What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[Reclaimedwg]

I dug up my copy of Escape from New York.

Did anyone else had the hots for Adrienne Barbeau?

She was in Escape from New York:



Cannonball Run:



and here's her nude scene from the European version of Swamp Thing that was never shown in the US theatrical and home video versions.





I just looked her up on IMDB and she was married to John Carpenter from 1979-1984.

What a lucky bastard!

No wonder she had a starring role in 3 of his movies: The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), Someone's Watching Me! (1978 TV movie).

She was also the computer voice in The Thing (1982).

Can you believe she is 73 now?

[Reclaimedwg]

It's almost Christmas!

That means it's time to watch the THREE Best and Most Perfect Christmas movies ever made in human history!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/

I watch Die Hard every year at Christmas season - never get tired of it.

How can you get tired of a movie that covers all the things good and pure that encompasses the meaning of Christmas?

Love, family, selflessness, compassion, giving, human sacrifice and eggnog!!

Some of my reviews of it that I posted on the internet over the years -

December 2015:

I have seen this severa dozen times in the past 27 years and to this day, this is still the most perfect action film ever made.

Each repeated viewing is like watching it for the first time again.

It never gets old and dull and boring and repetitive!

Very few films since have come close to this masterpiece.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Even the Die Hard sequels including Die Hard 2 Die Harder couldn't top this first installment in the franchise.

Actually I call this the perfect Christmas movie and the ONLY ONE OF THREE movies to watch on Christmas Day.

Not those wimpy boring over-rated It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol sissy movies!

5/5 or 10/10

December 2017:

My umpteenth viewing of the Best Christmas movie ever made and also quite possibly the most perfect flawless action movie ever made!!

Die Hard (1988)

NYPD officer John McClane only wanted to spend Christmas with his wife and beloved children but a bunch of terrorists want to ruin his plans.

That is the problem with terrorists. They're really inconsiderate when it comes to people's schedules.

5/5

My review on another website from December 2017:

Lethal Weapon (1987)



2ND Best Christmas movie ever made next to Die Hard.

How is this a Christmas movie, you ask?

Look how many times they wished each other Merry Christmas in it !!







Can you believe this movie is 30 years old already?

5/5

p.s.

The girl that jumped to her death at the beginning is played by the same actress who went on to play Kelly Gaines, Woody Harrelson's girlfriend in Cheers.

Imagine that!



She did her own jump stunt. That's actually a large airbag with the cars and curb and pavement painted on it.

My review on another website from December 2017:

Gremlins (1984)



My 3RD and Final choice for Best Christmas movie ever made, next to Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

Small town boy Billy Peltzer only wanted to have a quiet Christmas with his family and his very cute girlfriend, Kate.

Instead he and Kate are fighting for their very lives in an effort to save Christmas from the town's Lady Scrooge and a horde of rude creatures, both hell bent on destroying everything that's pure and wonderful about Christmas.

After all, who doesn't love spending the Christmas Holidays with Gizmo and Woof Woof?







5/5

[Reclaimedwg]

Bad Times At The El Royale (2018)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6628394/





The El Royale hotel, located off the beaten path, built right on the California/Nevada border with its main lobby, lounge and restaurant spanning each side of both States and with rooms located in both Nevada and California, was during its heyday in the 1950's the go to place for the wealthy and powerful and famous.

The movie opens in 1959 with one solitary man checking into one of El Royale's rooms.

Most folks when they first walk into a hotel room, they make sure that there are plenty of towels, that the TV works, that the bed is not too hard and there are plenty of pillows on it:

this unidentified person does something completely different, opposite, very strange and unconventional which I will not give away.

Fast forward 10 years to 1969, the El Royale has lost its luster and most of its rooms have fallen into disarray. Very few people even know it exists and its rooms have not seen any guests in a long time.

4 strangers arrives at the hotel at almost the same time: a priest, a down and out back up singer dreaming of becoming the next big act in Reno's finest casinos, a traveling vacuum cleaner salesman, and a foul mouthed young woman.

4 strangers who do not know each other with nothing in common and who will give new meaning to two of the many social etiquettes our parents taught us as soon as we were old enough to understand them:

1. don't talk to strangers

and

2. don't stick your nose in business that doesn't concern you.

To say any more is to spoil the movie.

I can say that the first act of the movie where each one of the 4 strangers are introduced with a backstory and a flashback scene is the best part.

But the 2nd act where the story tries to cohesively bring them together by finding some type of common ground among them is when the story begans to unravel and fall apart.

Then by the time the 3rd and final act is shown, everything just felt forced, formulaic, convenient and way too clean and tidy.

We have seen this movie many times before, there is even a genre name for it on IMDB:

"Group of Strangers meet in a one room setting movies"

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls066670465/

Director Drew Goddard, famous for his directorial debut of the very successful anti-horror comedy Cabin In The Woods and for writing critical hits such as The Martian and Cloverfield, tries to take something that's been done before and elevate it to a different and better level:

he attempts to do so by evoking narrative and exposition styles borrowed from many similar movies before it but he just can't completely pull it off.

On IMDB, this movie has received a rating of 7.3 out of 10.0 using the mean average from a total of 381 reviews:

65 of them gave it a 10 out of 10, calling it: A Must See, Brilliant, Great Movie!, Outstanding, Best I've seen in a long time, Awesome, Wow, They don't make it like this anymore, Best Tarantinosque movie ever, Best Movie of 2018, Favorite film of 2018, etc., etc.

180 of them gave it an 7 to 9 out of 10 rating with equal praises to boot.

On Rotten Tomatoes, out of 218 critics who reviewed it, 191 of them gave it a Fresh tomato rating and called it exquisite, audacious, top notch, intriguing, mesmerizing, magnificent, etc., etc.

This must be the most critically over-hyped movie by both audience and critics I've seen this year and in the past couple of years.

It's worth a look if you have almost 2 hours and 21 minutes to spare but by the time the ending credits start to roll, you won't even have one memorable scene from it to remember it by.

1/5

[Brecht]

Ordet (1955)



Trailer

Morten Borgen (Henrik Malberg), patriarch of a wealthy peasant family and patron of the local church, has three sons. The eldest and only married among them, Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen), does not share his father's religious beliefs and leads a happy life with his pregnant wife Inger (Birgitte Federspiel). Then there's Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) who went insane studying the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard which left him believing he's Jesus. Johannes spends most of his days wandering around, condemning everyone's lack of faith. Morten's youngest son, Anders (Cay Kristiansen), is desperately in love with Anne (Gerda Nielsen), the daughter of the head of a local evangelical sect, Peter (Ejner Federspiel). At first both fathers are against the relationship unless the partner of their child converts but after Anders is harshly rejected by Peter, Morten decides to abandon his objections and tries to talk to Peter. But their differences seem to grow only larger.

Well-directed and with a superb cast, Ordet is one of Carl Theodor Dreyer's final films. It's still probably my least favourite. Not so much because it is a relatively boring story with a ridiculous ending but because it's Dreyer's strong condemnation of reason and modernity. Halfway through the film, I wondered if the insane Johannes is a fictional reflection of the director himself.

[Wendigo]

One Dark Night (1982)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086050/


A classic 80's horror movie with no nudity, no gore just solely concentrating on the storytelling.
The plot is pretty basic student Julie (Meg Tilly) is an introverted student and is hoping to get into an exclusive frat club of three girls "The Sisters".
Her initiation involves being locked in a mausoleum overnight, the twist being that a suspected killer known as Raymar who was also a renowned practitioner of telekinesis.
Two of the three girls break into the mausoleum that night to scare Julie but Raymar has not finished yet


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqVxrMwXzuA

[Oh hi Mark!]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs





This was a recommendation from my favorite camgirl, who is a Netflix junkie. This movie was made for Netflix by the incomparable Coen Brothers. I haven't seen any of their movies past 2010's True Grit. It wasn't because I got tired of them, it just never came to be. I broke that long streak with this still new film. It was described to me though as a musical, and that she didn't finish the film, falling asleep towards the end. Not because it was boring, she was just tired. Coen Brothers don't make boring stuff, at least what I've seen so far. I think at times, seemingly in later movies, they do meander and drag scenes on for quite a while. There's a purpose to that typically, and it's one of the biggest features of this movie. Looking up the movie, one of the tags on IMDB was “Musical,” and the description states that it's an anthology film. I didn't get the latter info from the camgirl, but I was still looking forward to this movie. Coen Brothers, why not? Really taking the recommendation seriously, the next day following her name-dropping the movie, I watched it.


Since this is an anthology series, I'll label each story, as the movie does in the form of chapters in a book. I'll say straight away that with my current attention span, this anthology format was very helpful. Especially for a movie going over 2 hours, knowing how the Coens would have some long and/or quiet scenes. In a sense, the movie was tailor made for me in terms of the presentation and format. Introducing the movie and the transitional scenes feature a person turning the pages of a book. You can tell by the words that they tell the story you are about to see play out, or you just finished. There are picture pages that would preview the next story. It's an interesting format, again it's something I can easily get into given my current attention span. I admit though that I was multi-tasking quite a bit, chatting with someone, and playing a Pokemon ROMhack during this viewing. I missed some scenes that required going back, and there was one I kept playing because I couldn't understand it, and that was the final story. More on that later. I want to stress though that I really felt like I got the gist of the movie, I watched it all, pretty much. I paid attention and whatnot. In saying that though, there is a need to watch it again because my opinion's a bit in-the-air. I battled between what the final rating for this movie should be. I won't bother rating each story, but I'll still give opinions on them in their respective sections. So let's get into the chapters, the book is actually called The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier. Six chapters, introductory pages include one on the picture pages, as they have little text under each one. The first one is an illustration with what turned out to be a direct quote of an upcoming scene.


Chapter 1: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs


I probably should have took a hint when I saw that Tim Blake Nelson, who plays the titular character, is not billed first. He's billed in the middle of the cast, the first billed actor appears in the final story, and the second appears...in the second...story. Also, as it turned out, this was the only musical portion of the movie, and these stories vary in duration. This particular chapter feels like one of the shortest of the 6, and as a result, is one of the few that moves the fastest. You get a clear sense of who Buster Scruggs is through the actions and musical numbers. I assume the casting of Nelson was deliberate, to have a revered Western figure that doesn't look like who anyone would expect. People look at him, know the name, and think he's just a fraud or whatever. That leads to a challenge, and in almost all the depicted situations, they end up dead. Scruggs also gives a lot of 4th wall breaking dialogue, talking directly to the viewer about himself. During a duel scene, he's not looking into the camera, but he's still talking as if directly to the viewer. He of course interacts with characters in the movie as well. Knowing all the stories now, this tale was the best possible one to start the film. It gives off one of the best examples of Coen Brothers' signature dark humor and dedication to scenery. The whole movie feels like a Western, I think the final story differs in overall realism, most of the others though feel real. Scruggs' apparently has a bunch of nicknames that cover his two biggest qualities, his gun-slinging and singing. Oh, that rhymes! Again, with what Tim Blake Nelson looks like, you wouldn't expect him to be a badass gunslinger, but here he's a quick-drawing killer. The first instance of that, he kills all but one person with two shots, in a bar. It's about 5 or 6 people in the place, that for some reason have whiskey outlawed, but the guys are drinking whiskey anyways. One person survives, but not for long. Next, Scruggs goes to a saloon, a man gives up on a card game, and Scruggs thinks about taking his place. He sees the cards this man left behind, changes his mind, but he is forced to play by the commanding voice of Clancy Brown! He said “You seen 'em, you play 'em,” which is exactly what was a caption under the Scruggs picture. Not knowing poker, I assume the hand the guy left behind was not a good one. However, he anted, so Scruggs has to play, I guess. He refused, Clancy Brown's character stands up and shows his two guns. Scruggs didn't have his guns, the saloon having a no-gun policy, yet Brown's character can break that rule. The odds are against Scruggs in this situation, but no problem. What he does next mirrors that picture, a true fit of ingenuity. He used the table as some sort of lever, stepping on it multiple times so that the opposite side rises up, hits Brown's gun, his finger on the trigger, shooting himself in the head multiple times. That was really cool. Right after that, Scruggs starts a musical number, talking about Brown's character, Surly Joe, getting killed. The only R-rated musical I've seen was South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, an animated movie. So this kind of musical was very foreign to me, quirky, which in hindsight is up the Coen Brothers' alley. They did a movie that had a few musical numbers that I've seen. A little movie called “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” which co-starred Tim Blake Nelson. I didn't even think about that until now, that's funny.


Surly Joe's brother enters the saloon, and challenges him to a duel. Big mistake, and Scruggs was talking to the viewer, basically saying this was no challenge for him. He showed off his ability here, now having guns to do his stuff, he shot off the fingers of the man's drawing hand. As he suffered, Scruggs gets a mirror out, back turned to Joe's brother, and contemplates a dazzling way of shooting and killing the guy. It ends up like this...





SPOILER: Scruggs' impeccable streak of ingenuous kills and singing charm comes to an end. Some guy dressed in black, with his guns on shoulder holsters, arrives to town and challenges Scruggs. The man was too carried away, ego doing him in. He may have assumed he had a chance by the funny way his opponent was standing, but he truly underestimated the man. Since this is about who was the fastest draw, this man in black proved himself on that particular duel. Scruggs didn't even want a count, big mistake, the man immediately fires a round and it hits him in the middle of the forehead. I realized in thinking about all the kills in this movie that forehead shots are very common. It makes me wonder if it plays into some kind of theme, some symbolism. Going along with that are shots of the dead bodies, and you can see the forehead hole standing out, their bodies a ghostly white. It's very striking. One of the whiskey drinkers got a bullet hole in the forehead, but he was all dirty and scruffy, so you couldn't see his body get all pale. Same with Surly Joe. Even if there's no symbolism to it, the attention to detail is really striking, using that word again. This being the first story, named after the title of the movie, it's shocking to see Scruggs going down, in any manner, even if it was by him underestimating his very fast opponent. In the end, he does go out in his own terms, because right after dying, the man in black takes the lead in singing, then after the first verse, Scruggs' ghost rises up and he sings with the man! The song is just about the man being the fastest gun in the West, Scruggs' time is over, all that stuff. It was pretty funny, with Scruggs having his little angle wings and playing a little halo. Right before he dies, Scruggs said he should call himself an undertaker, the way he's just associated with dead bodies. Welp, that doesn't last, and two men come to his dead body, I'm guessing undertakers. Quite the way to end the story, and he gives a little farewell monologue to put the cap on this.
Non-spoiler zone, the story ends in a rather shocking way, but it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. It took until now to recognize a common thread of dead bodies of mostly key characters having a hole in their forehead. Their bodies being typically a ghostly white color, it gives off a cold feeling in these stories, which typically have unconventional comedic moments. I think this story though has the most comedic openings, the fact that Tim Blake Nelson was the gunslinger here, talking to the viewer, singing some tunes, this very charismatic and eccentric character. It's the perfect lead-off for the movie, but also signifies how the comedy crawls through smaller holes in subsequent stories. Some even get a laugh well after the fact, which I believe I'll have some of that as I review the movie over. I didn't catch the name of Scruggs' final opponent, but when they fade into the book scene, it shows in the last page of the chapter that his name is “The Kid.” The final sentence is “Perhaps some day he will meet The Kid, and that will be another story...different, yet the same.” Knowing how this story ends, it makes me imagine this other story involving another duel. In conclusion, this was a great starting point for the movie. I'll just say it's my favorite, it has the most life. Most of the other stories get into some colder territory, quieter territory and move at a slower pace, and I'm pretty sure most of them are longer than this chapter. As a result, they are a bit harder to enjoy. In comparison to this, the first chapter here was very easy to enjoy. You still got put into a state of contemplation as well. Most of the other stories focus on making one think more, but have their own way of bringing out joy. It's a weird word to use for this movie, “joy,” but I think you get the idea. Entertainment, that's what I'm trying to say, all these stories have their way of delivering on that. Whether it works or not? Let's keep going to answer that.


Chapter 2: Near Algodones


As I said earlier, the second billed actor is in this chapter, and that's none other than James Franco. It's a bit odd to see him in this, a significant amount of time removed from the sexual misconduct allegations that iced his career. Any buzz around him, especially following The Disaster Artist, gone. He was in another movie that released a couple months ago that got no promotion, the only mention was that it went straight to VOD. You have this movie made for Netflix, almost like Franco can't get cinema play anymore. Coming right after Chapter 1, I already knew his story wouldn't last too long, so him being in this movie I assume made no headlines tied to those allegations from early in the year. What he did or didn't do in that capacity has nothing to do with his acting, and he does a decent job here. Well, as good as he can do, it's a very simple character he plays. A bank robber, no method acting for this. In fact, he doesn't have a lot of dialogue here, it goes in the quietness of the movie, this atmosphere that dominates a lot of the stories. You are given some time to appreciate the scenery. I didn't say this in the first chapter, but it has to be stated that the locations in this movie are stunning. There's one particular story that really brings that opinion to its highest peak, which I'll get to. The scenery overall is just incredible, the camera work does a fantastic job of getting these crucial location shots, and I think the fact that Westerns are very niche these days makes this film really stand out. In this era of movies, standing out is very important, being unique. Back to my point about the location, when Franco's characters walks to the bank, there's a wide shot that shows the location. Seemingly the picture is tinted in a very gold-ish, yellow-ish color. There's a well that has a sign that says “Bad water” attached to the bucket, the bank, Franco, his horse, and that's it. The rest of the location is just a wide-open field, way in the background are mountain or hills, partly cloudy. It's just beautiful. Franco kind of goes for Clint Eastwood with a notable eye twitch. His voice is a bit deep too, but again, doesn't speak much. A good chunk of his dialogue is with the bank teller, who just goes into a long-winded story about a previous robbery attempt. Franco asked if he ever been robbed, and that started the long-winded story. It looked like he didn't listen, but if he did, he would know that the guy is possibly good at handling robberies. He said straight away that he fucked up a robber. Underestimating, now that I think about it, that's a common theme in some of these chapters. Main characters underestimating their target. Scruggs did that, and Franco's character does it. He doesn't really hear out the guy and proceeds to try and rob him. Note I said “try,” it wasn't an easy task at all. The guy that got messed up for trying to rob him basically became legless. I didn't catch this at first, and after seeing the next chapter, I wondered if the person from this story is one of the main characters in the next. I looked at the IMDB trivia page and I couldn't find any notes on that. Then again, one of the main characters in the next chapter isn't exactly like this robber, but “legless” just made me think. Anyways, see? I'm like the old man rambling. Only difference is I don't have James Franco bored by this, he responds by pulling his gun out, robbery time. The old man went down, he signaled with his face, while the hands are up, that the money is down below, so he descends down. That was a lie, what was down below? Shotguns! The man had them strategically placed near the floor, attached to sections of the lower counter area. The idea would be to shoot the robber's legs, which goes back to the legless robber. Franco's character was able to avoid the three shotgun blasts, but couldn't get the man, as he escaped. He got a good chunk of cash from behind the counter and it looked like he was about to make a successful getaway. Nope, he gets shot in the back of his leg as he approached his horse. He tried to fire back, the old man came rushing in, and he appeared just as the previewing picture depicted. He had a load of pans worn around his body as a makeshift armor. The caption was exactly what he said too at one point, “Pan shot!” The old man charged at him and knocked him out with a shotgun. Franco's character, who by the way, I never caught his name, wakes up with a noose around his neck, attached to a tree, while he's saddled on his horse. A bunch of men are in front of him, I assume the sheriff squad of the town. Apparently he was out and I guess loopy for a good chunk of time, that he didn't even recall being on trial, and being set up for a hanging. Then again, I assume this “trial” was done in this same location, and they just got it over with, open-and-shut case. The “jury” were the guys behind the sheriff after all. Last words? Franco just said the pan man was not fighting fair. That's it, but then some of jurors were arguing for Franco's horse. Welp, nobody got it, because they died! Native Americans invade the scene, there's a funny part where one guy gets an arrow through the neck, breaks off half of it, only to get another arrow through the neck. I didn't even comment about the raging old man with his pans as something that was funny. I am now, that was comical, the arguing over the horse right before a possible hanging, funny. It does lower the mood of the movie, so that when something dramatic comes, it's shocking. This is also the case during quiet moments, you think everything's fine, but then something happens. You either expect it, or don't, and there are instances where they set it up, and other points where they just leave it out in the open until it's execution time. Either way, your attention is locked into what goes on in the whole story. That's a strength for the whole movie, because for the most part, it's very slow paced, it walks a fine line between captivating and boring.


Anyways, the effects in this movie in depicting the violence is awesome. Maybe it's just me rarely watching new movies, where the art form of practical and even computer effects just get better and better. There's one bit where someone gets scalped and that looked great. The effects don't just stretch to death scenes, now learning about the actor's true look following chapter 3, it even stretches to character depiction. More on that soon. So every American except for Franco dies in this scene, the chief of the tribe approaches Franco and just makes a loud noise to startle his horse. He still wasn't set free from the hanging, so if the horse spazzed out and galloped, that would've meant death for Franco. He was close to doing that. The chief seems to find that funny and just lets Franco go, as if to say his situation is worse than death by a Native's hand. Franco is all alone, struggling to get out, but then a cowboy rides in and helps him out, but almost killing him. He tried to shoot at the rope and missed a few times before setting Franco free. They ride together, looks like things are fine, he kind of offered Franco a “sidekick” position. There are cows around him, so anyone can assume he's just a cowboy, a guy who takes care of cows, wrangle them up, a legal business. Nope. A bunch of men, more than the previous batch of Americans, ride in hard, you hear the galloping just thundering the ears. The guy who saved Franco bolts, Franco's confused, cut to him being chained up, arrested again! That's hilarious. This time you see a “trial” for him, which is a joke. I'm guessing this is the actual sheriff, marshall, whatever. He asked a deputy what Franco did, and it was that he's a stock rustler, the cows were stolen. Franco wasn't allowed to speak. With no chance to defend himself, he was sentenced to hanging. That's funny if you think back to this whole story. He tried to commit a crime, failed, sentenced to hanging. He was indirectly saved by Native Americans, and then directly by a stranger. He doesn't even commit this crime of stock rustling that this stranger apparently did, and he's still sentenced to hanging. This time, there's no saving him. It's a public hanging, he's on death row with some other men, one of which was crying. Franco was calm, and asked, “First time?” So Franco was pretty much ready, he gazed upon a pale white woman wearing all blue, which stood out among all the townfolk wearing black. Final words, “There's a pretty girl.”


I'm running into the theme now where reviewing these stories actually makes me like them more. Now that I'm gathering my thoughts together and it's not scatterbrained and conquered by multi-tasking things as I explained earlier, I get more of the artistry at work here. My early statement of battling back and forth between ratings is being made invalid now. I have a more solid rating to give out. That's for the end. The last page of this chapter actually follows up the hanging, so I'll summarize it.


After the hanging, the people cheering until the hung stopped moving and it was nothing but rope swinging, they all went home to dinner. The hung men were cut down and placed in waiting coffins. Two carts brought them to a piece of land that once belonged to a rancher by the name of Clay Griswald. He sold it at a good price to the county, whose administrators didn't care to have these dead bodies pollute the cemetery. That's the end of chapter 2. Another great story, everyone did fine, it wasn't a story where fantastic acting can be on display. So Franco didn't steal the show or anything, he did his part, and did it well. I think Tim Blake Nelson had more room because his character was written to be very charismatic, and he delivered on that. In that respect, the movie is very strictly written to where roles have to be filled up properly. There's really no room for failure, but no room to break through a ceiling. This can happen in other Coen movies, though there are plenty where individual acting performances are just awesome, Fargo probably is the best example of that, No Country For Old Men is another one. When the writing is this good, it's excusable to have actors just doing the roles well.


Chapter 3: Meal Ticket


I was talking to someone yesterday while watching this movie, and I was on this story when I brought up the fact that Liam Neeson's in this movie. This is the story he is in specifically, and I said that he's not doing “Liam Neeson things.” I based that off the tropes he got himself into starting with Taken. That movie kind of clouds the fact that Neeson has done very dramatic roles, a lot of subdued roles as well. Still, because of Taken, I just look at his badass credentials, the action he can deliver. That is not in this movie at all, and with this being a Western and having a lot of scenes depicting violence, he could've easily been that kind of character in the film. Hell, just a couple years ago, he was in A Million Ways to Die in the West, where he was the main antagonist, and had some badassery there. None of that here, he barely talks, it's like James Franco. There's less noise here though, a lot of this chapter is atmosphere. This is where you get into the middle portion of the movie. This and chapter 4 are the most atmospheric, kind of serving as sizable interludes. Chapters 1 and 2 are the most explosive, relatively speaking. Chapters 5 and 6 have the most dialogue, and the most storytelling. Not to dwell on it until later, but those take the time that they have to create very well-defined characters. Chapter 6 is in its own world when it comes to that, but chapter 5 is one that is most capable of being its own movie compared to the rest. With all these descriptions, chapter 3 here is thus part of this interlude. In fact, comparing it to Chapter 4, the lighting is so different. Chapter 3's settings are mostly at night, and in the final scenes, they take place in a dreary, cloudy winter day. Chapter 4, though it has some night scenes, they act as transition to the more prominent daytime scenes. I guess it's deliberate with this chapter, because it can be argued that it's the darkest story of the group. I think a major portion of chapter 5 is very messed up, but the mood of this chapter goes basically from start to finish.


Actually getting to the story, Liam Neeson is a roadshow manager. He only has one attraction, and it's a quadruple amputee, played by Harry Melling. I had to look up the man to see if he really was a quadruple amputee. He isn't, so earlier when I praised the effects of this movie, I mentioned another aspect of how good the effects were. This is it, I believed it, the fact this was an actor I never knew about really helped. If it was, let's say, James Franco, of course that's fake. It would still look incredibly convincing though. Just by the character descriptions, one can tell that the “meal ticket” is this amputee. He has no name uttered in the movie, it takes the credits to reveal the name of “Artist.” This amputee would tell poems and stories in front of people, there's one scene where it's a bunch of people in town, there's an instance where he speaks to only a handful. Neeson's character collects spare change from them and they move on to the next location. I got lost in what Artist would say in these shows, so I can't really give a good description of them. IMDB has a note on a poem he spoke in the first show, named “Ozymandias,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It then goes to quoting Genesis Chapter 4, the story of Cain and Abel, Sonnet 30 by William Shakespeare, as well as Sonnet 29. It ends with the Gettysburg Address, which I did catch the classic “Four score and seven years ago” line. While Neeson collects the money, the amputee is repeating Prospero's speech from Shakespeare's The Tempest, act 4 scene 1, it's also spoken at the end of a performance. Again, I was lost during these performances, I assume he repeated this order of passages in the other shows. Really, I'm too distracted by his appearance. The passages spoken in the first performance get faded into one another, so it's possible he had more content in between what the viewer sees and hears. I imagine the audience are just like me, distracted by his appearance and not really catching what he's saying. The way he speaks is pretty booming, like a true performer, a stage actor to be a bit more exact. So what he says definitely hits the ears, and perhaps gets one to think after the fact, but the show itself is one where this man's appearance dominates all kinds of thinking. There's a shot of a woman seemingly hearing the words and being mesmerized, so I guess there are exceptions, but still. By the way, they aren't American, Liam Neeson isn't one to do American accents anyways. You can hear him as he collects money that the amputee is from England, so one can assume Neeson is too. In reality he's Irish, but still not from this country.


Going back to this chapter, I think the amputee doesn't say anything outside of his performances, which is interesting. The next show has a smaller turnout, I picked up the Cain and Abel story this time around, so he is repeating the same passages. This particular show had Neeson's character using his hand and some big sheet of metal to create a sound effect during the Cain and Abel part. I'm guessing it's to wow the small crowd. Something I noticed is the amputee is very pale. Not only that, two red spots on his face, it makes me think he's depicted with the face of a clown. The spots are from the cold, it's winter time in this story, there are transitional scenes of them traveling through snowy wooded areas. I would assume this facial appearance is intentional since he is a performer, he's definitely not a clown, but he is quite the character. This particular show, with such a small crowd, didn't make much money, chump change. Neeson of course feeds him, I felt that had to be said, there are scenes showing that anyways. I totally missed the make-up applying scene, showing that Neeson's character does do a little work on the face, mainly adding the touch of red to his face. Going back to this chapter really does help.


There is a montage of the amputee's performances, you can hear things repeated, things not said in previous scenes, but are still from the aforementioned passages. Almost 10 minutes into this chapter, Neeson finally talks apart from the whispered money collection part from the first depicted performance. All he does is sing, while drunk. The amputee's reaction is one of bewilderment, as he throws down the liquor and said that they're going into town. Oh this scene is pretty ridiculous, funny though. Neeson goes to a cathouse, with the amputee on his back. He sets him down on the floor, walks up to this fat slag, but then he goes back to the amputee. He turns him around so that he can't see the action that's about to happen. Oh my goodness. Cut to post-coitus, Neeson's character turns the amputee back around. He doesn't look happy, that's for sure. I think he has the face of someone who just went through a difficult time, and can't seem to display an emotion of happiness, sadness, or anger. It's basically numbness. The whore asked if the amputee wants some action, Neeson answers for him, again showing that this man doesn't speak unless it's doing his performances. The whore asked if he ever had any, and Neeson answers that he did, once. That's it, no other details, it makes me wonder what that one time was.


An even smaller crowd, easy to count, just 3 men. Obviously this act is not selling anymore. Neeson doesn't look pleased with, and the audience are not pleased with the performance either, no money being given. The amputee stops his performance and notices the lack of collection. Just across from Neeson, a lot of entertained people seeing a chicken pecking a number between 1-25, it's doing math. The crowd calls out math problems, and the chicken figures it out. “18, take away 7.” It pecks at 11. More entertaining than a calculator, that's for sure. Cut to Neeson paying off the ringmaster for that chicken. Going back to the whore, and this, I take it that Neeson's character saves money like a motherfucker. Or the whore and the chicken were sold for cheap. Analyzing the amputee's face when the chicken is being fed, I tried to detect jealousy in his face. Hmmm, maybe, or the face of someone asking “You really think this shit is going to work?” Neeson's character stops as they are close to a bridge, or train tracks, the snow is covering it, so it is hard to tell. He drops a big rock into the river down below. I'm guessing he was seeing if they could travel through that bridge, and the answer being “No.” Fade to black and they are traveling in the middle of a snow covered field, a cold way to end this chapter. Going back to comparing this and chapter 4, temperature also plays a factor. It's depicted as very cold in this chapter, whereas chapter 4 is very warm and vibrant. The juxtaposition is very interesting. I want to summarize the last page of this chapter. Neeson's character, as you can tell by the review, has no name, the book calls him “the tall man.” The last 2 minutes of the chapter. The tall man returned to the wagon “without a backward look,” as in not looking back at the bridge, which would not have helped them in any way. There was nothing worth seeing. He climbed back into the wagon and set off. As the scene shows, the horse plodded on, the tall man nodded, the chicken looked out into the scenery. “In view was of receding road, wagon spooling up turns in front to present them unspooling for the bird's contemplation behind. And so they traveled, forward, onward, toward dramas the outlines of which blurred in the dozing of the man, and were by the chicken dimly surmised.” I had to quote because I didn't know how to properly summarize that. Attempting to now, I think it's saying how their story, their journey, plods on, with really no happy or sad ending, it just keeps going. All that's left to do is to think about stuff. There's no epilogue on whether the chicken proves to be a good business move for the tall man and the amputee. The audience will never know.


The more I typed about this, the more its quality really became apparent. I think watching it the first time, I coasted through it. At this point, my attention was more on a conversation with someone and playing that Pokemon game. This goes into the interlude feeling I got from this portion of the movie. In a technical sense, it might not be an interlude because the story starts about 30 minutes into the movie, and ends near the hour mark. Still, the feeling prevails, it's the chapter to really chill to. It definitely calls for analysis, if you pay attention closely, I didn't really do that the first time, but in going back to it, I got the gist. I just filled in more blanks this time. In conclusion, this was a very interesting chapter, entertaining in its own way, thought provoking without a doubt. Oh, the picture that preceded this picture shows the amputee with his eyes close, head slightly pointing up, I originally thought that was James Franco's dead body in a coffin. Nah, it's still a striking picture. Maybe it's symbolic of the amputee being dead inside, all that there is to life is his performing career. That would make sense.


Chapter 4: All Gold Canyon


I'm going to get the picture description out the way, since I missed on it in the previous chapter until the end. It shows an old man who is near the top of a tree, he climbed up and looked at the lush scenery. The caption said that he saw no sign of man, nor the handiwork of man. Foreshadowing, as it turned out, because this is what he thought, but man, plot twist.


This chapter made me realize that this movie had a habit of meandering. I don't mean that in a bad way, just that things moved really slow at this point, the dialogue was very sparse for most of the chapters in this movie. In fact, chapters 5 and 6 had the most dialogue. The first and second had a decent amount by this film's standards, but they were in bursts. Chapter 2 for instance had the bulk of its dialogue from the pan man. Chapter 1's dialogue was all the 4th wall breaking tendencies of Buster Scruggs, some Clancy Brown too. Chapter 6, spoiling that, is virtually all dialogue. Chapter 5 has more variety, and in hindsight, it reinforces my point about it being the one most capable of being its own movie. I guess Chapter 1 would too, but I see that more as a series, the Adventures of Buster Scruggs. A mini-series since that chapter had a definitive end. In fact, I thought I was the only one that made the mistake, but apparently when this movie was announced, people thought it was a mini-series. I could've sworn I read an article headline even calling it that. Obviously, this was false, and I forgot about the movie until my favorite camgirl mentioned it recently. I wanted to bring that up since I typed about the potential of a Buster Scruggs-only mini-series. Moving on...


As I kept saying in my Chapter 3 talk, this was a very warm looking scene. The location is beautiful, unbelievably so. I was even moved and impressed by it, the canyon looked like an area untouched, unpolluted by us humans. When it's introduced, you see that there's a deer, a thing of beauty in its own right. You get the sense that the main character of this chapter, an old man trying to mine for gold, is a very likable person. You want him to succeed, him entering this heaven is fine. He does do a lot of digging, so technically he's tainting this land, but the man endeared himself to the viewer. Well, at least to me. In trying to find a common thread among the chapters, I thought the man was going to be punished for some kind of sin. Chapter 1 for instance, pride coming before the fall. Chapter 2, I chalk that up to ignorance early on, and luck being in Franco's favor, and then it swinging back being a hindrance. Chapter 3...that's where I get thrown off. Would the chicken being bought qualify as a sin? There's no punishment, unless you count the traveling at the end to be one, where they just ride on and on into the wintry landscape. That's just an open-ended affair. Chapter 4, the sin for the old man is tainting the land, in particular a scene that does take place near the top of a tree. I'll get to that soon.


I can't get over this location, the damn water looks clean. There's appropriate music for this location too, butterflies around some flowers, it must be the middle of Spring. There's a shot of an owl on the top of a tree, this bird being very important. Of course, I didn't know that at first. The owl and aforementioned deer (with antlers) flee the scene once the old man's singing is heard. Just by that, you can tell the canyon is a place that people hardly, if ever, travel to. It would also explain the old man coming here, he must also believe it's an untouched location, thus there has to be gold here. The fact that the holes he dig up were on previously untouched dirt. If someone came before him, there would be dug up holes, or covered up ones. You would get a sense of human interference, but there's none. He would take what he dug up and wash a pan of it with water, the remains would show how much gold or general metal is salvageable. He does some counting to give a measurement. At first you see tiny bits of gold, so I guess it wouldn't sell well. I assume this is post-California Gold Rush. In fact, this movie feels like a post-Civil War film, there's no slavery discussed or depicted, and chapter 5 featured a wagon trail, and part of the story is traveling to Oregon. The man is certainly determined, but a bit weird. He used the name “Mr. Pocket” to describe something. I thought he was calling for his horse, it ran away and its name is that, but nope. He must be referring to the motherload, paydirt, X marks the spot, a specific location where there's a lot of gold, a pocket pretty much, and he wants to pick it. He even says “Goodnight Mr. Pocket,” and “Sit tight.” Man, he's obviously driven. At this point, I want him to find the gold, I want him to succeed. After he catches a fish, he sees a bird come by, turns out to be the owl. Cut to him climbing up a tree, seeing the owl fly out of sight, and him approaching a nest containing four eggs. It dawned on me just now why he even went up the tree. I thought he did just for the hell of it, but following catching fish, eyeing the bird come by, and what happens after this scene, it all is centered around him getting a meal. He tries to get the four eggs, but spots the owl on a tree just across from where he's at. It was giving a pretty intense look, and he could feel that, thinking the owl will punish him. He ends up taking one egg, thinking the owl won't notice, not being able to count up to four. Hm? Considering what happens after a couple minutes, this is what made me originally think that this story would have a bad ending, the main character being punished with death. However, he eats his meal, he has made a bunch of holes for the rest of the day. He talked to “Mr. Pocket” again, saying he he's old, but Mr. Pocket is older. He's looking up, so now I'm thinking Mr. Pocket is the canyon itself, that definitely makes sense.


The old man finds a tooth-sized chunk of gold, so he stays in this particular hole. There's some music accompanying the scene to build up the anticipation for him finding a larger amount of gold. A rock-sized chunk of gold, then a bigger rock with gold inside, then a long streak of gold at the surface, indicating that it's just a partially exposed chunk of gold that appears to be massive. A success! Right? He said “Hello Mr. Pocket” and laughs in pure joy.


SPOILER: Then a shadow dims the light shining down into the hole. The old man picked up on it, knowing that there was no other man when he appeared. Now there is one, and he appears over the hole, and shoots him in the back. The longer it takes for this man to get into the hole and claim the gold, the more obvious it is that the old man would make an epic comeback. That's a hindsight thing, and as I watched it, I actually expected him to be shot by another person, he just took too long a time to be able to win this day. He just sat over the hole, put his gun down, and smoked a bit of tobacco, and they showed him taking the material out and rolling up. He then takes a puff, puts out the cigarette, puts it in his pocket, and then gets into the hole. Maybe he delayed this entrance as a way to test if the old man actually died. He then got in, thinking it was safe. Hell no, the man played possum, and by then, I knew how this would end. Then again, it's the Coens, so just as big a possibility is the old man failing in his comeback and getting killed. That didn't happen, the younger man put his hand up as the older man got his gun. As if that would stop the bullet, it just goes through his hand's flesh and hits him at the eye, or very close to the eye. It's not a forehead shot like other crucial kills in this film, but the impact is still the same. The old man angrily shoots him again, calling him a bitch for basically following him into the canyon, waiting until he found the gold, and then shoot him in the back. That makes sense, there's no way a guy like him would've just passed by the canyon and just enter to find a man digging for gold. He knew that it was this old man's plan, he played the waiting game, and he lost. The old man runs to the fresh water and cleans up his wound, revealing that the bullet didn't hit anything vital. He kept saying that, it dawned on me that this man is his own exposition machine, in his own ranting and raving way. He revealed the strong possibility of this younger man following him, he acted like a doctor when it came to his gunshot wound, he said that the owl probably can't count that high. With no other person in the area except for the younger man, who doesn't even say one bit of dialogue, this chapter would've been dead silent when it came to speech. I get a better impression of why this and the previous chapter got the order that they did. You couldn't have them open up the movie because none of them set the tone, I think Chapter 1, again, was the perfect start to this kind of movie. Chapter 2 followed up that right, while also slowly revealing the quiet, meandering habits this movie would soon employ, going full force in the next two chapters, and slowly backing away in the final two. Filling in for the low amount of dialogue, you get some very quirky characters. Chapter 4, that they had this one man do all the talking, and him being alone for 95% of the chapter, really paints that he was a big enough personality to carry this, alongside beautiful scenery and cinematography. Let's not forget the music. Listing these features, it makes me think all of this was the result of meticulous planning, which is impressive. Greed didn't consume him, the fact he didn't rush back to get the gold after killing the man, taking the night to sleep and to have a drink (maybe coffee) in the next morning, shows patience. That just adds to his likability, to the victor goes the spoils. Right after a poignant shot of the day-old dead body of that scoundrel, the old man gets a bag full of gold chunks and heads off, singing, just as he did when he entered the canyon. He even big farewell to the canyon, a satisfying conclusion to this story.


Non-spoiler territory, it's interesting to see that when the human presence in the canyon is gone, the butterflies and deer return to the canyon. The owl was always there though, and the final shot of the chapter is of the owl, looking down. I'm guessing it too noticed the human presence being gone, and that it's all peaceful in this utopia once again. It's a very happy ending, I'll just say straight away that it's the most positive ending in the film. Given the endings of each chapter, it doesn't say much, but it's still very satisfying. I can summarize the final page in this chapter. It talked about that things going back to normal, from before the old man entered the canyon, mountain bees and butterflies coming back. The sunshine was described as quiet. The only thing that remained from that whole ordeal were hoof-marks in the meadow, and the torn hillside, marking the “boisterous trail of the life” that had disturbed the peace of the canyon and passed on. Well, there's also dug up holes, I'm guessing they were covered up by the old man. I know at least one hole that got filled back in. Wrapping up this chapter review, now I'm thinking this is the best story in this movie. The first one with Buster Scruggs was great, fun musical, great gunfighting moments, Tim Blake Nelson being charismatic in his role. However, the location here, fuck, it just overtakes my judgement. The fact that it's carried along by one man for the most part, with enough shots of the location to really soak in the environment. It's half a story, half a moving framed picture that adorns a person's wall. Also the ending is the most satisfying of the bunch. I need to think about it for the end of this review.


Chapter 5: The Gal Who Got Rattled


I will hold back on the caption because it foreshadows a major spoiler. The picture...hmm, I'll just blurt it out. It may be a spoiler, thinking about it, but a person won't know for sure until they see the story really play out. The caption though is less subtle. So the picture is of a man walking towards another man, who is riding his horse. Next to the walking man is a dog, who in this chapter is named “President Pierce,” named after the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce. Now that I looked this guy up, I may be wrong on the timing of this movie, because I thought it was post-Civil War. However, I am in the ballpark for saying post-Gold Rush, as that was in 1848, Pierce was president from 1953-1957. Ah well.


I just realized that up to this point, there were no named female characters, and a few shots of women to begin with. I mentioned them already, the woman in blue that caught Franco's eye, the old woman who was in awe of the amputee's performance, and the whore that Neeson's character had fun with. That's it. Following Chapter 4's extremely low amount of human characters and the general lack of women, it's a breath of fresh air to get a story where there is not only a named female character, but she is the main one in the story.


This starts with a dinner scene, the location is a boarding house belonging to Mrs. Halladay, the old woman at the end of the table. The fat man with a tache who is at the other end of the table was talking about a previous tenant who had a really bad cough, and he was insinuating that it was contagious. Halladay disagrees, saying it was nervous and that she wouldn't rent to someone with a contagious cough. This is definitely a unique way to start a story, an argument over a person's cough. Just as the man was trying to inquire about the main female character's plans to leave the boarding house, Mrs. Halladay comes out with an insane statement. The nervous system's tendrils spreads throughout the body, she saw a picture of that in a book. That is some false science there. When she explained further, it made more sense, saying that the nervous system extends through the body. She did say that she never claimed to be a physician or a botanist, so she probably mistook the picture as depicting tendrils. Some big guy who was sat close to her agreed, saying that he saw that picture as well. They never show the picture by the way. Anyways, she concludes that the previous tenant, Mr. Kincaid, was not a contagious cougher. I passed this off as just a quirky start to a scene, but it dawned on me that this was some foreshadowing of a major story development. Anyways, quirky with no foreshadowing, I think, is this other old woman at the table complaining about wanting more chicken and dumplings, not feeling she got a fair share. Halladay said there is more, calling for Grandma Turner, who is the even older woman in between Halladay and the other old woman. To make it clear, the main female character here is young, clearly the youngest of the group. Apart from her brother, everyone else is at least middle aged. Hell, take out the tache man, the brother and sister pair, everyone else are senior citizens. So Grandma Turner doesn't respond, she just sits there, looking like she's supposed to be dead, even though half of her plate is empty, indicating that she had some food to eat. She didn't eat the corn and chicken, so there's something for the less old woman (she calls her Mrs. Halliday, but the book said that a Mrs. Halliday owns the boarding house, and judging by the dialogue where the lady at the head of the table talks about who she rents the house out to, I assumed she was Mrs. Halliday. Let's just say they are both Mrs. Halliday.). Back to the main story really forming, the tache man asked about the brother and sister pair leaving tomorrow. The brother has some kind of business opportunity out in Oregon, a deal that hinges on the sister marrying this guy in Oregon. No proposal, no guarantee of what the man even looks like, and this deal isn't particularly solid. Right, her name is Alice, the brother is Gilbert, I forgot and had to be reminded as I went back to this story. Judging by what happens later in the story, it's very clear that Alice lets Gilbert do all the talking, she's not one capable of taking care of herself. Gilbert has faith that this would work, saying she can be charming and sociable...when she has the mind to be. Backhanded as a motherfucker right there, he's basically calling her dumb, and it goes back to me thinking she can't think for herself. A lot of her actions are motivated by other people. Hell, all of her actions can be argued to be like that, there's one particular portion of the story where an exception could be made, but also could easily swing into the majority thought.


Since she's the only named young woman in this movie, naturally I had to look her up, as this is my introduction to this actress. Zoe Kazan, very innocent look about her, so the casting was definitely right. Oh yeah, the dog makes his presence felt really early on, being fed under the table by Gilbert. The dog looked like Uggie from The Artist. Look, I'm very sensitive with dogs, since I've been living with one for the past 7 years now. So, anything involving dogs gets my attention, for better or for worse. When sad or bad things happen to dogs in movies, I am not happy at all. Imagine me when I watched John Wick, best revenge movie ever based on what they did to his dog. So when it came to President Pierce, I feared that something was going to happen to him. He is a very cute dog too. I'm not good with breeds, he's a small dog, let's put it that way. What made me really worried about Pierce was when Alice told Gilbert that two men complained to her about Pierce and the noises he makes. That is total bullshit, suck it up, pussies. Oh, man, now I'm getting annoyed remembering this. They didn't have Alice inform Gilbert of what she said to the two people complaining about Pierce's barking. It wasn't what Gilbert thought she should've said, which is that the dog is his property, it barks, fucking deal with it. The dog makes the nervous barking noise because of being around larger animals, which will always be the case since he's a little fella. More foreshadowing ends this scene, which I forgot to mention, they cut from the dinner scene to them on this migration, I'm guessing it's the Oregon Trail. The foreshadowing was Gilbert telling Alice that you have to say what's what, which she was very unaware of. As it turned out, Gilbert didn't tell Alice what's what, in terms of his coughing problem. It is first seen in the first migration scene, but then cut to night time and him coughing more viciously. Alice hears the coughing going on, and notice him being quite a distance from where she is. That really speaks of how loud the coughing was, imagine being right with him during that, it'd be unsettling. He walks back to the wagon, wobbly legged. Cut to the morning...he's dead, a similar pale and lifeless corpse that was depicted at the end of Chapter 1, at the end of Chapter 4. No bullet hole though.


I want to dedicate a paragraph on this development, because once again my mind was racing after the fact, as I type this review. First of all, even during my full viewing of the film, I guessed that he died from tuberculosis. I looked it up to see if it's contagious, and it appears that it can be, if the person who spreads the disease's condition is major. So one theory is that Mr. Kincaid infected Gilbert with tuberculosis. Another theory is that Kincaid never had the disease to begin with, it's just assumed that he did, and maybe Gilbert had it for quite a while, and was able to hide that he had it, and I suppose pass it off as Kincaid having it. The first scene in the story implies strongly that Kincaid left the boarding hose, and just when that's discussed, Gilbert and Alice are set to leave. Could the business opportunity actually be medical attention? Payment still being Alice marrying this person. If that's true, this person therefore is a doctor. Gilbert never really described what the business was, so this theory has some legs. To make it more wild, and maybe play into Coen Brothers territory, Kincaid died from tuberculosis, and Gilbert knew of his condition. So, in not wanting that narrative to spread, and making it seem like Kincaid left the boardinghouse, he hid his body. He buried it somewhere, and probably told Mrs. Halladay that he moved out. If that's the case, I can go even further and say that Gilbert had tuberculosis first, knowingly infected Kincaid, and then he died first, probably because he was an old man (there's no other implication of this and I'm theorizing that he was old) and thus was weaker in fighting off the disease. Gilbert, being younger, had more strength, but not enough to win this battle. Hell, I could be wrong on Gilbert's cause of death being tuberculosis, but given that it's a disease that was more deadly in older times, and remembering the Clint Eastwood movie The Honkytonk Man where Clint Eastwood has the disease and ends up dying from it, the fact that said movie takes place in an early part of the 20th century (I never found a solid answer, it's at least during or after the Great Depression), it just made me compare to this Chapter. Anyways, the bottom line is Gilbert died, with a nasty cough foreshadowing his doom, as was the complaint that the man with the tache brought up in regards to Mr. Kincaid. What infected him, also got Gilbert. I believe it's tuberculosis, whatever the case, it was fatal.


So, Alice is put into a very uncomfortable situation. The only reason she's traveling to Oregon is under the will of her brother. Gilbert's dead, so what can she do? Right after Alice sees Gilbert's dead body, here comes the apparent knight in shining armor, Billy Knapp, played by Clint Eastwood circa The Outlaw Josey Wales. Oh, sorry, played by Bill Heck. Seriously, he looks like Clint Eastwood in his 70s Westerns, I also need to shout out High Plains Drifter. Another major character here is Mr. Arthur, played by Grainger Hines, he's an old man who turned out to have quite a lot of fight in him. It appeared that he and Knapp are running the show, more specifically him as the elder statesmen. He asked if Alice wants to press on or go back, and with the lack of an answer, he takes it as her wanting to go back. After Knapp makes his presence felt, she asked what is there to go back to. I see what she means, a boardinghouse that she probably can't afford to pay rent on, it's clear that Gilbert was the guy handling everything. However, no Gilbert to facilitate the marriage deal, so would that still be done successfully? This isn't something answered. Oh, in the scene where they do a half-assed job in burying Gilbert, Alice enters the scene wearing all-blue. It made me think back to the woman who caught Franco's eye in Chapter 2, wondering if it's the same woman. No, there really is no physical example of a common thread in these stories. They are held together by the overall Coen Brothers tendencies, the dark humor and drama that they blend so well together. It's not like Pulp Fiction where certain characters appear in multiple sections. Anyways, describing the laughable burial of Gilbert, a hole was made for him, but it's pretty shallow, and Knapp doesn't cover the body with a lot of dirt. Even with him wrapped up in either a bag or a blanket (more likely the latter), he is just buzzard food, easy. Knapp asked if she wants a marker for the body. Nope. Another apparent bit of foreshadowing, Knapp said that Gilbert's body could attract Native Americans (look, they say Indians, of course, but I prefer Native Americans, and it's not a case of being PC, I just don't like having “Indians” being used to described two strikingly different cultures, Native Americans at least has one meaning). He said they wouldn't come to a migration trail, but they are keen on scavenging. Well now, more on that later.


Knapp asked if the "hired boy" is going to help her out with the transport of her belongings, the wagon, all that stuff. The thing is, I missed the "hired boy," my attention was off at this time. It takes going back to the chapter to see him. Knapp then said he and Mr. Arthur are willing to help, though the latter rode off immediately after his name was dropped. Given the previous conversation he had with Alice, it's possible that he views her as a burden. Knapp doesn't think like that. Nighttime, Alice goes to Knapp and Mr. Arthur, particularly wanting to talk with the former. She brought up the hired boy, Matt, he was promised half of Gilbert's wages when they get to Fort Laramie, and another half for when reach the Willamette Valley. Both men comment on the wage being incredibly high, which I agree. Alice doesn't know about money, she asked if that was actually a high price. Knapp wondered if that price was laid out in response to Gilbert's death, a ruse to get more than he deserves. Alice doesn't know, but she said Gilbert was not a good businessman, referencing a failed business in Iowa City, and another, without going into more detail about it. That means the whole Oregon deal could've been a failure, this business opportunity he talked about could've gone downhill if he got on board. Say the marriage was relative to the success of this business. If it failed, divorce time. Alice didn't have money to spare, Gilbert kept it all in his pocket...and his body's in a small ditch. Mr. Arthur said it would be a half day's ride, basically, she's fucked. I completely missed that detail about Gilbert having money on his person. Knapp offered to talk to Matt, see if he can talk the price down. Okay, the next scene features the migration continuing, and in front of Alice is a wagon, presumably hers, and a man right next to the pair of bulls, using the whip to lightly strike one. I assume that's Matt. Well, what the hell does he do? If that weak whip is the extent of his work, then he's not worth $400. He gave a wicked scowl at Alice. Knapp comes to Alice about the dog. Oh fuck, and it's about the noise. She somewhat harshly said that President Pierce is not her dog and that she doesn't know what to do about the noise. Since it was Gilbert's, and he's dead, in a way I don't agree with, they are free to take care of the dog in whatever way they want. Knapp though is a bit polite in asks Alice first...if he can put Pierce down. FUCK NO! Oh man, this was trigger fuel. Fucking bitch just let it happen, this is where the lack of thinking for herself really bothered me. This kind of animal treatment is very stupid, it feels whimsical. A little dog makes sounds out of nervousness, it bugs a lot of people, so a solution is to put the little guy down? No, comfort him! For fuck's sake. Alice was a bit hesitant, suggesting they just leave the dog be, but then Knapp said he'd be wolf food, and they like to play with their prey, so he'd die a slow and painful death compared to the instant kill of a gun. Also, in letting him go, Knapp said that since they are the nearest source of food, he would just follow them. Sigh. Oh and Knapp said that he couldn't get Matt to budge as if that's more important than an innocent dog's life.


Alice put her head down and covered her ears, yeah, comfort yourself from the guilt, bitch. One gunshot...then three. Knapp scared him off and missed! YES! Oh my goodness, notice how I'm describing this story, I'm sharing the emotions I had when I first watched it. That was heavy duty for me, and in a way, it made the rest of the movie light in comparison. The tension I had with this dog situation would not be matched what tense moments that followed. That just speaks of my attachment to dogs more than the movie's use of tension. Knapp, embarrassed of the whole ordeal, said he should've got Mr. Arthur to do the deed. I don't know if he would do it, or turn it down out of bitterness. Alice is fine with this, so she changed her tune on Pierce's fate, relieved that he wasn't killed like that. Even so, Knapp said she won't see Pierce again. When I heard that, I was just fine in letting my imagination settle on the scenario that Pierce survived, was not killed by wolves, and just found food, shelter, he survived basically.


Alice goes to Knapp once again for some help, these instances really build to a bombshell that Knapp drops on Alice. Once again it's about Matt wanting his money, and threatening to leave if he doesn't get confirmation of two payment arrangements. If he leaves, her wagon is unable to move, after all, it's not like she can work it. Alice wonders what the right thing to do in the situation, admit that she has no money? Knapp comes to an idea, telling her to inform Matt that the deal will still go on, but Knapp needs a day to think about something and talk to Mr. Arthur about it. So he goes to the man, they have a system where one of them ride at the end of the train of wagons, the other takes the front, and they alternate. Knapp explained that in the previous scene. He told Mr. Arthur that he's thinking about proposing marriage to Alice, and if she accepts, this would be his last wagon train. Mr. Arthur is a man of few words, making a grunting sound after this, and affirming that he will continue taking the back of the wagon train for the day.


Music and dancing go on at night, specifically an old man ballroom dancing with a doll. That is certainly not weird. Knapp talks to Alice, first asking what Alice looks forward to in Oregon. So she goes into some actual detail about the businessperson in Oregon, saying he runs an orchard, or two, some vague details. An orchard doesn't sound like a profitable item unless Oregon really needs oranges and this guy is the only person in town with access to one. That shoots down my theory of him actually being a doctor and Gilbert traveling to him for medical attention. Then again, that orchard story could've been a lie. Or not, I'm just finding an excuse to ramble. Alice said that Gilbert has a tendency to exaggerate the idea of an opportunity, going back to the possibility that the business venture could've been something insignificant in reality, while the interest in Alice by a potential business partner is, as she put, "speculative." She's a bit on the slow side, but I'd take her in, so to speak. Knapp asked if the marriage thing was an actual proposal, in a contract. Nope. Knapp said he would assume the debt, and asked for her hand in marriage. The way he said it was with a bit of uneasiness, nervousness, but no barking. It's cute nonetheless. He then talked about wanting this kind of relationship, and working the wagon train for a long time, especially with Mr. Arthur is wearing on him. He talked about his senior getting older, and he looks at him, at that age working the wagon trail, sleeping on the ground every night, and he doesn't want that to happen to him, especially since he himself is approaching the age where he should settle down, have children to take care of him when he gets older. It's how he puts it, he looks to be in his mid-40s. So he sees Alice, a maiden, and she fits into his idea of presenting himself to this kind of woman. Alice kept voicing her agreement in this, her eyes looked to be getting wet, near crying. So, you know she's down with this idea. Not sure if it's out of love completely, relief in that someone is going to fill in the role of taking care of her since she can't do so herself. Knapp asked if she is acquainted with the 1872 Grant, which throws off the timing of the movie I had considered because of the dog being named President Pierce. On the plus side, it goes back to me thinking this is a post-Civil War movie. The Grant is that a settler in Oregon can claim 320 acres, while a married couple can claim 640 acres. Sounds like a good deal, and he also said there's a French person in Fort Laramie that can sanctify marriage. Alice asked if he's religious, he said he's a Methodist, she's an Episcopalian. Knapp is cool with that. She asked for his Christan name, William Knapp, or just Billy, and she gave hers, Alice Longabaugh. Her surname had been said a bunch of times before this scene by the way. Sharing that full name though indicates a sharing of trust, which is the basis of a married relationship. She actually said that she will take the night to think. Finally, she's going to think for herself, probably the best decision she made in this story. It also made me realize that there were definite consequences to her not always doing this.


Cut to daytime, a kid walking backward along with the forward moving train. His mom was not pleased with it, and I guess the guy who whipped him to turn around was his dad. Haha, hooligan. Some nice music plays and towards the end, there's an incredible shot of the land they are traveling by. Knapp sees Alice and suggested an alternative to the plan that would not involve marriage, but she disagreed, accepting his marriage proposal for the night before. Woo! She then opened up about having a difficult time living with her brother, not that he was abusive to her in any way, but she said she was eaten up by nerves. She finds Knapp easy to talk to, and he said that they may find comfort together. Notice them referring to each other by the first name. Previously Knapp would call her by the last name, and she would call him "Mr. Knapp." Going back to the point that this chapter is the most fitting to be a full-length movie, you can definitely expand on this budding relationship, and you'd get the migration train as a unique backdrop to this romance. Seeing as this is the Coen Brothers, there would have to be some special elements added into this to make it fit their identity. Dark humor, bursts of violence. You already have quirky characters, but could add those with actual names. I'd watch it, by this point I'm liking the two main characters, letting slide the bad treatment of the dog.


Knapp tried to talk to Mr. Arthur about marrying Alice and leaving the wagon train. No response at all, he was more busy finding some rope for a pig or something. Cut to the night, where Knapp talks about Mr. Arthur some more about his prowess, which is a running theme here. In hindsight, it must serve as the audience trying to hype up Mr. Arthur, with a payoff from that destined to come. He also said that he's old, so the worry in having him work the wagon train alone puts him in a guilty position, he believes. Alice quickly said that his responsibility is to his household, he's finally doing some persuading, and she talked about something Gilbert had, I think she said a "ready bit of wisdom." I know she said "bit of wisdom," I'm not 100% sure on the first word in that comment. Regardless, Knapp asked if he was dough-faced, to which she laughed, the first time in this story. It leads to her saying Gilbert had fixed political beliefs and just fixed beliefs in general. Gilbert would berate her for being "wishy-washy," which I have to admit is accurate. She admits that she never had his certainties, calling it a defect. Knapp disagreed, giving comfort to her uncertainty, which made her pleased. As he explained why certainty is seldom justified, the music builds up, they tighten the shot on Alice's face. You can tell that she's in awe at what he's saying, knowing how relatable it is to her. Another important aspect of a relationship, communication. They say one part of a saying and it links up, "Straight is the gate, and narrow the way." Lovely. Mr. Arthur spots horse prints at a distance in front of the trail. They weren't his horse...uh oh.


Oh, I forgot to mention that during the marriage proposal scene, you hear some nervous barking noises...yeah, you know what that means. I was reminded of it when I got to this part of Matt being questioned by Mr. Arthur on Alice's whereabouts. He said he heard the dog barking. Oh man, it just dawned on me that perhaps what happens in the climax of this story could be attributed to the dog. This is going to get intense for me, so I have to get into spoiler territory. I'll leave off with saying that Mr. Arthur rides out and finds Alice on a horse, presumably Knapp's, and is with President Pierce. She laughs as he barks at prairie dogs coming in and out of little holes.


SPOILER: Native Americans, oh boy! The happiness in seeing President Pierce again is cut short when Mr. Arthur spots a Native American in the distance. This person seemingly didn't except Mr. Arthur's peace sign, so it's time to fight. Mr. Arthur's expertise really comes into play, he gets fully prepared, tying the horses' legs, removing the saddles from the horses, setting Alice down with a gun. The plan is that if he sees defeat coming, she gets shot, and he'll kill himself. If he is killed, she has to kill herself, and he points at the center of the forehead as the sweet spot. The sweet spot that has been seen multiple times in this movie. She obviously can't handle this, Mr. Arthur said that the Native Americans would have their way with her, he goes into some grimy detail about it, including rape and being impaled on a pole, I imagine it Cannibal Holocaust style. She doesn't deserve that treatment, it's better if she goes out on her own terms. He talked about hitting the guy in the middle, I assume that's the chief of the tribe, he said killing this person would be "bad medicine" for the tribe, so I assumed also he's the medicine man. Either way, Mr. Arthur is speaking from experience. This is what Knapp kept talking about, the top shot quality of Mr. Arthur, despite his age. The foreshadowing from that talk is about to be realized. The dog could be looked as foreshadowing to impending doom, the wild card in an otherwise solid journey. I put the blame on them leaving the dog alone. One theory is that Pierce's barking probably got the attention of Natives. Even more possible is they spotted Alice having fun with the dog, and this goes back to Knapp's speech about Natives loving to scavenge. That bit was apparent foreshadowing, they definitely didn't go after the wagon train, it's not beneficial to them, they aren't capable of taking all that down. So, gang up on a stray, Alice is that stray human, reuniting with a previously stray dog. The possibility that Pierce is a major factor in this climax happening doesn't change the fact that I love the little guy, and it doesn't absolve the humans for not taking better care of him. At the end of the day, I place the blame on them. Now, while the free-thinking of Alice was a joy to see, it could be argued that her deciding to go find Pierce, cost her, otherwise the Native Americans wouldn't have a prime target. This goes back to the past sin of abandoning Pierce. Also, considering how this ends, it reinforces the belief that Alice should've always thought for herself, even if it could get her into trouble.


SPOILER: All that out the way, the battle commences! The Natives charge at Mr. Arthur, and some go down because of the prairie dog holes. This ties into what Mr. Arthur said just before this, saying that running away by foot is futile, not in this "dog town," as he put it. That is now apparent because the little holes play a major role in Mr. Arthur's one-man army battle. He does aim at people that are coming for him, shooting at him, that have a good aim at him before they could shoot. You can see how calculating and steady he is in picking his targets. He still has most of his sights set on the chief. Unfortunately, Mr. Arthur's horse goes down. It leads to a sad moment, the horse not being dead from the shot, but Mr. Arthur had to put him down. Alice's horse is set free, taking the risk of having it escape following the retreat of the Natives. It was not over yet, the Natives return just as they entered, so consider this a redo. Mr. Arthur's now a couple yards away from the little wall of defense that Alice is behind. He makes himself into a more open target, a ballsy move. The chief is the closest to him, so it looks like it's time to take him out. Mr. Arthur doesn't do that, a dog hole does. The bad medicine was upon them, they retreat right after the chief goes down. It seems like victory is Mr. Arthur's, but one of the Native's horses gallops in a noticeable way, slow, and then picking up the pace as it approached Mr. Arthur. Turns out that one of the wild men of the bunch rose up from the side of the horse and struck Mr. Arthur with a hammer I guess. Time for a scalping. Not today bitch! Mr. Arthur plays possum and shoots him in the head just as he about to do the scalping. Victory...with a casualty. Mr. Arthur sees the dog barking, looking down from the mound of dirt. Alice killed herself, she thought Mr. Arthur was done for. She pretty much went by Mr. Arthur's instructions instead of going by instinct, thinking about the situation more. Her undoing was her biggest flaw, the story makes it clear that her biggest problem was not thinking for herself, giving in too much to uncertainties from herself, and relying on the certainties of others. Billy Knapp challenged her on that, but with his noticeable absence, there was no anchor for her, so she reverted back to her old ways, relying on the certainty of Mr. Arthur, but making a mistake inasmuch that it wasn't a certainty at all, him dying. It's a really fucked up ending. To try and compare, the closest example of a shocking kill in a Coen Brothers movie for me was Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading. Considering that he was a major character in the movie and was involved with the main scheme at play, his sudden death came from out of nowhere. Of course, how he got killed was outrageous and funny at the same time, it differs in tone with this kill. The shock though feels a bit similar to me. I took a bit of time to consider that a Native shot Alice in the head, but no, that can't be. The bullet was solidly through the center of the forehead, just as Mr. Arthur instructed. It's also sad because Knapp was not there at all, perhaps this qualified him as a good luck charm, the moment he was separated from her for an extended period of time, she ends up being dead. Before meeting Knapp, it could be argued that Alice was going through a bad spell, living with her brother. She says as much, and the narrative makes it obvious that Knapp was her knight in shining armor. A long enough time away from her savior cost her dearly. That piles onto the fucked up part of this ending, Mr. Arthur has to break the news to Knapp. He has to be told that his future wife (I have to sling in a reference from The Room) was dead...by suicide. The suicide for a specific reason, but you think any man in love would just accept that? His mind would just race feverishly and he'd unleash a waterfall of emotions. This is never depicted, which piles on to the fucked up nature of the ending, you're left to your imagination of how Knapp would react to this. Not knowing, not seeing, is worse, not getting the answer to his burning question. Man, that's heavy. So Mr. Arthur walks off into the sunset, so to speak, along with President Pierce. He does shoot a Native that was just coming to, which is a bit funny, but that kind of response is clouded by the horrific ending to Alice's life. You see that the story's final moment mirrors the picture that preceded this chapter, Mr. Arthur walking, with Pierce by his side. The caption did the talking for this moment, which I'll quote. Before that, I have to finish on this final moment. At first, I thought the man on the horse was Billy Knapp, but remembering that another guy was on a horse, and Knapp was not seen, I assume now that he tended to Alice's wagon, or stuck to his wagon position, whether at the front or back. This other guy I guess helps out too, it's just that I didn't see him before, and certainly not with a horse. It seemed like Knapp and Mr. Arthur were the only people on the wagon train with horses, everyone else road on oxen-driven caravans. Maybe I just missed some other horses, anyways, it doesn't change the impact of this ending. Now, I'll quote the caption. "Mr. Arthur had no idea what he would say to Billy Knapp." It's the same closing line of the chapter's final page. They didn't show the entire final page, so I can't summarize it entirely. I won't bother with a summary, but one line does make it seem like that the person approaching Mr. Arthur at the end of the chapter was not Knapp. "One rider had detached and was approaching. His easy gait showed no alarm." It could be Knapp and they just didn't say his name, but then again why wouldn't they? The book is told from an omniscient third point of view after all.


Out of the spoiler zone, I'll just say that the climax was very intense, dramatic, it picks up the tempo following two slow chapters and definitely could've served as the finale to a full-length movie version of this story. The ending...fucked up, I already said that without spoilers, which maybe I should not have. Ah well. I'm in the same position as when I finished reviewing Chapter 4, now I'm considering this chapter to be the best one in the film. It retains the beautiful scenery aspect of Chapter 4 in its own way while telling a deeper story, with more fleshed out characters, and the climax was more dramatic than the one in the previous chapter. It's apples and oranges though, so it falls under preference. Now thinking about Chapter 5 following this review, I'm now not so sure about Chapter 4 being the best. This review so far has been extremely helpful inasmuch that it makes me like the movie more. In going back to the film to type a huge review that would've been very scatterbrained if I went off on just the first viewing alone, I realized that this movie is so much more epic than I originally thought. It comes off as a grower, for lack of a better word. Once you let it settle in the mind and think back to all the chapters, it's highly possible to get a heightened opinion of this. For me it was. I'm happy I did this review, but I wish I did it all in one session, and it lasted for the rest of the Saturday following the first viewing. At the time of this paragraph, it's Monday, Christmas Eve. I'm incompetent. Anyways, to finish in Chapter 5, it was great. The fact that it's the longest of the chapters, clocking in at around 38 minutes, gives it plenty of breathing room, time to get to know the main characters, especially Alice. A lot of time to enjoy the scenery from the wagon train migration, and getting some action that bursts out to the viewer, unlike the previous two chapters. The interlude was over, and now comparing this to Chapter 6, it feels like this was the final chapter, and 6 is merely an epilogue. At the same time, it would be nice if they flipped it around, this is my only suggestion about changing the order, is 5 being 6. You are left off to me in a more frantic mindset than how Chapter 6 leaves off. At the same time, Chapter 6's end feels like an end. You have questions, but it's not as open-ended as Chapter 5. Anyways, all this Chapter 6 talk, let's get into it.


Chapter 6: The Mortal Remains


"Whether or not he heard, the coachman did not slow." That is proven to be true, with the picture being of this mysterious coachman, with his whipping hand about to strike the horses, and the other hand holding their leashes. It's a very striking picture, it's darker than the others, which previews the overall lighting of this chapter. I could see it being the cover art for a metal album. "The Coachman," a concept album by King Diamond, that would be cool. Anyways, this chapter is the all-star one for me. It had the most recognizable faces. Tyne Daly, who I mostly know from The Enforcer, is "Lady." Again, no first-name basis in this story. Saul Rubinek as "Frenchman" even though he is a Jewish man, and his French accent is comical, I assume the casting was deliberate. This guy has been in a lot of movies, the ones I remember the most are Unforgiven, more Clint Eastwood movie name-dropping for you, and Santa's Slay, which is topical to bring up. Another actor who has been in loads of movies, Brendan Gleeson, "Irishman." I never caught his name until now, but I recognize him all the same. In Bruges, several Harry Potter films, the sequel to the live action Smurfs movie, and a lot more titles. The remaining names, I don't know, but I'll be fair and credit them. Chelcie Ross as "Trapper," Jonjo O'Neill, the youngest of the bunch, as "Englishman." Almost all of this story takes place in the confines of a coach, you never see the face of the Coachman, all you hear from is is "He-yah!" which is when he whips the horses to keep on going. This chapter had a scene that I had to keep going back to because I knew the end was coming, so I believe this speech was important, analyzing the meaning would've helped in deciphering the whole chapter. At the time, I had a good idea of what it was, but now I think it stretches farther than I thought it would be. The scenery of the movie feels so unnatural, and with that, I thought this was some kind of fantasy, another plane of existence. I'll get into that later, but for now, let's get into the story. At less than 30 minutes, the story does a good job of establishing all the characters in varying ways, including the Coachman.


The Englishman is the talker of the group, for sure. Skipping a bit to the end, it's his story that I kept going back to. Judging by how chummy he is with the Irishman, and knowing how this story ended, they are buddies, partners. I think that was apparent in the beginning, but I was slow to pick that up until the end. The Englishman starts the dialogue of the story with him singing. The Trapper woke up, though he said that he wasn't asleep. It sure looked like he slept. The Lady clearly was the most uncomfortable of the five, not just because she's the only woman in this story. Or maybe that is the case, is it a coincidence that one who complains the most and gets into a hyperventilating panic is a woman? Hmm. Anyways, they are all on the way to Fort Morgan, the Englishman has been there plenty of times, and he was definitely the expert of the group, knowing about the Coachman's habits as well. I didn't look up this destination at the time, but seeing as certain locations from Chapter 5 were real ones, it would be foolish to do this review and not find out if Fort Morgan was a real location. It is, located in Mobile Bay, Alabama. It's a historic masonry Pentagonal bastion fort, named after the Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan. Without having to go through its entire Wikipedia page, let's just settle on it being through some stuff, dating back to the War of 1812 seemingly. An interesting term the Englishman used in explaining his numerous trips to Fort Morgan, "varying cargo," pointing up to the roof. Again, I didn't pick up on this in the first viewing, and the ending made it clear. There was something on top of the roof that the Englishman, and as it turned out, the Irishman, were transporting with them. The Trapper asked if "he's yours," which again I didn't catch. The Englishman said, "As much as he's anyone's." I couldn't tell what he meant by that if the implication was a pet, an anime on the roof of the coach. Then, listening more into the conversation, which I was so bad at in the first viewing, it goes into the fact that "he" is not an animal, rather, a human male. Why would a man be on the roof of a coach? This just makes me think that they made this very clear and I was too stupid to pick up on it until the end. It's a dead body. As the three people opposite the Englishman and Irishman asked questions about "him," if he was a loved one and if the Englishman knew him, it became dead obvious that the subject is dead. This really makes me mad at myself for not picking up on the signs. Honestly, the fact that this was almost over, I treated this chapter as one to coast through. This leads me to reveal that I paused the movie in Chapter 2 because family members were arguing outside my room. The noise was too distracting, so I just paused the movie for about 20 minutes. That stretched the movie session to over 2 and a half hours, which is a major expenditure of my day, so I was lazy in absorbing the movie. Combine it with my multi-tasking, and this is why the review was so important. It makes me want to watch the movie more than I wanted to, following completion. Back to the line of questions, the Englishman said that he knew him at the end...oh boy. That puts quite the end to that conversation, it changes to the earlier discussion of whether people have been to Fort Morgan before. The Trapper started off by saying he has never been there, being alone most of the time, and on occasion going into town with his pelts. Notice that he's dressed entirely of various animal fur, wearing a raccoon hat for example and a big coat and scarf. Also, the most epic facial hair in the entire movie. It's funny that on the other end of the seating is the Frenchman, with his impressive tache, but it pales in comparison to that beard. Judging by the Lady going for her nose as the Trapper faced her, the man had some bad breath. He rambled upon how he communicates with people in town, some troubles with that, people not liking him so much. He then talked about how he got into a relationship with a woman, not going into gory details because of the Lady in the carriage. She didn't speak English, I'm guessing she was Native American. He kept going on about the woman, the Irishman was interested, the Lady was disgusted, the Frenchman didn't look too interested. At the end of the story, the woman moved on. The Irishman though kept him talking by asking if he loved her. He didn't say that, coming to the conclusion that people are like ferrets and beavers. The Lady was appareled at that, saying there are two kinds of people. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. Nah, just kidding. The Frenchman guessed it was lucky and unlucky, the Irishman guessed pale and frail. That sounded weird coming from him, knowing that he and the Englishman have some kind of business regarding dead bodies. According to the woman, the two kinds are upright and sinning. I like that, lucky and unlucky also would qualify. She said she spoke under the authority of the Holy Bible, oh boy.


I didn't have subtitles and you never meet the Lady's husband so my spelling could be off. Dr. Betchaman. Since saying it slowly, that is a funny name. Bet-cha-man. You betcha man. She goes on about Betchaman's skills in I guess being a religion teacher, a televangelist before TV. She used the term "spiritual betterment" as one of his specialties in lectures. I noticed that she used past tense when it came to him, but she herself caught it switched to present tense. On first viewing, I thought this implied that they were separated, divorced. Going back to it, my new thought is that Dr. Betchaman died. The Trapper said that he's no expert on betterment, but he's very good at his traps, which made the Lady laugh a little. The Englishman asked about her husband not being with her, to which she said they have been separated for some time. Now they make it clear here, but it could mean something more. A month removed from my viewing of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, the idea of a couple being separated can have a deeper, sadder meaning, as was the case of Del Griffith. So with this, I believe he died. Notice the hesitation in speaking on his whereabouts, taking a pause before saying he was "east," and that illness took over him. That could mean he died from illness. They're heading to Alabama, which is in the southeast, it's possible that she is specifically attending Dr. Betchaman's funeral. Seeing as how this chapter has death as a major theme and topic of conversation, without really saying the word or of the like, it makes me assume that her husband died. She then confirmed that her husband is in Fort Morgan. Hmm? Then she said she had been living with her daughter and son-in-law for 3 years. That is significant. So, not a funeral, his grave is the destination for her. It's possible, if the theory about her husband being dead is correct, that she never visited his grave. Maybe too much grief, and she's finally come to terms with it. The Frenchman suggested that she was kicked out of her daughter's house for being a burden, of course, she disagreed. When he said that each person has a life of their own, it's clear that he's criticizing the Lady for thrusting herself into her daughter and son-in-law's life with the living arrangement. She continues to take issue with this talk, and he then got into storytime himself about someone he played cards with. Spelling, a character who was never seen and credited, so, Chipolski? Let's go with that, the Frenchman played with a "polock" by that name. That's what the Trapper asked if he was a polock. Apparently, yes. The Trapper spoke loudly that he knew a polock. Cool story bro. The Frenchman continued with his story, it sounded like he won the game against Chipolski. The Polish man told for the Frenchman to play for him while he performed a...I don't know, the fake French accent made this particular word hard to make out. Judging by what he said next, the Polish man wanted to play another round of poker. He got into the topic of wages, and in the end said that he can't play the other player's hands, we have to play with our own ones, and he said this while looking at the Lady. The Frenchman continued with the story, saying he can't play his hand, they are friends, but he doesn't know him in that deeper level, to which the Trapper responded that of course, you can, humans are like ferrets. The Lady disagrees, saying that poker is a gambling game, and she passed judgment about the Frenchman over this "vice." Such thinking doesn't equate to general morality, according to her, but the Frenchman disagrees. He then goes in on her, as if to imply her journey to see her husband will be a failure, this certainty she has is foolish. Besides, anything can happen in 3 years, but she said that with decent people, relationships are eternal. Decent people stay true to each other, and themselves, it's like she's denying the possibility that Dr. Betchaman moved on, perhaps found another woman. That is if he's still alive.


By this point, I notice that the daylight has gotten darker, which is a nice way of maintaining continuity, signaling the passing of time. I say that under the assumption that this was shot in a set. Then again, it could be an actual coach, but there are rigs to facilitate filming, and they are actually doing some traveling during the production of this chapter. I wouldn't put it past the Coens, but it's easy to jump to the conclusion that it's a set, despite the authenticity of all the locations so far in this movie. She then asked the Frenchman if he believed that her daughter doesn't love her, as well as her husband. He said, "If he ever did." Gasp. He explained that love can have different meanings, which is true. He asked if her husband is a man of charisma, she said "was" and then "is." Assume though that her husband has been ill for a couple years, the "was" could still make sense because he isn't active in his profession since he's sick. Still, I'm hanging on to the death theory. The Frenchman went off, concluding that she may have coaxed Dr. Betchaman into loving her, but his point goes back to him saying love has different meanings. He then got a bit aggressive, saying that the love from Betchaman would be a blessing, but with her, she grasps that love as a beggar. He's pretty much calling her a bitch. It sounded like he was insinuating that Betchaman would be prone to getting love from different sources, perhaps different women. He didn't say females in particular, so it could very well include men. Whatever the case, she got really mad and tried to beat him up but she got a hyperventilating panic attack. The Frenchman said that they needed to stop, the Englishman kept saying that the Coachman doesn't stop. Now, when the Frenchman peaks out the carriage and tries to tell the Coachman directly to stop, you can see by the environment that it feels artificial. The lighting probably plays into it, when you see the white clouds, but the picture has a steely dark blue-green tint to it, I get the thought that this was some green screen work at play. This is fine, even great if it goes into a theory that I hinted at. I mentioned a different plane of existence, and I have a feeling this story is a descent into Hell. Considering that it gets darker as the story continues, the Frenchman really digging into the Lady, making her out to be a bad person, it's clear that she is on the road to Hell for good reason. The Trapper, by this point, it could be his way of life, wearing dead animal fur on his person could be considered a sin, and maybe he didn't offer a proper form of love to that Native American woman, hence her moving on. As for the Frenchman, it could be that he has his sins, but he's pretty much come to terms with them, but with no form of sharing it to the people around him. The Englishman and the Irishman are undertakers, they give virtually no personal detail about themselves. The Englishman, in particular, gets into speeches revolving around death but doesn't get into personal details about certain subjects. Even going by the seating, the Englishman and Irishman are sitting next to each other, there are plenty of shots of the opposing side where the Lady, Frenchman, and Trapper sit. This means they are a group, together, and it could be argued that they are dead, but have not really realized that. The travel in a sense is through purgatory. There are no turns, it just keeps going straight, the Coachman never stops when he doesn't need to. Death waits for no man.


The Irishman and Englishman are charming in their own ways, and the personalities of them arguably fit into the feeling of knowing awareness. They know exactly where they are, what the situation is, the latter said that he's been to Fort Morgan multiple times. Fort Morgan is probably just a code word for a stop. Knowing what happens in the end, in this stop, the beings make a particular transition. I'll get into more detail about it soon. The Irishman, seemingly trying to calm down the Lady, sings a song. As far as what he's singing, subtitles would definitely help. It's not that his accent is hard to understand, it's just it would require multiple replays to get the lyrics right for the sake of summarizing them. What I can make out without going through much effort is him spotting someone. I think he said this person was his comrade, "wrapped up in flannel, so hard as his face." The comrade was asked by the man why he was wrapped up in flannel, it was from injuries, describing his body as "disordered." Who did this? His ex-lover, a young woman. He described being cut down in his prime, it sounds like the comrade is giving his last words. He then said he needs 6 pretty maidens to carry his coffin, to erect a pole, perhaps a cross. Each maiden would get roses so that they do not smell him as they go along. Stinky dead body, or giving them a distracting or alleviating sense away from death, for example, the smell of roses. The Englishman cried from that, the other 3 are stunned. When you analyze the lyrics, the song is really dark, and it's about death, going back to it being a major theme in this chapter. Interestingly enough, the Englishman said that he's surprised that given his "business" with the Irishman he would even feel some type of way. The Trapper interfered, asking for details about this business. Oh, see? He just blurts it out, and I totally missed it. Actually, I remember some of the job titles, but up to now, I must have forgotten. He outright said, along with the Irishman that they are "reapers," "harvesters of souls." The Trapper said that they are bounty hunters, which the Englishman accepted, begrudgingly since it is an ugly title in his opinion. It throws off my theory about them being undertakers, grim reapers, them being just bounty hunters. However, it could be a fib to get the conversation to continue. The topic shifted to the man on the roof of the carriage, his name being Mr. Thorp. The Englishman did talk about payment so that just further throws off my theory. It could be considered a waste of time that I kept on building towards this undertaker theory and the traveling through purgatory when I could've just watched the whole segment again and just summarize that. Well, whatever, it's thought-provoking to me. It's art and it's subjective, I could still rock with this belief. Hell, a compromise could be that they are both literal bounty hunters and undertakers. Angels of death, God's version of a hitman, a bounty hunter even. It does get murky on the bounty hunter thing when the Englishman was asked by the Frenchman if they would take subjects alive. He didn't say that, so bounty hunter would not qualify perfectly because they are not strictly hitmen. It's clear that their preference is the subject being dead, and they make sure that happens. He goes into detail about how this tandem operates, saying that he, the Englishman, is the distraction, and the Irishman does the "thumping." That word gives of a mauling, fist-pounding connotation. Given his size, he could get by beating people up with his bare hands, perhaps even killing people with them.


Now, this leads into the story I kept going back to. The reason I did was to make sure I understood it, for some reason I found that to be difficult. I think that's because I wanted to get confirmation of what I thought the topic was. The story is called "The Midnight Caller" which I didn't go back that far to catch. My point is, I wanted confirmation that the topic was about the process of dying. The Englishman starts the tale, and he speaks like a real storyteller, and this is several chapters removed from the quadruple amputee. He speaks in that kind of performing way, commanding an audience. It did start with him using his cane to bang on the floor, which woke up the Frenchman. It served as a good way to set the tone for what's to come in the story. He spoke in the first-person point of view, the character in this story yelling for his mother not to open the door, questioning of a living being that is out in the storm, something dangerous I think. The Englishman said that "you" know the story, people can't get enough of it, because they connect it to themselves. There's a shot of the Irishman, who looks to be half-smiling, he's excited by what the Englishman is saying, which is weird when out of context. The Englishman said that people want to believe it's them in the story until the end when they want it to not be them. "The Midnight Caller gets him, never me. I live forever." So, is the Midnight Caller Satan? This is the last part of the story I spent the most time replaying. I'll quote it.


"It's always interesting watching them after Clarence has worked his art. Watching them negotiate...the passage." Clarence is the name of the Irishman, the movie credits and IMDB would rather go with the "Irishman" name, which I'm going to continue using. The Frenchman asked, "Passage?" "From here to there. To the other side, watching them try to make sense of it as they passed to the other place. I do like looking into their eyes when they try to make sense of it. I do. I do." The Trapper asked, "Try to make sense of what?" "All of it." The Lady asked if they ever succeed. The Englishman said "How would I know? I'm only watching." This final part of the story really took me to a long bout of thinking. The thought is that the story was about death, that the Englishman and Irishman are in the business of that, and I took it into inhuman levels by equating them to undertakers. Given the lighting of the scene, the imagery outside of the carriage, though seen briefly, shows what looks to be traveling a long and dark road, ripped out of a book, it made me consider the location to be a different plane of existence. Purgatory, it's not Hell. They aren't there yet. Of course, this is a theory, if you go by statements and not think too much of symbolism, this is a story still centered around death, but also love and where it can go wrong, such as the case of the Lady, the disappearance of the Native American woman that ended any further relationship between her and the Trapper. The Frenchman talking a lot about love, but notice how he doesn't give a look into his love life, which is probably non-existent. No mention of a significant other. You can look at these three, and see a loss of love, whether they are aware of it or not. All three are not aware of it, in different ways, bravado, denial, and social withdrawal in regards to the Frenchman, Lady, and the Trapper, respectively. I may be reaching, but again, thought-provoking in a great way.


We're at the end here. The Coachman stopped, they made it to Fort Morgan, specifically a hotel to spend the night in. The Coachman pushed the body off the roof so that the Englishman and Irishman could take it. They talked about which room to stay for the night, the Englishman's or Mr. Thorp's, indicating that he reserved a room for himself before his death. They considered leaving the body out in the open for hotel goers to get a shock in the morning. The laughs continue, but this time for the audience only, they botched in securing the body, making it drop to the ground. The Englishman said to apologize for the Irishman to Mr. Thorp, which he did. It turned out to be a joke, which is crazy considering that this is while they carried a dead body, and a mysterious figure is by them, the Coachman. They settle on the body staying in the Irishman's room, they didn't talk about the smell of the body, which was never brought up at all in this story. Even wrapped with that blanket, you can't cover up the smell of a dead body unless it's buried in some way, whether it be a freezer, a morgue, or a coffin.


The other three exit the coach last, hesitant to even leave. They settle on going out at the same time basically, the men helping the Lady to exit, facilitating all of them leaving. You can see the fear in all their faces, but the Lady requests for one of them to open the door, chivalry man, she is a woman after all. The Trapper opens the door, and you look inside the hotel. Even that looks like some kind of video game. It looks great, but it goes into me thinking there is an unnatural feeling to it. You see the duo of UK men carrying the body up the stairs one step at a time. The Coachman is seen leaving, but then it comes back from the other side, basically going back the route that he rode in on in the first place with the passengers. Now, why would he do that? What's back there that he needed to travel through the route once again. My answer is another firmly dead body, and another set of people to ferry their souls into purgatory. I could be reaching, but hey, it's fun to come up with these thoughts. The Frenchman is the last person to enter the hotel, perhaps symbolizing him coming to grips with his mortality the slowest. Without saying a word, it's like he gave the message of "Fuck it" to the audience, putting his top hat on and entering the hotel, closing the doors to the viewer, ending the book, and thus, the whole movie.


The last paragraph of this chapter is worth quoting. "The trapper, who had spoken so many words and for so long, no longer had a use for them. He settled in for a long quiet." Hmmm, does that mean him accepting death? In conclusion, analyzing this chapter and really going into symbolism and trying to decipher themes and messages made this really entertaining. It all starts with the story bringing that kind of thinking to the viewer. It did so for me, thus I'm thankful for the final chapter. I will say that this one could be an acquired taste. My way of thinking probably won't be like other people, Perhaps I had spent most of the review of this chapter reaching, grasping for straws or something. At the end of the day, I enjoyed myself, more than I expected when I started to revisit this. Notice how I commented so highly of Chapter 5, and how that should've been the ending section. I may have to take it back. I still think this story had a more solid ending, not so much open-ended compared to the previous chapters, but none of that was a slight against this, it was a preference thing. I have a more strong conviction over that statement, now thinking this final chapter stood out in its own glorious way.


The 6-story format certainly helped in making this review very engaging to do, especially for the more thought-provoking chapters. I got to delve into different thoughts through different stories, but still have overall opinions of the movie. It's the mark of a great anthology movie, to have each section as a highlight in their own way, and this movie took it a step further by making me tap into my brain quite a lot. My previous back-and-forth on the rating of this movie is now a non-issue. I have a solid rating to give out. This was a movie where everyone did a great job. From the actors who filled in roles very well to the charismatic standouts such as Tim Blake Nelson and Jonjo O'Neill, to the incredible set designs, locations, and cinematography in capturing all of that. The narrative of each story is very engaging to me after the fact. My one problem is with myself for not really giving the movie full attention the first time around. Doing this review, fleshing out thoughts, gaining new ones along the way, really helped, making me come to the conclusion that this is a fantastic movie. I can now say that I definitely have missed out on modern Coen Brothers movies. One day I'll completely rectify that mistake because there was a point where I watched almost all their movies up until 2010. With the movies they have made since 2010, it now feels like I've only watched half of their filmography. That needs to change. As good as this movie was, I don't think it would've done well in the cinema format, the Netflix route was certainly the way to go. With the on-demand platform, it's plausible that viewers would watch the stories individually, treating this like a mini-series, which was the early misconception from people apparently, not just me. It definitely works in that way, but the thread connecting them, the Coen Brothers' blend of dark drama and dark humor, is strong enough to really make into a powerful hole. The sum is just as great as its parts pretty much. Nearing the end of the year, I consider this movie to be a true highlight of it, one of the best first-time viewings of 2018. There a decent amount of laughs, some parts that warrant a "what the fuck" reaction. There was some serious tension, shock. The biggest quality to me is that this was so thought-provoking. Hell, I could watch this again and go into massive tangents on the first two chapters. Notice how I really dug into theories and different arguments in the final 3 chapters. It seemed to just be a gradual thing, where I was just insane with this mindset in Chapter 6. That's incredible, it goes back to this feeling like a full movie, you got the movie-like crescendo where the final act brings out the most emotion. That being said, the early chapters are not to be forgotten about, they are all entertaining in their own ways, I wouldn't be satisfied to watch the movie without the 6 chapters together. They can't be separated, but I would definitely like to see how they would function if the order was changed. I already gave an example of an order change in the form of the last two chapters being swapped. Maybe try with the order being reversed, where Chapter 6 starts the movie, and Chapter 1 ends it. The ending would be funny and quirky in a different way. It was still funny and quirky though. Anyways, this begs a rewatch from me, something more proper and respectful to the film. Coming out of this review though, I am satisfied that I redeemed myself through this long-winded post. If delivered something lazy in the review, it would really make me look bad for multi-tasking through the movie and pausing it (though that was justified due to an argument). Anyways, the bottom line is this is a great movie, another home run by the Coen Brothers.


9/10


PS: I didn't proofread this because of time, it's nighttime on Christmas Eve at the time of this post, and I wanted the day to be filled with watching Christmas movies, but some things made that impossible, including this review. I did some productive things though, so no regrets, especially with this review. I did use Grammarly for the first time, which potentially would make it no longer necessary to proofread. That would be nice. Anyways, in case I don't post my Christmas movie reviews tomorrow, I'll end this post by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays, whatever floats your boat.

[SanteeFats]

UMMMMM shorter can be better you know.

[Reclaimedwg]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

UMMMMM shorter can be better you know.

+100 ^^^

I watched The Ballad of Buster Scruggs back on 11/17 and I didn't post a review here because I turned it off by the middle of the 3rd chapter.

Very disappointed in it.

Would had loved to see more of both characters from the 1st and 2nd chapter and wasn't expecting them to just abruptly end like that.

[FalunGonged]

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

+100 ^^^
Would had loved to see more of both characters from the 1st and 2nd chapter ....

Indeed...I actually thought it was a series of short stories based on the first character...ah well...

[Brecht]

You're clearly not familiar with Oh Hi Mark's legendary and highly esteemed film reviews. Philistines!