Go to drinkag1.com/heavyspoilers to get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 and 5 AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring today's video! NOTE FROM PAUL - Apologies for the delay on this. Unfortunately the first version we released for members was blocked and taken down by Paramount. Due to the amount of footage used in the video they felt that it was too much and we had to re-edit the video from the ground up. This was mainly converting clips to images hence why the video is more slide-showy than our other videos. Hopefully you guys still enjoy it and though it delayed the release I do appreciate that Paramount were at least willing to work with us so we didn't lose any of the main commentary on the film. Going forward we're trying to work out whether to have me appear on camera on these longer videos so it's more us than their footage. The other option is to do what we did here with images. Let us know what one you'd prefer. Thanks, Paul
The video was still great with what you guys did with the stills you used I think. Just my 2 cents but it's what you asked for. Keep up the great work pls n thx! Much appreciated
@@sub-jec-tiv yeah yeah yeah!! I forgot about that line between Tommy Lee and his deputy!! I actually rewound that part once or twice………..to me that was yet another example of that good old southern/Texas wit.
Carla Jean basically fucked Chigur up worse than anything in his whole life up to that point. You can see it on his face before the car wreck even happens. He tells himself he's a tool of fate to justify what he does, but Carla Jean makes him realize he really is "crazy" like everyone says. He just enjoys killing and always wants the coin to fall that way. But he's probably had doubts before, and Carla Jean refusing to call the coin is his breaking point. He still kills her because he "promised" Lleweyn, and because she saw him, but she wounds him worse than anyone else. I think it just reinforces the theme of "no country for old men," because even someone like Chigur can't keep that up forever. Someone will get them, or they'll get themselves sooner rather than later. Also I never really thought about the bird, yeah it's just another coin flip. If he "wanted" it dead he would have stopped the car, but to him the drive-by shot made it fate. He probably does some kind of mental coin flip every time he encounters another living thing, because he thinks he's the hand of death. Seriously the best villain of all time... both Cormac McCarthy's, and Javier Bardem's.
This is supported by Chigurh's look of frustration, disappointment and consternation when the gas station owner makes the correct call on the toss. Chigurh CLEARLY wanted to take him out and was visibly upset that he had to put that particular fish back into the river.
I love how Chigurh let's the "fate" of a coin toss determine his actions. Yet, the one time he breaks that fateful toss, it costs him dearly. Beautiful.
@@haerverkbecause he’s not supposed to be good someone good wouldn’t be in a position to be chased by Anton that’s the simplicity he operates on judgment has been passed he is simply a tool
@themoviedealers And there is a lesson in that scene. Carla Jean makes a decision: She refuses to play at all. This is her sin. She refuses to move, so the world moves her. Remember the conversation between the sheriff and the old man, near the end of the film. The old man tells the sheriff ' the world's not waiting on you. That's vanity'. That's Carla Jean.
I never hear people mention this but when Bell is about to enter the motel room near the end, he pulls out his revolver. He had mentioned earlier in the movie that he’s never pulled out his gun in his entire time as sheriff. I believe this had more to do with his decision to retire as well.
Kelly Macdonald has also been such a great actress for almost thirty years now. She's come a long way since Trainspotting in 96. The entire cast here, like all Coen brothers movies is perfect from supporting to leads.
A lot of those characters are local, I'm betting. Just like "Winter's Bone" used local from the Ozark where it was filmed in Southern MO fairly near to the AR state line.
When she says "you don't have to do this" And he replies "they always say the same thing" She says "what's that?" And he replies "you don't have to do this" I chose to interpret his answer as he doesn't understand why people try and beg for their lives or reason with him, like the concept is so foreign to him he can't comprehend it. Whereas some might just see it as him mocking her
she actually says "what do people always say?" carla jean is not the brightest bulb he's not a dealer of fate he's a hitman, he's BEEN paid or will be paid. hitmen have codes; as we see with ole boy C. that's why he's not interested in the case he also knows there's no millions of USD in it. after the first stack or two it becomes $1s.
i thought he said that to make sure they (including the woman who was checking him in at the hotel as they had a similar conversation) would understand him. that way nothing is misinterpreted and it provides a more sinister and inevitable tone
A masterpiece with amazing performances by Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, and Kelly Macdonald. Carla Jean returns from her mother's funeral to find Chigurh waiting in her bedroom; refusing his offer of a coin toss for her life, stating that Chigurh cannot pass blame to luck: the choice is his. She's right, and not just about that, about everything. She's the only one who fearlessly stares down Chigurh and won't legitimize him. Chigurh: "Call it." Carla: "I knowed you was crazy when I saw you sitting there. I knowed exactly what was in store for me." Chigurh: "Call it." Carla: "No. I ain’t gonna call it." Chigurh: "Call it." Carla: " The coin don’t have no say. It’s just you." Devastating. Brilliant. Carla is a small unarmed woman who seems simple yet she's more clear eyed, and braver, than all of the men.
Re Carla, yeah I saw that. She was the only one to see him and challenge him, but essentially it resulted in Chigurgh ending the story as unstoppable and showing his true psychopathy. If he had have let her go, the story would feel a bit "hollywood" but instead it left a truly bitter taste at the end, Chigurgh was death walking and that shouldn't change. It's such a superb film in that the protaganist gets no send off, the "narrator" - or the audience perspective, he gives up and the antagonist walks away scott free.
What’s also impressive is that Carla Jean is not a Southern woman, but I think British (the actress). Blew my mind when I heard her talk in an interview.
@@BluesBoyJonnyI think she is a Scottish actress I think she might have even done the girl's voice in Brave but I have definitely seen her in several Scottish movies
In the gas station scene I love the loops of wire behind the clerk, set up to look like hang-man nooses.. really sets up the idea that his life/death may finally have caught up with him.
Not wire but fan belts. Pretty common in roadside stations in the middle of high desert nowhere in the 80's. Lends even more authenticity to the film though.
21:53 Red painted quarters were common up to and including the 80's. They were used by merchants to 'get the ball rolling' on jukeboxes or as a low coin warning in change machines, vendors used them when testing out products so they could easily identify and get their money back, (video games, laundry, billiard tables, etc) among other uses. It wasn't blood.
You are exactly right! I wonder if the Brothers or Javier used the painted coin because it's as rare as some of the other coins he was carrying? The character may have even had a story about that coin like shop keeper scene, but it definitely wasn't blood.
Things like this are why I sometimes hate these far out theories people come up with. I used to watch a channel called Collative Learning (I think) where the guy sees deeper meaning in every film, and comes up with these far out reasons to justify his theories based on incorrect assumptions (like the red quarter you mentioned). I can’t remember exactly which instance caused me to stop watching, but he basically made a flawed leap of logic based on a factually wrong conclusion he jumped to.
@@RichardGutierrezRG This novel/movie was set in 1980. It wasn't "illegal" or rare to have a red quarter, but some merchants might question where you got it.
This film’s quiet depth is a master stroke on the part of the Cohen brothers. I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling and craftsmanship of it. The story is depressing but provocative and that weight is carried almost entirely by Bardem’s performance. Thank you for another phenomenal breakdown, Paul!
My wife and I literally rewatched this LAST NIGHT, and I was so drawn to the film when I first saw it in 2007. And today I was thinking to myself "damn, it would be amazing if Heavy Spoilers broke this movie down," and here we are 😍
Might be off on this one but at the ending you notice Chigurh is staring at the kids which represents “youth” and right after that he is hit from the side. I kept thinking of the title of the movie “No country for old men”. This represented Chigurh downfall and his fate and his symbolism for him now being an old man. The way he walks away reminds me of an old man. The world finally caught up to him. Like the uncle said “you can’t stop what’s coming, it ain’t all waiting on you”.
Hell yeah! Been waiting for this 1! Great friggin breakdowns on thos channel so much so that it has taken over as THE NO.1 BREAKDOWN channel!!! For me personally I mean. I used to watch "New Rockstars" for the past 2-3 years and enjoyed their breakdowns and it is still a good watch but "Heavy Spoilers" has taken over the no.1 spot for me. Keep em coming!
Such a good movie, I wish these were made more often but it makes you really appreciate how incredible movies can be when something like this comes out.
I didn't watch this movie until last year and it is my favorite movie in a long time, I actually watched it 3 times since and that's rare for me these days, great breakdown on what is certainly a future classic!
I don’t have new theories, sorry, but calling out Wendigoon & Anti-Logic!! Thank you! You 3 are some of my favorites and I’m grateful to hear you respect each other
Great timing, this movie was just released on RU-vid premium! I haven't thought about it for years, now I get to rewatch it AND see a breakdown video in the same week.. awesome.
Law enforcement personnel do not PREVENT crime; they merely REACT to it. This is shown in the film at every turn. Bell simply follows the bodies and bears witness to the destruction; he knows that he can't prevent it or stop it. He is powerless.
@@mrbrex95 I would argue that those in law enforcement exist in order to protect Our Inalienable Rights -- the Right to Live, the Right to be at Liberty, and the Right to Own Property. Private property SHOULD be protected by law enforcement. Likewise, anyone with a vested interest in the property should protect it -- such as the consumers and the investors. Property needs to be protected for the same reason that life and liberty need to be protected: There are a lot of people out there that want to steal, kill, destroy, or enslave.
@@jeffcarlin5866 You say capitalism should be protected while Elon Musk is one of the richest man in the world and your government spends trillions of dollars in pointless wars in the middle east killing mostly kids, while thousands of people are homeless in the USA (mostly are Veterans with no aid). You're brainwashed.
@@mrbrex95 It's cute you think what we have today is "capitalism". I'm pretty certain if we weren't all tax slaves, the government wouldn't bother to "protect" us at all. Think of a farmer using dogs to guard his sheep. The police are the dogs, we're the sheep, taxes are the wool.
Bardem was so good in this, that his performance is a big big reason why I will never pass this up whenever I see it playing somewhere. His Anton Chigurh has always reminded me of Arnold's original Terminator performance in 1984.
Clicked like without even seeing the video. It's a breakdown of a movie I didn't think I'd see. Really delighted paul is doing a breakdown of these classic films
@@heavyspoilers you've already covered most of my favorites. I hope movies like Gone Girl or Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind make it onto the channel someday
The ending monologue gave me chills and nearly had me well up in tears, hitting me on a subconscious level. I needed to unpack what he'd said again later to fully grasp the oblique implications of the dream. And how it applied to my life as well.
Good on ya for this! I don’t see many in depth breakdowns for No Country, probably due to it already being a 17(geez)year old movie. But I saw this and “There will be Blood” in the same year, and they quickly became 2 of my favorite films. I’d love to see you do a There Will Be Blood Breakdown video at some point..
I’ve watched this movie multiple times and seem to catch something new every time, even before I watched a few of these breakdown videos. Such a good movie and cerebral adaptation of the book.
super fun analysis . this movie is a masterpiece . some of my go to movies to watch is no country - good shepherd ….. I have watched no country probably 10 times
Been waiting for this since you mentioned it in another video! Your channel has me feeling like I’m working out but I’m not getting the Definition that I should!
Lots of different theories on Bell in the hotel room at the end. I see it as him doing what he did in the war. He saved himself. He doesn’t want to know what’s behind the door. No Cop ever fails to look behind a door. Even his buddy was giving him permission to back off and survive.
I agree. The way he stared at it for so long, he *HAD* to know. Plus there’s no way Chigurh is escaping that many officers. The only catch; is Bell would die. And so he did as always does.
I've got to say. The tracker was in $1 bills because they had to cut into them. Not because it might get thrown out. Love your videos. Thanks for this one. By far my favorite movie of the 2000's.
This movie deserved more awards, than it actually got. It's deep, and it's thrilling. I like the morality of the character, with flip the coin. If the coin is called correctly, they get to live. And if they don't they die regardless. I really do like this movie.
Llewelyn was dead either way. If you look closely in the background when he's talking to the girl, you can see the drug dealers truck pulling into the parking at full speed. They probably shot the woman by accident, Llewelyn ran back to his room where he had his final showdown and took one with him.
Thanks for the great vid! Everyone at Heavy Spoilers is part of an amazing team. Appreciate the work you do to bring us such interesting, high quality, well researched videos. Much love!
I wouldn't go that far, it's a fantastic script and there are several very talented actors that could make it happen. His performance is brilliant but the actors are only as good as what material they have to work with
To me, the movie takes place in North West Texas, Texas Panhandle, and southwest texas. Comanche County is in Texas and Oklahoma. So, Oklahoma could be included.
This is a great breakdown of a great film... The Coen brothers' best in my opinion. If you have not read the book (or even if you have) I urge you to watch the film then immediately read the book and you can get an idea of how brilliantly they made this movie by staying faithful to what McCarthy wrote. The characters, acting, dialogue, setting and sepia tone-- it all fits seamlessly.
I saw this movie when i was younger, probably way too young to watch the movie, think around 14. On top of that being a non native English speaker, I didn't understand some things in the movie but intrigued me so much. Made me fall in love with movies
Or perhaps the cat survived because cats tend to hide when strangers come around. Likely the cat ran to a hiding spot when its owner was shot, and Anton didn't bother looking for it. Cats are well known for not snitching.
I've always thought the Anton Chigur character is very much like The Tall Man character from Phantasm. Both characters kinda embody the unstoppable nature of death, both characters utilize an unusual chrome weapon, both characters have a mysterious background & both have a weird bowl shaped haircut
Love your point on life. The world has always been cruel. It seems to be pre ordained to believe we lived through our innocent days in an equally innocent world. Beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder.
Could not agree more, excellent call reviewing this one. So many movies try to scare you today with jump scares or ridiculous gore, and here there is just a relentless disturbing feeling of horror because of Bardem's phenomenal performance. Like you said, this one stays with you. I also think you're right about Bell coming back to the hotel and choosing the wrong (which is actually the right) door. It works with the narrative of the movie.
Interesting ideas - thanks - I enjoyed that. I find (most) movies by the Coen Brothers and PT Anderson have great rewatch value because like all great magicians, they don't give away their tricks. You know there's something more behind it but can't quite figure it out.
Chigurh isn’t chaos. He is order. The only characters who act with perfect moral consistency throughout the story are Chigurh and the sheriff, though the sheriff feels turmoil about this. Some characters who live survive based on luck, but every character who dies does something to violate their own professed moral code, at least in the book.
Hiya Paul, love your vids and long-time subscriber. I think that Red Quarter is a jukebox coin. Oh, and also, what happened to Jared? Haven't seen him in a while. 👀🤔
I am glad I found your channel. I'm getting a lot more milage out of my favorite movies. Thank you very much. You mention at time 43:18 that if you went back to the time of the Romans, you would find somebody saying, "Things aren't like they used to be." Well, there is an English drama from the 1970s called "I, Claudius", and in the beginning part of the first episode, a character says just that. It is right after the lurid dance scene right at the beginning, so be patient. I know it's not actually the Roman times, but it's still ironic to your point, and I think if you watched that part, you would feel there is a good twist that you can appreciate.
I never got the feeling that Sugar wanted to kill the bird. I always felt that he was simply toying with it. He's a hired gun, so If he really wanted to kill the bird, he would stop his car and aim to insure his kill. By aiming at the bird while his car is in motion, he's basically giving the bird a chance at life. Just like the coin flip. He likes toying with his victims.
The strangest thing to me about the film is that it supposedly takes place in 1980 but every single gun featured in the movie was made well after 1980, some of which were 10 years after...
Javier Bardem was absolutely brilliant in this film. He gave me chills with his portrayal of Antoine Chigur. He was such an intimidating character without actually trying.
Two actors, Javier Bardem and Christoph Waltz, made such an impact in their breakout role that they redefined what a villain can be. I was sold the first time I saw this film.
Great breakdown! Thanks! I tried so hard to like this movie when it first came out. I watched it multiple times but I felt like I missed a moment or detail that made it all make sense. Maybe I need to give it another chance. 🤔
Personal favorite Coen Brothers movie with Fargo a close second. Usually they're known for their dark comedy undertones but this movie had NONE of that. I never realized upon my first watch that it didn't have any background OST. If anything, it solidifies the somberness. Truly an amazing movie. Everyone was fantastic but Javier definitely elevated the performance. This and Skyfall are just awe-inspiring
