The “Mid” West: A Review of “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)”
Cowboys, Native Americans, gold, pioneering, and saloons are some of the many things that come to mind when thinking of the wild west. These are some of the things that make a western movie great and what fans want to see. This dream of a lawless society in which everything goes is glamorous to many people. This is evident with the popularity of many western films like Tombstone (1993), No Country for Old Men (2007), and even Rango (2011). This recipe always produces a rather good western film, but this life isn’t so glamorous. It is a lifestyle riddled with chaos and uncertainty and some people like that. And in the Netflix original The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) the Coen Brothers really hit on all of these and some. Whereas I do not find myself all too impressed with this film upon a second viewing for several reasons. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) is visually appealing in several ways yet fails to really keep the viewers’ attention throughout our six tales. Peaking far too early on and failing to capture that high that viewers got from the first story. The six standalone films do not really seem to stand alone all that well as these stories range from mildly entertaining to dull with similar meanings in my eyes.
The film starts off extremely hot with our first, and best, story The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The first installment in our anthology comes out guns-a-blazing and takes that saying quite literally. This high-energy story starring Tim Blake as Buster Scruggs is everything the viewer would want in a Western film. The audience is presented with action, musical numbers, gambling, as well as much more than what meets the eye upon your first viewing. The first story has a couple of musical numbers as well which separate it from the rest. The fun jingles that our main character Buster Scruggs sings give it this flare that the rest of the stories are missing. Our cowboy with a tune states that,“A song never fails to ease my mind out here in the West, where the distances are great and the scenery monotonous. Additionally, my pleasing baritone seems to inspirit ol’ Dan here and keep him in good heart during the day’s measure of hoof clops. Ain’t that right, Dan?” Journalist and screenwriter James Hibberd brings a lot of these hidden meanings to light in his article with Entertainment Weekly. To kick things off, our main character Buster Scruggs walks into a saloon and claims somebody else’s hand in poker. He soon refuses to play this hand but is practically forced to play the deck as he had laid his eyes upon the cards. James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly states, “In Frenchman’s Gulch, the poker hand that Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) refuses to play is Aces and Eights — which is a pretty decent poker hand, so some viewers well-versed in poker were confused by his outright refusal. The reason he reacts so negatively is superstition. Aces and Eights is the ‘Dead Man’s Hand,’ and is rumored to be the same hand gunman Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was killed” (Hibberd par.2). Details like that make this film more interesting after the first viewing, but after that it is bleak. Which ties into one of my main gripes with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) is that it can never seem to match the energy that it brought in this first tale.
After this hot start, the next five short stories fail to “bring it” quite like the first one. Buster Scruggs is a gun slinging, goofy character with a tune to sing. Though it may be cartoonish to some, other people are drawn to this appeal. This style draws the attention of a wide range of audience, all ages can enjoy this silly cowboy. Not everybody can enjoy an armless, legless, man who relies on Liam Neeson to take care of him. Alonso Duralde of The Wrap agrees that “None of the Coens’ tales of the Old West is an outright dud, but the movie never matches the eponymous opening sequence, starring Tim Blake Nelson as a white-hatted singing cowboy with a tune in his heart, a kind word for everyone he meets, and an exceedingly itchy trigger finger” (Duralde par.3). The first story alone had me wishing for more but left me with nothing but disappointment as I found the rest of the stories uninteresting at times. The constant shift in energy throughout the film was exhausting at times making it harder to want to keep up. The first two stories are entertaining, they’re interesting, and they fairly blend well together. But our third story with Liam Neeson was a drag and totally brought down the energy to levels that could not be recovered from. In the story we see an armless, legless, man who was dependent on his stage writer, played by Liam Neeson. This story takes up most of our screen time and runs on for too long. The ending is bittersweet and ironic because who knows if the chicken can count? Hibberd brings this up as well in his article stating,” that chicken might not actually be able to count. The Impressario never actually tested it. If true, the next logical scene would have been The Impressario setting up in the next town, realizing the chicken can’t count and that he killed The Artist for even less than nothing. He is, as they say, counting his chickens before they’re hatched…” (Hibberd par.6). Something that I enjoyed about this story is that the ending up for interpretation. Is the ending good by any sorts? Probably not. However, one can dampen the blow by thinking that maybe one of them was in the end able to find success! But after that the movie continues to drag on and leaves the viewer wondering when it will all be over. I find it interesting that love is in the spotlight for only one of these stories. Not saying that I wish there would have been more with it, but when toying with death I feel the audience would have felt it a little bit more if it were tragic.
Our fifth story takes place on the trails in the Midwest as they head for Oregon. It starts out as a brother and sister planning for a new life out in Oregon, but how it ends is just tragic. Early on in their travels, Alice Longabough loses her brother. With that in mind remember that he was a big President Pierce fan and was very “fixed” on his beliefs according to Alice. His loss is not necessarily integral to the story, but it happened. Alice is presented with another problem when her cattle boy is questioning his payment. Come to find out the money was all inside Gilbert’s pockets. Alice chooses to continue after a long discussion with her soon-to-be-potential lover Billy Knapp. One of the few bright spots in this film lies with the evolution of their relationship and how it progresses through the story. It starts out as business partners as Knapp is just the man who is leading the train, but by the end of the story the two get engaged. A fun little hidden feature in this film comes with the dog of all things, President Pierce, as all his owners wind up dead. James Hibberd, contributor for Entertainment Weekly, notes that, “The dog’s name in “The Girl That Got Rattled” is President Pierce, based on our 14th president whose life was beset by tragedy. All three of Pierce’s children died before age 12, each for different reasons.” (Hibberd par.11) This fun little detail was one of the few things that, once I found out about it, allowed me to gain respect for this story. These tiny details are what salvage this film as well as my interest in it. In my mind, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) is not bingeable
In the end, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) is not all that everybody says that it is to be. The highly acclaimed Coen Brothers pay homage to several great Western movies in this film, but I would rather just watch those movies honestly. My final gripe with the film is that it does nothing to stand out. The Coen Brothers played by the rules and gave the audience nothing fresh. As it is said by Roxana Hadidi of the DC Film Critics Association, “Put bluntly: These segments aren’t equally strong; they drag; they deliver repetitive themes.” (Hadidi par.6)Though it is visually appealing it fails to grasp the viewer’s attention after the first story. The gradual decline in story telling leaves viewers with lingering thoughts of when it will all end. The constant leap in energy makes it challenging to continue watching. The one redeeming quality of this film is its’ use of irony and all the dark humor that one could ask for. Intricate details bring back the audience for possibly a second time if they can stomach it. Furthermore, this movie is not bingeable and will be a forgotten film within the Western genre.
Works Cited:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Ethan Coen, James Coen, Tim Blake Nelson, Annapurna Pictures, Netflix 2018.
Hibberd, James. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: 14 things you might have missed” Entertainment Weekly, November.27.2018. https://ew.com/movies/2018/11/27/ballad-of-buster-scruggs-endings/ Accessed February.28.2023
Duralde, Alonso. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ Film Review: Coen Brothers Western Anthology Makes for an Uneven Binge” The Wrap, November.7.2018. https://www.thewrap.com/ballad-of-buster-scruggs-film-review-coen-brothers-netflix/ Accessed February.28.2023
Hadidi, Roxana. “Review: The Coen Brothers Do Their Thing With ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,’ Which is Only Revisionist in That it’s Streaming On Netflix” Pajiba, November.19.2018. https://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/review-netflixs-coen-brother-western-the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs.php Accessed March.14.2023
