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 Rated Movies #158 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 160 wins & 139 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 (Josh Brolin) 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 (Javier Bardem), 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 Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) 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:

sheriff | texas | contemporary western | cold blooded murder | desert | 

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Taglines:

There are no laws left.

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot mostly in the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico (not Las Vegas, Nevada). Tommy Lee Jones convinced directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen to film some scenes on-location in West Texas.

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Goofs

The sheriff mentions that his father was a "sheriff" up in Plano. This is an error for two reasons: 1) Plano is not the county seat in either of the two counties where it is located - The sheriff's office is always located in the county seat of a county and Plano isn't one. 2) Until the mid-1980s Plano was a tiny city in the distant Dallas suburbs. While it is medium-sized city now (270k population), in the 1980 setting of the film, the population in Plano should have been roughly 20,000 people and was very peaceful. It's possible that someone who wasn't familiar with the Dallas Metro area might not have even heard of Plano. Being a "sheriff" there then would have minor role if that role even existed.

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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: Episode #8.37 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Puño de tierra
Written by Michael Eloy Sánchez
Performed by Angel H. Alvarado Jr., David A. Gomez, Milton Hernandez and John Mancha

User Reviews

A masterpiece, albeit a flawed one

No Country for Old Men is not necessarily the Coen Brothers' best movie, I consider Barton Fink, Fargo, Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski better. However it is a great movie, I'd go as far to say it is my definition of a flawed masterpiece(the only other movie I've given that definition to is The Magnificent Ambersons). So why do I call it a flawed masterpiece rather than a masterpiece full stop? Well actually right up to the last twenty minutes, the film was the latter rather than the former. If the last twenty minutes had not felt like a completely different movie, it would've stayed like that. As is the case with all the Coen Brothers' movies, No Country for Old Men is very well made with impressive cinematography, editing and settings. The story is compelling, the direction superb and the script most of the time taut, funny, thrilling and exciting. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones are excellent in this film, but if I have to give an award to best performance of the film, it would be Javier Bardem in a villainous role that is menacing and chillingly effective. Overall, a great movie but due to the final twenty minutes it just loses out to that extra something. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

21 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

No Country for Old Men

Filming Locations:

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,202,000, 11 November 2007

Gross USA:

$74,283,625

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$171,627,166

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Vantage, Miramax, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1