No Country for Old Men (2007)
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A hunter and a hitman collide in the aftermath of a botched drug deal in the Texas desert.
The story
In 1980, a Vietnam War veteran and welder named Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon a large sum of money in the desert after a drug deal goes wrong. He takes the briefcase home, but his actions trigger a pursuit by a relentless hitman, Anton Chigurh, who is hired to recover the cash. Meanwhile, the local sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, begins investigating the crime scene. As the hunt for the money intensifies across the desert landscape, the lives of the hunter and the hunted become increasingly intertwined, while the sheriff struggles to comprehend the escalating violence of the modern world.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After finding $2 million in a desert following a drug deal gone wrong, Llewelyn Moss flees from the hitman Anton Chigurh. Chigurh, a man who follows a strict, often lethal code, tracks Moss through various locations, including a motel in Del Rio and a border town. Moss eventually hides the money in a motel room, but Chigurh finds him, leading to a violent confrontation. Moss manages to escape to Mexico, but is eventually caught and killed by a group of men. Chigurh then tracks down Moss's wife, Carla Jean, and offers her a coin toss to decide her fate. She refuses the toss, choosing to accept her destiny. Meanwhile, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell investigates the trail of violence, eventually finding the empty room where Moss was held. The film concludes with Bell retiring from the force, haunted by the realization of the escalating violence he cannot stop. The story explores themes of fate, conscience, and the clash between old-world law and modern, senseless violence.
- First release year
- 2007
- Runtime (minutes)
- 122
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Joel Coen; Ethan Coen
- Writers
- Joel Coen · writer; Ethan Coen · writer
- Cast and characters
- Tommy Lee Jones · Ed Tom Bell; Javier Bardem · Anton Chigurh; Josh Brolin · Llewelyn Moss; Kelly Macdonald · Carla Jean; Woody Harrelson · Carson Wells
- Genres
- neo-Western; crime thriller
- Themes
- fate; conscience; circumstance; predestination; violence
- Tone and mood
- tense; methodical; somber
- Premise and plot tags
- neo-Western; crime thriller; drug deal; hitman
- Source material / true-story basis
- Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film was a critical and commercial success, praised for its direction, screenplay, and Bardem's performance. It was widely recognized as one of the best films of 2007 and the Coen brothers' magnum opus.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 93% · scale: percentage · review count: 288
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Picture · win; Academy Award · Best Supporting Actor · win; Academy Award · Best Director · win; BAFTA · Best Director · win; BAFTA · Best Supporting Actor · win; Golden Globe · Best Supporting Actor · win; Golden Globe · Best Screenplay · win
- Production trivia
- The film is the last Western to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.; The role of Llewelyn Moss was originally offered to Heath Ledger.; The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2024.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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