For me it was two scenes at the beginning that I never totally recovered from...one is at the police station (my first thought was that it might be a dream sequence seeing how unrealistic and stupid it was), the other is Josh Brolin's completely brain dead decision to go back to the crime scene.

Those 2 things almost ruined the film for me.

The good news is that you are wrong and it IS the best film the Coen Bros. have made.

What was unrealistic about it if I may ask?


He returns to the massacre because he feels remorse and can't sleep knowing that he just abandoned a dying man, after all he is a Vietnam vet.

I say it's a tie with Fargo. Just because I have such fond memories of that one. No Country for Old Men is probably better though.

The sound you hear is the movie zooming over Ash and Jay's heads?

NCFOM is their best picture. I was locked onto the screen for the whole time. The scenes mentioned above really worked even as jarring as they were. The sheriffs office scene was so unexpected, you felt what the cops felt, stunned and disoriented. The casual offing of Josh just had me stunned again, it took a few minutes to sink in. As far as his going back, no good deed goes unpunished.

Steps to take if you want a prisoner to kill you and escape:

1 - Handcuff the prisoner with his arms in front of him instead of behind
2 - Do not lock him in a cell, just leave him on a bench where he can be free to move around, especially if you are the only one in the station.
3 - Go talk on the phone, but make sure that you are turned away from him so that he can sneak up behind you without being seen.

Just so unrealistic and poorly staged.

If he would have done this right away after stealing the money, I could accept it, but he waited hours which not only made it so much riskier that other people would be there, but the guy's chances of being alive were nil. Just an absolutely idiotic decision that just doesn't ring true.

I just prefer scenes that do not insult my intelligence. I am a big Coen brothers fan, which is why those 2 scenes were so disappointing to me.

FYI: You need to research what flying over someone's head means.

The only reason I could see behind him not putting Anton in a cell this is that the film takes place in the 80's and the town is probably a peaceful town not known for violent crime. Not all police departments handle prisoners the same way (watch the tv show Cops). He is handcuffed behind his back and swipes the cuffs under his legs. The cop most likely does not think he is dangerous because he finds an "oxygen tank" (we know what he uses it for) and thinks that he is a sick man.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xLiA6SVri6w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

El Dorado - Towards the end, as they're sneaking into the villain headquarters, out of nowhere James Caan puts a flower pot on his head and pretends to be a Chinaman, an impersonation that would make Mickey Rooney envious.

Oh, c'mon, give me some credit: at last I was right for 90 minutes of it.

(Oh, and the Coen Bros.' best film is...TRUE GRIT! )

Agree 100%. Been saying that since it's theatrical release and my friends look at me like I have shit for brains. That may be true but the decision to do what the Coens did made me HATE NCFOM.

True Grit was a fantastic movie. I see nothing wrong in someone liking it best.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with it but with a filmography that includes NCFOM, Barton Fink, Fargo......Well you know what I mean.

I'm a sucker for westerns so for me it's a tie between True Grit and No Country For Old Men.

I need to revisit Fargo. For some reason I absolutely hated that movie. I wonder if I'd feel different about it now.

What you are really arguing is that you wished the ending had been more conventional. You need to understand that the people who like the film like it because it is unconventional. The ending of No Country is precisly the kind of ending that the boneheads who make conventional homogonized movie product would never allow. It's so outside our expectation of how a lead character's death is usually handled that it grabs your attention far more than if he were just shown being gunned down.

Is that pic from Chopper? Man, I'd forgotten that Eric Bana was fat once upon a time.

And it was true to the book which (I didn't know until recently) was originally a rejected screenplay.

Yes it is.

The real Chopper :

Not to derail this thread more than it already is but I've seen Fargo several times and while I don't think it's a bad movie I also don't see what's so great about it either. Any other movie that creates a plot line like Francis Mcdormand meeting her high school friend and then having it go nowhere at all would be considered bad filmmaking but for some reason because its Fargo it gets away with it.

For me it's a tie between No Country for Old Men, True Grit, and Miller's Crossing for the Coen Bros' best film.


So just to keep this thread on track, what's the deal with creating that plot line with Francis McDormand's roommate in Fargo?

http://meetinthelobby.com/debate-no-...en-ending.html

Like The Mist, No Country for Old Men is adapted from a book, but there’s a big difference.
The Coens have remained remarkably true to Cormac McCarthy’s novel, right down to the actual dialogue.
And since No Country has a more non-traditional ending for film, some people are turned off.
I wholeheartedly disagree with them.

No Country for Old Men is a wild tale of stalker vs. prey, with a lone psychopath (the shocking Javier Bardem) at its center.
But instead of providing an expected resolution, the film transforms into one man (played by Tommy Lee Jones)
understanding himself and his world. To me, it’s a poetic choice, with a look at a man’s inner fears and uncertainties.
Other moviegoers would rather sacrifice the poetry for a little more closure.

That scene was quite important to the plot. Once she finds out Mike lied to her and he never had a wife, it shatters her naive trust. Without this scene she never would have gone back to interview William H Macy a 2nd time to really put the pressure on him.

Hmm, interesting.