No Country for Old Men
_No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film co-written, co-produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, adapted from the 2005 novel of the same name by American author Cormac McCarthy.[1] Set in 1980 along the Texas–Mexico border, the story centers on Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a welder and Vietnam War veteran who stumbles upon the aftermath of a botched drug deal—including several corpses and a satchel containing $2 million in cash—and decides to take the money, unwittingly drawing the pursuit of a psychopathic hitman, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), hired to recover it, while local Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) investigates the ensuing violence and reflects on the changing moral fabric of his community.[2] The film, produced by Scott Rudin and distributed by Miramax Films and Paramount Vantage, features a sparse narrative style characterized by minimal dialogue, long takes, and a folk-country soundtrack, emphasizing themes of fate, free will, and the inexorable advance of violence in the modern American West.[1] It premiered at the 2007 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 21, 2007, grossing over $171 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.[3] Critically acclaimed for its taut pacing, Roger Deakins's cinematography capturing the desolate West Texas landscapes, and standout performances—particularly Bardem's chilling embodiment of Chigurh as an almost supernatural force of chaos—the film holds a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 290 reviews.[3] At the 80th Academy Awards, it secured four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (for the Coens), Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel and Ethan Coen), and Best Supporting Actor (Bardem), along with nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. In 2024, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.[4][5] The source novel, published by Alfred A. Knopf on July 19, 2005, originated as a screenplay by McCarthy before being expanded into book form; it similarly follows Moss's fateful discovery and the philosophical musings of Bell on the erosion of traditional values amid escalating brutality, earning praise for its stark prose and existential undertones.[6] The adaptation remains faithful to the book's structure and themes while amplifying its tension through visual storytelling, cementing No Country for Old Men as a landmark in contemporary cinema and a pivotal work in McCarthy's oeuvre.[3]Synopsis and cast
Plot
In 1980, in rural West Texas near the Rio Grande, aging Sheriff Ed Tom Bell reflects on the rising tide of drug-related violence in his community through voiceover narration, recounting a recent case of a young murderer who showed no remorse.[7][8] The story shifts to Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic hitman, who is arrested for a minor traffic violation but escapes custody by strangling a deputy with his handcuffs and killing another officer with a captive bolt pistol designed for stunning cattle.[7] Meanwhile, Vietnam veteran and welder Llewelyn Moss goes antelope hunting in the desert and stumbles upon the aftermath of a botched drug deal: several bullet-riddled vehicles, dead bodies from both Mexican and American sides, a truck loaded with heroin, and a satchel containing nearly $2 million in cash hidden near a dying Mexican who begs for water. Moss takes the satchel, leaving the man behind.[8][7] That night, Moss returns to the scene with a jug of water for the dying man, only to find the site overrun by armed Mexicans searching for the missing money; a shootout ensues, and Moss barely escapes by wading across the river, alerting the cartel to his involvement. He hides the satchel in the air conditioning vent of his trailer home and checks into a rundown motel in Del Rio, unaware that the money contains a transponder allowing Chigurh—hired by the drug dealers to recover it—to track him.[8] Chigurh arrives at the wrong motel room first, slaughtering the occupants who had rented Moss's room by mistake, then locates the correct one but finds Moss has fled after noticing suspicious activity.[7][8] As Chigurh continues his methodical pursuit, he stops at a remote gas station, where he engages the elderly proprietor in a chilling conversation, flipping a coin to "decide" the man's fate in a ritualistic display of his belief in chance as an arbiter of life and death; the man survives, but the encounter underscores Chigurh's unpredictable lethality.[7][8] Moss, sensing danger, relocates to a nicer motel in another town, buys a new pickup truck with cash, and calls his wife, Carla Jean, instructing her to pack and join her mother in Odessa while he evades pursuers. Bell begins investigating the desert massacre on horseback, discovering the scene and piecing together the drug deal gone wrong, though he trails far behind the escalating violence.[8][7] Chigurh closes in on Moss at the new motel, leading to a fierce nighttime shootout through the door after Moss rigs a trap; wounded in the shoulder, Moss shoots back and escapes in the truck, driving to a border town in Mexico where a young boy helps him find a doctor to stitch his injury. While recovering, Moss calls Carla Jean again to ensure her safety, but Chigurh, having intercepted the transponder signal, arrives at the motel and slaughters three cartel members in a bloody gunfight.[8][7] Enter Carson Wells, a cocky bounty hunter hired by a wealthy businessman (the drug lord's representative) to retrieve the money and deal with Chigurh, whom he knows from past jobs; Wells visits Moss in a Mexican hospital, warning him of Chigurh's unstoppable nature and offering to negotiate a deal for $5 million if Moss surrenders the cash. Moss refuses and is soon ambushed and kidnapped by cartel members seeking revenge at his trailer, where he is taken away, leading to his off-screen death.[7][8] Chigurh tracks Wells to a hotel, kills him execution-style in his room after a failed attempt to buy the money's location, then locates the satchel hidden in the vent and recovers it.[8] With the money retrieved, Chigurh turns his attention to Carla Jean, who has returned to her mother's house in Odessa; he visits the home, where the dying mother insults him before he kills her off-screen. Later, Chigurh confronts Carla Jean in the trailer, offering her the same coin toss to decide her fate, but she refuses to play, calling his "rules" meaningless; Chigurh strangles her anyway and leaves calmly.[7][8] Meanwhile, Moss is killed off-screen by the cartel in an Eagle Pass hotel, his body later discovered by Bell, who finds the motel room riddled with bullet holes but no money or killers.[8] Bell, haunted by his inability to stop the carnage, retires from the sheriff's department, his investigation yielding only fragments of the chaos. In the film's unresolved conclusion, an elderly Bell shares breakfast with his wife and recounts two dreams: in the first, he carries money through a dark maze but loses it to shadowy figures; in the second, he and his father ride horses through snowy mountains at night, with his father promising to light a fire ahead in the cold darkness. Bell falls silent, the story ending on his contemplative face as he grapples with a world beyond his understanding.[7][8] Chigurh, meanwhile, survives a minor car accident caused by two young boys on bicycles, limps away after threatening witnesses, and continues driving into the uncertain future.[7]Cast
The principal cast of No Country for Old Men features an ensemble of character actors selected by directors Joel and Ethan Coen for their ability to embody the film's West Texas archetypes.[9]| Actor | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Josh Brolin | Llewelyn Moss | A stoic, resourceful ex-soldier and welder whose discovery of drug money propels the central conflict.[10] |
| Javier Bardem | Anton Chigurh | A remorseless, psychopathic hitman driven by a cold code of fate and violence.[10] |
| Tommy Lee Jones | Ed Tom Bell | A philosophical, world-weary sheriff grappling with the erosion of traditional values amid modern chaos.[10] |
| Kelly Macdonald | Carla Jean Moss | Llewelyn's steadfast wife, representing domestic resilience in the face of encroaching danger.[10] |