During this scene in the book, Chigurh had Carson in the room at gunpoint like in the movie. He made a comment about how much Carson wished he could be him, and when Carson asked him why on earth he would want to be such an awful person, Chigurh replied "You are here and I am here. In a few minutes I will still be here." One of the most frightening lines I've ever come across.
the book is a really good read and adds meat to the bones of this film, some dialogue that is truly remarkable, there s also a hitch hiker who Moss picks up (not the lady by the pool) and sherriff bell goes and interviews the two boys who find the gun, also worth getting is the audible book, i`ve listened to it twice and its 7 hours long..!!!!
James Saunder Well the psychopath had a valid point. He was after him and the other guy was fleeing. It would only be a matter of time before the hitman caught up with him and finished it.
Stephen Kaiser-Pendergrast Well said. I don't think anyone could have gotten out of that hotel room situation whether they tried to physically take him on or talk his way out of it. Anton was an unstoppable freght train in this movie and I can't believe I haven't watched this in years.
The whole damn movie, and McCarthy's subsequent screenplay, The Counselor, rely heavily on that theme. The reality of your world is the only reality and denying your situation is futile. Admit it and accept it, because there is no alternative. Choice, consequence, and repercussion. Fucking great and terrifying.
I think Anton was saying: "Carson, you know better than to offer me money from an ATM. You know I don't care about that. And you know what's going to happen now. You're making a fool of yourself. Is this how you want to spend your last moments?"
He tended to repeat what other people said in his limited interaction/dealings e.g. the guy in the scene with the coin toss who says 'I didn't mean nothing by it' Anton 'Didn't mean nothing', then says 'I need to see about closing' Anton 'See about closing'.
it is loud. maybe Quentin went a bit overboard on that. a silenced shotgun will still be a bit loud because of the physics involved. A professional would know that the sound of the telephone would cover some of the noise.
The thing I love about this scene is that Carson isn’t some cliche “hard badass” who spits in Anton’s face to spite him to the last. He’s real. Many of us talk a big game, but the truth is in the last moments, most of us would beg and plead just like Carson did.
@RuKind you say that now, but if someone walked up to your house, kicked open your door and put a gun to your head, you wouldn't be cool about it - you'd shit your pants like the rest of us
Woody Harrelson acted his ass off in this scene. They way he sweating and holding back the tears. Trying to hide how utterly terrified he was. Javier is an amazing actor too but Woody really brought the fear and tension in this scene.
He was amazing, trying to be cool, calm and collected like he was in his previous scenes but his eyes are the major giveaway, there is genuine terror there, perfect acting.
666 likes. Fitting considering Chigurh could be seen as a personification of evil itself, he may be a metaphor for the randomness and the inevitability of evil in this world. Evil can never be stopped, it doesn't care who you are or whether you karmically deserve to have your life destroyed, or taken from you, it is completely indiscriminate. Encountering evil is purely based on chance, "do you know what date is on this coin? 1958. It's been traveling 22 years to get here, and now it's here". The coins both physically, and metaphorically, travel with Anton, remember what his last words to Carla Jean were? "I got here the same way the coin did". Both the coin and Anton's arrival is solely due to his mission of recovering the stolen money and kill the guy who stole it, anyone who encounters Anton? (aside from Anton's targets such as Carson, Llewellyn, the Mexicans, and the boss in the office building who set up the deal) does so because of random chance. The police officer he strangled, the store clerk, the farmer with the chickens, the man who Anton killed for his vehicle, the hotel clerk, the accountant, all encountered Anton by coincidence. Carla Jean encountered Anton because of the domino effect, being set in motion via random chance. Llewellyn Moss found the money, Anton caught up to Lewellyn and Lewellyn refused to take his deal, and he ended up getting killed in a shootout with the Mexicans, by random chance. Even though the events leading up to Anton sitting in a chair across from her in her own house were random? He tracked down Carla Jean because of his warped, but strangely genuine, principles. Anton pomised Lewellyn he would kill her if he failed to recover the money and bring it to him, but Moss is dead, so there was no way he could have even if he changed his mind. But even then? He still offers her the coin toss, she refused to play his game and this act of defiance likely, probably, cost Carla Jean her life. Evil is random, chaotic, indiscriminate, and so is Anton, but the car crash proves that he is not infallible after all and combined with encountering someone who refused to beg for their life and play his game like so many others have? likely shook him him his core, and causes him to experience a crisis in personal philosophy and principles. But no matter what happens to Anton? There will always be another evil that comes in his absence. The cartel and narcos will always continue to exist, drug deals will still go bad, and sometimes their money will get stolen, and sometimes scary ass psychopathic hitmen are sent to solve the problem. But in the words of Carson Wells? "Yeah he's a psychopathic killer, but so what? There are plenty of them around", evil will always take another form, whether thats a personification of evil, or a new type of evil, or both.
Fun fact: Woody Harrelson was so determined to get an Oscar that he insisted Javier Bardem use live rounds in his shotgun. They had stop filming and remove the pellets afterwards and he was ok.
"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was rule?" Great line, and probably the scariest shit you can say to someone before blowing them away.
That irony of that quote is that it applies to his car crash at the end of the movie, too. Despite him following the rules of the road he still ended up being hit.
Yeah, I always felt that Carson sealed his fate with that--- attempting to bribe Anton was an insult. I'm sure he felt it was beneath him and Carson showed his lack of 'dignity' in mentioning the ATM. "An ATM" indeed.
"You bring me the money and I'll let'er go. Thats the best deal you're going to get... I wont tell you you can save your self... because you can't." Epicness
I saw this in a packed cinema in London. At 00:10 this huge wave of gasps and audible shock ripples through the whole crowd. It was like jump scare in a horror film. But with no music or loud bang it was just the audience that you could hear. It was incredible.
I remember in the theater it felt like years went by as Antoine had that shotgun pointed at him. I almost couldn't take it. And ....when that phone rang....I jump scared so bad hahhahaha. That movie was dreadfully intense hahahh
How many me. diocre movies have we all seen have over the top music as a crutch? This movie sets a new standard. A challenge to future directors. Make a movie good enough to stand on its own.
The moment he was behind him on the stairs he should have fallen onto him, both would have tumbled down the stairs - would have been a better chance at survival than going to the room
When he puts his feet up on the bed to avoid the pool of blood, without breaking his conversation, that got me. He is so coolly evil and calculated. So unnerving as a character, and it is great.
Even better: This establishes a character trait (he doesn't like his boots getting dirty from his kills). You see this also when he attacks the motel room with the 3 mexicans, he takes off his boots before going over so they won't get dirty. When he kills the wife, you don't see it onscreen, you just see him come out of the house and then lift up the sole of each boot to check, implying he killed her and wants to make sure the blood hadn't gotten on them. But here's the really cool thing: in this scene, right as he's lifting his boots off the ground is the part where he mentions the wife in his conversation, tying the two together with a very subtle but very clever bit of foreshadowing.
@@OccipitantX Him checking his boots also takes a few valuable seconds. And those seconds turn out to be the difference between avoiding the crash, only getting hit lightly, or getting t-boned so bad he has a bone sticking out of his arm at the end, proving even Chigurh cannot avoid fate.
The way Anton says "Alright" in response to Carson saying "you go to hell" always gets to me. It's as if his words were so weak it just fell completely flat to Anton's ears.
True. The only way to beat a psychopath is to not play at all. Carson could have indeed saved hi dignity and robbed Chigur of any pleasure in his death by admitting defeat and not letting him throw verbal jabs. He could have end attacked him to not give Anton any satisfaction at all. But he was scared and folded.
As unforgettable as Javier Bardem was in this film I have to say Woody Harrelson was absolutely incredible in this scene, he played “scared, but trying really really hard not to show it” probably the best I’ve ever seen, perfect acting.
@@QueekHeadtaker his character is contrived as he’s someone who thinks too much of himself and doesn’t fully appreciate just how in over his head he actually is until it’s too late, his acting is great
Pickle Neck has it right - he only put the wife through it because he felt bad for having to stick to the code and thought of a way she could still get out of it. But she refused and actually got her self half-killed which is kinda...
"if the rule you followed brought you to this.. of what use was the rule" This ends up causing Anton to be shaken to the core himself. When he's in a random car accident. He is just as prone to fate as all the people he judges. and God doesn't care what his rules are either. He likes to think of himself as the agent of death, but even he isn't immune from chance.
I didn't get that the first couple times I watched the movie. It disappointed me that one of the greatest and most creative villain got beaten by a random car accident. Now I realize he was beaten by his own weapon which is chaos. Chaos was no longer on his side because the woman refused to call heads or tails.
I love how Anton timed the shot to the phone ring to help drown out and muffle the sound of the gun. Fits thematically with how Anton operates and perceives himself as more of a shadow.
siray dot I would have to give that more thought. In the movie, "The Cowboys." with John Wayne, Bruce Dern scared the hell out of me when I was about eight years old.
siray dot Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, Gary Oldman in Leon, Anthony Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs, Robert Carlisle in Trainspotting and Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs Of New York. That's my top 5 villains off the top of my head :P Changes quite occasionally though.
"You can't make a deal with him, even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you just for inconveniencing him." ...30 minutes later he's trying to make a deal with him. Should have just launched himself down the stairs onto Chigurh at first sight. Better odds of survival.
I am sure the though crossed his mind. But he know he had no chance either way. Knowing how smart and lethal he was - I am surprised he walked around so casually.
@@FuxwitLim Not an ATM on the planet you could take (legally) 14K from. At most you could get a couple grand if you had the right bank and the right ATM.
I don't think anton considered one second he was a psycho until Carson pointed it out. He looked legitimately confused for a second before the phone rang. LOL
It's like a prelude to how Carla manages to counter Anton's mindgames by refusing to play along at the end. It kind of takes away the aure of mystique surrounding him and makes him look more like an unusually reserved sadist with a gun.
@@MakeWayForTheLion I mean you’re not wrong but “true psychopaths” aren’t a thing in real life. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderful story material, but the closest actual diagnoses to psychopathy is ASPD
@@MakeWayForTheLion I don’t think that’s always true. There are “high functioning” sociopaths out there who are fully aware that something is wrong with them and try to compensate for that fact by studying and imitating normal human emotions and interactions. A sociopath can still feel emotions, it’s just empathy they have trouble with. But introspection of themselves? Many are quite able to do that.
echelon2k8 oh I see I guess I had a stick up my ass when I made that comment but I just hate smart asses and I felt like he was tying to be one haha but if you tell me straight up I'm wrong Ill admit I'm wrong and go about my day haha
***** Tommy Lee Jones got my sympathies in that scene where he was lamenting the old ways disappearing. Always on the look out for modern westerns. Bad Day At Black Rock, Spencer Tracey.
2007 was a good year for Westerns between this, No Country For Old Men, the remake of 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
***** Lol yeah. Lee Marvin sneaking along that house with that gun, looking like an old style cowboy... then you see the electric lamp in the window bringing us back to 1945.
"Is Carson Wells there?" "Not in the sense that you mean" Such a chilling line. Such a scary movie in fact because it attacks it's audience on an ontological level. Chigurh is probably the best villain ever created.
When Anton says "let's go to your room", I love it. Anton deals in absolution. No jumping about but calm and collected all the way through. A man with a goal and deadline. What a stellar movie!
Depends what you mean by "great" ... Ya he'd probably get the money but if you haven't noticed dude has a habit of killing everyone including his employers LoL
It just occurred to me that most if not all of the key scenes in this film take place in lonely, nondescript, isolated places: a random patch of desert, a middle of nowhere gas station, motel rooms, the back room of an empty house. The feeling of segregation pervades everything, the feeling of being detached and surrounded by random nothingness. Every scene is like an Edward Hopper painting. The movie's whole atmosphere is like that.
Chigurh helps to add to this isolation as well. Before he goes for the kill, he always makes sure to kill the attendant at the front desk. He did it when he first attacked Moss and he did it here while he waited for Wells to arrive. He always makes sure that no one is around to come to the victim's aid, isolating his victim further before he strikes.
Issacc Martinez "You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it". That's when Carson knew he was fkt and wasn't talking his way out of that shit.
He's the Grim Reaper. He is what you humans call a "hitman", but that is strictly an affectation, the closest human term for a role that existed before humans. He doesn't do it for money. He has no needs, and no wants. He is as distant from humanity as the darkness of space. His sole satisfaction is a job well done, and destroying life is the only job he does. If you aren't dead, it's because your name hasn't come up yet. It will, eventually, and he's heard every excuse in the book.
i probably sound really dumb but can someone explain the meaning of it? is it to do with the fact hes ended up in that conversation? or his whole life? help pls
He does this to take position in being the alpha male in the situation only to draw out more fear from Carson making the rest of the scene to be more deep and real
Only Cormac McCarthy could create a character so disturbing like Chigurh. The way he writes and comes up with stuff really gets under your skin in a way you never thought possible. It's not overly gruesome but still disturbing as hell. Everything Chigurh says and does.
+Brett Wilson after seeing the counselor i wonder how much agency mccarthy had in making these movies great. because when there's nothing between him and the screen, you get.. the counselor. awful.
+the nucas I'm guessing they just shot the first draft without any prewrites or revisions. Because there was no way Ridley Scott and Fox were going to give Cormac freakin McCarthy notes.
no other actor than Javier could portray this character *this* good. if it wasn't for him, I assure you, you wouldn't be that disturbed. that low voice he has. oh my.
Like all great literature, there's multiple layers of meaning. To me, he's always been most obviously a Grim Reaper archetype. He doesn't decide who dies, that's beyond his role (as he notes multiple times); he merely executes a sentence passed by somebody else. Fate? God? The Universe? Whatever. He likes coins because they provide the seemingly random inputs, the "fairness" as he puts it, that gives him his instructions and causes death to be so capricious and unfair to human eyes. To him, it makes perfect sense. Which is why Carla Jean's refusal to play along at the end screws him up so badly. He can only be omnipotent in a universe in which he gets his answers from the universe; he cannot exist with humans otherwise. That's how I took him getting seriously injured in a "random" accident at the end; the game of who dies is suddenly no longer rigged in his favor, as he's lost control of the mechanism because of Carla Jean's refusal to provide her required input. McCarthy's best characters are all philosophical and spiritual monsters with tremendous powers of moral analysis. Judge Holden from Blood Meridian is probably his best known example besides Chigurrh.
A great thing about this movie how less and less visible the killings become as the movie progresses. The first murder is prolonged and horrifying: Anton strangling the cop for several minutes, with a deadly, manic look, as the audience is forced to watch the poor cop struggle, but to no avail. The next murder is that of the guy whose car Anton takes. It is a swift, painless death. We, as an audience, see it happen, but it is not as horrifying as the cop's death. When Woody Harrelson dies, we do not even get to see the bullet strike him. We do see Anton shoot him, but the actual corpse is not even shown. And, by the time the movie ends, we are not even shown the killing (of Josh Brolin's wife) at all. I think it is a means by which the audience is desensitized towards the act of killing. It was horrible and scary and gruesome at the beginning, but by the end, it is not even worthy of being shown on-screen
Sayantan Guha Iy still doesn't make sense. Because this character is all over the place to the point of boring now and at the middle and especially at the ending of the picture violence is all they have left . But you're right on with your observation and the progression was intentional. These two people don't do anything by accident. You must have watched it several times. I'm not saying the picture gets boring just the character because he doesn't leave wanting more of him but no more of him. I think they should have allowed just a little relief to his outcome or even who in the world he really was.
The motel killing is pretty graphic, as well as the driver who stopped to help Llewelyn escape died the worst out of them all being shot in the throat and head seconds apart and that was the climax
The scariest thing about Anton is the fact that he's the only character without a Texas southern accent. That one detail made him stand out from everyone else and made him that much frightening.
@@EterneM8He's from Spain but I've never noticed his accent until now. I had to hear his real voice and learn where he was from before I could hear it
Agent 47 is way more professional than Anton, his perfectionism implies no talking and more action, which we can also find in Anton in the scene where he coldly kills the man who hired Carson.
What’s up Homies! I quote this to my brother a ton! lol I also quote: “Do you know where I’m going?” Why do I care where you are going? “I know where you are!” lol
Chigurrh is a Grim Reaper archetype. He takes neither joy nor misery from his work. He has no interest in venial human pursuits like money or fame. He sees himself as a humble delivery boy, fulfilling the orders placed by Fate. He can "see" the threads that tie human lives to the Universe and he has copies of each lease agreement we signed on our lives at birth. "Subject to revocation at any time", says the fine print. He's constantly amused at how frantically these humans try to escape that last clause, hiding from him as though he couldn't instantly trace their threads back to the source. To collect his debt. Wells thinks he's dealing with another hitman like himself (whose priorities are survival and money, in that order). In reality he's trying to negotiate with the Ebola virus, and Chigurhh's smile in reply is like moonlight on a fresh grave. Poor Wells isn't merely barking up the wrong tree, the tree's actually a gallows pole and his neck's already in it.
That pause while the phone is ringing and before Anton blows Carson away is absolutely unnerving. You know what's coming but you still feel uneasy about how casually he murders. What a brilliant bad guy.
Carl-Rolfe Heidelberg Suppressing my inner thoughts of suicide by watching clips of some of my favorite movies is a pretty good rule since I’m watching this scene, for the 50th time.
If I'm not mistaken, in the novel, Moss actually holds Anton at gunpoint in the hotel room. Moss was a Vietnam vet and was smarter and tougher than he gets credit for. He also set the trap after the truck crash that takes Anton by surprise. If he had came out from cover a half second earlier, he probably would have killed Anton with the shotgun. The difference is Moss had limits to his brutality. He still had a soul and conscience. Anton was hollow and prepared to kill over the slightest inconvenience, or for principal alone.
I love how he shoots him as the phone is ringing. Pure genius. Not only did Carson not expect that, but neither did the audience/viewers. And the way he answers the phone and speaks to Lewelyn is pure psychopath talk. Man, this movie is just amazing in every way.
Even the way he says, “Hello Carson” is intriguing. It’s not a joyous hello or a depressed hello. He says it like they both know what is about to happen.
The irony is that Carson once warned Llewelyn that Anton was likely to kill him just because he inconvenienced him, then Anton shoots Carson dead because it would be more convenient than figuring out who should answer the phone.
No Country for Old Men single handily shattered my perception of what an exciting, and awesome movie could be. I first saw this film when I was 12 years old in 2011, once my dad had deemed I was mature enough to watch it. As a child prior to viewing this film, I thought movies like Spider-Man were thrilling and exhilarating. Any movie that I had perceived as being exciting before I watched No Country for Old Men became a mere afterthought after I experienced what it had to offer in terms of sheer intensity, combined with quality storytelling. I was completely blown away. Until that point I had never been truly immersed into a film before, let alone one of the most most suspenseful thrillers ever. Looking back on it years later, this movie made me understand that realistic films that depict what humans in the real world are capable of just makes for the most gripping cinema imaginable. It conveys a darker side of humanity, and how a persons life experiences and circumstance can shape them into something opposite of a normal human. After I saw this film I asked my father if people like Anton Chigurh really existed, to which he replied “Yes, hitmen like that exist all over the world”. This movie seamlessly takes a very real scenario, and mixes it with truly brilliant acting and fluent screenplay to give the audience an accurate view of how ruthless, elusive and, precise the most effective hitmen in the world can be. I wasn’t interested in superhero movies anymore after this film. It gave me a new perspective on what great storytelling is, and made me more interested in the production of movies as an art, as opposed to a conventional Hollywood blockbuster.
What I love about Bardem's work is how he acts clinically insane...sociopathic...and yet there are tiny glimpses of when you see that even Chigurh doesn't take his own bullshit seriously sometimes.
@@giraffesareselfish9563 he killed someone at a bar before hand. And allowed himself to get arrested because he knew he could get out of it. He had to prove it to himself to see if he was still, in his mind, fates’s chosen hand.
"an ATM," When I saw that, you can quickly see Carson's drop in mood. He new at this point he's dead meat. Anton takes great pleasure in tormenting Carson before filling him full of OO buck. Its obviously personal. Had nothing to do with money.
its not completely random though. Carson was hired to get the money. He was in the way of Anton. And Anton wanted to enjoy ending him. Anton is a man of principles. Whenever someone gets in his way, if they are innocent, he gives them the coin toss, which is a chance which he, as an agent of destiny/death, acts on the result, as fate. It was their destiny to die by him. Anyways. Carson was in his way. He had to be dealt with. Hence he asks him, if following the rule got you to this point, what was the point
I would wager that its not personal at all. Anton saw that Carson was obstructing his business, and had already knew he was going to kill him, if just because he was interfering with his work. Though, psychological torture and hard questions are just his favorite way of doing things.
you are always thinking someone has a chance of survival in these situations but when a dude with a wierd smile and shotgun silencer and calmly says 'an ATM' after offered ransom money, you know you are a dead man. Brilliant acting!
One thing that I still can’t wrap my head around is that Anton is almost non self-aware. When Carson asks him “Do you have any idea how crazy you are?” Anton doesn’t really even pay attention to what Carson is getting at. He replies “the nature of this conversation?” Almost confused like he doesn’t realize he’s abnormal. Like in his mind he thinks he’s like the rest of us.
To me, right when Anton hears Carson's reply his facial expression changes from taken back to infuriated within a half second. In Anton's mind, hearing someone call him crazy is unheard of as well as absolutely insulting. Right then as Chigurh's face changed, we can correctly assume that Carson's reply made the decision for this toying around banter to end as well as his life.
This scene is only 5 minutes but the first time you watch it, it seems like 50 minutes because of the overwhelming sense of dread the viewer feels for Carson. Not knowing if he will die or not makes every moment last ages.
I'm reading the book at the moment. It's amazing how well the Coens adapted it. The dialogue in this scene is pretty much word for word straight from the book. Brilliant.
As soon as Chigurh came from the side of the stairs and turned, it was one of the greatest moments on film. The scene where his shadow can be seen was also awesome, love a good old psychotic, menacing villain.
+Ryan Harrington I think it was more to mask the after noise. The chair rocking, the gasp Carson made ect ect, the silencer was at work right before the phone rang.
Good acting here. He went from trying to be reasonable and bargain with him, to frustration and insulting him after realizing it wasnt working, then regretted it slightly shaking his head with his eyes closed and gave one more last desperate attempt to reason with him.
""Do you have any idea how crazy you are?!" "You mean the nature of this conversation?" "I mean the nature of *YOU* "" One of the greatest and funniest quotes in Cinema History. Just way too funny.
I watched the movie several times and came to view Anton as a sort of a comical character, walking and talking Death with stupid hair. Certainly has a sense of humour. "Is Carson Wells there?" - "Not in the sense that you mean". Indeed Carson is both there and not there. I also have to admit that he offered Llewellyn Moss a decent deal, the best deal that anyone indeed could offer to him, - certainly better than the Mexicans, and by this moment in film the viewer knows that Anton is the man of his (weird) word. Moss should have taken it, at least formally. By refusing to accept Anton's deal, Moss essentially sealed his wife's fate, while by accepting the deal, by simply bringing the money, and then trying to get rid of Anton, Moss could have saved her, and still have a chance to survive. At least the two would have a fair showdown, and Moss wouldn't die stupidly.
OK, Moss was an old warrior, so you say. You know what these little viet cong did with this warriors, despite beeing outgunned like hell? Also how ignorant must be somebody seeing Mexicans not as warriors? They fought some tough battles too. And still do in their country. Eachother, the cops, the drug cartells, criminals....you name it. I don't think a modern pussycat gringo would last long deep inside this dangerous country.... As for your other point I think Chigurh expected Moss to bring him the money in a kind of suicidal way or the deal would be off. He did not offer him a fair fight for the money or even for Moss' life. He wanted Moss to be aware that he has to die for "inconveniencing" him and to save his wife and to accept it. Wells warned him exactly about that but he thought of himself as the better warrior and put the life of his wife at stake for some money.
@@horst424 ??The poster was saying he could agree to terms, bring money and then just try and kill him if possible during the meet. Its probably his best course of action at this point
Revisiting this scene, 0:22 is a really weird scene in terms of how Anton approaches him. Even though he doesn’t appear to have feelings, he seems rather joyous that Carson saw him, by the way he started walking. It’s really creepy..
This whole time I thought Anton was saying "are you good?" as in "are you a good day trader?" and that's why Carson says "yeah I got $14k in my bank account"
This is one of the most tense movies I've seen in a long, long time. I'm so used to even a little bit of background music that the absence of that made me flinch at every little noise. Very well done. I like how there wasn't a scene that's in a lot of movies where the backstory between two characters is explained in some rushed piece of exposition that sometimes throws you out of the mood of the movie. All we know is these two knew each other and that Carson knew the kind of person Anton was. We know they weren't friends, they might have even been business enemies, but there was no scene explaining why.
Carson could have attempted to fight him at the stairs. He saw Anton was limping and holding the gun in only one hand. Carson was probably pretty experienced and knew Anton will kill him as early as he saw him.
Anton enjoyed watching Carson jump when the phone rang, it was the happiest point for him throughout the movie in my opinion. Having defeated his opponent, that was Anton's reward.
Anton, is the coin. Chance. Chaos. That which is unpredictable, but the universe controls and absorbs, nonetheless. Great movie, book and acting. My fave.
Interesting fact: Regarding Anton Chigurh, I read an interesting article in the Business Insider. There was a group of psychiatrists that decided to assess which movie psycho was the best in acting like a real psychopath. I mean like a real psychopath according to science and psychopathy tests. After they watched about 400 movies (more times), they concluded that Chigurh is the closest to an actual psychopath.
If when chigurh said “let’s go to your room” Carson seizes the initiative and just threw himself upon him hurling them both down the stairs and wrestling for the gun... he may have had a chance. But we know paralysing fear removed the idea even occurring to him as a possibility
I'm certain that people who don't like this movie are watching movies incorrectly. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise. This is pure cinema. Drama. Tension. Dialogue. Directing. Acting. Everything is on point. I'll be damned if this isn't the definition of good filmmaking.
![No Country For Old Men - Coin Toss Scene [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BqMdQBox15s/mqdefault.jpg)
![No Country For Old Men - Coin Toss Scene [HD]](/img/tr.png)
During this scene in the book, Chigurh had Carson in the room at gunpoint like in the movie. He made a comment about how much Carson wished he could be him, and when Carson asked him why on earth he would want to be such an awful person, Chigurh replied "You are here and I am here. In a few minutes I will still be here." One of the most frightening lines I've ever come across.
damn that should've been in the movie
the book is a really good read and adds meat to the bones of this film, some dialogue that is truly remarkable, there s also a hitch hiker who Moss picks up (not the lady by the pool) and sherriff bell goes and interviews the two boys who find the gun, also worth getting is the audible book, i`ve listened to it twice and its 7 hours long..!!!!
thats a really cool line dudee
Also in the book Carson gets shot in the head and hand.
I need to get the book!
"You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it." Always loved that line. It's cold but true.
James Saunder Well the psychopath had a valid point. He was after him and the other guy was fleeing. It would only be a matter of time before the hitman caught up with him and finished it.
Stephen Kaiser-Pendergrast Well said. I don't think anyone could have gotten out of that hotel room situation whether they tried to physically take him on or talk his way out of it. Anton was an unstoppable freght train in this movie and I can't believe I haven't watched this in years.
The whole damn movie, and McCarthy's subsequent screenplay, The Counselor, rely heavily on that theme. The reality of your world is the only reality and denying your situation is futile. Admit it and accept it, because there is no alternative. Choice, consequence, and repercussion. Fucking great and terrifying.
I think Anton was saying: "Carson, you know better than to offer me money from an ATM. You know I don't care about that. And you know what's going to happen now. You're making a fool of yourself. Is this how you want to spend your last moments?"
*SHITuation
Random guy on the street: "Excuse me sir, do you know any ATM nearby?"
Anton: "An ATM..."
I would run faster than usain bolt
"An ATM... mmm I'll tell you.. CALL IT"
@@natoskull2 scariest "mmmm" in cinema
Run.
He tended to repeat what other people said in his limited interaction/dealings e.g. the guy in the scene with the coin toss who says 'I didn't mean nothing by it' Anton 'Didn't mean nothing', then says 'I need to see about closing' Anton 'See about closing'.
I’d rather have Michael Myers chase after me than Anton Chigurh
makes sense because shotgun is more useful than kitchen knife
I’d prefer Satan and his minions...
@@jewwhovotedfornaziparty You clearly don't know anything about Michael Myers do you?
@@albertobellini98 as a clichee he never dies like jason
@@jewwhovotedfornaziparty Continue
That is the loudest phone in human history
it is loud. maybe Quentin went a bit overboard on that. a silenced shotgun will still be a bit loud because of the physics involved. A professional would know that the sound of the telephone would cover some of the noise.
the shotgun mis-fires and carson draws a gun from his quick release holster and the movie ENDS
+james marshall I would like that too.
double ought
hello no not in the sense you mean .. i shot him
The thing I love about this scene is that Carson isn’t some cliche “hard badass” who spits in Anton’s face to spite him to the last. He’s real. Many of us talk a big game, but the truth is in the last moments, most of us would beg and plead just like Carson did.
@RuKind you say that now, but if someone walked up to your house, kicked open your door and put a gun to your head, you wouldn't be cool about it - you'd shit your pants like the rest of us
Not me, I'm different.
@@ahmedabdelsabor7087there he goes, talking the BIG game
@@lettertojoma your mom is the BIG game
@@ahmedabdelsabor7087ok Ahmed 😂
Woody Harrelson acted his ass off in this scene.
They way he sweating and holding back the tears.
Trying to hide how utterly terrified he was.
Javier is an amazing actor too but Woody really brought the fear and tension in this scene.
He was amazing, trying to be cool, calm and collected like he was in his previous scenes but his eyes are the major giveaway, there is genuine terror there, perfect acting.
Frank Castle Who? Woody’s dad?
@Frank Castle wait what?
Good point. He knew it was all over on the stairs.
666 likes. Fitting considering Chigurh could be seen as a personification of evil itself, he may be a metaphor for the randomness and the inevitability of evil in this world. Evil can never be stopped, it doesn't care who you are or whether you karmically deserve to have your life destroyed, or taken from you, it is completely indiscriminate. Encountering evil is purely based on chance, "do you know what date is on this coin? 1958. It's been traveling 22 years to get here, and now it's here". The coins both physically, and metaphorically, travel with Anton, remember what his last words to Carla Jean were? "I got here the same way the coin did". Both the coin and Anton's arrival is solely due to his mission of recovering the stolen money and kill the guy who stole it, anyone who encounters Anton? (aside from Anton's targets such as Carson, Llewellyn, the Mexicans, and the boss in the office building who set up the deal) does so because of random chance. The police officer he strangled, the store clerk, the farmer with the chickens, the man who Anton killed for his vehicle, the hotel clerk, the accountant, all encountered Anton by coincidence.
Carla Jean encountered Anton because of the domino effect, being set in motion via random chance. Llewellyn Moss found the money, Anton caught up to Lewellyn and Lewellyn refused to take his deal, and he ended up getting killed in a shootout with the Mexicans, by random chance. Even though the events leading up to Anton sitting in a chair across from her in her own house were random? He tracked down Carla Jean because of his warped, but strangely genuine, principles. Anton pomised Lewellyn he would kill her if he failed to recover the money and bring it to him, but Moss is dead, so there was no way he could have even if he changed his mind. But even then? He still offers her the coin toss, she refused to play his game and this act of defiance likely, probably, cost Carla Jean her life. Evil is random, chaotic, indiscriminate, and so is Anton, but the car crash proves that he is not infallible after all and combined with encountering someone who refused to beg for their life and play his game like so many others have? likely shook him him his core, and causes him to experience a crisis in personal philosophy and principles. But no matter what happens to Anton? There will always be another evil that comes in his absence. The cartel and narcos will always continue to exist, drug deals will still go bad, and sometimes their money will get stolen, and sometimes scary ass psychopathic hitmen are sent to solve the problem. But in the words of Carson Wells? "Yeah he's a psychopathic killer, but so what? There are plenty of them around", evil will always take another form, whether thats a personification of evil, or a new type of evil, or both.
this is the type of guy you would go into Hannibal lecter's cell to hide from him.
+jon skinner this guy would make Lecter eat his own words
which one?
Timothy Price what?
jon skinner
who are you referring to in the original comment?
Timothy Price your mum. sorry couldn't resist.
Fun fact: Woody Harrelson was so determined to get an Oscar that he insisted Javier Bardem use live rounds in his shotgun. They had stop filming and remove the pellets afterwards and he was ok.
..yeah. Did you see him Jump? And the chair’s cushion belch stuffing? That was great. I THOUGHT 💭 it looked real. 💭 💭 Fun Size
Lmao
This sentence gives me a stroke
I’m in tears 😭 🤣🤣🤣
Yawn.
"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was rule?" Great line, and probably the scariest shit you can say to someone before blowing them away.
Sound Logic I would shit hearing any if the two mentioned lines.
That irony of that quote is that it applies to his car crash at the end of the movie, too. Despite him following the rules of the road he still ended up being hit.
Yeah, I always felt that Carson sealed his fate with that--- attempting to bribe Anton was an insult. I'm sure he felt it was beneath him and Carson showed his lack of 'dignity' in mentioning the ATM. "An ATM" indeed.
David Snow The Thought of a ATM and all the problems go away.... That smile and The Darkness rolled into one.
I thought he said road
"You bring me the money and I'll let'er go. Thats the best deal you're going to get... I wont tell you you can save your self... because you can't."
Epicness
He expected Moss would hand him the money in person, and let him kill him on the spot. lol
@The Wrestler *Ahhhhh shaddap!*
@The Wrestler CALM THE FUCK DOWN DUMBASS IT'S JUST A MOVIE
Lol 'human decency'
In a weird way, Anton is actually kind of easy going and willing to cut people breaks where he can.
I saw this in a packed cinema in London. At 00:10 this huge wave of gasps and audible shock ripples through the whole crowd. It was like jump scare in a horror film. But with no music or loud bang it was just the audience that you could hear. It was incredible.
I remember in the theater it felt like years went by as Antoine had that shotgun pointed at him. I almost couldn't take it. And ....when that phone rang....I jump scared so bad hahhahaha. That movie was dreadfully intense hahahh
I love the fact that there's no score in this movie. Makes everything seem so much more realistic & terrifying
English people are such pussies lol
How many me. diocre movies have we all seen have over the top music as a crutch? This movie sets a new standard. A challenge to future directors. Make a movie good enough to stand on its own.
The moment he was behind him on the stairs he should have fallen onto him, both would have tumbled down the stairs - would have been a better chance at survival than going to the room
When he puts his feet up on the bed to avoid the pool of blood, without breaking his conversation, that got me. He is so coolly evil and calculated. So unnerving as a character, and it is great.
Genile Bankai Elric I was looking for a comment like this, thank you
Even better: This establishes a character trait (he doesn't like his boots getting dirty from his kills). You see this also when he attacks the motel room with the 3 mexicans, he takes off his boots before going over so they won't get dirty. When he kills the wife, you don't see it onscreen, you just see him come out of the house and then lift up the sole of each boot to check, implying he killed her and wants to make sure the blood hadn't gotten on them.
But here's the really cool thing: in this scene, right as he's lifting his boots off the ground is the part where he mentions the wife in his conversation, tying the two together with a very subtle but very clever bit of foreshadowing.
@@OccipitantX Him checking his boots also takes a few valuable seconds. And those seconds turn out to be the difference between avoiding the crash, only getting hit lightly, or getting t-boned so bad he has a bone sticking out of his arm at the end, proving even Chigurh cannot avoid fate.
@@OccipitantX he took his boots off so the didn't hear him coming. Not because he doesn't want his boots dirty. The real trait is he hates blood.
The blood was coming from the wrong direction though, should have been from the left. That's bothered me...
The way Anton says "Alright" in response to Carson saying "you go to hell" always gets to me. It's as if his words were so weak it just fell completely flat to Anton's ears.
Anton is Hell. He's amused by it because it's one of those things that mortals say in their last moments to make them feel better.
@@gastonbell108
Anton never beat Moss in a fight. The cartel killed Moss and they jumped him with more numbers.
You could?
@G E T R E K T 905 i guess you couldnt walk away
True. The only way to beat a psychopath is to not play at all. Carson could have indeed saved hi dignity and robbed Chigur of any pleasure in his death by admitting defeat and not letting him throw verbal jabs. He could have end attacked him to not give Anton any satisfaction at all. But he was scared and folded.
As unforgettable as Javier Bardem was in this film I have to say Woody Harrelson was absolutely incredible in this scene, he played “scared, but trying really really hard not to show it” probably the best I’ve ever seen, perfect acting.
Mehhh, I like Woody Harrelson a lot, his character in this is contrived.
@@QueekHeadtaker his character is contrived as he’s someone who thinks too much of himself and doesn’t fully appreciate just how in over his head he actually is until it’s too late, his acting is great
Thumbs up if you wish you had a voice like Anton.
That would be sweet.
Call it.
You don't have to do this...
I DO have a voice like Anton. And you know what's gonna happen now, fasjohnny? You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it.
+Thanos of Titan What was the most you ever lost in a coin toss? Besides your precious infinity stones...
Chigurh just skipped the coin toss altogether when dealing with Carson. This was strictly business.
😂😂😂😂 so true bro
+NEON MULLET he only uses the coin toss on people who were unwillingly involved. carson on the other hand, had it coming to him. he was far too cocky.
Pickle Neck has it right - he only put the wife through it because he felt bad for having to stick to the code and thought of a way she could still get out of it. But she refused and actually got her self half-killed which is kinda...
NEON MULLET (..2yrslater...)
no, he didn't use the coin. But *call_it* was still there; look deeper. #thephonecall
he was never going to shoot the gas station guy. it was just a way to instill terror in a man without telling him why he should be afraid.
The fact this movie had no music in it, is amazing.
"if the rule you followed brought you to this.. of what use was the rule" This ends up causing Anton to be shaken to the core himself. When he's in a random car accident. He is just as prone to fate as all the people he judges. and God doesn't care what his rules are either. He likes to think of himself as the agent of death, but even he isn't immune from chance.
I didn't get that the first couple times I watched the movie. It disappointed me that one of the greatest and most creative villain got beaten by a random car accident. Now I realize he was beaten by his own weapon which is chaos. Chaos was no longer on his side because the woman refused to call heads or tails.
@@zeaferjones1404 He wasn't quite up to the Joker's, or even Two-Face's, level.
@@Agent1W 🤣🤣 thing is anton would kill batman with no hassle about it big difference ain't not you complete me with this guy
John R Yes, exactly, and it's all summed up when the old crippled guy says in that scene near the end "that's vanity."
Chigurh, Joker, John Doe, Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman
"An ATM" creepiest shit ive ever seen in my life. Phenomenal acting
Teddy Terezis Lol yeah the way he said it was so creepy.
+Teddy Terezis I know something better...
+BasedFrieza "Is Carson Wells there?"
"Not in the sense that you mean"
Best response ever
+BasedFrieza Agreed. He says it with so much disdain. He's just on a completely different wavelength than the rest of humanity...
Yea that always glared out to me
I love how Anton timed the shot to the phone ring to help drown out and muffle the sound of the gun. Fits thematically with how Anton operates and perceives himself as more of a shadow.
Nope, that doesn't apply here. Nice observation though.
@@NowLedgeOutpost Nah, it definitely does. Nice comment though.
@@nicholasmaher843 lol ok
@@NowLedgeOutpost liking your own comment lol ok
@@nicholasmaher843 yes I did, and I'm liking yours too.
Thanks!
"Not in the sense that you mean....."
One of the top five bad guys of all time.
may I ask who the other 4 are?
siray dot I would have to give that more thought. In the movie, "The Cowboys." with John Wayne, Bruce Dern scared the hell out of me when I was about eight years old.
siray dot Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, Gary Oldman in Leon, Anthony Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs, Robert Carlisle in Trainspotting and Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs Of New York. That's my top 5 villains off the top of my head :P Changes quite occasionally though.
I Punch Pensioners Remember Bruce Dern in the Cowboys. I saw that movie at a drive in when I was nine years old. He scared the hell out of me.
Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time in The West was pretty good also.
"You can't make a deal with him, even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you just for inconveniencing him."
...30 minutes later he's trying to make a deal with him.
Should have just launched himself down the stairs onto Chigurh at first sight. Better odds of survival.
He was just a day trader, he could just go home or go to an ATM with 14k in it
I am sure the though crossed his mind. But he know he had no chance either way. Knowing how smart and lethal he was - I am surprised he walked around so casually.
You do know it’s a movie or did I let the cat out the bag.
@@toddschultz7477 You do know people critique movies, or did I let the dog out of the kennel?
@@FuxwitLim Not an ATM on the planet you could take (legally) 14K from. At most you could get a couple grand if you had the right bank and the right ATM.
I don't think anton considered one second he was a psycho until Carson pointed it out. He looked legitimately confused for a second before the phone rang. LOL
@G E T R E K T 905 I mean the nature of you.
It's like a prelude to how Carla manages to counter Anton's mindgames by refusing to play along at the end. It kind of takes away the aure of mystique surrounding him and makes him look more like an unusually reserved sadist with a gun.
True psychopaths don't really "introspect". They've probably all considered they might be crazy, but crazy doesn't mean anything to a true lunatic.
@@MakeWayForTheLion I mean you’re not wrong but “true psychopaths” aren’t a thing in real life. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderful story material, but the closest actual diagnoses to psychopathy is ASPD
@@MakeWayForTheLion I don’t think that’s always true. There are “high functioning” sociopaths out there who are fully aware that something is wrong with them and try to compensate for that fact by studying and imitating normal human emotions and interactions.
A sociopath can still feel emotions, it’s just empathy they have trouble with. But introspection of themselves? Many are quite able to do that.
"You go to hell" "Hmm alright"
Whyareyouevenbotheringtotake Thetimetoreadthis You go to Hell!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep it warm for me, Carson
I'm already there
Thank you for the invite!
lemme ask you something
The fear woody brings to this scene is palatable. Simply his finest scene ever
You haven't seen True Detective b
“Palpable”
Or Cheers...
Or EdTV
Crazy because he was in natural born killers!
that's one big ass silencer
echelon2k8 oh yeah? well shit I thought you can call it either or lol
You can, but the term suppressor is just more technically accurate.
echelon2k8 oh I see I guess I had a stick up my ass when I made that comment but I just hate smart asses and I felt like he was tying to be one haha but if you tell me straight up I'm wrong Ill admit I'm wrong and go about my day haha
UsernameGeri its silencer because it definately silences the sound OF A FUCKING SHOTGUN
Hena pena yes but its still not silent
Someone considered this to be a modern day " western " set in the 1980s. I'm inclined to agree with them.
***** Tommy Lee Jones got my sympathies in that scene where he was lamenting the old ways disappearing. Always on the look out for modern westerns. Bad Day At Black Rock, Spencer Tracey.
2007 was a good year for Westerns between this, No Country For Old Men, the remake of 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
***** Lol yeah. Lee Marvin sneaking along that house with that gun, looking like an old style cowboy... then you see the electric lamp in the window bringing us back to 1945.
Would that someone be Rob Ager?
jpturbo98 Maybe. His idea the monolith from 2001 representing the cinema screen itself is actually thought provoking haha
"Is Carson Wells there?"
"Not in the sense that you mean"
Such a chilling line. Such a scary movie in fact because it attacks it's audience on an ontological level. Chigurh is probably the best villain ever created.
*its
I remember sitting in the theater and when that phone call happened, I just knew.
The "Good Guys" were not going to win this one.
Judge holden
@@ctor94 who?
You just wanted to crowbar "ontological" into a comment.
That phone's first ring gave me a bigger fright than most horror movies I've ever seen.
Lol same here. It scare me so bad! especially in the theaters. I was so on edge
This is why he won an Oscar
And that hair.
That Hairstyle should get Separate award
When Anton says "let's go to your room", I love it. Anton deals in absolution. No jumping about but calm and collected all the way through. A man with a goal and deadline. What a stellar movie!
Agent 47
I guarantee y'all anton would be a great landlord or credit collector
Tenant: Forgets to pay rent on the 13th of May
Anton: “You know how this is going to turn out don’t you?”
Espiritu Laiseii more like flips a coin and asks you to call it
"Where does he work,"
Depends what you mean by "great" ... Ya he'd probably get the money but if you haven't noticed dude has a habit of killing everyone including his employers LoL
I love how when the phone gets slammed, Anton just moves the phone from his ear slowly and looks like "well that was pretty rude"
I thought it was because he was in the same hotel and could hear the actual noise of him slamming the phone.
he hangs it up before slamming.
I always thought he was looking at Carson, thinking "now there's a man that can die with some dignity".
I think that face he makes is him having some admiration for Moss having the balls to actually be willing to put up a fight.
Jack Hall looks at the dead guy in the room at that lol
It just occurred to me that most if not all of the key scenes in this film take place in lonely, nondescript, isolated places: a random patch of desert, a middle of nowhere gas station, motel rooms, the back room of an empty house. The feeling of segregation pervades everything, the feeling of being detached and surrounded by random nothingness. Every scene is like an Edward Hopper painting. The movie's whole atmosphere is like that.
That’s also probably why there’s no music in the movie
Did you mean to say isolation instead of segregation?
Yes very much so, even the shots of the town streets. In daylight theyre quiet and at night time basically deserted
Chigurh helps to add to this isolation as well. Before he goes for the kill, he always makes sure to kill the attendant at the front desk. He did it when he first attacked Moss and he did it here while he waited for Wells to arrive. He always makes sure that no one is around to come to the victim's aid, isolating his victim further before he strikes.
It feels like the Backrooms. That pervasive sense of unease feeling someone else's presence when you think/hope you're alone.
"An ATM"
lol I couldn't help but laugh at that part because I knew Carson was fucked right than and there
Issacc Martinez
"You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it".
That's when Carson knew he was fkt and wasn't talking his way out of that shit.
After he said that he knew he was fucked
Carson knew he was fucked the second he turned around and saw Anton following him up the steps with the silencer equipped rifle
He's the Grim Reaper. He is what you humans call a "hitman", but that is strictly an affectation, the closest human term for a role that existed before humans. He doesn't do it for money. He has no needs, and no wants. He is as distant from humanity as the darkness of space. His sole satisfaction is a job well done, and destroying life is the only job he does. If you aren't dead, it's because your name hasn't come up yet. It will, eventually, and he's heard every excuse in the book.
Alex Tocqueville Check out the big brain on Bret!
"You got to hell."
"Hmm, alright."
Just the way he says that gives me chills.
@G E T R E K T 905 You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it.
The way he looked away and the silence. Hearing that knowing he’s going to die… I dunno. It would make me feel so vulnerable and small.
go*
Thanos: I am inevitable.
Chigurh: You need to come see me.
Thanos: 😰
haha its funny because Josh Brolin is Thanos 😰
@@michael-1453 yes that's why I wrote this comment
kshitij srivastava yeah I just explained to the audience
He shoudn't have gone to the motel.
@@michael-1453 I'm pretty sure most people got that
"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?"
Never has a more cathartic statement been made.
lol someones bitter
+Drew Andrewnowski there are ways to communicate depth without using five-dollar words
go on
Do you have any idea how crazy you are
i probably sound really dumb but can someone explain the meaning of it? is it to do with the fact hes ended up in that conversation? or his whole life? help pls
0:22, When dad figures out I was misbehaving in class.
lol
1:39 When dad is about to ground you
I picture him with a silenced shotgun, limping upstairs behind you, smiling at you all Fatherly and stuff...
He does this to take position in being the alpha male in the situation only to draw out more fear from Carson making the rest of the scene to be more deep and real
The taco bell party pack will be brought to my feet
You can have the money, Anton.
The desperation when he says this always gets me.
Whenever the phone rings I fucking shit my pants
Get rid of your phone then fella👍🏼
ME TOO DAMMIT! LOL!
Anton was so terrifying. He was so cold, emotionless and calculated. Everything a hitman should be.
@@reddalchemy5970nerd
So did Carson…
Only Cormac McCarthy could create a character so disturbing like Chigurh. The way he writes and comes up with stuff really gets under your skin in a way you never thought possible. It's not overly gruesome but still disturbing as hell. Everything Chigurh says and does.
Lol the scene where Anton is in the shop, him just talking is just way too tense.
+Brett Wilson after seeing the counselor i wonder how much agency mccarthy had in making these movies great. because when there's nothing between him and the screen, you get.. the counselor. awful.
+the nucas I'm guessing they just shot the first draft without any prewrites or revisions. Because there was no way Ridley Scott and Fox were going to give Cormac freakin McCarthy notes.
no other actor than Javier could portray this character *this* good. if it wasn't for him, I assure you, you wouldn't be that disturbed. that low voice he has. oh my.
Like all great literature, there's multiple layers of meaning. To me, he's always been most obviously a Grim Reaper archetype. He doesn't decide who dies, that's beyond his role (as he notes multiple times); he merely executes a sentence passed by somebody else. Fate? God? The Universe? Whatever. He likes coins because they provide the seemingly random inputs, the "fairness" as he puts it, that gives him his instructions and causes death to be so capricious and unfair to human eyes. To him, it makes perfect sense. Which is why Carla Jean's refusal to play along at the end screws him up so badly. He can only be omnipotent in a universe in which he gets his answers from the universe; he cannot exist with humans otherwise. That's how I took him getting seriously injured in a "random" accident at the end; the game of who dies is suddenly no longer rigged in his favor, as he's lost control of the mechanism because of Carla Jean's refusal to provide her required input.
McCarthy's best characters are all philosophical and spiritual monsters with tremendous powers of moral analysis. Judge Holden from Blood Meridian is probably his best known example besides Chigurrh.
3:58 I love how he just casually places his feet on the bed to avoid the blood trail on the ground.
His entertainment on his face when Carson tells him about the ATM is next level!! Lmfao
should have offered him a gift certificate to walmart
Gift card for a hair cut.
Bllasae That hair is fabulous
@@Pancakes4dindin meh looks like that guy from Chocolate Factory
'You should admit your situation-there would be more dignity in it.'
What a profound way of basically telling someone you're going to kill them.
Carson: Do you have any idea...
...how crazy you are?
Anton: Uhhh, have you seen my haircut?
Carson: Hmmm, good point.
A great thing about this movie how less and less visible the killings become as the movie progresses.
The first murder is prolonged and horrifying: Anton strangling the cop for several minutes, with a deadly, manic look, as the audience is forced to watch the poor cop struggle, but to no avail.
The next murder is that of the guy whose car Anton takes. It is a swift, painless death. We, as an audience, see it happen, but it is not as horrifying as the cop's death.
When Woody Harrelson dies, we do not even get to see the bullet strike him. We do see Anton shoot him, but the actual corpse is not even shown.
And, by the time the movie ends, we are not even shown the killing (of Josh Brolin's wife) at all.
I think it is a means by which the audience is desensitized towards the act of killing. It was horrible and scary and gruesome at the beginning, but by the end, it is not even worthy of being shown on-screen
That's a fascinating observation. I wonder if it's intentional on the part of the screenwriters... I'd like to think it is.
Sayantan Guha Iy still doesn't make sense. Because this character is all over the place to the point of boring now and at the middle and especially at the ending of the picture violence is all they have left . But you're right on with your observation and the progression was intentional. These two people don't do anything by accident. You must have watched it several times. I'm not saying the picture gets boring just the character because he doesn't leave wanting more of him but no more of him. I think they should have allowed just a little relief to his outcome or even who in the world he really was.
Sayantan Guha This is a really good point
The motel killing is pretty graphic, as well as the driver who stopped to help Llewelyn escape died the worst out of them all being shot in the throat and head seconds apart and that was the climax
Did you not watch the movie dumbass? Some of the most violent deaths are near the end which totally destroys your dumb comment.
That motherfucking phone, man
The scariest thing about Anton is the fact that he's the only character without a Texas southern accent. That one detail made him stand out from everyone else and made him that much frightening.
yes, and the fact that his accent is a strange mixture of american and mexican, making him sound "like he's come from Mars"
@@EterneM8He's from Spain but I've never noticed his accent until now. I had to hear his real voice and learn where he was from before I could hear it
@@omegaweapon116
this was almost a year ago, damn.
@@EterneM8this was 3 weeks ago
@@nathan2683 your comment was 3 weeks ago, yes.
my original comment wasn't.
Is Carson wells there? "Not in the sense you mean", lol
***** a very dark humour though lol
Agent 47 is way more professional than Anton, his perfectionism implies no talking and more action, which we can also find in Anton in the scene where he coldly kills the man who hired Carson.
What’s up Homies! I quote this to my brother a ton! lol
I also quote:
“Do you know where I’m going?”
Why do I care where you are going?
“I know where you are!” lol
Dan Dude I know something better, I know where it's GOING to be.
It's never a good thing when you ring someone up and get that reply lol
"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?"
can it be defined?
"do you know how crazy you?"….
no it can't.
In the book, Anton goes a little further in the discussion. He's basically referring to Well's life as a whole.
Chigurrh is a Grim Reaper archetype. He takes neither joy nor misery from his work. He has no interest in venial human pursuits like money or fame. He sees himself as a humble delivery boy, fulfilling the orders placed by Fate. He can "see" the threads that tie human lives to the Universe and he has copies of each lease agreement we signed on our lives at birth. "Subject to revocation at any time", says the fine print. He's constantly amused at how frantically these humans try to escape that last clause, hiding from him as though he couldn't instantly trace their threads back to the source. To collect his debt.
Wells thinks he's dealing with another hitman like himself (whose priorities are survival and money, in that order). In reality he's trying to negotiate with the Ebola virus, and Chigurhh's smile in reply is like moonlight on a fresh grave. Poor Wells isn't merely barking up the wrong tree, the tree's actually a gallows pole and his neck's already in it.
It brought me to this
That pause while the phone is ringing and before Anton blows Carson away is absolutely unnerving. You know what's coming but you still feel uneasy about how casually he murders. What a brilliant bad guy.
If I have one last dying breath after he shoots, I'd want to ask, "What's with the hair?"
Al Bell please don't that would make him anger yoo!! Your whole high school graduating class dies
LMFAO OMG THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD ... THANK YOU FOR THAT
Al Bell it's suppose to resemble a hood. Like one the reaper would wear.
"I like The Beatles", he replies (in a low monotone voice)
Then, you're fucked.
His haircut is awesome
If the rule you followed brought you to this scene, then it was a useful rule.
Carl-Rolfe Heidelberg Suppressing my inner thoughts of suicide by watching clips of some of my favorite movies is a pretty good rule since I’m watching this scene, for the 50th time.
suicide? why brotha? u should talk to ur people i had it too .
If I'm not mistaken, in the novel, Moss actually holds Anton at gunpoint in the hotel room. Moss was a Vietnam vet and was smarter and tougher than he gets credit for. He also set the trap after the truck crash that takes Anton by surprise. If he had came out from cover a half second earlier, he probably would have killed Anton with the shotgun. The difference is Moss had limits to his brutality. He still had a soul and conscience. Anton was hollow and prepared to kill over the slightest inconvenience, or for principal alone.
That’s why you need sociopathic soldiers they are the best in violence war and in back home.
@@calebdixon784 bruh no
@@calebdixon784lol how badly do you get bullied in school? Ottistic loser hahaha, go fantasize about a shooting like you usually do
@@calebdixon784 Ask the Aussies how that went with their Special Forces.
Moss is an idiot in the movie.
I love how he shoots him as the phone is ringing. Pure genius. Not only did Carson not expect that, but neither did the audience/viewers.
And the way he answers the phone and speaks to Lewelyn is pure psychopath talk.
Man, this movie is just amazing in every way.
People in that hotel hate it when room service calls for a wake up
Neil Tipton, haha, no kidding. That is a noisy dang phone.
Kind of like the scene in Jaws that scares the hell out of everyone.
Neil Tipton "People in this hotel hate it when room service makes wake up calls."
My favorite scene because it shows we may go way back... it doesn't mean we are boys. Recognize your profession.
When they call you, you react like Corson Welles did. Just look at the phone for fucking you over.
Even the way he says, “Hello Carson” is intriguing. It’s not a joyous hello or a depressed hello. He says it like they both know what is about to happen.
The irony is that Carson once warned Llewelyn that Anton was likely to kill him just because he inconvenienced him, then Anton shoots Carson dead because it would be more convenient than figuring out who should answer the phone.
lol
Ahhh I just love how dark the humor is, it fits perfect for this movie
RockstarGamer45 its tipical from The Coen Brothers
No Country for Old Men single handily shattered my perception of what an exciting, and awesome movie could be. I first saw this film when I was 12 years old in 2011, once my dad had deemed I was mature enough to watch it. As a child prior to viewing this film, I thought movies like Spider-Man were thrilling and exhilarating. Any movie that I had perceived as being exciting before I watched No Country for Old Men became a mere afterthought after I experienced what it had to offer in terms of sheer intensity, combined with quality storytelling. I was completely blown away. Until that point I had never been truly immersed into a film before, let alone one of the most most suspenseful thrillers ever.
Looking back on it years later, this movie made me understand that realistic films that depict what humans in the real world are capable of just makes for the most gripping cinema imaginable. It conveys a darker side of humanity, and how a persons life experiences and circumstance can shape them into something opposite of a normal human.
After I saw this film I asked my father if people like Anton Chigurh really existed, to which he replied “Yes, hitmen like that exist all over the world”. This movie seamlessly takes a very real scenario, and mixes it with truly brilliant acting and fluent screenplay to give the audience an accurate view of how ruthless, elusive and, precise the most effective hitmen in the world can be. I wasn’t interested in superhero movies anymore after this film. It gave me a new perspective on what great storytelling is, and made me more interested in the production of movies as an art, as opposed to a conventional Hollywood blockbuster.
What I love about Bardem's work is how he acts clinically insane...sociopathic...and yet there are tiny glimpses of when you see that even Chigurh doesn't take his own bullshit seriously sometimes.
It so well explained in the books, sadly. He really goes into the mental issues he's having leading up to his arrest in the start of the film.
Must Read. Thanks for the hint
@@StudioMod Why does he get arrested in the beginning of the film?
@@giraffesareselfish9563 he killed someone at a bar before hand. And allowed himself to get arrested because he knew he could get out of it. He had to prove it to himself to see if he was still, in his mind, fates’s chosen hand.
@@StudioMod thank you for replying, greatly appreciated
"Is Carson Wells there?" "Not in the sense that you mean..." BWAHAHAHA!!!
I like how he looks over at Carson too when he says it...
hahaha like he had to take a second to think of what the situation called for.
stfu
"I know something better...I know where its going to be" .....just love that line and all along Anton is just grinning showing just how insane he is.
it will be brought to me and placed at my feet
Also smiling because he just doesn't care and mocking the guy before he shoots him 😂😂😂
"an ATM," When I saw that, you can quickly see Carson's drop in mood. He new at this point he's dead meat. Anton takes great pleasure in tormenting Carson before filling him full of OO buck. Its obviously personal. Had nothing to do with money.
It's not personal, it's complety random.
He knew he was dead when he heard Anton on the stairs. The attempt to bargain was just human instinct.
3 inch, or 2¾ ? The only question... (the 11-87 chambered both)
its not completely random though. Carson was hired to get the money. He was in the way of Anton. And Anton wanted to enjoy ending him. Anton is a man of principles. Whenever someone gets in his way, if they are innocent, he gives them the coin toss, which is a chance which he, as an agent of destiny/death, acts on the result, as fate. It was their destiny to die by him. Anyways. Carson was in his way. He had to be dealt with. Hence he asks him, if following the rule got you to this point, what was the point
I would wager that its not personal at all. Anton saw that Carson was obstructing his business, and had already knew he was going to kill him, if just because he was interfering with his work.
Though, psychological torture and hard questions are just his favorite way of doing things.
you are always thinking someone has a chance of survival in these situations but when a dude with a wierd smile and shotgun silencer and calmly says 'an ATM' after offered ransom money, you know you are a dead man. Brilliant acting!
The way he said, "an ATM" was just insane... And that phone was loud as hell..
Yeah the phone woke my dad up loll
I love how he nonchalantly puts his feet on the bed when the blood starts to flow towards him.
One thing that I still can’t wrap my head around is that Anton is almost non self-aware. When Carson asks him “Do you have any idea how crazy you are?” Anton doesn’t really even pay attention to what Carson is getting at. He replies “the nature of this conversation?” Almost confused like he doesn’t realize he’s abnormal. Like in his mind he thinks he’s like the rest of us.
To me, right when Anton hears Carson's reply his facial expression changes from taken back to infuriated within a half second. In Anton's mind, hearing someone call him crazy is unheard of as well as absolutely insulting. Right then as Chigurh's face changed, we can correctly assume that Carson's reply made the decision for this toying around banter to end as well as his life.
This scene is only 5 minutes but the first time you watch it, it seems like 50 minutes because of the overwhelming sense of dread the viewer feels for Carson. Not knowing if he will die or not makes every moment last ages.
I'm reading the book at the moment. It's amazing how well the Coens adapted it. The dialogue in this scene is pretty much word for word straight from the book. Brilliant.
It was what the Cohen brothers said after they read it.
"It was begging to be made into a movie".
The casting was also brilliant.
"Do you have any idea how crazy you are?"
"You mean the nature of this conversation?"
"I mean the nature of you."
The redness of Carson's face in the second shot tells you everything you need to know about how people view this... being...
As soon as Chigurh came from the side of the stairs and turned, it was one of the greatest moments on film. The scene where his shadow can be seen was also awesome, love a good old psychotic, menacing villain.
Note: He fires in tandem with the ringing phone to mask the gunshot.
Never noticed that either.
+Tony Favilla he didnt have to mask it either, he had a silencer on it anyway
+Ryan Harrington I think it was more to mask the after noise. The chair rocking, the gasp Carson made ect ect, the silencer was at work right before the phone rang.
+Harly Roper yep
lmao the silencer already masks it. it was pretty much a countdown
Good acting here. He went from trying to be reasonable and bargain with him, to frustration and insulting him after realizing it wasnt working, then regretted it slightly shaking his head with his eyes closed and gave one more last desperate attempt to reason with him.
""Do you have any idea how crazy you are?!" "You mean the nature of this conversation?" "I mean the nature of *YOU* "" One of the greatest and funniest quotes in Cinema History. Just way too funny.
I love when J.B. smile and he is like
An atm? Cmon..
This scene great, no CGI animation, no music score.
2:50 the director has the lightning and tension in this scene down to perfection. Love how the weapon is highlighted
I watched the movie several times and came to view Anton as a sort of a comical character, walking and talking Death with stupid hair. Certainly has a sense of humour. "Is Carson Wells there?" - "Not in the sense that you mean". Indeed Carson is both there and not there. I also have to admit that he offered Llewellyn Moss a decent deal, the best deal that anyone indeed could offer to him, - certainly better than the Mexicans, and by this moment in film the viewer knows that Anton is the man of his (weird) word. Moss should have taken it, at least formally. By refusing to accept Anton's deal, Moss essentially sealed his wife's fate, while by accepting the deal, by simply bringing the money, and then trying to get rid of Anton, Moss could have saved her, and still have a chance to survive. At least the two would have a fair showdown, and Moss wouldn't die stupidly.
OK, Moss was an old warrior, so you say. You know what these little viet cong did with this warriors, despite beeing outgunned like hell? Also how ignorant must be somebody seeing Mexicans not as warriors? They fought some tough battles too. And still do in their country. Eachother, the cops, the drug cartells, criminals....you name it. I don't think a modern pussycat gringo would last long deep inside this dangerous country....
As for your other point I think Chigurh expected Moss to bring him the money in a kind of suicidal way or the deal would be off. He did not offer him a fair fight for the money or even for Moss' life. He wanted Moss to be aware that he has to die for "inconveniencing" him and to save his wife and to accept it. Wells warned him exactly about that but he thought of himself as the better warrior and put the life of his wife at stake for some money.
99.99% of us will die stupidly.
@@horst424 ??The poster was saying he could agree to terms, bring money and then just try and kill him if possible during the meet. Its probably his best course of action at this point
Revisiting this scene, 0:22 is a really weird scene in terms of how Anton approaches him. Even though he doesn’t appear to have feelings, he seems rather joyous that Carson saw him, by the way he started walking. It’s really creepy..
"..I can just go home" haha
You could. ..?;)
He went home.
To his permanent home from now on.
he went shit hell,,noob
This whole time I thought Anton was saying "are you good?" as in "are you a good day trader?" and that's why Carson says "yeah I got $14k in my bank account"
I loved Javiar Bardem’s performance! Absolutely outstanding
“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” Love that line. Love that line so much.
You can really see that he loves what he does, he takes his time to really enjoy everything.
This is one of the most tense movies I've seen in a long, long time. I'm so used to even a little bit of background music that the absence of that made me flinch at every little noise. Very well done.
I like how there wasn't a scene that's in a lot of movies where the backstory between two characters is explained in some rushed piece of exposition that sometimes throws you out of the mood of the movie. All we know is these two knew each other and that Carson knew the kind of person Anton was. We know they weren't friends, they might have even been business enemies, but there was no scene explaining why.
The chair Carson is sitting in makes him look like he has wings. He is already dead, and he has gotten his angel wings.
Carson could have attempted to fight him at the stairs. He saw Anton was limping and holding the gun in only one hand. Carson was probably pretty experienced and knew Anton will kill him as early as he saw him.
Anton enjoyed watching Carson jump when the phone rang, it was the happiest point for him throughout the movie in my opinion. Having defeated his opponent, that was Anton's reward.
Anton, is the coin. Chance. Chaos. That which is unpredictable, but the universe controls and absorbs, nonetheless. Great movie, book and acting. My fave.
"It truly is no country for old men."
Best line in the movie.
Interesting fact:
Regarding Anton Chigurh, I read an interesting article in the Business Insider. There was a group of psychiatrists that decided to assess which movie psycho was the best in acting like a real psychopath. I mean like a real psychopath according to science and psychopathy tests. After they watched about 400 movies (more times), they concluded that Chigurh is the closest to an actual psychopath.
If when chigurh said “let’s go to your room” Carson seizes the initiative and just threw himself upon him hurling them both down the stairs and wrestling for the gun... he may have had a chance.
But we know paralysing fear removed the idea even occurring to him as a possibility
I'm certain that people who don't like this movie are watching movies incorrectly. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise. This is pure cinema. Drama. Tension. Dialogue. Directing. Acting. Everything is on point. I'll be damned if this isn't the definition of good filmmaking.
I like how he says it, just "do you have any idea *pause* how crazy you are?" he can barely believe how nuts anton is
Woody Harrelson stole this scene. The nuances in the way he battles his panic to keep composure is a masterclass acting.
“An ATM” smile and look😂😂😂😂😂