History Film / NoCountryForOldMen

* ArbitraryGunPower: In RealLife, a cattle-gun would barely be able to '''dent''' a door-lock, much less blow it completely out of the door. Though, one could argue that one of the most psychotic and dangerous people ever may have made a few accommodations to his main method of breaking into houses and killing victims.

** Many people think that going again into the desert to give water was an extremely dumb decision Moss made. But ultimately this could be a thing that actually saved his life for that time. They tried to chase him there, he managed to get out, he knew they would soon find him by the truck plate and he started moving. If he hadn't returned to the desert, he most likely would have been eventually found by Chigurh via the tracker, he would have caught him completely off guard in his own house.

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: In the film, the deputy who arrests Chigurh at the beginning simply has him sit in a chair, then turns him back on him and makes a phone call. This allows Chigurh to bend forward, slip his cuffed hands under his feet so that his hands are in front of him, then choke the deputy to death. In reality, he would have immediately been placed in a holding cell.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Chigurh walks off quite badly injured because of a car accident but otherwise he's killed everyone he was hired to kill and then some and it doesn't seem like he will face repercussions]]. That such things seem to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:That this seems to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Played with. [[spoiler:Llewelyn's killers get away just as Bell arrives, but he managed to kill one and sent the rest running in fear.]] Later, [[spoiler:Chigurh does kill his wife, but she defies his nonsensical logic. Shortly after, a car slams into him, apparently killing him, but he manages to get out and escape after bribing some kids nearby to keep quiet -- many critics saw this as a clean getaway, but even with his medical knowledge, the injuries he received are not treatable by himself, and are very likely to put him out of commission, if not kill him.]]

* SelfStitching: Chigurh blows up a car so he can steal medical supplies to treat his injuries; he's later shown stitching himself up, as if we need proof that he's any more badass than he already is.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Carson Wells. Subverted by Anton Chigurh, however. Llewelyn eventually realizes that there's no way Chigurh could be tracking him so effectively without some sort of advantage. Sure enough, there's a tracking device in the money bag.

''[cut to new scene]''

* WhamLine: It doubles as a BadassBoast...or it would have, if not for the eventual subversion.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Chigurh's one is a bizarre mix of Bardem's natural Spanish, West Texan, Transylvanian, and something like ''Martian''. He sounds like an alien trying to imitate a human accent, and failing spectacularly.

* FreshClue: In the film, while Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is investigating Llewelyn Moss' trailer, he notices condensation on a bottle of milk. The killer they're tracking had left the milk there less than an hour ago. Unfortunately, this doesn't really help them find the killer ''now''.

'''Bell:''' Alright. What we circulate? [[DeadpanSnarker Looking for a man who has recently drunk milk?]]

** Many people think that going again into the desert to give water was an extremely dumb decision Moss made. But ultimately this could be a thing that actually saved his life for that time. If he hadn't returned to the desert, he most likely would have been found by Chigurh via the tracker, he would have caught him completely off guard in his own house.

* ImplausibleCorneredEscape: Near the film's end, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell arrives at a crime scene while Chigurh is still there, leading audiences to expect these characters to finally meet and have their showdown. But Chigurh somehow evades Sheriff Bell, with no explanation.

* HopeSpot: It’s nearing the end of the second act, Moss has ditched the transponder that was tracing him, and Carla has just told Sheriff Bell exactly where her husband is going to be, that though he was too proud to ask for himself, he needed help to take on the monsters he was facing. All seems set for a third-act confrontation… but this isn’t that kind of movie. [[spoiler:Bell finds him freshly KilledOffscreen, and everything goes to hell for everyone else.]]

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Chigurh. He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon, and his primary firearm is a silenced Remington 11-87 shotgun with a pistol grip.

--> '''Accountant:''' Are you going to shoot me?\\

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While on the way to meet up with Moss with her daughter, Carla’s mother speaks to a polite, well-dressed Mexican man who helps her with her luggage, making small talk about where she’s headed. [[spoiler:Using this information, the gang is able to get the drop on Moss just as he thought he had a moment to breathe and plan, killing him. This, in turn, utterly seals Carla’s fate, as Moss’ plan to confront Chigurh and send her away with the money was the only conceivable way he might not have been able to kill her.]]

** Bell uses a revolver for a service pistol

* GenreBusting: A specialty of Creator/TheCoenBrothers. Each of the main characters' stories seems to inhabit its own genre: Chigurh is the killer in a slasher movie, Ed Tom Bell is in a Western, and Moss is in a gritty crime thriller.

''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 neo-Western thriller film written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers, based on a [[Literature/NoCountryForOldMen 2005 novel]] by Creator/CormacMcCarthy. The result is a chilling film that's considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.

** Anton Chigurh uses a coin toss to decide whether to kill or spare certain people.

* MissedHimByThatMuch: Chigurh tracks Llewelyn via transponder to a motel room. While Chigurh is [[spoiler:violently eliminating the Mexicans occupying the room, Llewelyn is dragging the 50 lb. satchel through a ventilation duct in the opposite room. The gunfire and screaming mask the scraping sounds created by the bag.]] By the time Anton checks the vent, Llewelyn has left the motel and hitched a ride out of town.

''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2005 neo-Western thriller novel by Creator/CormacMcCarthy, a grizzled old man who refuses to discuss his books beyond their often disturbing content. In 2007, it was adapted into a film written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers, and the result was a chilling film that's considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.

* DownerEnding: Not only [[spoiler:is the deuteragonist murdered (off-screen)]], but then [[spoiler:the villain murders the hero's wife (again, off-screen) and escapes justice, leaving an old man to contemplate his inability to act in the face of so much seemingly pointless violence of the world. On a slightly brighter note, we see that Chigurh is himself not immune to the impartiality of the universe. While he survives the film, he winds up wounded and without his money. The novel also implies that the police are still tracking down Chigurh, indicating that soon he will be caught]].

* AxCrazy: Anton Chigurh kills a lot of people with no emotion, and has a "personal code" which mostly seems to be an excuse for killing people who do not pose a threat.

But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the men behind the deal have sent ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh (Creator/JavierBardem) to retrieve the briefcase. Chigurh is a man willing to do ''[[TheUnfettered absolutely anything]]'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]," [[BlueAndOrangeMorality as he puts it]] -- in order to achieve his aims... and it's no longer just the money he's after.

* DisapprovingLook: Creator/TommyLeeJones' famous "Implied Facepalm" given to one of his deputies -- in context, it's both annoyance at the gung-ho of the Deputy trying to get Bell off his ass and investigating the crime scene, and the fact the other agencies on scene are just as gung-ho.

* BeigeProse: The novel, even more so than usual for [=McCarthy=], thanks to it originally being written as a screenplay.

** In the novel, he casually describes how he murdered someone in a parking lot for making fun of him.

* {{Narrator}}: In the novel, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. In the movie, he narrates the opening, and in his closing scenes, his dialogue becomes more and more like narration.

** Bell uses a revolver for a service pistol in the novel, highlighting his old-fashioned ways.

* TheAtoner: Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, mostly in the book; just hinted at in TheFilmOfTheBook.

* DeathIsDramatic: [[spoiler:Moss']] death is a notable subversion in drama, as it happens off-screen. Though in the book, the gun battle with the cartel is actually described vividly by a police officer after the fact, and it's pretty damn dramatic how it went down.

** This example exists only in the book: when Sheriff Bell first meets Carla Jean, he removes his hat, which she takes to mean that he's informing her that her husband is dead, and Bell has to quickly calm her down and explain that he was just being polite before she has a breakdown. Later on (and this scene is in the film), they meet again and he removes his hat once more, only this time [[spoiler:Llewelyn]] is actually dead, and it takes Carla Jean a moment to understand this time.

* KarmaHoudini: Played with. [[spoiler:Llewelyn's killers get away just as Bell arrives, but he managed to kill one and sent the rest running in fear.]] Later, [[spoiler:Chigurh does kill his wife, but she defies his nonsensical logic. Shortly after, a car slams into him, apparently killing him, but he manages to get out and escape after bribing some kids nearby to keep quiet -- many critics saw this as a clean getaway, but even with his medical knowledge, the injuries he received are not treatable by himself, and are very likely to put him out of commission, if not kill him.]] It's spelled out further in the book, where [[spoiler:one of the kids rats him out and the sheriffs know where he's going.]]

* ThatsWhatSheSaid: Amazingly enough. In the book, during the first exchange between Moss and Carla Jean.
-->Keep it up.\\
That's what she said.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: The duel between Chigurh and Moss is very different in the book and movie. In the movie, [[spoiler:when Chigurh cracks the doorknob, it strikes Moss, who shoots back and flees. In the book, Moss turns on his bathroom light and hides in the dark, and when Chigurh inspects the bathroom, Moss holds him at gunpoint and escorts him down the hall with Chigurh facing away. He has the opportunity to kill him right there, but is apparently reluctant to commit murder.]]

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