Analyzing Evil: Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men 

That makes sense!

Very apt observation.

@@aladinthemonkey768 like the random guy he killed to change cop car to civilian car? what are you on about

Good observation, it makes a lot of sense.

SNAKE, THEY'RE IN THERE WITH YOU!

tbh his hair is so bad that I love it

@@sha3560 me too

@@sha3560 but that's the charm of Anton, oh and his smile, hahaha.

According to trivia for this movie Mr. Bardem, upon seeing the hair cut he got for this movie for the first time, said something to the effect of "I'm not getting laid for six months."

@@hpa2005 I think family guy made a joke about it

I am sure no one else knows that.

What a shocker

@@RMadaraPlay WE haven't seen you yet. Surprise us. Top Israel Keyes

It's a tie between him and Lou Bloom in my opinion

@@whatimonn but Lou Bloom is more of a sociopath with psychopathic tendencies. And characters with that trait is a very long list.

He was like that until he got into that car crash in the end, sure he didn’t feel the pain of a bone sticking out of his body but he realized a horrible realization that he isn’t the embodiment of death and that he is just like everyone else and it was shown in his desperation whne talking to the kid

He couldn't be stopped... until he violently, and suddenly was. His expedient and abject smiting was a direct rejection of the mythos of him being a demigod. It showed that in that world, even someone as cold, calculating, intelligent, brutal, and efficient as Anton could slip up and/or be annihilated out of nowhere.

EXCEPT by random-ass chance.

Great comment!

Exactly... U can run but u can't hide b*tch

I totally agree.

Agreed. Anton is very consistent in his actions. He would simply view the accountant as an unfortunate victim of his circumstance. There was no answer he could give that would save his life. If he answered Yes,, then He is dead. If he said no. Anton would disdain the lie even if it were motivated by self preservation. He is simply allowing the Acountant an opportunity to accept his fate with some manner or dignity.

@@danhooper3723 So why he says that it depends?

@@CSSuser Throughout the move he toys with his prey. Watch his facial expressions when he interacts with those he is about to kill. He wants to see them squirm. He first provides a fleeting sense of hope to the accountant "it depends" .. only to be dashed when he tells him the criteria.

@@danhooper3723 He didn't do it with the FBI agent - Woody Harrelson, made it clear he's there to kill him.

But he gives the gas station clerk a chance to live. A chance he DOESN'T give the guy whose truck he takes after the guy stops to help him. Why did he give the clerk that chance? Because, CLEARLY he doesn't kill needlessly, NOT because he has some sort of conscience, but because killing someone brings its own risks and exposures (someone could pull up during or immediately after, it could send the police on a hunt looking for him, etc.), and that exposure risks himself or guys mission or both, one of which he must care about. Edit, so the danger that the guy will remember him is countered by the risk of killing him. What if someone else pulls up, what if a cop happens by, etc.

@@1450JackCade I think the reason he killed the chicken farmer was because he kept creating small talk like the gas station clerk. You can tell Anton wasn’t having any of it and when he asks to remove the chicken crates, the farmer questions him again, so it put the nail in the coffin for Anton to just waste the guy

@@trailermashproductions3437 mmm, I don't think so: he killed him because he was going to take his truck, everything else was just annoying interjections in between his goal, his annoyance was with those moment and the yokel's words and manner were that they were creating inefficiencies to his goal. The reason he killed him is so that he wouldn't be identified, and because it makes taking the truck easier.

@@1450JackCade IMO, he killed the truck guy because no matter what, if you steal someone's truck they're going to A) report you to the police and B) they might put up a fight. IMO, he gave the store clerk the chance because he wasn't sure whether he'd report him to the police, and because of that uncertainty he left his life up to chance. Also, we are making an assumption that he did not give the truck guy the same coin-toss chance.... but that wouldn't make sense because, again, he would immediately call the police to say his car was stolen. So I think the above makes the most sense. I might be wrong.

I would tend to agree but Anton's mind I can't call an open book either

Uh, Chigurh isn't the one who got Llewellyn Moss . .

Yeah, Moss was killed by the Cartel members.

reading comprehension, people. he never said anton killed moss

@@yourehereforthatarentyou Oh, I see what you mean. Actually it's a little vague . . But I remember that I wasn't sure myself whether Chigurh actually WAS the one who got Moss, early in my viewing . . Later it became clear, either because the movie made it clear, or when I read the book, which is damn good also btw. Sorry.

@@yourehereforthatarentyou it’s your reading comprehension that needs work. The original comment is insinuating that Anton killed Moss first, and then his wife.

He'll also remember to not be nosey... "What business is it of urs....?" That plate question, and attempt at trivial convo with a person who asked his debt only, was the start of him almost dying

I completely agree

Always good to learn something New, should i ever need that .. skill 😏

Anton was death, Everyone remembers him but it changes nothing. Bad movie.

​@@PancakeDiariesif everyone followed your advice no one would ever talk to anyone. The world would be a very lonely and disconnected place. We are social by Nature. It was an innocent question

Yeah, I wish they'd left the parking lot fight in the movie. Especially the way the man's friends were trying to wake him up after Anton had broken his neck.

You doing the whole "tHe bOoK wAs bEtTer" shit?

@@trollmctrollmcface7411 did I use the word "better" in there somewhere?

@@jamesbarker9895 Go cry

@@trollmctrollmcface7411 aw look it's tough guy Troll McIncel

Even better was that that was improved by Javier!

@@poley23 I think you mean “improvised”

@@poley23 He did it by accident haha

@@poley23 added a depth of character to Anton. He does find things humorous at times. in his "twisted" rationale.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

In truth, the car crash was random. It puts into perspective that despite how Anton seems, he's only a man, and not immune to the chaos of the world. As well, he's not too shaken up to say, “I got here the same way the coin did.” after she refuses. It's worth noting that in the novel Carla does relent and picks wrong.

No

Arguably, Carla Jeans refusal shaking him up, in the movie at least, coupled with the boys, could have caused him to not pay as much attention.

​@@RandomPerson-sf9vddefinitely, but not paying attention doesn't guarantee death on the road.

His car crashed because the other driver ran a red light. Remember how he checked his boots for blood before he left? Killing her was just another day at the park. The car wreck though, a small sample of karma if you wanna call it that. Some reviewers have analyzed this part of the film as showing Anton is as vulnerable to chance as anyone else he has used his coin on. While he flips the coin for others, others, even people he doesnt see coming, are also flipping the coin on him.

He is a villain who deserves karma.

@@baileyfrazier2635 Wait wait wait, are you telling me that the villain did bad things?

I'd NEVER seen a movie, like this. Hell! It didn't have any theme music, either.

Dr Evil......lol

I think Hillary Clinton has him beat.

Watch "The house that jack built".

Nightcrawler, to name one.

One more job!

He's straight up scary through and through.

It's an imitation of disarming banality that makes his otherworldliness even more apparent.

😂😂😅

Thought they were cashews?

Yeah, 400 different Psychopaths. He was the worst....amazing writing and acting

@@TheSixStringGuy worst as in most evil?

Fun fact: psychiatrists ARE psychopaths

​@ostrich8BC yeah probably, or best as in he did the worst

I met a few and the worst psychopath actually had a lot of “emotion”. But was cunning manipulative. Uncaring and with a subtle narcissism that was hidden. Apart from the fact it allowed her to be the laziest of them. Laziness is a huge psychopathic trait

I noticed that

It feels as though he hates ignorant people. He refers to himself similarly to the coin in that it took a long time with infinite luck to get to that one store. Where is the coin going next? That doesn't matter as long as the coin gets to where it belongs. That man was given a 22 year old coin with an intense history because he won the game. The coin is now special, even if it is just a coin. Anton is special even if he's just human. It is ignorant to ask where the killer is going rather than where he is going to kill.

He’s influenced me to always Carry a silencer on shotgun classes in cod for a while it was painful but it’s recently gotten better

Pneumatic captive bolt gun.For killing livestock.

Check out the Hush Puppy .410 bore shotgun.

@@marclafauce3726 untraceable.

Straight up killing machine.

Yes I feel the same way. He doesn’t seem to want to kill so much as he feels it’s a role he’s being made to play

Nah, he enjoys it!

I agree, I don’t think we can even really use words like “enjoy” when talking about his character

What about when he aimed at the bird on the bridge and fired? I don’t know if he was shooting the railing to startle or the bird, to kill. I’ve always wondered about that scene.

Oh he def enjoys killing lmao. There is a certain amount of satisfaction he gets out of it but only does it mostly when he believes he needs too.

No... U must not be from a dangerous area. Lots of crime is committed publicly. If ever asked if u see, or what u see... The answers are "no" and "shit"

@@PancakeDiaries yes, but Anton is not your average imbecile with a pistol he can’t use.

The only answer is yes. Lol

yeah that's what I thought I dont really see how else that scene was supposed to be interoperated

while i do think it was just him saying “you didn’t see anything” i like this interpretation too. it makes him all the more ghastly

True but hes only predictable because we know he kills. Atleast only after the first kill he does.

Anton: Yes 😐 🥜

It's believed in old wise tails that crows spread gossip, for that reason I believed Anton doesn't like them.

I thought he missed though

God I hate how people keep using the same bullshit joke formats.

@@dudeimgeorge Congratulations, you figured out memes.

It's the page boy cut from the Sixties. Since the movie is set in the late Seventies, early Eighties, it's about ten years out of date. This makes his odd style another aspect of his character. He sticks with the haircut he had when he was young and doesn't accept update.

When the actor saw his haircut he said he won’t get laid for four months.

It's meant to represent the hood of the reaper.

@@josephdial387 lol I was going to post that very thing. It's also hair that I associate with E. Europeans all the way towards the latter part of the 20th century, but maybe that's because of the name "Anton". And I always wondered if his origin might be E. European because those are some hard people, man, and so many godawful things have happened over there. The kind of things that produce stunted, bizarre individual cases sometimes.

@@Trollificusv2 Possibly. I have known some really hardass Eastern Europeans and those countries have experience several centuries of invasions, dictatorships, collapsed economies, and all sorts of misery where even decent people can be cold as hell. I knew this Romanian chick and one day were where talking about how Nazi collaborators were treated in some countries. I mentioned how my own relatives who fought told me how Dutch women who slept with German soldiers often had their heads shaved and were some were painted orange. She said, "When the Soviets came in, something like that happened in Romania. Those that opposed the Fascists found women who supported the Fascists or slept with German soldiers and cut their faces with razors or doused them with boiling water. *shrugs* Hey, paint washes off and hair grows back."

no shit Sherlock we saw the movie

extremely smart isn't a required quality but it does make them more interesting.

​@@toaster9922I recall most studies showing psychopaths to have a lower IQ than the average; seldom do you find a psychopath as intelligent as Bundy or otherwise. I think they are believed to be mostly intelligent as due to their lack of consciousness enabling them to seamlessly emulate the traits & tendencies of others for manipulation.

Except Anton wasn't smart. His threatening of the clerk in the gas station was one of the most heavy-handed things a person in his position could do, as it guaranteed the clerk would remember him, what he looked like, and that his car was from Dallas. Not to mention, the clerk _wasn't even looking at Anton_ when he asked about the rain in Dallas, so he wouldn't have been able to describe what he looked like later if Anton had just responded with "No rain today, thankfully." Ironically, responding the way he did in the movie made Anton more realistic, as doing stupid stuff like that is usually how real-life psychopathic criminals get themselves caught.

@@toaster9922psychopaths usually are quite intelligent

A silent savage

Anton's Shotgun in the movie is a Remington 11-87. The Remington 11-87 was not designed until 1987 and the film takes place in 1980.

@@danbourg76 90% of the guns in this film are anachronistic though so it doesn't really matter

​@@danbourg76 damn so he's a time traveler as well as a psychopath!

@@drysoup3017 Time wounds all heels.

True!!

I didn't look at it that way but dang u right

True. At some point in the film the sheriff describes the tool that they use to put down livestock and it's the exact same tool that Anton used to kill the first few people. I think it was chosen on purpose.

Yep

I think he uses it to symbolize how he sees other people and views the world around him. He interprets human life the same way a farmer might interprets its cattle.... life means very little, to the point he will kill someone over a coin toss if he deems it appropriate.

god tier comment

Others have pointed this out as well and it’s something I totally missed so thank you for pointing it out!

To add to this excellent analysis: I think Anton feels that everyone should earn their place in this world. Is the gas station clerk noticing the license plate a symptom of someone with too little to do not minding their own business, or is it someone doing their job and making their customers feel welcome by making smalltalk? Anton doesn't know, but the coin does...

This is honestly the best comment I have read. Bravo

If you like that scene, watch this just for fun. Its Kevin James. I think its pretty good. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ANlMM0HQxC0.html

Because he is a fictional police character, so he is drawn by the imagination of a policeman, in fact Anton is Moss.

Relax buddy it ain’t that deep lol

good catch

I took it as him being a bad shot when everything isn’t in place. Which is why he missed Llewelyn later on

@@AYVYN He shot Llewellyn though?

@@ouroboros5793 he did, it's kind of like what Anton did to shoot the bird. Shot wasn't supposed to kill Llewellyn but to slow him down so he could be easily tracked so Moss could be more predictable

@@zee3184 Yeah, I thought I was misremembering the scene or my assumption was that Harman was talking about when Anton shot the driver instead of Llewelyn, which I took as intentional too

Fuck no

“Playing with their children” and “waiting to be turned on” should not be within a couple words of each other.

Check out Goodnight Mommy. Yikes!!

Letting scary stories affect your real life. Sheep.

@@thereisnosanctuary6184 what? How is this “letting scary stories affect your real life”? It’s a goddamn story. He’s not saying that he has been having nightmares, he’s just saying he’s a scary character. Please shut the fuck up.

this is the number one example of someone trying to come up with their own interpretation of a scene we all know the real meaning of.... plenty of scenes where he leaves plenty of evidence, he never cleans anything up mate.

And exactly that, is why the last scene with Mary Jane is so interesting. She calls him out and rocks his world upside down. She didn't play the coin toss game. She stated the coin is a mere ruse. Yes if you call it right he won't kill you; he's a man of principle. But the fact he kills Mary Jane even when she refuses, reveals Mary Jane is right after all. It's now been proven he doesn't JUST kill when people don't fit his convictions or are destined to die as embodied by the coin toss. For just a moment, Anton is being called a crazy killer (like he is at several moments in the movie, to the confusion of Anton himself) and he doesn't have a counter argument. As such, quite poetic, and maybe as a consequence of being shaken of his rock, he himself almost finds himself to die of mere chance during the crash. The crossing of an intersection if you consider it in terms of life and death, is a gamble every time in real life as well. There is no gaurantee the green light ensures your safety. However, Anton survives the crash. And as such, it will probably reinforce his view of destiny and his role of bringing it. If he was truly to die there; he would have. But no. The world has more in store for him.

@@marinko6450 Great analysis!!!

@@marinko6450 Fantastic! But there is another layer that could be there. We don't actually know what he did to Mary Jane but whatever he did do it was without the coin deciding. Then the car crash. A few moments earlier or a few moments later, the crash would not have happened. The crash was "fate"'s punishment. A shocking blow to remind him that he is merely "fate"'s instrument, he can do nothing without its permission. In that regard, Chirugh is the Greek Nemesis. A supernatural being doling out punishment at the behest of the Fates. Every character comes to a point of choice and those choices lead either away or into Chirugh's path.

@@sctumminello Yea very nice addition indeed. I however would not call his participation in the crash punishment. Because fate knows no right or wrong. Right and wrong is a figment of human ideas about civilized behavior. Even in religion god is called both evil and good. Murderer and sparer of lives. Anton as such, isn't the embodiement of evil or something deserving divine or fate punishment. He is just an actor, but one that is supposedly a bringer of fate - wether he truly is or just believes this is of no real importance. Interestingly thanks to your comment, Anton is being shown he in no way stands above fate or it's wrath. He's a tool. If you however consider him killing Mary Jane as being out of fate's allowed book, then yes, the crash is fate telling Anton he needs to abide by it's rules. But thats rather ambiguos. Though granted, our whole analysis of this character and his motives are.

I remember Anton promising he wouldnt kill her if Moss gave him the money(wouldn't save moss though), and he never gets the money. So he goes to Mary because he's "a man of his word" and when she tells him he "doesn't have to do this" he offers the coin toss. When she refuses he follows through with his previous ambition.

Love the PFP.

Battleram2468 Anton Chigurh is more badass than the terminator. The terminator is artificial. Anton Chigurh becomes automated over an unspecified period of time. The only pleasure he has is keeping people on edge.

@@johnreece5540 he’s just awesome, he genuinely terrifies me.

Interesting analysis. Sounds good.

O

@@SmoothInvestigator and to bring Judge Holden to life (in a movie), even harder. Man, I love blood Meridian. Ben Nichols wrote some amazing songs based on Blood Meridian: Last Pale Light In The West.

@@adrianvalenzuela6139 I just started blood meridian

@@HorkPorkler I hated blood miridian. Too much unnecessary killing of animals lol

I've only read All the Pretty Horses thus far and I liked it a lot.

Blood meridian is his master work imo

That’s a good point, but one thing to point out: Anton does kill his employer in the urban office high rise (In downtown El Paso or Dallas I presume). But even in this case, that floor of the building is isolated and secret, being where these illegal operations are organized- so really, your point about isolation still stands there

Nah, this is an ad hoc rationalization that you're imposing on the story, it's not a dimension of the story of itself. This is not "overlooked" any more than any other aspect of the story that resonates with a particular person in a particular way.

Yeah... that's why in reality big cities have the highest crime rate.

@@artistryartistry7239 I disagree, but short of hunting down and interrogating Cormac McCarthy or the Coens, I'm not sure how we can find out who's right.

So he's strategic and pragmatic as suggested by the video host taking many of the things you say into account so as to minimize anyone identifying him or isolating people at the best moments to take them out.

that's really cool. you must have grown up in those times, then?

@@reubena7854 Actually I was born in ‘81!

"It's" is a contraction, "its" is possessive. English isn't rocket science.

@@slappy8941 you probably ask the teacher about homework

b r o u g h a m

---I love that speech she gives him refusing to participate.

@@judywright4241 One of the best monologs of all time.

@@GeorgeFromThe856 💯💯💯

Llewellyn

But he still gave her a coin toss

Great makeup artistry there, adds so much to his character

The grin is demonic

Defenitely

@@starwarsroo2448 haha it sure is

"I need you to step out of the car, sir."

He definitely does show some level of sadism. Him playing a game and being confrontational with that store clerk seemed pretty intentionally cruel.

He's definitely sadistic. He takes pleasure, for example, in psychologically tormenting Carson Wells before killing him.

He almost came when he killed the first guy in the movie

That's exactly what I thought! And then he proceeded to leave the store nonchalantly after the coin toss knowing there was no reason to worry about the old man since he just scared the living shit out of him.

Bingo!

Yes, and good catch.

IQ thru the roof

@@brunokubin and probably because “fate” told him that the old man won’t talk

Awesome ! I thought about the coin flipping („superior“ power decides) aspect too when watching this .. you put it in a much more thought through way though

So his character is very similar to Johan Liebert 🤔

This right here is the correct analysis. Fills in all the holes in this video and is a much cleaner resolution of Antons actions through the movie. Bravo.

Agree….. the guy who made this video missed the entire mark. 🤦‍♂️

P

Hmmmm....true

Watch Cape Fear

to me he's not that scary he is just weird and sure he could easily kill me but he doesn't have a really intimating personality if anything it's boring

One of the most terrifying villains in TV is Lalo Salamanca from Better Call Saul imo. He's very similar to Anton, and outside of his family clearly sees other humans as cattle and killing seems to come as easy to him as breathing. However unlike Anton, he's extremely charismatic and charming, which makes him all the more terrifying.

@@jaskrip nope the only villain from better call Saul I see is the owner of that one chicken restaurant cause dude knows how to adapt to any environment he is put into

@@ryanthereaper5032 i don't the movie or character you are talking about? pls tell me his name?

Both the Terminator and Two Face combined

He's a softer version of Judge Holden. That's what makes him even more terrifying to me.

When I saw this in theaters I was legit disturbed by him, I have never gotten nightmares from a movie, really ever. His total disregard for human life was so masterfully portrayed.

Anton is flesh and blood and I’m far more terrified of him than a Terminator. What a movie.

I wrote a 35 page paper in Grad school arguing that it is indeed a horror film.

Pretty much. He sees life as purposeless and his only real desire is to eliminate life before his own eyes

very good comment. also, psychopaths that kill out of a "hate" for everyone hate themselves as well. Also why many mass murderers and serial killers commit suicide or engage in risk activities.

@@Josh729J very astute observation

@@Josh729J Yeah. This is how I see it. A person is conditioned to hate themselves (through mental/physical abuse) The person hates themselves, but their abusers more. Since, everything intrinsic to this person has been ruined, and made reason for self-hate, they can never purge their inadequacy / be redeemed. Therefore, the only path left is to clear out the garbage that is worse than them. When there is no more left, suicide is the last job, to rid the last of the now, worst evil.

The car wreck he gets in is right after we assume he kills Carla jean. I saw a comment on another video that said ‘Carla Jean didn’t lose the game, she was killed for refusing to play it.’ In that situation, she refused to let Anton be the harbinger of fate/chance that he sees himself as. But he still had to kill her, and the car blindsiding him was the universe clapping back in a way, and Anton accepts it stoically as he does everything else. That’s how I like to look at it anyway

No. We see him in the aftermath of a car crash with his bone snapped clean in two poking out of his skin and he never even winces.

@@theGhostfaceKiller666 also when he heals himself he doesn’t even make a sound

@@theGhostfaceKiller666 that's a good point, but also consider that his composure during the car crash was during the aftermath of something that was unexpected and over in a moment, whereas strangling the deputy likely meant the cuffs we're cutting into his hands for several minutes, and it was an action that he was willing himself to endure rather than something that unexpectedly happened to him

@@theGhostfaceKiller666 That’s mainly because he is in shock from the crash, with a lot more adrenaline running through his veins.

Thinking of Chigurh's violent expression I think it derives from the physical ordeal of strangling the deputy in such a position. I mean he has to pull his almost straight arms to his pelvis to choke the deputy which is a grown man fighting back. I'd assume that performance takes gymnast level strength and strength endurance. Anton even gasps when he's done.

Someone had a theory that he was a demon or at least a possessed person. That one scene when him and the good sheriff were in the same room , but couldn't see each other.

I've never heard of Death flipping a coin to determine someone's fate. You're thinking of Two-Face.

Same. When I watched this movie I couldn’t take out my eyes off of him because he terrified me.

WOW! probably the most intelligent analysis I've ever seen. Do you sir have your own channel?

@@MrManerd I'm thinking about it, but as of yet I'm afraid not. Thank you though.

Well said.

While I agree with the soundness of your analysis and I believe that you make some excellent points, I think the beauty of this movie/novel is that it has resulted in so many different perspectives and views on the Anton character. I personally believe that Anton's dogmatic "principles" of death are intended to represent the inevitability of one's fate. The clerk's fate had already been decided, as was Clara's. Anton enjoys playing with this illusion of choice, but ultimately he is shifting the blame of their fate onto a game of chance. Clara even points this out in the movie when she refused to call the coin toss. Anton is thus offering these people hope when there is none to be had. There is no chance decision made by the coin, as it rather serves as an obstacle for the victim to overcome in a demonstration of their hopelessness and inevitable consequences. Anton is still the one who will choose whether to pull the trigger, not the coin. It's also not in Anton's character to leave mercy up to chance. Mercy is something that he decides, as demonstrated when he scares the pigeon by intentionally missing the gunshot. Another one of the key factors in suggesting this viewpoint, is his discussion about the journey of the coin. The coin is intended to represent his current victim, and how they too have journeyed to this exact point in time. Their destination has been determined by a specific series of choices/events. Whether they live or die is not up to them, and it is not up to the coin, but rather it is up to the choices and events in their lives leading up to that moment. Anton furthers this by saying that the clerk should treasure the coin; but by also saying that it's just a regular coin like any other, Anton suggests that one's fate is an everyday occurance rather than some magical divination that occurs once in a lifetime. To me, the film creatively demonstrates the absence of luck and chance in our world. It's a different take from yours, but I think various views and interpretations are a good thing!

I always thought "I seen you was from Dallas" was what brought the clerk into danger. Anton realized that the clerk might give off information that could benefit his pursuers, therefor the clerk, just for noiticing the license plate and which way the car was going, was a liability, but Anton couldn´t quite make out how dangerous. On the other hand, Anton seemed kind of fascinated at just how much the clerk didn´t realize how deep he shoveled himself in with that one, single careless remark. I think it is mirrored with the dialogue "Is there anything else?"-"like what?"- "Like anything"- " Is that your question? If there´s anything with anything?" Anton seems genuinely amused that that the clerk is absolutely oblivious of what´s at stake. And he is amused/gets a thrill out of the fact, that he, very unlike any other moment, just doesn´t really know what to do. Can´t decide whether the clerk is harmless or a danger to him, as he is fundamentally an innocent guy. So he gambles, let´s fate decide, and the guy wins. And I tend to think Anton likes that outcome, although he would have shot him without remorse or hesitation, had tails come up.

Anton is annoyed by the clerk's nosiness ("what business is it of yours where I'm from, friendo") disguised as folksy friendliness. He's inclined to punish the clerk and decides to amuse himself by playing a game that makes the clerk fearful, while quite unaware of how close he is to a death that Anton enjoys having the power to inflict.

Lol

@@paavobergmann4920 Very well put. I like the scene where he's clearly annoyed by the office lady at Llewelyn camping car lot and gives her a death sentence look but is then interrupted by someone flushing the toilet off screen. He then moves away while giving her a "you got lucky" look and she probably thinks he's just a weirdo.

No. It's not about his being "chatty." It's about the attendant making a connection between the stolen car and where it was from, and how that's a problematic detail in terms of potential evidence that places Anton at a particular time and place.

Obligatory "Heath Ledger's Joker" reference. But honestly, who do you think could get the job done better? Anton is a complete loner but that is what allows him to be so efficient. Joker has many connections and THAT is what allows HIM to be so efficient.

Ok jordan peterson. But really tho (meant that jokingly), Anton would be the personification of too much order being chaos, rather than pure chaos.

chaos? what chaos do you speak of? FYI - Anton, a human criminal, is occupied by a divine force until the car crash at the end which signifies the divine force has left ( noise)

@@whatsup3270 Yes, that's certainly one interpretation.

I personally think Anton is a character of order. Order based on his principals(which he mentions in the movie) and his twisted perception of reality. To a normal person it looks like maybe hes crazy, but hes acting according to his inner rules. There is another interesting character made by Cohen Brothers, which is Lorne Malvo in Fargo. That guy is the true representation of chaos. He screws people lives just for fun and he clearly states that "there are no rules". Him and Anton kinda complement each other in a way. Both are merciless killers, but one is a reserved, awkward silent sociopath, who kinda acts according to his twisted beliefs, and the other one who got amazing social skills to turn himself into whatever person he wants, but who has no rules and killing people or destroying their lives playing on their weaknesses is a game for him. Malvo is the true representation of Lucifer. Make the world burn and watch it collapsing.

So he says

I just responded to a comment about the rage in that scene. I said more or less, when I try the look on his face on, the wide-open eyes, and the mouth, I feel like I have gone from being powerless, to being the one in power. Very interesting! What an amazing actor.

I guess what struck me was the word choice, and focus on power/powerless;

If the book depicts him a character with regrets in lapse of in judgment when he kills the deputy, wouldn’t that contradict him being labeled a sociopath... By him reflecting on decisions he made that could have derailed the mission, shows he was merely evaluating how not staying focus could have jeopardized everything (being wanted for killing a cop drama is worse than “random” killing).

@@regisnyder yeah, I’m not contending that this contradicts any of the analysis, but this moment of introspection would be useful in the diagnosis.

Those things make one a psychopath?

@@Goyaboyayoga More like traits that work to suspend your disbelief that he fits the profile of a psychopath.

Oddly enough, a survey was give to psychologists to vote on the best representations of a psychopath in film, and Anton Chigurh was voted number one

What do you mean his face?

Interesting. Do you remember the criminals name?

Asnwer the man!!

I'd love a response to this too

Yes, they put names, addresses and photos of the people who were case studies. This way, any freshman doesn't have to study, they can just call up the person (ooh, they include the phone number, I didn't mention that)...

@@arcanondrum6543 what

Exactly. Anton kills everyone who poses a threat to his anonymity. He had no choice but to kill the witness. He never negotiates (unlike Llewelyn who uses all negotiation to keep going). The only witnesses he doesn't kill in the whole movie was at the end, because he was physically incapable to do so. So, he bribed the 3 kids to by time to get away

Bruh he is definitely evil.

@@blazer7731 "died of natural causes.... natural to the line of work they are in." This is from the sheriff when he was talking about the cartel people who got killed. Anton isn't sadistic, he doesn't torture or kill for the sake of killing. He is a moving piece like animals in nature.

@@vaughnordakowski8774 true but he is evil none the less. He thinks he has the right to take lives as he pleases/chooses when in reality, no one does.

@@blazer7731 are soldiers or warriors evil? Obviously those two things deserve more respect than a cartel hit man but this movie strips things down to the bones. From his perspective, he is doing his job as efficiently as possible

@@blazer7731 in his mind fate chooses, so much that he was appalled when the wife refused his coin toss and forced him to make a decision for himself

Very true methodically.

Leath Hedger’s Seriouser

@@ash_11117 "Why... ssso... ssseriousss?"

Moss is Chigurh, the story is told on behalf of a cop and it is his imagination that draws Chigurh so scary and elusive.

he’s basically portrayed as death

You kid (joke) but a bullied kid can and has shot up an entire cinema.

@@stevendalloesingh1214 Has somebody told me many years ago "Words have power. " living where I live is a huge advice

@John Barber Yessir!!

His dad was an evil barber who traumatized his son by cutting his hair like that for his entire childhood.

I pity the fool who makes fun of another man's hair choices. -Mr. T

Hah, I gave The Road to my 76 year old grandmother and she really enjoyed it. I lent her Blood Meridian after that and to my shock she was pretty into it as well. You never know, age doesn’t always really quantify taste in media.

@@BigDaddyZakk420 The film they made after The Road really disappointed me. I feel like there were some major threads they didn't lean into as hard as should have.

Blood Meridian has been attempted to develop into a film a few times. One day, someone will figure a way to get it done. Cormac is a great writer. Undervalued in my humble esteem.

I'd love to see an episode in this series on The Judge. That is one helluva book.

@Pedro Abreu thanks for the suggestion. I totally forgot about that film

i saw that scene in a different light. notice how he almost forced the kid to take the money, even if the kid didn’t want to take it. his ideology, to me, is that nothing in life is free not even information, as seen in the first coin toss scene.

I'm pretty sure he didn't kill them because he was very badly injured

Chigurh is a human organism, like any other human organism. There was a time when he was a kid. There was a time before he had killed. Something in the encounter with these boys, I think, awakened such memories. I've stated elsewhere that it felt like he had absorbed a little of their innocence and generosity, and left them with a seed of his own evil. It's the first real manifestation of humanity we see in him... and probably summoned by his imminent mortality. For he cannot set a compound fracture on his own. Death -- a swift one from shock, or a lingering one from gangrene -- is likely. The other alternatives -- crippling, and subsequent powerlessness, or capture, and the eventual weight of the law -- are also forms of death. I'd call suicide his most likely way out.

He had a bone sticking out of his arm, I don't think he could've killed them even if he tried

@@stairwaytoheaven8 how does that relate to being a Psychopath?. And Anton probably doesn't care about kids or animals. An earlier scene he tried to shoot a bird for no reason. The only reason he didn't kill those boys at the end is because of his injuries

I would also add Alonzo Harris and Gus Fring.

@@thechild7355 all Denzel Washington characters are in a league of their own, and I haven't finished watching Breaking Bad

Hans Landa ( nglorious Basterds). Count Orlok (Nosferatu, the 1924 version). Uncle Pete (Lost Highway). Lucifer (Constantine). Tbh, the only movie villain to make it into my dreams was Uncle Pete. That guy gives me the creeps.

Good list, I’d add frank booth

What about Nightcrawler?

I noticed that almost got him killed by that guy in the bathroom just his timing was off

Methodical "Yes"

This is absolutely fitting.

@@M1ManOwaR I don't know about that... John Wick wouldn't just kill someone walking down the street for the sake of doing it. Wick has a specific goal, and he doesn't deviate from that. Wick doesn't stop to smell the roses and then kill the bush.

@@kleetus92 That is why he said bizzaro Wick. Like the weird version of him,similar yet different.

@@matijalukovic727 most definitely

@@kleetus92 you just unintentionally solidified OPs point. Your description could fit both wick and Anton. The video specifically talks about how Anton kills pragmatically and not randomly. He enjoys killing and ‘playing with his food’ but he doesn’t do it for sport. It’s always a means to an end

The old man stuck his nose into Anton’s business when he commented on his license plates. To Anton, that’s poor etiquette and rude. In addition, once he questions the old man and he begins to ramble Anton sees this as an individual who has no self purpose and to Anton that is failure in embracing life.

So Anton was able to do with a coin what it took John Kramer a whole warehouse of equipment to attempt. ;)

The thing about Anton is he ALMOST represents some sort of embodiment of Satan. He sticks to his word, he's sadistic and his violence is unjustifiable. In the book, Sheriff Bell says that he thinks Satan has to exist out there because it's the only thing that can explain the pure evil he sees. However, he isn't. He's just as susceptible to fate as his victims, as seen when he gets in the car crash. At the end of the novel, someone asks Sheriff Bell if Anton is "a ghost." But he tells him that he's just a man, and that makes him even worse.

reminds me of the cartel twins in breaking bad, an almost supernatural force

That look on his face with a classic psychopathic hate smile

...i disagree..that was the last thing on his mind as he choked the guy...a guy like Chigurh wouldn't even notice the pain the cuffs would inflict on him as he was focused only at the task at hand , and doing what he had to do to escape

then he doesnt grimace in pain stitcing his own leg

I'm pretty sure this guy doesn't know pleasure from pain, just the end result is all that matters to him.

It is pure determination to do what he needs to do. His face shows that he is putting every fibre of his being into strangling this man, similar to how martial artists let out a cry (kiai) when attacking. Afterwards, he is seen calmly washing his hands with extremely painful looking gashes on his wrists - he does not flinch then.

I laughed so hard

family guy?

Great name man. Keep on dunking it

Laugh n me guts out .. what a fantastic name Duncan Mac.

Is that from the book ? I can't find those words in the movie.

Indeed

Everyone should watch Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer in the Exorcist pt.3, he is one of my all time favorite actors. Always playing bad guys and doing so excellently.

@@43captrexkramer it’s crazy because he’s also the voice of Chucky. Dude’s just a talented actor.

Very well said. If you have read the other books by Cormac McCarthy you know how well he can "Show" some pretty extreme violence without any of the "Hollywood" excess, which makes it closer to reality.

Thank you @@shambles6795 , now I know with which books i can have a fireside read

Not much interesting about him. He’s a deadpan, emotionless, unstoppable contract killer. It’s the most cliche & overused character in Hollywood.

Andrew Kennedy-Reagan But he feels strangely like a real person, due mainly to his idiosyncrasies. That makes all the difference in a story like this. Much more unsettling a figure.

@@andrewkennedy-reagan3289 your sister is the most overused character in Hollywood.

He allowed her to live because there was someone in the bathroom. The book and the movie both highlight Chigurh's reaction to the flushing of the toilet. Fate had simply placed the Desert Aire manager beyond his reach. He isn't a man with much regard for other peoples' convictions or principles and openly derides them when he asks Wells the use of the rule that had brought him to their final confrontation. In the book, he also acknowledges to Wells the slaying of the deputy as something unnecessary, vain, and foolish, the result of a circumstance he instigated by his own will instead of a necessity thrust upon him by the mandate of fate. This is the only time he takes responsibility for a murder because it is the only time he accepts that he made a choice. From the book, when he meets and kills Carla Jean: _"You're asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only one way to live. It doesn't allow for special cases. A coin toss perhaps. In this case to small purpose. Most people dont believe that there can be such a person. You can see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of. Do you understand? When I came into your life your life was over. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the end. You can say that things could have turned out differently. That they could have been some other way. But what does that mean? They are not some other way. They are this way. You're asking that I second say the world."_

@@JNDeaux a beautiful read! What a well wrote out comment! Bravo!

the movie isn't the book though they left those questions intentionally for the fun of it

@@JNDeaux k

I always interpreted that scene as her being the one person who geniunely wasn't afraid of him and stood her ground, and he respected that. I've never read the book, but movies never follow books exactly. This is for good a good reason. They're different mediums for story telling and don't always translate very well. That and creative changes.