***The Ballad of Buster Scruggs***

7,717 Views | 63 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by thejavelina
schmendeler
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Yeah I enjoyed the first one and maybe pan shot the most. The rest were varying levels of goodness, imo.
IDAGG
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I am a big fan of the Coen Brother's movies. This one was a bit hit and miss. I actually liked the final short story the best. The one in the Stagecoach. "Earthly Remains" I think it is called. I watched that one three times. The dialogue and characters are very very good. Tyne Daily, The Frenchman and the Englishman were my favorites.

Well and the Trapper: "People are like ferrets!"
MookieBlaylock
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IDAGG said:

I am a big fan of the Coen Brother's movies. This one was a bit hit and miss. I actually liked the final short story the best. The one in the Stagecoach. "Earthly Remains" I think it is called. I watched that one three times. The dialogue and characters are very very good. Tyne Daily, The Frenchman and the Englishman were my favorites.

Well and the Trapper: "People are like ferrets!"
Yeah that one I found boring

sad the first was the best by a long shot
Leggo My Elko
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I loved all but the last one.
Zombie Jon Snow
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I was pretty meh about the whole thing.. and I am a Coen Bros. fan.

The characters and actors were better than the stories. Some great scenery and settings though.

Felt like it had real potential but lacked a message or anything tying it together or even some tangential relationship. Felt very disjointed and anti-climatic.
Bobcat06
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Zombie Jon Snow said:

I was pretty meh about the whole thing.. and I am a Coen Bros. fan.

The characters and actors were better than the stories. Some great scenery and settings though.

Felt like it had real potential but lacked a message or anything tying it together or even some tangential relationship. Felt very disjointed and anti-climatic.

It was intentionally disjointed and displayed the Coen Bros range. Each of the stories had a different flavor similar to how their movies have a very wide range. The same people who made the comedic musical O Brother (like the story of Buster Scruggs) made the dark crime drama No Country for Old Men (like the story Meal Ticket).

As for the central theme, the film is about the brutality and meaning of life. In each story, the main character has a brush with death for a variety of reasons. Buster Scruggs learns no matter how badass you are, there's always a someone more badass than you. Franco's bandit miraculously escapes execution only to be executed for a mistaken identity and learns that you can't outrun death. The quadriplegic is killed when he no longer provides value. Alice Longabaugh dies because she lost her nerve.
AgGrad99
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yeah...i got all that, and other themes/points...but it wasnt entertaining. (some of it was, but as a whole...meh)

I appreciate their range, but that's not why I watch a movie.

It's like food: I love PB&J, and I love lobster...and I appreciate a chef who can make both really well. But I dont want a chef to smash those together.
Zombie Jon Snow
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I got all that....and love other Coen works.....

this just didn't work for me.

interesting at times maybe... but i just didn't care really.

let's put it this way - i have no need to ever watch it again - whereas I've watched O'Brother about 375 times and could watch it again tonight gladly.



Sex Panther
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ChiliBeans said:

Amazing. Favorite thing I've watched in a long time.


Right there with you. Absolutely loved it... probably my favorite thing Netflix has put out so far.

I'm def gonna watch the last story again soon to try and put it together
suburban cowboy
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Wish there would have been more Buster Scruggs.
Furlock Bones
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I did not know anything about this when I downloaded it for my flight. Was shocked when Buster was killed immediately. Didn't know it was a bunch of short stories. Really liked it.
VikingNik
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The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
schmendeler
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VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
Texaggie7nine
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schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
7nine
schmendeler
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Texaggie7nine said:

schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
I was waiting for more exposition on that. I assumed the bounty hunter was going to kill one or all of them. but the coachman "never stops" made me think there was something supernatural. but then, what are we supposed to get from them arriving at an empty hotel?
Zombie Jon Snow
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schmendeler said:

Texaggie7nine said:

schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
I was waiting for more exposition on that. I assumed the bounty hunter was going to kill one or all of them. but the coachman "never stops" made me think there was something supernatural. but then, what are we supposed to get from them arriving at an empty hotel?

I took it as symbolic more or less - they were dead, yes, but the hotel was the waypoint or the purgatory if you will. And the dead body the were hauling well.....could have been he didn't need to go through purgatory like a bad bad person so already dead... or simply could be symbolic of death and was not a dead body after all.... or could be just the vessel of a soul that has passed on already.

The hotel and Fort represent that destination - actually it could be purgatory or it could actually be the final resting place now that i think about it more. Either way it's their passage from life to death.

I think it's empty because it is purgatory - others have passed on and they are simply the latest to arrive. Or again it could be their final resting place, symbolically, and so it is for them only. Like a hotel for some group or set of people, not everyone, and they are either the first to arrive or it is only for them.

BTW - along the lines of what i was saying before about not having some unifying theme, moral, or link between stories - THAT was the opportunity right there. If they opened the doors and were welcomed by Buster, the Gold prospector thief, the cowboy, the limbless actor, Alice and her brother for example. You could imagine what interesting stories they would have to tell - for eternity.



Bobcat06
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Isn't the film's perspective on the afterlife addressed after Buster is shot?
Zombie Jon Snow
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Bobcat06 said:

Isn't the film's perspective on the afterlife addressed after Buster is shot?

Considering the source material for several of the stories are different authors - I would say it's not consistently defined across all the stories. the gold prospector story is based on a Jack London short story for example.

I was also just suggesting they could have made that part different and left out Buster's ascension for example and then reveal them all at the end. Just a thought.

Could have been just Buster's story. Could have been just Buster's impression. Could have been just Buster's initial passage. Could be his passage to purgatory is different.

I don't think that's deterministic.
bobbranco
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I bet Buster went straight to hell.
IDAGG
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bobbranco said:

I bet Buster went straight to hell.
Well the angels wings and harp would be a misdirection then...
VikingNik
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schmendeler said:

Texaggie7nine said:

schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
I was waiting for more exposition on that. I assumed the bounty hunter was going to kill one or all of them. but the coachman "never stops" made me think there was something supernatural. but then, what are we supposed to get from them arriving at an empty hotel?


They weren't bounty hunters. They were soul reapers. They carry souls across the abyss. The passengers didn't quite grasp that when told and only were able to comprehend them as bounty hunters. The coachman who doesn't stop is time, which stops for no one. When the coach turned around and left with their belongings (because you can't take it with you) it became quite clear. The stairs to a brightly lit place above and out of sight fully out of scale with the building they arrived at. So much symbolism.
schmendeler
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VikingNik said:

schmendeler said:

Texaggie7nine said:

schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
I was waiting for more exposition on that. I assumed the bounty hunter was going to kill one or all of them. but the coachman "never stops" made me think there was something supernatural. but then, what are we supposed to get from them arriving at an empty hotel?


They weren't bounty hunters. They were soul reapers. They carry souls across the abyss. The passengers didn't quite grasp that when told and only were able to comprehend them as bounty hunters. The coachman who doesn't stop is time, which stops for no one. When the coach turned around and left with their belongings (because you can't take it with you) it became quite clear. The stairs to a brightly lit place above and out of sight fully out of scale with the building they arrived at. So much symbolism.
this makes sense. except for the dead body being dragged along with them.
Urban Ag
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Sex Panther said:

ChiliBeans said:

Amazing. Favorite thing I've watched in a long time.


Right there with you. Absolutely loved it... probably my favorite thing Netflix has put out so far.

I'm def gonna watch the last story again soon to try and put it together
Agreed. I watched the first story yesterday and thought it was freaking awesome. Just drew me in. Excited to catch the rest.
brents1975
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I really liked it. I've watched it three times so far
"That's a loss for our football team." - Dennis Franchione
Liquid Wrench
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Quote:

They weren't bounty hunters. They were soul reapers. They carry souls across the abyss. The passengers didn't quite grasp that when told and only were able to comprehend them as bounty hunters. The coachman who doesn't stop is time, which stops for no one. When the coach turned around and left with their belongings (because you can't take it with you) it became quite clear. The stairs to a brightly lit place above and out of sight fully out of scale with the building they arrived at. So much symbolism.
I didn't think about that until I rewatched, and the lines about "the coachman never stops" stood out more. You never see the coachman's face, the imagery of him whipping the horses is somewhat ghostlike. Watching it in that light, you see the fear in the faces of the three passengers who don't want to get off the coach because they don't know what's waiting for them inside. Makes sense as a capstone since the previous chapters highlighted the fragility of life.

Of course, it also works fine as a literal story about bounty hunters taking a body with them and the other passengers being creeped out by them, and spooked about going inside the inn w/ the killers and their victim inside.
bobbranco
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IDAGG said:

bobbranco said:

I bet Buster went straight to hell.
Well the angels wings and harp would be a misdirection then...
When you are called to the pearly gates and meet God maybe you get to fly their with wings and lyre.

The God renders judgement.
Objective Aggie
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VikingNik said:

schmendeler said:

Texaggie7nine said:

schmendeler said:

VikingNik said:

The last one was pretty obvious once they arrived at the hotel. Pretty haunting, still dancing around in my mind.
what was obvious?
That they were all dead.

I got that feeling when they arrived as well, but why would they have a dead body if they were dead?
I was waiting for more exposition on that. I assumed the bounty hunter was going to kill one or all of them. but the coachman "never stops" made me think there was something supernatural. but then, what are we supposed to get from them arriving at an empty hotel?


They weren't bounty hunters. They were soul reapers. They carry souls across the abyss. The passengers didn't quite grasp that when told and only were able to comprehend them as bounty hunters. The coachman who doesn't stop is time, which stops for no one. When the coach turned around and left with their belongings (because you can't take it with you) it became quite clear. The stairs to a brightly lit place above and out of sight fully out of scale with the building they arrived at. So much symbolism.
the time setting continues that them.
Sunset to dark, with eerie blue lighting at the end.

Still, why the extra dead body?
Nagler
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I think the dead body throws it off.

They want you thinking they're dead but at the end they're just creeped out.
mazzag
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Meal Ticket and the Girl who got Rattled were my favorites. I'd recommend this but not watch again. I did love the warthog from Hell in the Ballad.
thejavelina
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Best movie I've seen from 2018. "The Girl Who Got Rattled" recalls a certain scene from "The Searchers". "Meal Ticket" made me hate Liam Neeson. I never thought I'd see a new Western that stayed true to the genre but told a series of stories in a way I've never seen before.
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