No Country For Old Men

[ujnhunter]

no topic for this one yet? I bought it the Tuesday it came out on Blu-Ray (I had a $10 off coupon so it was the same price as a DVD) and totally loved this movie... I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, what is coming next?! Good stuff... Javier Bardem was crazy good...

[Hoblit]

Yeah, I dug this movie a lot too. And I (possible spoiler?) disagree with anyone who said there was no ending. The story was told in full in my opinion.

(definite spoiler)

If only he didn't go back to the scene a second time.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Great flick and one of the more memorable bad guys in a long time. I didn't have a problem with the ending either, as I'm so sick and tired of the typical Hollywood ending. The good guys don't always have to win, even if you want them to.

Anyway, good casting, well acted and directed, the take it's time pace of the film never dragged or felt labored. Good stuff.

[Hoblit]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AT THIS POINT

I think the general public gets confused when there is a twist AND the 'good guy loses.

It wasn't just the fact that it didn't end the way someone might suspect or even hope, but it gets completely flanked by an element that they had initially forgotten about.

yeah @ memorable bad guy.

[erik]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AT THIS POINT

I think the general public gets confused when there is a twist AND the 'good guy loses.

It wasn't just the fact that it didn't end the way someone might suspect or even hope, but it gets completely flanked by an element that they had initially forgotten about.

yeah @ memorable bad guy.

Dude, explain the ending to me. Not the very-very last scene, but the whole third act in general.

[Hoblit]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AT THIS POINT

I think the general public gets confused when there is a twist AND the 'good guy loses.

It wasn't just the fact that it didn't end the way someone might suspect or even hope, but it gets completely flanked by an element that they had initially forgotten about.

yeah @ memorable bad guy.

Dude, explain the ending to me. Not the very-very last scene, but the whole third act in general.

MORE OBVIOUS SPOILERS

You mean where the Mexicans caught up with him while he's trying to get his wife and her mother out of town?

Throughout the movie its sort of a cat and mouse thing where the mouse is just barely a step ahead. The movie allows you to forget about the Mexicans that are also after him. They do re-introduce them though, the movie reminds you while mother and wife are on their way to El Paso. Then the Mexicans help with the luggage to pin point where Llewelyn is going to be later. They later raid the room in a much different style than Llewelyn is ready for. (He's paranoid about Anton and is focused on him) He gets killed and the Mexicans apparently can't find the money in time, panic and make a quick escape.

Anton already knew where the money would be 'stashed' and even told Carson that before killing him in his hotel room. Presumably he hears of the activity at the hotel and goes there later to retrieve the money thats pretty much where he'd expected it to be. Ed later shows up on his suspicion and while noticing a few things does not come to any conclusion nor does he realize that Anton is there. This exemplifies his own feeling that the world is passing him by and that his skills are simply not keeping up with the times.

(had to go to IMDB for the names, just in case you thought for a minute I was smart enough to remember names AND know how to spell them)

[Paco Del Stinko]

Well said, friendo.

[Hoblit]

Well said, friendo.

Sir?

(I had to watch it twice , not that it was a chore or anything)

[Billy's Little Trip]

YES, great movie. I love it when a movie has a hit man that uses something more than a gun to to kill his targets, that was f**king brilliant. Although his choice of gun was awesome too.
This is the first I've ever heard of or have seen Javier Bardem. He is a powerful presents. I look forward to seeing him in more movies. I just noticed one he's in that just came out out called Love in the Time of Cholera and one he was in with Natalie Portman called Goya's Gohst.

I thought the ending left me wanting more, but it was easy to understand. I think it was more of the fact that I wanted the movie to keep going. Spoiler >> I really wanted to see Ed kill Anton with the cattle airbolt gun. Also, I thought the flipping of the coin to choose your fate was great. As if, you play a game with the devil and if you win, you go free..

[Hoblit]

Spoiler >> I really wanted to see Ed kill Anton with the cattle airbolt gun. Also, I thought the flipping of the coin to choose your fate was great. As if, you play a game with the devil and if you win, you go free..

I liked how Ed Almost, ALMOST put two and two together and figured out the airbolt gun used in the roadside murder. Maybe he did, but we'll never for sure, and I have to believe that he never did, but ALMOST did.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Has anyone read the book? I typically don't like to read a book that's been made into a movie if I see the movie first, but I'm curious as to how faithful they are to each other. I did read Cormac McCarthy's The Road last year, and it was fantastic.

Think I'll give the movie another play though, especially after thinking about it again and Hoblit's excellent ending summary.

[erik]

You mean where the Mexicans caught up with him while he's trying to get his wife and her mother out of town?

No, I mean like everything after Llewellyn dies. What is the point of all that nothingness at the end?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Spoiler >> I really wanted to see Ed kill Anton with the cattle airbolt gun. Also, I thought the flipping of the coin to choose your fate was great. As if, you play a game with the devil and if you win, you go free..

I liked how Ed Almost, ALMOST put two and two together and figured out the airbolt gun used in the roadside murder. Maybe he did, but we'll never for sure, and I have to believe that he never did, but ALMOST did.

Actually, I think he did figure it all out, but said f**k it.
I think he was thinking back to what his friend in the wheel chair said to him about the guy that's in prison that shot him and put him in the wheel chair. Ellis's partner, Ed's grandfather, never asked him to become a deputy, he just did. Something about it not changing a damn thing and at some point, you have to just stop trying to get back what's lost and enjoy what you still have, or something to that effect.

[jute gyte]

Has anyone read the book? I typically don't like to read a book that's been made into a movie if I see the movie first, but I'm curious as to how faithful they are to each other. I did read Cormac McCarthy's The Road last year, and it was fantastic.

Think I'll give the movie another play though, especially after thinking about it again and Hoblit's excellent ending summary.

The film is basically faithful to the book, though it leaves out some interesting and poignant subplots. The novel is also sometimes more clear on plot points that the movie leaves ambiguous. Both are really fine work.

[Paco Del Stinko]

the book

Thanks. I'll put it on my list.

[drë]

Alright, I just saw this movie twice over the weekend, and love it.
But here’s my take on the movie, maybe a bit odd;

I thought it was a very poetic movie, as it really was an action/adventure movie (money chasing), inside of a thoughtful drama (sheriffs story).
The title of the movie “No Country for old man” really relates more to the Tommy Lee Jones character (a retiring sheriff)… and the ultimate moral of the story: Death, and it waits for all of us.

The ultimate psycho bad guy on story 1, who thinks has high morals, and walks around jugging the worth of strangers life with a flip of a coin, and the “if you see me, your death mentality”, at the end gets converted to mortal when the widow tells him, no its you deciding my life, not the coin… and then breaks his arm on that surprising car crash, making him ever more human / mortal.

Also the last thing Llewellyn tells the woman on the pool, “you never know what’s around the coner…” like uhhh death!

Then the story over that (story 2) ends, with a retired sheriff with nothing to do, except have dreams of his dead father, and waiting for his own death…

Was this pretty much it? Or is it just my morbid point of view?

[Hoblit]

Alright, I just saw this movie twice over the weekend, and love it.
B… and the ultimate moral of the story: Death, and it waits for all of us.

The ultimate psycho bad guy on story 1, who thinks has high morals, and walks around jugging the worth of strangers life with a flip of a coin, and the “if you see me, your death mentality”, at the end gets converted to mortal when the widow tells him, no its you deciding my life, not the coin… and then breaks his arm on that surprising car crash, making him ever more human / mortal.

Also the last thing Llewellyn tells the woman on the pool, “you never know what’s around the coner…” like uhhh death!

Then the story over that (story 2) ends, with a retired sheriff with nothing to do, except have dreams of his dead father, and waiting for his own death…

Was this pretty much it? Or is it just my morbid point of view?

I think you're focusing too much on death and I don't think Anton became any more mortal than he did from the beginning. The breaking of his arm and his reaction to it is only another chapter in the story that is his life. After all, he had already been shot and took care of that situation himself and was not humbled by that. Although I agree that Anton is arrogant and his own set of moral codes trumps actual right from wrong, and this gives him a God complex. (or an angel of death complex as YOU might look at it)

There is some subtext of death in there for sure. I think it has more to do with the world passing the sheriff by just as he describes along with the inevitable dream about someone the world had already passed by. (I refer to his dream) He is always one step behind Anton and Anton is always one step behind Llewellin. He's just not making any difference and he's coming to that conclusion. Its time for him to retire to die later.

You never know whats around the corner reference was him (IMO) reflecting on his recent run from Anton with the possibility of death as an undertone. However, it is foreshadowing that he's completely forgotten about the third party (the Mexicans) who are the ones who flank him unexpectedly.

[drë]

(I refer to his dream) He is always one step behind Anton and Anton is always one step behind Llewellin. He's just not making any difference and he's coming to that conclusion. Its time for him to retire to die later.

Good point hob, i didn’t catch that.

So what was the point of the car crash? If not to make Anton more human like?

also how else does the title of the movie relate the the story?
what the hell does "no Country for old men" mean in context of the story ?

[Hoblit]

(I refer to his dream) He is always one step behind Anton and Anton is always one step behind Llewellin. He's just not making any difference and he's coming to that conclusion. Its time for him to retire to die later.

Good point hob, i didn’t catch that.

So what was the point of the car crash? If not to make Anton more human like?

also how else does the title of the movie relate the the story?
what the hell does "no Country for old men" mean in context of the story ?

No country for old men - The subtext of the Sheriffs self realization, the world passing him by. No country for his lineage of old out dated sheriffs. Go to bed grandpa.

The car wreck. I agree that it was a reality check in a way... but I thought of it more as an example of surprise and circumstance to illustrate his percevierance and determination towards his goal. (the money)

It also showed how money effects your personality. He remained focus on the money while his bone was sticking out of his arm. Also, the kids were helpful and concerned about his well being. That all changed as soon as they were given money. They started to argue almost immediately about money.

This is only MY TAKE, please hold what you took from it dear as well.

[ujnhunter]

I think the car crash just showed what Anton always thought... it was irony in the fact that Anton thinks that FATE has to do with everything... so it's fate that someone just happened to run a red light and t-bone him... can't escape your fate...

[jack]

You mean where the Mexicans caught up with him while he's trying to get his wife and her mother out of town?

No, I mean like everything after Llewellyn dies. What is the point of all that nothingness at the end?

well, since this is now one of my all time favorite movies (and I just found this thread), i'll just add that I think the "nothingness"" at the end kind of reinforces the sheriff's realization that it's all pointless. in the final scenes, when the sheriff is sitting on the bed in the room and looking at the bloodstain, he knows Chigurh is in the room with him. and he knows if he makes a move he'll probably be killed. so he walks away. and after that, he walks away for good. the final scene when he's having breakfast with the wife (now retired), he reflects on this and knows he made the right decision, despite hating retirement.

like someone else mentioned, it's almost faithful to the book verbatim, even with alot of the dialogue. but there are some notable scenes involving the sheriff reflecting to himself left out of the movie. i've read a couple other of Cormac McCarthy's books, and that "nothingness" seems to be a central theme in his stories, like "all the pretty horses" (great book, mediocre movie).

[Märk]

Well, since Jack resurrected an old thread.

I finally watched this movie a few weeks ago, and the ending left me feeling cold. I understand the intent, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. The first 7/8 of the film/story makes you care for the protagonist and hate the villain, and then *that* happens, not to mention his sweet and completely innocent wife. And the bad guy wins. Sometimes a happy ending works just fine, okay?