No Country for Old Men
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen
Written by	Screenplay: Joel Coen Ethan Coen Novel: Cormac McCarthy
Produced by	Joel Coen Ethan Coen Scott Rudin
Starring	Tommy Lee Jones Josh Brolin Javier Bardem Kelly Macdonald Woody Harrelson
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Edited by	Roderick Jaynes
Music by	Carter Burwell
Distributed by	Miramax Films Paramount Vantage
Release dates	United States: November 9, 2007 (limited) November 21, 2007 (wide) United Kingdom: 18 January, 2008 Australia: 24 January, 2008
Running time	122 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000

No Country for Old Men is a critically acclaimed Golden Globe-nominated 2007 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. The film was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, who also edited it under the pseudonym 'Roderick Jaynes'.^[1] The title derives from the first line of William Butler Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium".

Plot

The film opens with shots of desolate, wide-open country in West Texas in June 1980. In a voiceover, the local sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), tells of the changing times as the region has become increasingly violent. Next, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) escapes police custody by strangling a young officer and steals a car by using a cattle gun to kill the car's driver.

Meanwhile, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, comes across a collection of corpses and one dying Mexican, the aftermath of a drug deal gone sour. He also finds two million dollars in a suitcase. Moss refuses to help the Mexican, takes the money and leaves, but is later bothered by his conscience and returns with water for the wounded man. During this second visit Moss is ambushed by gunmen and barely escapes with his life, abandoning his car in the process. Moss makes his way to his trailer home, and plans to put his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) on a bus to stay at her mother's home until the conflict is resolved.

Meanwhile, Chigurh, a professional hitman, is hired by the businessman (Stephen Root) behind the drug deal to assist his mid-level lieutenants in tracking down the money. Chigurh meets up with the two men at the site of the ambush, and promptly locates important clues needed to find the cash (namely, the vehicle ID number of Moss' abandoned car, as well as a tracking device for the transponder hidden in the bag of money). With these clues in hand, Chigurh kills the two men.

Moss—unknowingly carrying a tracking device in the money case—and Chigurh play cat-and-mouse between towns and hotels. Chigurh kills without remorse almost everyone he meets on his search: he does, however, spare a gas station owner over the result of a coin flip. Moss and Chigurh eventually meet in Eagle Pass, a border town, where they injure each other in a gun battle.

Sheriff Bell partially deduces what happened at the drug deal site, and begins looking for Moss. Meanwhile, the businessman behind the drug transaction (Stephen Root) hires assassin Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), who has dealt with Chigurh before, to recover the money and settle the score with Chigurh for killing his men.

Wells tracks Moss to a hospital in Mexico (where Moss is recovering from his encounter with Chigurh) and explains that he is Moss' only hope to protect his wife, since Chigurh kills as a matter of principle. Wells offers to help Moss, leaving a phone number for his hotel room. Moss doesn't respond.

Wells returns to his hotel, but Chigurh is lying in wait and kills him after tense dialogue when the phone rings. The caller is Moss. Chigurh offers Moss a "deal": bring the money to Chigurh, and he will spare Moss' wife (but not Moss, whose life is already forfeit according to Chigurh's principles). Moss refuses the deal, vows to make Chigurh a "special project," and hangs up.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Bell meets with Carla Jean and offers to protect them both if she tells him Moss' location. Moss calls her not long after to meet him in El Paso, where he will give her the money and put her on a plane while he goes after Chigurh. Carla tells Sheriff Bell where Moss will meet her, and then leaves with her mother for El Paso. However, they are trailed by a team of Mexicans also after the money, and Carla's mother unwittingly gives one of them the exact location of the hotel where they are to meet Moss. Sheriff Bell arrives in El Paso moments too late: Moss is dead (along with some of the Mexican hitmen) in a hotel room.

Later that evening, Sheriff Bell returns to the now-vacant crime scene and finds the locks have been blown out on two adjacent hotel room doors (blown locks being Chigurh's recurring method of invasion). We see Chigurh hiding behind one of the doors of the hotel room, but when Sheriff Bell enters the other room, he finds it empty; the bathroom window is clearly locked from the inside. Sheriff Bell sees that the vent cover had been removed with a coin and realizes the money is gone, then leaves the scene without entering the other room (in which Chigurh was hiding).

Some time later, Bell visits his Uncle Ellis (Barry Corbin), an ex-lawman who was paralyzed in the line of duty and now confined to a wheelchair. Bell is planning on retiring due to his weariness of the changing times, but Ellis points out that the region has always been violent: Bell's other uncle was murdered in 1909 on his own front porch by men who watched him die. Ellis accuses Bell of "vanity"—thinking times are somehow different now.

Some time later, Carla Jean returns home from her mother's funeral (she died of cancer) to find Chigurh waiting for her. He states that he promised Moss he'd kill her if he didn't bring him the money, and he must keep his word; the "most [he] can offer" her is a coin flip. Carla Jean refuses to call heads or tails. We then see Chigurh leave the house, checking the bottom of his boots. He calmly leaves the scene, but becomes involved in a car accident after a driver runs a red light and broad-swipes his car; Chigurh is injured with a compound fracture to his arm. He pays a boy $100 (which is the same denomination the money bag contained, and which Moss used for his purchases while on the lam) for his shirt to use as a sling, telling him "You never saw me, I was already gone"; he limps off before the ambulance arrives.

The film closes on Bell, in uneasy retirement at home, reflecting on his life choices. Sheriff Bell relates to his wife two dreams he had, both involving his father, a lawman who died twenty years earlier while fighting crime. In the second dream, the two are riding horses in the snow, and his father, carrying fire in a horn, passes him by without looking at him, riding on ahead into the darkness to prepare a camp for both.

Themes

The film is notable for its unusual structure which follows the conclusion of the novel very closely. The apparent protagonist, Moss, is killed three quarters of the way into the film; the policeman does not find the villain, whose fate is left undetermined; and the film concludes with an ambiguous meditation on a dream. In The Village Voice, Scott Foundas writes that "Like McCarthy, the Coens are markedly less interested in who (if anyone) gets away with the loot than in the primal forces that urge the characters forward... [I]n the end, everyone in No Country for Old Men is both hunter and hunted, members of some endangered species trying to forestall their extinction."^[2] Roger Ebert writes that "the movie demonstrates how pitiful ordinary human feelings are in the face of implacable injustice."^[3]

Differences from novel

While the movie screenplay is overall a very faithful adaptation of the original novel, two major threads in the novel with significant thematic overtones are omitted in the movie version. Before arriving at the motel where he is ultimately killed in the original novel, Moss has extensive dialogue with a young female runaway whom he picks up as a hitchhiker. His final exchange with her is to turn down an offer of her sexual favors at the motel in order to remain faithful to his wife.^{[citation needed]}

Also, in the novel, Bell's reason to visit his Uncle Ellis is not only to inform the latter of Bell's decision to retire, but to also confess his perceived cowardly actions during a specific battle in World War II. This establishes a thematic motivation of redemption^{[citation needed]} in the book for Bell's entry into the motel room where Moss died, even though Bell fears that Chigurh may be hiding inside or nearby. The movie version offers more straightforward explanations for the actions of Moss and Bell in the crucible of the motel room—that the Mexicans just happened to catch up with Moss there, and that by entering later, Bell was just doing his job.^{[citation needed]}

Cast and characters

• Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: A laconic, soon-to-retire small-town sheriff.

• Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss: A welder and Vietnam veteran who flees with $2 million in drug money. Brolin was initially overlooked for the role of Llewellyn, despite submitting an audition tape filmed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez during his appearance in Grindhouse;^[4] upon receiving the tape, the Coen brothers' immediate response was to ask who had lit the set.^[5] However, following persistent lobbying by his agent, the Coens eventually gave him the role.^[4] Brolin broke his collarbone in a motorcycle accident a few days before filming was due to begin. However he and his doctor lied about the extent of his injury to the Coens and they let him continue in the role.^[4]

• Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh: An assassin hired by two businessmen to murder Moss and recover the drug money. Chigurgh's distinctive look was derived from a 1979 book supplied by Tommy Lee Jones which featured characters in a brothel on the Texas-Mexico border.^[6]

• Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss: Llewelyn Moss's wife.

• Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells: A cocky bounty hunter hired by the 'Man who hires Wells' to intercept Chigurh and recover the drug money.

• Tess Harper as Loretta Bell: Sheriff Bell's wife, provides reassurance in his darker moods.

• Barry Corbin as Ellis: An ex-policeman who was injured in the line of duty and is now wheelchair bound, and acts as a straight-talking sounding board for Sheriff Bell.

• Beth Grant as Agnes: Carla Jean's mother and the mother-in-law of Moss. She provides a little comic relief despite the fact that she is dying from cancer.

• Stephen Root as Man who hires Wells. A mysterious figure with an office in a skyscraper.

Production

The film was shot mainly in New Mexico^[7], including Las Vegas, which largely doubled as the border town of Del Rio^[8]. The U.S.-Mexico border crossing bridge was actually a freeway overpass in Las Vegas ^[8] Some scenes were filmed around Marfa and Sadisiar in West Texas^[8] and the scene in the town square was filmed in Piedras Negras, Coahuila in Mexico.^[8]

Exhibition

The film first screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2007. It opened in limited release in the United States on November 9, 2007, and had a wide release in the United States on November 21, 2007. The film will be released in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2008 and in Australia on January 24, 2008.^[9]

Response

Critical reception

The film has received highly positive reviews. As of November 30, 2007, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes records that 95% of 159 critics gave the film positive reviews,^[10] while another review aggregator, Metacritic records an average score of 91%, based on 36 reviews.^[11] The film is widely discussed as a possible candidate for several Oscars.^[12][13] Javier Bardem in particular has gotten considerable praise for his performance in the film.

Roger Ebert gave it a four star review saying that the movie was "a masterful evocation of time, place, character, moral choices, immoral certainties, human nature and fate."^[14] Brian Marder of Hollywood.com gave it 4 out of 4 stars saying, "It's an instant classic—a horrifying, funny, suspenseful masterpiece that could only have come from these two filmmakers."^[15] A rare dissenting voice was Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader, who, while admiring the film's aesthetics, questioned its moral culpability: for him, the Coens expend great energy on depicting horror, while encouraging us to "hypocritically shake our heads at the sadness of it all".^[16] The film was also #1 on Peter Travers' (of Rolling Stone) list of the Best Movies of 2007.^[17]

Box office

The film opened in limited release on November 9, 2007 and grossed US$1,226,333 — posting a per-theater average of $43,797 in 28 theaters. On November 21, the film opened in wide release in the United States and Canada and grossed $7,776,773 in 860 theaters with a per-theater average of $9,042.^[18] As of December 16, 2007 the film has grossed an estimated $33.4m in the United States and Canada.^[19]

Awards

Wins

• The Austin Film Critics Association
  • Best Supporting Actor
  • Best Adapted Screenplay

• Boston Society of Film Critics
  • Best Picture
  • Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)

• Chicago Film Critics Association
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Best Supporting Actor

• Dallas Ft. Worth Critics Awards
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Supporting Actor

• The EDA Awards
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director

• National Board of Review
  • Best Picture
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Best Acting by an Ensemble

• New York Film Critics Circle
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
  • Best Screenplay

• New York Film Critics Online
  • Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)

• Phoenix Film Critics Society
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Best Supporting Actor
  • Best Acting Ensemble
  • Best Editing

• Satellite Awards
  • Best Picture, Drama
  • Best Director

• Southeastern Film Critics Association
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Best Supporting Actor

• Toronto Film Critics Association
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director
  • Best Screenplay
  • Best Supporting Actor

• Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
  • Best Picture
  • Best Director (Coen Brothers)
  • Best Acting by an Ensemble

Nominations

• Cannes Film Festival
  • Palme d'Or

• 65th Golden Globe Awards^[20]
  • Best Motion Picture - Drama
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Javier Bardem)
  • Best Director (Coen Brothers)
  • Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Coen Brothers)

• Satellite Awards
  • Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Josh Brolin)
  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Javier Bardem)
  • Best Adapted Screeplay (Coen Brothers)
  • Best Film Editing (Coen Brothers)

• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Javier Bardem)
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Tommy Lee Jones)

References

External links

• Official site
• Official Canadian site
• No Country for Old Men at IMDb
• No Country for Old Men review at film.com
• No Country for Old Men at Rotten Tomatoes
• No Country for Old Men at Metacritic
• No Country for Old Men at Box Office Mojo
• No Country for Old Men at AllMovie