ZoeTheCat at 2011-07-20 08:31:21:

My third favorite Coen film after Fargo & Lebowski.

This was one of those relatively rare films that I had to watch twice in the theatre. I read the slugs before watching this fantastic scene again and noticed only a single line of dialogue that I didn’t recognize.

CHIGURH
I guess that passes for manners in your cracker view of things.

I don’t know if this was intentional, but for me, it would have detracted slightly from Chigurh’s ‘code of ethics.’ The character is pure evil, but he is fair and unbiased in his code of ethics. You either win a coin toss or you die. Race (assuming the slang ‘cracker’) shouldn’t enter into this very pure form of judgment.

The dialogue is impeccably scripted and dances around the momentous decision that is being weighed. We know what they‘re playing for, but the shop owner will never realize that he has won - EVERYTHING!

Aside from the one script deviation, the tone and acting are perfect. We identify with the shop owners polite uneasiness while empathizing with his predicament. The whispered dialogue adds to the tension.

It’s odd that the unshrinking package was put into the script and appears on queue. I’m not sure what this symbolizes. I am also curious WHEN Chigurh decides that the owner has earned his special trial-by-flip. Is it immediately after the shop owner notes that our antagonist is from Dallas (potential witness), or is it the fact that the owner has “married in to it?” Also, I’m not sure if Bardem was truly choking on an almond or if that dramatic throat clench-cough was an indignant response to ‘marrying into it.” anyhow, fantastic scene!

Teddy Pasternak at 2011-07-20 09:25:43:

You must really like this scene, you've featured it before :)

http://www.gointothestory.com/2009/03/great-scene-no-country-for-old-men.html

You made some great comments on that post. Here are some of my thoughts.

At :41 they cut out this:

CHIGURH: I guess that passes for manners in your cracker view of things.

A beat.

PROPRIETOR: Well sir I apologize.

By not including the apology from the Proprietor, it makes him a bit more defiant. He's not yet understanding the gravity of the situation.

As you asked in your post from 2009, why is the fact that he “married into it” important? My opinion is that Chigurh is looking for a reason for the coin toss. Oddly enough, he can't justify it until after he finds out about the marriage. He's working himself up to the “act” and that is symbolized by eating the cashews. He finishes the bag and it is empty right before it is “time.”

The interesting thing that is not in the script is how Chigurh is acting when he says “Call it.” Right at 2:58 in the video. He sighs. It's like an outside force is making him do this. It's almost like he doesn't want to but it's a compulsive behavior. That is underlined when he says “I can't call it for you.” Some “rule” that he has to follow even though he is forcing this game onto an unwilling person.

Also notice the slight zoom in at 3:18. The cinematography relieves the tension just a tad right there to emphasize the line “You been putting it up your whole life. You just didn't know it.” It makes us go “A-ha, is that what it's about?”

And then he mentions the date of the coin like it's some profound statement about how long it has travelled to get there. In Chigurh's mind, he is still looking for reasons to justify his behavior. He seems to be searching for meaning. Same thing with the coin getting “...mixed in with the
others and become just a coin.” Is that his way of saying that he is not like other people? This is his power, what makes him unique?

And then finishing off with “Which it is.” Life is unpredictable. Violence can happen anywhere when you least expect it. The coin is Chigurh mixing with the other "coins."

It's a long scene but I don't think any line here is a throwaway. Every single one has subtext and goes to showing Chigurh's character. It's done in a way that makes us question his intention and motivation. It's unsettling. The writers are fucking with us as well.

The Coens show that they have complete control over not just the mise-en-scene but control over us as an audience. They got us right where they wanted. It's brilliant filmmaking.

Teddy Pasternak at 2011-07-20 16:04:00:

Scott, thanks for the kind words.

Yeah, the more I think about it, that has to be it. By giving Chigurh some humanity they show that he's not a monster. He's evil but he's not pure evil. He's not a killing machine. He is human and that makes it worse. A very troubled human for sure, but he's one of us. The evil inside him goes undetected.

The line about the coin mixing is exactly that. It's a warning of sorts, as if he's saying "You got lucky this time, but evil can strike anywhere, anytime."

Annika W at 2011-07-20 17:50:11:

I directed this scene for a directing class last year and analyzed the hell out of it then. What I came to is this: Chigurh, while a cold-blooded killer, is not a hypocrite. He lives the examined life in a world full of people just blindly bumping along. He's a wolf in a world of sheep. That's what he means by "You've been putting it up your whole life." This dithering idiot of a man who can't give Chigurh a clear answer has wasted his entire life and that's a crime against nature to Chigurh. As a strong wolf, he can't let such a weak sheep just slip by. It would be wrong to him. But that little human part of him doesn't just want to kill the guy, that little voice that says "Sure, you have a code, but maybe what he didn't isn't so wrong...." Hence the coin toss, taking the decision out of Chigurh's hands. I don't think it's the fact that the guy married into it that causes Chigurh to pull out the coin, so much as he's spent the whole conversation fishing for a straight answer, some sign that this guy thinks clearly, that he deserves to live. It's not that he married into it, but that he doesn't want to admit he married into it with his, "If that's the way you want to put it" when gosh dang, Chigurh knows there is no other way to put it. I think it's the mediocrity of the man that offends Chigurh more than anything. It's a perfect compliment to the scene at the end, when Lewellyn's wife won't call it and tells Chigurh he must make the decision. At that point, he's dealing with someone who deserves to live, but because of his promise to Lewellyn, Chigurh, who is nothing if not a man of his word, kills her, thus the punishment of the car wreck.

Natalie at 2011-07-20 18:14:35:

Teddy Pasternak suggested that the line "You married into it" is the crucial one in the scene, and I believe that Bardem's choking on the cashew is probably the red flag. While in reality we may accidentally choke and have it be a completely random moment, from an actor's POV it's a huge punctuation mark. Chigurh's rapid intake of breath causing the nut to momentarily catch in his throat puts great emphasis on the line "you married into it", especially when the rest of the dialogue has been so simply delivered. Even if it was an accidental choke, it was left in by the Cohens, and the fact he repeats the line again also indicates that this is indeed his justification for pushing though with the game.

I also loved that Teddy observed the sigh as perhaps a sign that the game is out of his hands - but there is another earlier sigh not indicated by the script at 1:23 which I think is interesting. Chigurh takes a moment, sighs deeply and says "You don't know what you're talking about, do you?" This moment is not indicated at all in the writing and indeed I think it actually disrupts the momentum of the scene. If the choke wasn't there, I'd have the impression that this moment is the pivot for the scene rather than the "married" line...

Both moments show very clearly how differently a screenplay can be interpreted by an actor - and the advantage in this case of having the same writers as directors is significant.

Scott at 2011-07-21 16:33:23:

A couple of small things I noticed from this exercise:

(1) Chigurh starts eating the cashews a line on the Proprietor's line "I seen you was from Dallas." My guess is that (a) it's actually pretty difficult for the actor to manage his lines while eating food, so he definitely has to plan his chews with his lines (any actor or actress will agree!) (b) Giving Chigurh an independent activity like eating cashews is a smart move by the Coen bros. because it allows him to concentrate more on the activity than the deliberate exchange of lines.

(2) I feel that the magic in this scene that's not indicated by the words in the script is brought to life by (a) not just using your standard over the shoulder shot by cutting back and forth depending on who's saying what. Rather, the Coen bros. will stay on either the Proprietor or Chigurh's face for a couple of lines and cut away to the other person's reaction.
(b) The actors, of course! I'm not sure if this was something planned in the script or improvised by Javier, but the simple addition of "sir" after "Don't put it in your pocket" establishes so well this exchange in status between the Proprietor and Chigurh.

I loved this exercise and welcome the challenge for more! Can we maybe throw in a scene from a T.V. pilot script? LOST for example?

Scott at 2011-07-21 16:34:04: