Taylor Whitmire
Dr.
Childs
English
1301
30
November 2012
Not
your Ideal Western
No
Country for Old Men is kind of like a modern day western with it’s
own twist on the “rules” of what makes an ideal western. The ideal western has
a good guy and a bad guy, and the good guy always wins. In the movie No Country for Old Men, the bad guy
wins. If you compare No Country for Old
Men to the classic western Tombstone,
you will find there are many similarities throughout certain characters. Anton
is much like the character Johnny Ringo who is the ruthless cowboy in Tombstone; Sheriff Bell is similar to
Wyatt Earp who is the sheriff of the town Tombstone. Llewellyn Moss is like Doc
Holiday from Tombstone in the sense
that even though he is technically not a good guy or a bad guy, he is still
viewed as good. Though these two movies share similarities throughout the
characters you will also find that No Country for Old Men lacks many key
elements to make it an ideal western such as the movie Tombstone.
In No Country for Old Men there is a lot of violence and death. Some
scenes can be a bit much too stomach with all of the blood, dead bodies, or the
disturbing sights of people getting shot in the head. Some might say this
movie’s violence and graphic scenes are similar to those of a horror movie,
which adds onto the “twist”. Anton Chigurh is the main culprit of these
gruesome deaths, he kills almost
everyone who crosses his path and every time he speaks with someone new you will
be on the edge of your seat anticipating their death. Anton kills with
absolutely no remorse just like Johnny Ringo from Tombstone, who went as far as killing a priest in the opening
scene. Johnny and Anton share the satisfaction of taking ones life due to the
fact that it makes them feel powerful and in control; Both of the characters
actions and brutality is hard for others around them to understand, Sheriff
Bell described Anton as a "ghost". Doc Holiday described Johnny Ringo
in a way that can also be used to explain Anton Chihurh's actions; it's a scene
where Wyatt Earp asks, "What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him
do the things he does?" Doc Holidays responds by saying "A man like
Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill
enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it." And then
he continues to explain to Wyatt that Johnny needs "revenge", when
Wyatt asks "For what?" Doc Holiday replies, "Bein' born."
Both of these characters are
being hunted down by the “good guy”; Anton is being hunted down by Sheriff Bell
and Johnny is being hunted down by the revenge seeking Wyatt Earp. Justice is
served when Wyatt Earp’s friend Doc Holiday shoots and kills Johnny, but
Sheriff Bell in No Country for Old Men is less successful because Anton gets
away. The fact that Anton lived left me with the feeling of being unsatisfied
with the movie because justice was not served.
In any classic western death is
expected, but what you don’t expect is for one of the main protagonists to die.
In No Country for Old Men, Llewellyn is found dead by Sheriff Bell. It’s
unanticipated and disappointing to see Llewellyn lying there lifeless in his
own blood but it’s not the kind of disappointment that most people feel when a
main character dies in a western movie. For example, in Tombstone there is a scene towards the end of the movie where it
shows Doc Holiday, who is Wyatt Earp’s charming and witty friend, die from
tuberculosis. Watching his slow, yet what seems to be a peaceful death is a
tear jerking moment in the movie. What is it about No Country for Old Men that makes you not experience the kind of
emotional attachment to the characters like you do for the characters in Tombstone or any other western? This is
where No Country for Old Men is like
a horror movie, it doesn’t go into depth on each characters life and you see
hardly any emotion from any of the characters. The movie only shows you a
glimpse of Llewellyn’s personal life and his personal life consists of his wife
Carla Jean whom he doesn’t show very much affection to. The movie Tombstone on other hand is mainly about
Wyatt’s personal life with his brothers, his best friend Doc Holiday, his drug
addicted wife and his charming mistress who he is very in love with.
Another key element to
contribution of the audiences’ emotional attachment to the characters in Tombstone
like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday is they are both given admirable and some would
say respectable personality traits. Wyatt Earp is fearless and clearly a dominant
and respected figure among the community in Tombstone. Within his first few
hours of arriving to the unfamiliar town he hears about a cowboy who took over
a saloon, so Wyatt walks straight into the saloon and immediately took control
of the situation, kicked out the cowboy after slapping him in the face, and
then took over the saloon and made a huge profit for himself and his brothers. Doc
Holiday is also has these qualities along with his dry sarcasm that adds a
unique charm to his character. These characteristics are portrayed in an
unforgettable scene when Doc Holiday mocks and embarrasses Johnny Ringo in
front of the entire saloon. No Country
for Old Men’s characters lack these key attributes and therefore the
audience is emotionally detached while watching the movie and this results in the fact that No Country for Old Men is not your ideal western.
