No Country for Old Men (2007)

Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

Directors:

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Writers:

Joel Coen (screenplay), Ethan Coen (screenplay),

Stars:

Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin

Top 250 #138 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 110 wins & 51 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Ed Tom Bell
Javier Bardem	...	Anton Chigurh
Josh Brolin	...	Llewelyn Moss
Woody Harrelson	...	Carson Wells
Kelly Macdonald	...	Carla Jean Moss
Garret Dillahunt	...	Wendell
Tess Harper	...	Loretta Bell
Barry Corbin	...	Ellis
Stephen Root	...	Man who hires Wells
Rodger Boyce	...	El Paso Sheriff
Beth Grant	...	Carla Jean's Mother
Ana Reeder	...	Poolside Woman
Kit Gwin	...	Sheriff Bell's Secretary
Zach Hopkins	...	Strangled Deputy
Chip Love	...	Man in Ford

Storyline

In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh, on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money. As Moss desperately attempts to keep one step ahead, the blood from this hunt begins to flow behind him with relentlessly growing intensity as Chigurh closes in. Meanwhile, the laconic Sherrif Ed Tom Bell blithely oversees the investigation even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to thwart.

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Plot Keywords:

money | killer | drug deal | murder | sheriff | 

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Taglines:

One opportunity can change your life. One mistake can destroy it.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

21 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sin lugar para los débiles

Filming Locations:

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,257,183 (UK) (18 January 2008)

Gross:

$74,273,505 (USA) (4 April 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Vantage, Miramax Films, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot mostly in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Tommy Lee Jones convinced Joel Coen and Ethan Coen to film some scenes on location in West Texas.

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Goofs

When Sheriff Bell pulls over the flat bed truck carrying the bodies of the dead Mexican cartel members the driver states they only took the truck instead of a van because "We didn't have a van with four wheel drive." However at the time the driver states this you can see the lower control arm on the front suspension of the truck he is driving. This is a characteristic of a Chevrolet truck of that era that is two wheel drive. A four wheel drive truck would have a leaf spring straight front axle suspension.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ed Tom Bell: I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time; him up in Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun. A lotta folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough'd never carried one; that's the younger Jim. Gaston Boykins wouldn't wear one up in Comanche County. I always liked to hear about ...

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Million Dollar Movie Week 1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Las mañanitas"
Traditional
Performed by Lola Beltrán
Courtesy of Warner Music Mexico SA de CV
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Coen's display confidence in crafting yet another masterpiece

I saw this film at a private preview screening in Pittsburg on 5/16/07. I went with five other friends. The entire group was male, 20 yrs old, and mostly college athletes. I explain the demographic of myself and my companions to reason why I was the only one that came away from the film completely satisfied. The story was fresh and different and I don't think my friends had the capacity to fully enjoy what was going on on-screen. I did. And I am still trying to fully understand what an accomplishment it is. Let me try to explain.

The Coens begin the movie with a voice-over against a barren Texas landscape, much the way Blood Simple began. In fact, there are several similarities between the two films, like the auspicious lack of music. A reviewer whose name escapes me once said that all Coen Bro. films look great and sound better. I'll get to sound later but to talk about the look... Other than some CGI animals, which really shocked me in such an otherwise perfect film, each frame is filled with such interesting material that the tone is set perfectly so that as you view a scene, you know whether to wait on a laugh or brace for...

A large part of what fills those frames is great performances. Perfectly cast is Tommy Lee Jones. He nails it, the crowd goes wild etc... That's expected though. Josh Brolin, on a very recent hot streak, has given us two tremendous performances this year and both would have been a Cannes if the superbly talented Tarantino was loyal to his material and friend and kept the masterpiece that was Grindhouse untouched. Brolin's performance in that film was spot on with the perfect amount of ham and cheese to set the tone for the whole movie. In this one, he shows he can do just as well playing strait and absorbing into character as he does at crowd-pleasing cheesballing it. Kelly Macdonald will have to do something else to prove to me she really isn't the Clara Jean character she portrayed even though I know she is a Scot. Woody Harrelson, who I think gets too much praise sometimes, is at his best here and actually manages not to get blown off the screen (well sorta) by Javier Bordem. Mr. Bordem's performance is a force, much like the character he portrays. His Chigurh is a representation of the lunacy of violence that exists in society. There is no negotiations with it, it has always been here and it will always be here. It/he leaves us in shock and terror and all we can do is... ??? The first thing that needs to be said about the sound is that if another film wins an award all year for sound or sound editing, investigations should be held and the judges' bank accounts monitored. The sound in this movie is so shockingly good. There is no music (save some comically placed source music)and the movie is all the better for it. People talk about the way the music in Jaws enhanced the tension of what was happening on screen. People should, from here on say that the lack of music and the placement of source sound in No Country for Old Men thrilled more.

I am certainly rooting for No Country for Old Men to come away with the hardware from Cannes.