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:

There Are No Clean Getaways

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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

Llewelyn's shotgun is a Winchester Model 1897 (with the barrel sawed down and filed, and the shoulder butt sawed-off and the handle taped around), one of the first successful pump-actions.

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Goofs

When in room 138, Moss slides the suitcase to the left of the HVAC duct, handle-side first. When he retrieves the case from room 38 (the room directly opposite) by hooking into the handle the case is on the wrong side of the duct for the handle to be accessible.

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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 How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go (2008)

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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

You Don't Get Perfection Like This Very Often

If you're a Coen brothers fan, you're gonna be extremely delighted with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. This is Ethan and Joel at the pinnacle of their directing careers, something that should not be missed by anyone interested in film or entertainment. Forget FARGO. Push aside THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Move over O' BROTHER WHERE ART THOU. No Country is leaps and bounds beyond those. In fact, it reigns supreme as 2007's best film.

I don't always agree with movie critics but this time they got it right. It is the first time that Associated Press reviewers David Germain and Christy Lemire have both selected the same film as their #1 pick. With more award nominations than you could shake a stick at (including four Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guilds, probably a gaggle of Oscars and many, many, many others), No Country will undeniably have directors, actors and screenwriters jumping up on stage come awards ceremony time.

Equal parts thriller, western, crime-drama, and action, No Country weaves a tapestry of excellence throughout its length.

The first note of excellence must be directed at Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Probably not very well known to most American audiences, Javier has cemented himself as the leader in portraying a psychopathic killer and (dare I say it!) has surpassed that of Anthony Hopkins in his SILENCE OF THE LAMBS Hannibal Lecter role (something that I thought would never happen). Ruthless, unforgiving, sociopathic, and in desperate need of a new hair style, Anton Chigurh (Bardem) is flawless. Every time he showed up on-screen I felt a chill run through my bones ("Call it"). Absolutely perfect.

The next note of excellence must go to Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones. Llewelyn Moss (Brolin, PLANET TERROR) is the lucky/unlucky soft-spoken Texas cowpoke/hunter who stumbles across a veritable fortune in drug money only to be relentlessly pursued by killer Anton. Mr. Moss' gradual decline in health (mainly due to wounds inflicted on him by Anton) is painful to watch up until the very end. Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is the opposite of Anton Chigurh. He doesn't understand all of the death and destruction laid at his feet. He longs for a time when murders were easy to track and solve, not these new-fangled deaths where bullets aren't used (air-guns do just fine) and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to their patterns.

The fourth (perhaps this should've been first) note of excellence goes to the Coen brothers for their perfect adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel by the same name. Many lines of dialogue were lifted verbatim from the novel itself, including the ending monologue by Tommy Lee. It's noteworthy to mention here that the Coen brothers not only directed but wrote the screenplay, too.

The final note has to go Cinematographer Roger Deakins (he's worked with the Coen brothers on many occasions and also did the exemplary JARHEAD work). Every scene was so well thought-out and so convincingly filmed that viewers are carried freakishly easy through this incredible story.

It's difficult to do justice to this film with one short review, simply because there are so many great elements to it. The casting was spectacular — with Woody Harrelson (NORTH COUNTRY) and Kelly Macdonald (THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ) pulling in exceptional supporting roles — as was Carter Burwell's haunting original musical score and Mary Zophres impeccable costume designs.

If you missed this film at your local cineplex, you may have gypped yourself from experiencing this amazing cinematic event. Now you've gotta wait for the DVD to be released and then ...it's your call.