---
title: "No Country for Old Men"
year: 2007
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/no-country-for-old-men"
fi1m_id: "no-country-for-old-men"
imdb_id: "tt0477348"
tmdb_id: 6977
wikidata_id: "Q183081"
fi1m_score: 91
critics_score: 88
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:20.424968+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# No Country for Old Men (2007)

Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 2h 02m · MPA R · Crime, Thriller, Western

## Identity

No Country for Old Men

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/no-country-for-old-men
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** no-country-for-old-men
- **IMDb ID:** tt0477348
- **TMDB ID:** 6977
- **Wikidata ID:** Q183081
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/6977, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183081

**Fi1m score: 91** · Critics 88 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* Javier Bardem makes silence feel like a good reason to leave the building

> The Coens turn Cormac McCarthy’s novel into a patient, frightening thriller, with Javier Bardem making every pause feel dangerous. Its severity can be wearying, but we would recommend it even to those who usually avoid Westerns.

## Synopsis

A cat-and-mouse pursuit unfolds in Texas, where money, drugs and guns determine who holds power. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) are caught up in the violence. The chase brings questions of chance and responsibility into a story about men trying to understand the danger around them. Joel and Ethan Coen adapt Cormac McCarthy’s novel as a crime thriller and Western. Kelly Macdonald plays Carla Jean Moss, alongside Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells and Garret Dillahunt as Wendell.

## Review

Joel and Ethan Coen’s *No Country for Old Men* is a thriller that understands how frightening it can be to wait. Their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel is patient, violent and worth recommending even to people who have little interest in Westerns. The pursuit matters because the men caught up in it remain difficult to judge, and because competence offers so little reassurance. We have reservations about its severity, but none about its ability to hold our attention.

Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss gives the chase someone substantial to follow. Brolin makes the character’s thinking interesting, allowing us to believe in his resourcefulness without asking us to feel safe on his behalf. Tommy Lee Jones gives Ed Tom Bell a weariness that matters just as much as the immediate threat: the violence troubles him beyond the practical difficulty of dealing with it. Jones makes that distress credible without requiring us to accept every mournful thought as wisdom.

Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh is the performance most likely to monopolise the conversation afterwards, with reason. We were frightened by him, and the silence surrounding his menace was what did it. Bardem never seems to need the film to hurry towards the next violent incident; his presence makes waiting unpleasant enough. The black humour helps, too, because the Coens allow the absurdity of this frightening man to register without making him harmless.

Roger Deakins photographs Texas with a severity that makes the landscape feel exposed and inhospitable. His precise framing encourages us to search the image for trouble, while keeping the action clear enough for us to understand what is at stake. Joel and Ethan Coen also edit, and they resist the temptation to make the chase exciting simply by making the cuts faster. The measured pacing leaves us time to anticipate danger, which proves more unsettling than a constant scramble of movement.

Jess Gonchor’s production design makes this Texas feel like a place people have to live in. That ordinariness matters when Chigurh threatens to make the story feel unreal, and it works well with Deakins’s unsentimental view of the surroundings. Carter Burwell’s music works within the same restraint, leaving the silence room to become uncomfortable. The quiet makes us listen closely, and the sound acquires an importance that a more insistent score would have diminished.

There is a cost to all this control. At times the grimness becomes so insistent that the other characters seem to exist chiefly to establish how frightening Chigurh is. We wanted a little more breathing space around them, though giving us that comfort would also loosen the film’s hold. Brolin and Jones are essential here, giving us enough human uncertainty to prevent the whole thing becoming a demonstration of the directors’ skill.

As a Western, it has little faith in the idea that determination and a gun will restore order. That doubt runs through the thriller without stopping it to deliver a lecture, and the dry comedy keeps the solemnity from taking over. We would give it the full 122 minutes in one sitting, with the sound clear and distractions removed. Do not choose it for an easy evening.

*Fi1m score 91, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics are strongly positive about the Coen brothers’ adaptation, with praise centred on its controlled suspense, precise filmmaking and performances. Javier Bardem’s Chigurh draws particular attention for the fear he generates, while Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones also receive praise. The reviews repeatedly single out the framing, sound and use of the Texas landscape as reasons the violence feels so disturbing. Many also find black humour running through the bleakness, alongside serious questions about fate and evil.

The disagreement concerns what this accomplished thriller has to say, and whether its closing stretch works. The Independent admires the shooting and tension but finds that the adaptation loses McCarthy’s wider meaning. The Hollywood Reporter likewise praises much of the filmmaking, then argues that fidelity to the novel weakens the storytelling. Reservations are less common than praise, but substantial: technical control attracts broad agreement; the film’s philosophical weight does not.

## Straight answers

**Is No Country for Old Men worth watching?**

*No Country for Old Men* is worth watching for almost anyone who can sit through a patient, frightening thriller, and we scored it 91. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh makes every silence feel dangerous, and the Coens refuse to speed the chase up to comfort us. Its grimness can wear on you, so do not choose it for an easy evening.

**How long is No Country for Old Men, and what is it rated?**

*No Country for Old Men* runs 2h 02m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a crime and thriller film.

**Where can I watch No Country for Old Men in the US?**

*No Country for Old Men* is streaming on Paramount+, Apple TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video from $4.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is No Country for Old Men, and is it suitable for children?**

*No Country for Old Men* is a 15 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not suitable for children. The violence is sudden and unsentimental, and the fear comes as much from waiting for Chigurh as from what he does. Older teenagers used to serious crime films should cope; the squeamish should expect to feel unsafe throughout.

**How does No Country for Old Men compare to The Night of the Hunter?**

*No Country for Old Men* and [*The Night of the Hunter*](https://film.one/film/the-night-of-the-hunter) both turn on a pursuer whose calm makes him more frightening than any shouting would. The Coens' film is severe, dry and modern, set in a Texas of money and guns; Laughton's is a black-and-white Depression fairy tale, stranger and softer at the edges. We rate both highly, and the Coens' is the tighter of the two, though the Mitchum performance still unsettles us.

**Is No Country for Old Men based on a true story or a book?**

*No Country for Old Men* is based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, not on a true story. Joel and Ethan Coen adapt it as a crime thriller with a Western's doubt about whether a gun and determination can restore order. You need no knowledge of the book to follow the film.

**What should I watch after No Country for Old Men?**

After *No Country for Old Men*, try [*The Night of the Hunter*](https://film.one/film/the-night-of-the-hunter) (1955, Fi1m 91): For another frightening pursuer whose calm makes the threat worse. Then [*Le Samouraï*](https://film.one/film/le-samourai) (1967, Fi1m 88): A quieter crime film, equally attentive to space, waiting and danger; and [*The Proposition*](https://film.one/film/the-proposition) (2005, Fi1m 79): Another Western about men whose ideas of justice cannot contain their violence.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **Radio Times**, Jamie Russell (5/5): The Coens craft a masterful, multi-faceted thriller and philosophical meditation on fate from McCarthy's novel, blending apocalyptic social breakdown with blackly comic sensibility. It stands with their career peaks like Blood Simple and Fargo. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-3q7c9a/no-country-for-old-men/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (4/4): The Coens locate black comedy and wry levity within McCarthy’s bleak tale while delivering economical direction, severe cinematography, and standout performances, particularly Bardem’s chilling Chigurh, resulting in a masterful adaptation. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/no-country-for-old-men/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (5/5): The Coen brothers deliver a triumphant, dark and violent adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel that stands as their best film to date. It features exceptional lead performances, especially from Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones, and captures a sense of apocalyptic brutality in the Texas landscape. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jan/18/drama.thriller)
- **Sight and Sound**, Ben Walters and J.M. Tyree (85/100, inferred): The Coens deliver a pitch-perfect thriller that subverts genre conventions while interrogating American manhood and the unfathomability of evil. They faithfully adapt McCarthy's novel with masterful design, sound, and a memorable villain in Bardem's Chigurh. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/4192)
- **The Independent** (60/100, inferred): This is a classy, masterly executed film with impeccable shooting and maximum tension, a signal return to the grim thriller mode of Fargo. Yet the film feels ultimately hollow, a straight genre exercise that turns McCarthy's mythic scope into another Coen collection of grisly goofballs. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/no-country-for-old-men-15-771459.html)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan: The Coens have rediscovered their mojo with a mature, back-to-basics adaptation of McCarthy's violent neo-Western that blends terse parable with oil-black humour. It is violent, poetic, gripping, thrilling and blackly funny, now with added humanity. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/country-old-men-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**: The film presents a harrowing view of an America where money, drugs and guns rule. The critic singles out the ability to evoke psychological terror in the character of Chigurh for praise, while noting the lack of the directors' usual dry humor. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/news/tn-vsl-xpm-2007-12-20-lent-nocountry1220-story.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Ray Bennett: The Coens sustain electrifying tension through superior filmmaking for most of the picture, but their faithfulness to the Cormac McCarthy novel leads to plot holes, philosophizing, and an offscreen climactic scene that undoes the fine work. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/no-country-old-men-2-158236/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane: The thriller is tight, pointed and immune to the temptations of speed, a return to the dark, simmering days of the Coens' best work. The critic praises the control of the movie and its presentation of Texas as a state of being where good and evil circle each other. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/11/12/hunting-grounds)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott: The film is bleak, scary and relentlessly violent, centered on an implacable figure of evil. The critic singles out the Coens' nearly perfect execution of technique, tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design for praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/movies/09coun.html)
- **Total Film**: No Country perfectly fits the Coens with its keen sense of time and place, lowlife characters, plotting and black humour, balancing genre tics and tense set-pieces with deep affection for people and moral purpose. It is an instant classic and virtuoso film of pin-sharp principles and suffocating tension. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/no-country-for-old-men-review/)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy: A superior match of source material and filmmaking talent that is one of the Coens' very best films and a bloody classic. The critic singles out the original and memorable villain played by Javier Bardem and the stunning location work and precision framing for praise. [Read](https://variety.com/2007/film/awards/no-country-for-old-men-5-1200559242/)
- **Collider**, Meredith Loftus (A-): The review highlights the film's tension built through silence and deliberate pacing, along with strong performances especially Javier Bardem's menacing Anton Chigurh. It notes some drag in the first hour but finds the film timeless and a standout in the Coen brothers' work. [Read](https://collider.com/no-country-for-old-men-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ben Rawson-Jones (75/100, inferred): The critic calls it an engrossing thriller with stunning performances and taut direction that builds relentless suspense through its cat-and-mouse pursuit, but finds the ending philosophically unsatisfying and the denouement flawed. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a85046/no-country-for-old-men/)

## Details

- **Director:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
- **Director:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
- **Writer:** Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- **Novel:** Cormac McCarthy
- **Cinematography:** Roger Deakins
- **Editor:** Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- **Music:** Carter Burwell
- **Production design:** Jess Gonchor
- **Costume design:** Mary Zophres
- **Producer:** Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin
- **Cast:** Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh; Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell; Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss; Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells; Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss; Garret Dillahunt as Wendell; Tess Harper as Loretta Bell; Barry Corbin as Ellis
- **Runtime:** 2h 02m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 21 November 2007
- **Genres:** Crime, Thriller, Western
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Winner, 2007); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 2007); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 2007)
- **Budget:** $25 million
- **Box office:** $172 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0oNrgumrlE

## Where to watch in the US

- Paramount+: streaming
- Apple TV: add-on, hd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Apple TV: rent $4.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $4.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $4.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2008: Best Cinematography (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Sound (nominated); Best Sound Editing (nominated); Best Director (won); Best Picture (won); Best Supporting Actor (won); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won)
- Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film 2007: Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Night of the Hunter* (1955), Fi1m 91: For another frightening pursuer whose calm makes the threat worse. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-night-of-the-hunter.md)
- *Le Samouraï* (1967), Fi1m 88: A quieter crime film, equally attentive to space, waiting and danger. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/le-samourai.md)
- *The Proposition* (2005), Fi1m 79: Another Western about men whose ideas of justice cannot contain their violence. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-proposition.md)
- *A Simple Plan* (1998), Fi1m 86: Found money makes ordinary people dangerously certain of their own judgement. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-simple-plan.md)
- *Memories of Murder* (2003), Fi1m 91: An investigation where weary humour and mounting dread share the same scenes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/no-country-for-old-men