'No Country for Old Men' question

T

TheFied

2,500+ Posts
I watched it in the theaters and loved it. I watched again last night and a couple of questions popped in my head....

1) What type of gun/rifle did Chigurh have? It seemed to be very powerful with absolutely no recoil. That silencer is pretty scary looking.
2) When Tommy Lee Jones goes back to the hotel room at the end and you see Chigurh hiding in the dark, is this in Tommy Lee Jones mind? If not, where the **** was he as Tommy Lee turns the lights on?
 
My understanding is that yes, he was there only in his mind. He had already been there or was in the parking lot watching but he was not in the room.
 
The gun Carson (Woody H) was killed with was a shotgun, prolly 12 gauge, with a silencer that was manufactured for the film in the filmmaker's best attempts to produce an item similar to that described in the book.

The gun used in the street shootout wherein an innocent driver hijacked by Llewelyn was shot through the neck is a mystery to this non-afficionado.

My understanding of the scene wherein Jones is in the hotel room is that Chigurh is in the room, but Jones doesn't look for him/can't see him as an extension of his inability to comprehend the killer's mindset.
 
8 ga. wow. Cool, I thought it was a rifle based on the shot in the truck but it didn't make sense. Either way, bad-***.
 
The scene where he makes the gas station attendant "call it" still gives me chills.

Because of that movie, if I ever find a large sum of money in a random bag or briefcase, the first thing I'm going to do is to look for a tracking device.
 
"if I ever find a large sum of money in a random bag or briefcase, the first thing I'm going to do is to look for a tracking device"

I keep an RF detector with me at all times for that very reason.
 
No, I don't think Chigurh is in the room. I think Bell is scared that he's in the room, and after Bell faces the fear, and all ends well (because Chigurh is gone), Bell decides to hang it up and spend time with his wife.
 
In a way the whole movie is about the real world manifestations of the mindsets that each of the characters have. That is the only reason I think Chigurh is still in the room. I mean, they make quite a fuss about the issue of seeing his character and the question of whether you survive the experience, something few people do, apparently.

I believe that, on another thread, I posted that, to me, the movie was about the post-Viet Nam emotional and moral malaise our nation has experienced, what with trained killers coming home to roost. So, as you can see, it is very possible that, rather than you missing something, I am making **** up.
 
I think it isn't clear whether Chigurh is in the room or not, and it doesn't really matter, because the meaning is as stated above-Bell has to hang it up because he can't see, feel, and/or understand the mindset of the killer anymore.
And while the movie may or may not be about a malaise in society post-Vietnam, every war unleashes huge numbers of highly trained killers on society. That is one of the worst aspects of war, the costs after the fighting is over.
 
Pulled it out tonight for kicks.

I have to believe Chigurh is in the room at the end.

The camera focuses on the popped out hole where the lock or door handle was, the calling card.

TLJ looks at it long and hard.

We then see Chigurh clutching the shotgun as though he is inside and concerned that someone is outside. Next to him on the screen is a round, golden spot of light. I take this to be the light coming through the above mentioned hole.

Another shot of TLJ and then back to Chigurh without the accompanying light spot, and then a shot of the hole as it would be seen from inside the room, aglow with light from outside, golden like the spot of light noted above.

He is in the room, but he moves out of immediate site and TLJ doesn't feel the need to look any closer. He survives as a result.

That's my take.
 
or it is the country the old men just don't want to have anything to do with anymore. Values and such have gone down considerably.
 
The clincher for me comes from the scene immediately prior, when the other sheriff points out the fact that Chigurh has so little disregard for the rules, an indescribable homicidal lunatic, that he walked right into a crime scene hours later, and committed another murder.

TLJ calls him a "ghost," and the other sheriff corrects him, and points out again that Chigurh just "strode right back into a crime scene."

I believe he's back there getting the money, and he knew right where it would be hidden.
 
In the book, Chigurh wasn't in the room. He was in the parking lot watching Bell go into the room. The movie makes Chigurh out to be more of a symbolic or ghostly character than the book does.

The movie also entirely removes the backstory related to Bell's character, which is important to understanding him.

The book also has a more detailed ending and Carla Jean chooses heads/tails in the coin flip.
 
Yeah, it is definitely a shotgun -> saw the part again on tv with him and Woody. But obviously no shotgun will do what happened to the guy in the pickup.
 
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