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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
File:Busterscruggsposter.jpg
Film poster
Directed byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Written by
  • Joel Coen
  • Ethan Coen
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBruno Delbonnel
Edited byRoderick Jaynes[a]
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release dates
  • August 31, 2018 (2018-08-31) (Venice)
  • November 16, 2018 (2018-11-16) (United States)
Running time
133 minutes[1][2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an American western anthology film written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. It stars Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, Harry Melling, and Tom Waits. It premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2018, where it won the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay[3][4] and was released on November 16 on Netflix after a limited theatrical run.[5][6]

Plot

Introduction

The collection of six stories is presented as an old book with the title The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier. A hand turns the pages before and after each story, each one preceded by a color plate illustration of a scene within the story.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Buster Scruggs is a cheerful singing cowboy clad in white who travels atop his trusty white horse Dan. As he rides across Monument Valley, he breaks the fourth wall for the first of many times by explaining to the audience that he is known as an outlaw and misanthrope, though he insists he harbors no dislike of his fellow man. He arrives at an isolated bar and asks for whiskey, but the owner refuses because the bar is in a dry county. Buster points out that other patrons are drinking alcohol, and the owner says that because it's illegal, he'll serve it only to "proper" outlaws like them. The lead outlaw and Buster exchange insults before drawing their guns and Buster effortlessly shoots him between the eyes, then mows down the other outlaws and the bar owner as they reach for their guns. He then heads into town and enters a saloon where he complies with its no firearms policy by surrendering his guns at the door. He joins a game of poker that a player has suddenly left, but discovers the player vacated the seat after being dealt the infamous dead man's hand, which the other players insist Buster play now that he has seen the cards. When Buster refuses, a large menacing player named Joe stands and draws a concealed pistol, the scene depicted in the color plate. Unable to dissuade Joe from continuing the confrontation, Buster kicks a plank in the poker table three times, with each kick tipping the plank into Joe's gun hand so that his pistol points backwards and discharges into his face. Having shot himself three times, Joe falls dead. Buster breaks into a boisterous song (loosely based upon "Little Joe the Wrangler") about "Çurly Joe,"[b][7] much to all the patrons' delight. Joe's brother arrives in dismay and challenges Buster to a duel in the street. Buster gladly obliges and proceeds to shoot off each of his fingers before he can even draw his pistol, then finishes him off with the sixth shot. A polite young man clad in black then rides into town and recognizes Buster, having heard that he "is the one to beat" at both gunfighting and singing. Buster again happily obliges a request to duel, but much to his surprise, the young man is an even faster draw and shoots him straight through the middle of his forehead. Buster examines the wound in disbelief before collapsing, admitting via voiceover that he should have foreseen that "you can't be top dog forever." The young man and Buster then sing a bittersweet duet as Buster's spirit rises from his body and floats towards heaven complete with angel wings and a lyre.

Near Algodones

A young cowboy enters a bank that stands isolated upon the prairie, and after a brief chat with the jabbering bank teller, draws his pistol to rob him. However, when he allows the teller to stoop to reach the "large denominations," the teller instead fires a row of shotguns mounted below the counter, which the cowboy leaps to avoid while the teller escapes out the back door. After filling his bag with cash from the drawer, the cowboy flees out the front, but the teller fires at him, causing him to take cover behind a well. As depicted in the story's color plate, the teller then charges the cowboy wearing a washboard and several pots and pans that deflect all the cowboy's shots as the teller repeatedly cackles "Pan shot!" The teller knocks the cowboy out with his rifle butt, and when the cowboy regains consciousness, he is sitting upon a horse under a tree with a noose around his neck. A posse surrounds him, and the lawman who's in charge asks for his final words, since the group "convicted" the cowboy and sentenced him to death while he was semi-conscious. The execution is interrupted by ambushing Comanche warriors who quickly slaughter the lawman and posse but leave the cowboy in place upon the horse. After a time, a drover happens by and frees the cowboy, who then joins him on his drive. However, the drover is actually a rustler, and they are promptly chased down by another lawman's posse, who capture the cowboy and him into town, where the sheriff summarily orders him to hang. As the cowboy stands upon the gallows with three other men awaiting execution, the much older condemned man to his left sobs, to which the cowboy dryly quips, "First time?" He then spots a beautiful young woman in the crowd and mutters "There's a pretty girl" before the hangman abruptly hoods him and pulls the trapdoor lever to cheers and applause.

Meal Ticket

An aging impresario and his artist Harrison, a young man with no arms or legs, travel from town to town in a wagon that converts into a small stage where Harrison theatrically recites classics such as Shelley's poem "Ozymandias", the biblical story of Cain and Abel, works by Shakespeare, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The impresario collects money from the audience at the end of each performance, with profits dwindling as they visit increasingly remote mountain towns with smaller and more indifferent audiences, and he grows weary and callous from performing all the physical labor in the endeavor as well as having to feed, dress, and assist Harrison in relieving himself. Their financial situation is never desperate, as the impresario can afford to visit a prostitute (keeping Harrison present but facing away), and later draws from a large roll of dollar bills in his coat to buy a performing chicken he wants to use to supplant Harrison's act. The impresario observes a man drawing a crowd with the bird, which can ostensibly perform basic math by pecking at painted numbers to answer addition and subtraction equations that the audience calls out. After buying the chicken, the impresario drives their wagon through a mountain pass, and stops by a bridge over a rushing river. He walks to the center of the bridge and drops a large stone into the river to gauge its depth before returning to the wagon wearing a faint smile. The film then cuts to the story's final scene in which he has resumed driving the wagon, the chicken his only passenger and Harrison presumably dropped into the river, as foreshadowed by the quote from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice that captioned the color plate illustration of Harrison: "The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven."

All Gold Canyon

In a segment adapting the short story “All Gold Canyon” by Jack London, a grizzled prospector arrives in a pristine mountain valley. In the grassy meadow beside a stream that snakes through the valley, the prospector begins digging soil samples and panning through them to count the gold specks and thereby slowly determine the area with the highest concentration. The concentration is high enough that he believes an isolated vein must be located up the hill from the stream, and he resolves to dig until he finds the deposit he christens "Mr. Pocket." After his first night camping at the site, he catches a fish for his breakfast, and then spots a great horned owl tending its treetop nest at the edge of the valley. As depicted in the color plate, he climbs the pine tree that holds the nest, but pauses mid-climb to look out at the vast expanse of wilderness -- "And in all that mighty sweep of earth he saw no sign of man nor the handiwork of man." When he reaches the nest, the mother owl's watchful gaze from a nearby tree dissuades the prospector from stealing more than one egg for his meal. After digging several more soil sample holes that day, he identifies Mr. Pocket's location and begins digging a larger hole. The next morning, he digs out gold nuggets of increasing size before finally reaching Mr. Pocket, a large gold vein running through the quartz he's uncovered. But no sooner does he make his discovery than a shadow falls over him; a young man who has been trailing the prospector and letting him do all the work has sneaked to the edge of the hole. He shoots the prospector in the back, and the old man falls face first and motionless. When the young man jumps into the hole to steal the gold, the prospector stops playing dead, knocks the man down, wrestles his gun away, and shoots him. The prospector assesses and cleans his wound in the stream, finishes digging the gold from the hole, pushes the young man's body back into the hole to serve as his grave, and departs the valley with his bounty.

The Gal Who Got Rattled

A young woman named Alice Longabaugh and her older brother Gilbert, an inept businessman, are journeying in a wagon train across the prairie towards Oregon, where Gilbert claims a new business partner will marry his sister. Gilbert dies of cholera shortly after they embark, and the wagon train's leaders, Mr. Billy Knapp and Mr. Arthur, help Alice bury her brother. Though she has no certain prospects, Alice decides to continue to Oregon rather than return east. However, the young man Gilbert hired to lead their wagon, Matt, is demanding half the $400 he claims Gilbert promised him, and Alice cannot find Gilbert's money, fearing he was buried with it. Alice conveys her predicament to Billy, who offers his support in contemplating how to proceed, and also does her the favor of driving off Gilbert's small dog, President Pierce, whose incessant barking has drawn widespread complaint. Through the course of their conversations, Billy grows fond of Alice, and he ultimately proposes to solve her dilemma by marrying her in Fort Laramie, assuming Gilbert's debt to pay Matt, and retiring from leading wagon trains to build a home and family with her upon 640 acres in Oregon per the Homestead Act. Alice is surprised by Billy's proposal, but she has likewise grown fond of him, so she accepts the next morning, and Billy informs Mr. Arthur that this will be their last ride together. The following morning, Mr. Arthur notices Alice missing, and he rides over the hills to eventually find her laughing at some prairie dogs with President Pierce. Mr. Arthur then spots an indian sentinel and advancing war party, and he gives Alice a pistol to shoot herself in the event he is killed so that she can avoid capture. Mr. Arthur twice drives back the charging warriors with his rifle, but when a remaining warrior momentarily appears to kill Mr. Arthur, Alice shoots herself as instructed. As depicted in the color plate, Mr. Arthur sadly walks back to the wagon train with "no idea what he would say to Billy Knapp."

The Mortal Remains

Five people, an Englishman (Thigpen); an Irishman (Clarence); a Frenchman (René); a Lady (Mrs. Betjeman) and a Trapper, ride in a stagecoach together at sunset to Fort Morgan. Thigpen says that he and Clarence often travel this route "ferrying cargo," alluding to a corpse on the roof, but he does not yet specify the nature of their business handling corpses. The Trapper rambles about his past relationship with a Native woman in which neither knew the other's language, but his observing her basic emotions led him to conclude that "people are like ferrets or beaver, all pretty much alike" in their animal needs and desires. Mrs. Betjeman, a devout Christian, indignantly rebuts that there are two kinds of people, upright and sinning, and explains that her husband, from whom she's been separated for three years, is a retired lecturer on "moral and spiritual hygiene." René challenges her dichotomy (and the Trapper's argument of simplistic animalism) with reflections on the innately individual and complex subjectivity of human experience, and then questions whether her husband conceives of love the same way she does and has remained faithful to her. Mrs. Betjamen becomes apoplectic, and René calls out the window for the coachman to stop, but as foretold in the color plate, "Whether or not he heard, the coachman did not slow." Thigpen clarifies that never stopping is policy. Clarence sings a bittersweet folk song to calm the group, and he and Thigpen then reveal themselves to be "reapers," i.e., bounty hunters. Thigpen explains how he distracts their prey with stories while Clarence "thumps" them, how he distracted Mr. Thorpe, the corpse on the roof, with the story of The Midnight Caller, and how he enjoys watching their prey die, the expression in their eyes as they "negotiate the passage" and "try to make sense of it." The other three are visibly unsettled by this as they arrive at the foreboding hotel in Fort Morgan where they will all be staying, and they remain in the stagecoach while Thigpen and Clarence carry the corpse into the hotel. As they then warily make their way inside, René lingers in the doorway to watch the stagecoach ride off into the eerily foggy night. He then turns to face whatever fate awaits within, dons his hat, and closes the heavy double doors behind him.

This tale is a parable of navigating the passage of life into death. It is strongly implied that the three travelers, the Lady, the Frenchman and the Trapper, are souls being ferried to their last resting place - Fort Morgan.[8]

Cast

Production

Joel and Ethan Coen announced The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in January 2017 as a collaboration with Annapurna Television.[9] In August, Netflix announced it would stream the work worldwide.[10]

The film was based on Western-themed short stories written by the Coens over a period of 20 to 25 years (accounts vary) that differ in mood and subject.[5][11] Tim Blake Nelson was given the script for the eponymous story in 2002 and told that a second, "Meal Ticket", was in outline form, but only heard that the project would commence in 2016.[12] "All Gold Canyon" was based on a Jack London story.[13] "The Gal Who Got Rattled" was inspired by a story by Stewart Edward White[14] and based in part on contemporaneous accounts, including those of heated arguments over pets.[15][16] While some reports claimed the work would be a six-part television series,[1] the Coens intended the stories to be seen together, structured them that way in the script they submitted to Annapurna, and shot the script as written.[17][18]

Throughout 2017 and into the start of 2018, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, Willie Watson, Ralph Ineson, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root, Liam Neeson and Brendan Gleeson joined the cast.[19][20][21][22]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was the Coens' first film to be shot digitally. The filmmakers saw the project, with its 800 visual effects and late magic hour shoots, as a good opportunity to experiment with the medium.[23] Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel employed a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and used a 27mm lens for the majority of the shots.[24] "The Gal Who Got Rattled" was shot on private land north of Mitchell in the Nebraska Panhandle, with a casting call for "ordinary" Nebraskans to appear as extras.[25] In New Mexico, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and "Near Algodones” were shot on location; "The Mortal Remains" was shot entirely on a sound stage.[26][27] "The Meal Ticket" and "All Gold Country" were shot in Colorado, the latter in Telluride.[27][28]

Joel Coen said the shoot was physically demanding: exterior shots with uncovered sets, "really brutal weather" and much travel over wide-ranging locations. "It wouldn’t have hurt if we were younger."[17] The long wagon train in "The Gal Who Got Rattled" proved especially challenging because of the difficulty of coordinating the ox teams for timing and direction.[15] Fourteen wagons were built from scratch in a New Mexico blacksmith shop then shipped in pairs on flatbed trailers to the shooting location in Nebraska. Their design was influenced by the 1930 film The Big Trail. Most of the costumes were also handmade for the production. Designer Mary Zophres credited historical reenactment supply companies for carrying hard-to-find period fabrics, noting that U.S. wool production was "practically nil."[27]

Funding and distribution

From the outset, the Coens ruled out traditional film studio funding, seeing an industry shift in how smaller projects are financed. Joel Coen said that Netflix was investing in movies that aren’t based on Marvel comics or other established action franchises, "which is pretty much the business of the studios now."[17]

The filmmakers had mixed feelings regarding distribution as The Ballad of Buster Scruggs had only a limited theatrical run before its Netflix streaming debut. The Coens credited home videos with helping establish their own careers and admitted that they themselves succumbed to the temptation to watch movie screeners at home rather than going out to a theater. But the "hours and days and years you spend struggling over details" of a film "is appreciated in a different way on a big screen," Joel Coen said.[17]

Netflix funding was also the reason composer Carter Burwell conducted his score, with up to 40 musicians, at Abbey Road Studios in London, which, he noted, is ironic given that the film is an American Western. “"In this case, Netflix as a distributor is not a signatory to any of the union agreements here. So they wanted to go to London so they wouldn't be involved in that.  I mention that because more and more films are being made by companies that aren't signatories.” He said that the issue has festered over the past 20 years to the point where the film recording business has disappeared from New York with no prospect of being rebuilt.[29]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 92% based on reviews from 137 critics, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus states, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs avoids anthology pitfalls with a consistent collection tied together by the Coen brothers' signature blend of dark drama and black humor."[30] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on reviews from 38 critics.[31]

Notes

  1. ^ Roderick Jaynes is the shared pseudonym used by the Coen brothers for their editing.
  2. ^ a b The character's name as listed in the film credits is "Çurly Joe" with a cedilla under the first letter, as described by Buster in his song.

References

  1. ^ a b Tapley, Kristopher (July 25, 2018). "Surprise! The Coens' 'Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Is a Film and It's Headed for Oscar Season". Variety. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  2. ^ "THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS | British Board of Film Classification".
  3. ^ Roxborough, Scott (August 31, 2018). "Coen Brothers Say Their Netflix Western 'Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Will Get Theatrical Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  4. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (September 8, 2018). "Venice Film Festival: Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma' Wins Golden Lion (Complete Winners List)". Variety. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Chu, Henry (August 31, 2018). "Coen Brothers Confirm Theatrical Release for 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'". Variety. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  6. ^ Brent Lang (October 31, 2018). "Netflix's 'Roma,' 'Ballad of Buster Scruggs,' 'Bird Box' Get Exclusive Theatrical Releases". Variety. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  7. ^ "The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs – "Surly Joe" Tim Blake Nelson (video)". Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  8. ^ Orquiola, John (November 16, 2018). "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: All 6 Endings Explained". https://screenrant.com/. ScreenRant. Retrieved November 24, 2018. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
  9. ^ Sandberg, Bryn Elise (January 10, 2017). "Coen Brothers Set First-Ever TV Project With Annapurna". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  10. ^ "The Coen Brothers come to Netflix in the new Western Anthology THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS". Netflix Media Center. August 9, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ Terry Gross (November 19, 2018). "Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen On Singing Cowboys And Working With Oxen". Fresh Air (Podcast). NPR. Event occurs at 3:00.
  12. ^ Radish, Christina (November 16, 2018). "Tim Blake Nelson on 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' and Damon Lindelof's 'Watchmen' Series". Collider. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  13. ^ Morgan, David (October 4, 2018). "The Coen Brothers on "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"". CBS News. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  14. ^ "The Girl Who Got Rattled". americanliterature.com.
  15. ^ a b "Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen On Singing Cowboys And Working With Oxen" (Podcast). Event occurs at 15:20.
  16. ^ Stevens, Dana (November 8, 2018). "The Coen Brothers' New Netflix Movie Is a Western Out to Break All the Rules". Slate Magazine. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  17. ^ a b c d Rottenberg, Josh (November 14, 2018). "The Coen brothers on their Western anthology film 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,' Netflix and the future of moviegoing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 17, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  18. ^ Lewis, Hilary (November 18, 2018). "Coen Brothers, 'Buster Scruggs' Cast Insist Western Anthology Was Always Going to Be a Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  19. ^ Dickinson, Chrissie. "Willie Watson sounds like a man from another time". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Giroux, Jack (July 9, 2017). "'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Cast Includes James Franco, Tim Blake Nelson, Zoe Kazan, and More". /Film. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  21. ^ Otterson, Joe (August 9, 2017). "Coen Brothers' TV Series 'Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Lands at Netflix". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  22. ^ "'Exclusive: Liam Neeson and Brendan Gleeson to star in Coen Brothers' Ballad Of Buster Scruggs". Entertainment IE. January 15, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  23. ^ "Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen On Singing Cowboys And Working With Oxen" (Podcast). Event occurs at 20:50.
  24. ^ Tizard, Will (November 16, 2018). "'Buster Scruggs' DP Bruno Delbonnel on Lensing Coen Brothers' First Digital Film". Variety. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  25. ^ Hammel, Paul (July 20, 2017). "'Coen brothers seek 'ordinary' looking Nebraskans for new miniseries being filmed in Panhandle". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  26. ^ Zahed, Ramin (November 21, 2018). "Color, giant props, moving trees — creating the many moods of the Coen brothers' 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 22, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  27. ^ a b c Desowitz, Bill (November 10, 2018). "'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs': Pushing the Limits of Western Authenticity in Coen Brothers' First Netflix Movie". IndieWire. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  28. ^ Hart, Hugh (November 15, 2018). "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Production Designer on How the West Was Built". Motion Picture Association of America. Retrieved November 21, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  29. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (November 16, 2017). "Composer Carter Burwell Is the Latest Guest on The Hollywood Reporter's 'Behind the Screen' Podcast Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  30. ^ "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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