MICHAEL MEDVED

Coen brothers’ ‘Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ evokes great John Ford films

Jan 4, 2019, 12:19 PM

3.5 stars (out of four)

I wish I had seen this earlier because I’ve already cast my votes for the Critics’ Choice awards. I would have voted for this as one of the best films of the year. It’s the Coen brothers, and count me as Coen brothers skeptical, since I was not a great fan of “Fargo.”

But this film is flat-out remarkable. I hate to say it, I’m kind of eager to see it again. It’s their tribute to the classic western with a Coen brothers spin. They previously made a very fine version of “True Grit.” That worked, but plenty of their films don’t work for me.

This one is just magnificent. It’s six different little short films. You start out the way they sometimes do in old films, opening a book bound in leather. It’s called “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and it has a cattle skull on the cover.

Then there are six standalone films and each one is shocking in how compelling they are. Warning, warning, warning, this is Rated R. There is some truly horrific violence and shocking imagery, but the Old West was a violent place and this is a dark view of the American frontier.

RELATED: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ doesn’t live up to all the enormous acclaim

The middle segment of the film stars Tom Waits as a lone prospector who is the middle of this incredible gorgeous valley looking for gold, and he’s talking to the mountain. It shows the tedious process of digging and panning and looking for gold when his only company is a mule and an owl who flies overhead.

They’re classic western tall tales. The darkest of the dark tall tales involves Liam Neeson playing a drunk, silent, barely conscious guy, who is travelling through these frontier mining towns and saloons, displaying a British one-time actor, who’s lost his arms and legs.

Buster Scruggs himself is a singing cowboy played by Tim Blake Nelson, in a segment that is very funny and dark. Then there’s the tale with Zoe Kazan, playing an unmarried woman who’s travelling with her brother on a wagon train trying to Oregon. That film comes so close to evoking the spirit and camera work and action of the great John Ford movies. It’s just wonderful to watch.

RELATED: ‘Vice’ is a waste of talent and makes no attempt to understand Cheney

The filmmaking is so dazzling in this. Now, do you come out with song in your heart? No, but you come out with some appreciation of how heroic and dark and twisted and brutal some of these frontier encounters were.

Even though this film is very late in the process, it will get and should get some award attention, at the very least for Best Original Screenplay.

Michael Medved on AM 770 KTTH
  • listen to michael medvedTune in to AM 770 KTTH weekdays at 12pm for The Michael Medved Show.

Michael Medved

Gaza attacks...

Michael Medved

Medved: The sad, ‘crazy’ tale of a Gaza water park, and Hamas’ war against fun

After barely three months of operation in 2010, the dream of a fanciful facility to attract tourists and delight locals lay in ruins.

6 months ago

2024 presidential debate...

Michael Medved

Medved: Will 2024 be the year of crucial political debates on TV?

It’s not difficult to imagine either Biden or Trump uttering some inaccurate or incoherent combinations of words that could undercut any momentum.

6 months ago

medved populism...

Michael Medved

Medved: GOP heading to irrelevance as party fails to embrace demographic changes

The spreading speculation about a new civil war isn't based on regionalism this time, but on distinctions in education and identity.

7 months ago

biden...

Michael Medved

Medved: How Biden learned money misdeeds can hurt most of all

The doomed example of "Tricky Dick" demonstrates the way that financial wrongdoing and personal enrichment can upset the public more than sex scandals.

7 months ago

Trump...

Michael Medved

Picking the right running mate could powerfully boost Trump’s prospects

It’s impossible to forecast who Donald Trump will pick as his running mate for the upcoming election of 2024, but it’s safe to say who he won’t select.

8 months ago

trump campaign...

Michael Medved

Medved: Can a new Trump victimhood campaign win back the White House?

Facing more than a half-dozen hostile legal proceedings before next year’s presidential election, can Donald Trump mount an effective campaign?

8 months ago

Coen brothers’ ‘Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ evokes great John Ford films