No Country for Old Men

For the novel, see No Country for Old Men (novel). For the poem that includes this line, see Sailing to Byzantium.

No Country for Old Men
Josh Brolin, with a rifle in one hand and a briefcase in the other, is running through a field at night with lights behind him while the face of Javier Bardem can be seen above him. "No Country For Old Men" (no quotes) is shown in white text below Brolin.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Screenplay by
  • Joel Coen
  • Ethan Coen
Based onNo Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited byRoderick Jaynes[a]
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 19, 2007 (2007-05-19) (Cannes)
  • November 9, 2007 (2007-11-09) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language
  • English
Budget$25 million
Box office$171.6 million[1]

No Country for Old Men is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written, directed, produced and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel.[2] Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, the film is set in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas.[3] The film revisits the themes of fate, conscience, and circumstance that the Coen brothers had explored in the films Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), and Fargo (1996).[4] The film follows three main characters: Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), a Vietnam War veteran and welder who stumbles upon a large sum of money in the desert; Anton Chigurh (Bardem), a hitman who is sent to recover the money; and Ed Tom Bell (Jones), a sheriff investigating the crime. The film also stars Kelly Macdonald as Moss's wife, Carla Jean, and Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells, a bounty hunter seeking Moss and the return of the money, $2 million.

No Country for Old Men premiered in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival on May 19.[5] The film became a commercial success, grossing $171 million worldwide against a budget of $25 million. Critics praised the Coens' direction and screenplay and Bardem's performance, and the film won 76 awards from 109 nominations from multiple organizations; it won four awards at the 80th Academy Awards (including Best Picture), three British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), and two Golden Globes.[6] The American Film Institute listed it as an AFI Movie of the Year,[7] and the National Board of Review selected it as the best of 2007.[8] It is one of only four Western films ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (the others being Cimarron in 1931, Dances with Wolves in 1990, and Unforgiven in 1992).

No Country for Old Men was considered one of the best films of 2007,[9] and many regard it as the Coen brothers' best film.[10][11][12][13] As of December 2021, various sources had recognized it as one of the best films of the 2000s,[14][15][16] and as one of the best films of the 21st century.[17][18][19] The Guardian's John Patterson wrote: "the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah, are matched by few living directors",[20] and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said that it is "a new career peak for the Coen brothers" and "as entertaining as hell".[21] According to a study published by researchers at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, in 2014, Chigurh is the most clinically accurate portrayal of a psychopath to date.[22]


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  1. ^ "No Country for Old Men (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (November 7, 2007). "No Country for Old Men". EW. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2004.
  3. ^ Burr, Ty (November 9, 2007). "The Coen brothers' cat and mouse chase in the sweet land of liberty". The Boston Globe.
  4. ^ Orr, Christopher (November 9, 2007). "The Movie Review: 'No Country for Old Men'". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  5. ^ McCarthy, Todd (May 24, 2007). "Cannes' great divide". Variety. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
  6. ^ "Nominations and Winners-2007". goldenglobes.org. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012.
  7. ^ "No Country for Old Men, Juno named to AFI's Top 10 of year". CBC. December 17, 2007. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2007.
  8. ^ "National Board of Review: 'No Country for Old Men' Best Film of '07". Fox News Network. Associated Press. December 5, 2007. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  9. ^ "Home Page – Best of 2007". CriticsTop10. May 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "No Country for Old Men :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Sun Times. November 8, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  11. ^ Biancolli, Amy (November 16, 2007). "No Country for Old Men: Murderously good". Houston Chronicle.
  12. ^ Edelstein, David. "No Country for Old Men: Movie Review". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  13. ^ Reed, Rex (November 6, 2007). "Brolin is Golden". New York Observer.
  14. ^ "The Best Films of the 00's". AVClub. December 3, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  15. ^ "The best movies of the decade". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  16. ^ "The best films of the decade". RogerEbert.com. December 14, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  17. ^ "The 21st Century's 100 greatest films". BBC. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  18. ^ "The 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century". Empire. March 18, 2020. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  19. ^ "21st Century (Full List, 2018 edition)". They Shoot Pictures, Don't They. February 7, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  20. ^ Patterson, John (December 21, 2007). "We've killed a lot of animals". Film/Interviews. The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
  21. ^ Travers, Peter (November 1, 2007). "No Country for Old Men-Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  22. ^ Leistedt, Samuel J.; Linkowski, Paul (January 2014). "Psychopathy and the Cinema: Fact or Fiction?". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 59 (1): 167–174. doi:10.1111/1556-4029.12359. ISSN 0022-1198. PMID 24329037.