an ending I have reread 20 times. Awesome. It's in every library, read it folks! And it's pro "guns and freedom."
 
That is, there are two opposing forces in the cosmos: good and bad. The bad wins at every point along the way. However, there are certain people who know the true good and must suffer through all of the **** on the journey back to the good.

Tommy Lee Jones plays this Gnostic adept who resigns from the world (in this case, from being a lawdog) because he has seen the true nature of this world: Anton Chigurh. The Good cannot win against such a force as the irrepressible Anton Chigurh so renunciation of the world is the only valid recourse.

With respect, Sheriff Bell's telling of his second dream unlocks the whole narrative. The light metaphor?...

I won't say any more. The baddies of this world may take notice of me if I do.
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i don't know if i'd characterize the struggle the same.

the sherrif came from a family of lawmen, he claims that in the beginning or the old days things were better.

but the title of the book/movie suggests that when the lawmen were younger they were able to bear the evil of the world, as they got older they were less able to do so.

the sherrif's final conversation with the old timer, the old timer calls him out on it, tells him there's always been bad stuff, makin' it all about you and giving up, that's vanity.

it suggests responsibility, on a personal level for an individual to be able to bear the evil of the world and continue to want to live on for the good of it.

his dream at the end suggests however that he's of the opinion that many heroes have seen too much and that someday when they've become older they must go to a place of common peace. this is a similar theme to tolkien's elven isle where all those who had bore the ring could live in peace. and other such places of peacefulness.
 
Hard movie.

Not much for sad endings... always figured life gives you enough sad endings without seeing 'em in movies, too. I also felt a bit cheated that the "climax", so to speak, happened off-screen. When you've seen a character live, and fight, and bleed, for the length of a story, it's only right to see his final moments, and know, instead of suspect. Feels like dishonest storytelling to me.

Didn't help that that the character reminded me of my friend's dad, in looks and manner. Made it harder to watch, suspecting the ending as I did.


Finely crafted movie, though. Not sure if the ending was appropriate or not. Still thinking about it.
 
When you've seen a character live, and fight, and bleed, for the length of a story, it's only right to see his final moments, and know, instead of suspect. Feels like dishonest storytelling to me.
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i think this part was very purposeful. it makes you realize the lou is not actually the main character, the sheriff is. so it shows you what the sherrif sees in that scene, in his perspective.

once again, no country for old men. the sherrif is the one that has gotten too old for the times. i guess you could say that the deaths of the young and courageous may be enviable or can also be interpretted into the title.
 
Trinydex, I suspect you're right about the reasoning. In my mind, though, Llewelyn Moss was the main character despite the Sheriff's narration. He's the character whose actions precipitate the story, and with whom most of the story happens. The Coen brothers' defiance of convention and logic to force the Sheriff to become the "protagonist" doesn't work for me; he is still no more than a glorified narrator. I may admire it as a clever device on some level, but it makes for diminished storytelling.

The Coen brothers perhaps have forgotten that telling a story is about making a connection between the audience and the characters, and specifically the protagonist. The Sheriff doesn't spend enough time on the screen to take on such a role, despite the directors' intention.

In any case, such is my poorly considered, slightly drunk opinion. I usually feel differently about a movie after sleeping on it, so I guess we'll see how I feel in the morning.


Er... gun content... um... how 'bout that silenced shotgun, huh? And what was that pistol that the bad guy was using? The outline looked sorta like a Tec-9, with the mag forward of the butt. Maybe I saw it wrong, though; it was dark.
 
I don't think it was anti or pro gun, but it was defenitly sub-directed by a person who KNOWS their firearms.

For example, there is a part where the star of the movie is being chased by a pitbull through a river, the star has a loaded 1911 in his belt. After he gets out of the stream he takes out his 1911 to aim at the dog in which its swimming towards him, he quickly holds the slide back ejecting the round. He then locks the slide back and blows out the barrel of water!!!!
I literally SHAT when I saw the attention to gun safety/detail lol. Havent seen that in a movie for a long long time. He then chambered a round and shot the dog in mid-air.

Most movies, especially ones with chuck norris, he will come out of the water holding the gun and instantly fire killing all 30 bad guys with a 7 round firearm...
 
I found myself wondering why Anton waited around at the scene of the crime, and even though the sheriff entered the motel room, he still didn't bother killing him.

I couldn't understand that particular scene.
 
Why did he ever go back to give that guy water.
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Because he could not live with himself if he did not. Notice that we think this doomed him- he did the right thing, and it got him embroiled in all of this- but it actually made him aware that he was in grave danger. He thought that they would come after him now that they saw his truck, and we assume that they would not have done so if he had just stayed home. Actually, they would have come after him anyway, due to the transponder in the bag, and when they found him, he would never have seen it coming.

Moral? Mercy is good.

Of course, lack of greed is better. ;)

Mike
 
Only a rube or cave-dwelling hermit four decades out of touch with modern technology wouldn't have figured on a transponder. Those things became SOP about the time "Hawaii Five-O" first fit the airwaves. So that was Moss's Fatal Mistake #1. Fatal Mistake #2 was worse -- going back with the water.
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I'd get pretty excited holding $2 mil. I might forget to think about any possible tracking devices on the money, how the owners might locate me, etc.
 
Er... gun content... um... how 'bout that silenced shotgun, huh? And what was that pistol that the bad guy was using? The outline looked sorta like a Tec-9, with the mag forward of the butt. Maybe I saw it wrong, though; it was dark.
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The pistol they showed sitting on the seat, next to the receiver that Chigur was using to track the money, was definitely a Tec-9. One firearms-related thing that didn't really make sense to me at first was how Moss dropped the mag, cleared the round in the chamber, then re-inserted the mag and racked it again, all while the Mexicans' pit bull was getting closer (after he went in the river). This wouldn't have been necessary with the 1911 he was using, but this is what they would have taught him to do in Vietnam, so that fits into the story too.
 
White trailer-trash, he takes the money and runs. I don’t know how familiar you are with the drug trade, but the folks in this business aren’t fond of losing their drugs or their money and have a guy whose specialty is tracking money-thieving-trailer-trash down.
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Pretty much the plot of "Charley Varrick". He (Walter Matthau) and his little band of thieves rob a bank and accidentally snag the mob's loot in the process. Joe Don Baker is the brute ("Molly") that comes looking for the money, and even kills one of the trailer trash thieves in his trailer.

The Varrick character was a little too detached and deadpan to be very believable, but the enforcer Molly is a real study in a man who truly enjoys his work. Varrick was just a clever and resourceful thief but Molly was a prodigy of intimidation and sudden violence.
 
i was amazed at how accurate the tec9 was at what... 50 yards? head shot, neck shot... and only like 2 misses through the windshield! that's impossible with the gangta's paradise special.... or is it?
 
Neo-luddite and Seminole....

The Road was a fun read. Try Suttree. It actually is a little less "Bleak". It almost seems CM had a day where he almost broke a smile.... almost.

Blood Meridian is also a ton of fun and I have heard that Sam Raimi is looking at doing a movie version. Im guessing that will be a laugh out loud romp through Mexico.

Im not sure, but I think Cormac McCarthy has some serious issues..

But, dang it, I love his books.

If you ever want to become the Boston Strangler, listen to "Murder Ballads" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds..... creeeepy....
 
FourNineFoxtrot said:
In my mind, though, Llewelyn Moss was the main character despite the Sheriff's narration. He's the character whose actions precipitate the story, and with whom most of the story happens. The Coen brothers' defiance of convention and logic to force the Sheriff to become the "protagonist" doesn't work for me; he is still no more than a glorified narrator. I may admire it as a clever device on some level, but it makes for diminished storytelling.

The Coen brothers perhaps have forgotten that telling a story is about making a connection between the audience and the characters, and specifically the protagonist. The Sheriff doesn't spend enough time on the screen to take on such a role, despite the directors' intention.
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Couldn't have said it better.
 
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