No Country for Old Men (2007)

On February 2, 1952 Richie Valens and Tommy Allsup fliped a coin to decide which one of them will get the last seat on Buddy Holly’s private plane. Valens won the seat, but lost his life. The plane crashed that night killing all that were on board. The brief encounter with chance saved the life of Mr. Allsup and doomed that of Mr. Valens. Everyday you make small, inconsequential decisions that may have long lasting, dramatic effect on your life. For example, if you are on your way out the door, and the phone rings, the thirty seconds it took you to answer the phone, makes you thirty seconds later to your destination then you would have previously been.  This causes you to miss a car accident you would have ordinarily have been in or causing you to be a car accident, you would have ordinarily missed.

Let’s remove the random nature of things from the equation. Let’s say now you find a wallet with $500.00 inside. What is your reaction? Do you return the wallet, or do you keep the money and throw the wallet away? You may suffer no consequences at all from keeping the money except for your own self conscious, knowing what you did was wrong.

Let’s raise the steaks even more. What if you found two million dollars, of what you are almost sure to be drug money. With no one around to catch you, what do you do? This is the central decision Llewelyn Moss (Josh Browlin) has to make in the Coen brother’s Oscar award winning movie, “No Country for Old Men.”

Moss finds that case of money among several dead Mexicans in the middle of the deserts of Texas around the summer of 1980. He takes the money while leaving the one surviving man in his truck pleading for “agua”. At home later that night, he makes a pivotal choice to return and help the man.  When arrives he sees the man has been shot and killed. More Mexican drug dealers are there looking for the money and the dugs. They shoot and chase after Moss but he eventually escapes.

Meanwhile, Anton Chigurh one of most intimidating bad guys I’ve ever seen on screen begins tracking Moss with a radio transmitter hidden in the money he took. Chigurh is a fugitive wanted by the police, he kills a sheriff deputy at the onset of the movie and escapes custody.

So we have sheriff Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) chasing after Chigurh. Chigurh & Mexican gangsters chasing after Moss. And Bell chasing after Moss, to try and warn him about Chigurh. A complicated race only the Coen brothers could have pulled off. At each turn, each character makes a vital decision that effects almost everyone in the film. This is a dark movie that will sit with you for a long time when it’s finished. There is no weakness in acting, writing or directing department. The cinematography and lighting is beautiful. Four out of four stars.

Heads or tails… call it….

Drew and Mike - 06/16/06

An hour of Drew and Mike from June 16, 2006. The guys talk about the Detroit Tigers amazing season as well as Sean Casey.