# The Ballad of Buster Scruggs- new Netflix film by the Coens Spoilers possible- none in OP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626 "2018-11-16T17:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/101 "2018-12-28T07:25:52Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > While watching “Meal Ticket,” I felt like I recognized the young man playing Harrison (the actor) – I looked him up, and discovered that he’s Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, he was terrific. And has lost a lot of weight since the HP films. You ain’t kidding! :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/102 "2018-12-28T07:33:32Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also…in Meal Ticket, does anyone else picture Liam Neeson’s character saying “Looks like you’re going to have to change your name…to Bob!” before tossing that dude off the bridge? No, but when he was helping the Artist relieve himself, I did imagine him saying, _“I have a particular set of skills…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/103 "2018-12-28T15:53:37Z")
IMDB noted these links to the Coen Bros.'s _True Grit_: \*In the segment “Meal Ticket” a sign can be seen in the background for an establishment called “Greaser Bob’s.” This seems to be a reference to the Coens’ True Grit (2010), in which the establishment is mentioned by a passing trader but not shown. In the segment “The Gal Who Got Rattled”, an old woman named Grandma Turner shares the same name and character traits with a character from another Coen Brothers film, True Grit (2010). In the segment “Mortal Remains”, Thigpen begins to tell the story of The Midnight Caller. In True Grit (2010), Mattie asks if LaBoeuf and Cogburn would like to hear a story with the same name, but the story itself is not heard.\* > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > …I assumed that Neeson bought both the gimmick and the chicken, but it makes more Coen Bros. sense for him to have been conned into believing it was a magic chicken. I like it. Me, too. > [@snowthx](#): > > …The James Franco piece I felt was too short, but played the western clichés well enough. Reminded me a lot of the ending for “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”. As pointed out upthread, the irony being that he is not hung for the crime he committed but is for one he did not. I did not get the ending comment “That’s a pretty girl”, tho… I assumed it was just a prosaic observation - not at all memorable or significant “last words.” About what we should expect from a not-too-bright bank robber. Just before that was my favorite line of the entire movie: “First time?” > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > … leaving a bloody but superficial superficial wound… So what kind of a wound was it, exactly? > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > No, but when he was helping the Artist relieve himself, I did imagine him saying, _“I have a particular set of skills…”_ LOL. And I loved him turning the Artist around so the man wouldn’t see Neeson and the whore disporting themselves. “Pan shot!” ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/104 "2018-12-30T06:46:15Z")
I read a review of this movie on the Roger Ebert website ([The Ballad of Buster Scruggs movie review (2018) | Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-2018)) and there’s a line I don’t understand. The reviewer refers to the “punchline” in the _Pan Shot_ episode- what is the punchline? Is it that “pan shot” is a cinematic term? But that line occurs earlier in the segment, and the last line of the segment doesn’t seem (to me) to be an in-joke of any kind. I’m sort of missing the significance of this one. But I really liked, and occasionally loved, most of the other segments. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/105 "2018-12-30T07:02:45Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I read a review of this movie on the Roger Ebert website ([The Ballad of Buster Scruggs movie review (2018) | Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-2018)) and there’s a line I don’t understand. The reviewer refers to the “punchline” in the _Pan Shot_ episode- what is the punchline? Is it that “pan shot” is a cinematic term? But that line occurs earlier in the segment, and the last line of the segment doesn’t seem (to me) to be an in-joke of any kind. I’m sort of missing the significance of this one. > > But I really liked, and occasionally loved, most of the other segments. The punch line was the time he was in a noose the second time. He turns to the guy wimpering next to him and says, “first time”. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/106 "2018-12-30T13:40:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So what kind of a wound was it, exactly? To answer for QtM, the bullet was deflected by a scapula or rib to tunnel around the thorax just under the skin and exit in front, leaving a bloody mess but, “Nuthin’ important was hit!” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/107 "2018-12-30T18:59:07Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > To answer for QtM, the bullet was deflected by a scapula or rib to tunnel around the thorax just under the skin and exit in front, leaving a bloody mess but, “Nuthin’ important was hit!” Whoosh! > [@corkboard](#): > > …Is it that “pan shot” is a cinematic term?.. Yes. See the fifth item here: [Cinematic Terms - A FilmMaking Glossary](https://www.filmsite.org/filmterms15.html) It’s also a pun in _TBOBS_, because the bank robber’s bullets ricochet off the teller’s homemade cookware armor as he charges, and he says, er, cackles the phrase several times. As noted above, the movie was made by Pan Shot Productions. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/108 "2018-12-30T21:44:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So what kind of a wound was it, exactly? Apologies for mis-parsing it. It was a “bloody superficial” superficial wound, of course. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/109 "2018-12-31T01:17:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Whoosh! > Yes. See the fifth item here: [Cinematic Terms - A FilmMaking Glossary](https://www.filmsite.org/filmterms15.html) > > It’s also a pun in _TBOBS_, because the bank robber’s bullets ricochet off the teller’s homemade cookware armor as he charges, and he says, er, cackles the phrase several times. As noted above, the movie was made by Pan Shot Productions. I’m familiar with the filmmaking term and I knew it was the same term, with a different meaning, that the teller was yelling as the cookware was deflecting the gunshots. I just don’t understand what the reviewer was referring to as being so funny at the end of the segment. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/110 "2018-12-31T01:25:16Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I’m familiar with the filmmaking term and I knew it was the same term, with a different meaning, that the teller was yelling as the cookware was deflecting the gunshots. I just don’t understand what the reviewer was referring to as being so funny at the end of the segment. Post #105 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/111 "2019-01-14T16:08:16Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > …The James Franco piece I felt was too short, but played the western clichés well enough. Reminded me a lot of the ending for “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”. As pointed out upthread, the irony being that he is not hung for the crime he committed but is for one he did not. I did not get the ending comment “That’s a pretty girl”, tho… Just heard these lines in the song “The criminal cried as he dropped him down” in Gilbert & Sullivan’s _The Mikado_ (1885): _…When a man’s afraid A beautiful maid Is a cheering sight to see; And oh, I’m glad That moment sad Was soothed by sight of me!_ Also about a condemned prisoner admiring a beauty in the crowd just moments before his death. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/112 "2019-01-14T16:52:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, he was terrific. And has lost a lot of weight since the HP films. Cutting off your arms and legs for a role shows incomparable dedication to the art of acting. But also helps you lose weight! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/113 "2019-02-09T19:05:49Z")
I am extremely late to the game, here, but I had a bit of a sleepless night, so I snuck downstairs and watched that. I am a Coen Brothers fan in general, but this was really, really well done. Also wanted to thank all of you, because reading this thread has helped me confirm a few observations, and has mostly opened my eyes to things I hadn’t noticed. This thread has been one of my most enjoyable reads here in a while. > [@hajario](#): > > I am in the small, and maybe unique, minority who liked Meal Ticket the best. I thought that Melling’s acting was superb. His facial expressions were amazing. I’m in full agreement with this. I enjoyed all of them, but this was my favorite. I found I was really moved by the tragedy, as I saw it, of the Orator being too brilliant for the people to whom he was being marketed, and what his expressions told me were his horrified-but-almost resigned realizations of being in competition with, and ultimately replaced by, the chicken. All of the stories caught me off-guard in various ways, which was part of the fun for me. I laughed quite a bit at the first two, and will likely have “Pan shot!” stuck in my head as a catch phrase for weeks to come. My rankings: 1. Meal Ticket 2. The Girl Who Got Rattled 3. Mortal Remains 4. Buster Scruggs 5. Near Algodones 6. All Gold Canyon But the ranking is not a knock in any of them; I think they were all brilliant (and admit that my appreciation for Mortal Remains and All Gold Canyon were improved by reading this thread). At any rate, here’s hoping that bumping this thread causes even more folks to take a look at this film. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/114 "2019-02-10T20:50:40Z")
My initial reaction was that “Pan Shot!” was a pun on “pot-shot.” Has anybody mentioned this yet? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/115 "2019-02-10T21:15:42Z")
Not that I remember. > [@control-z](#): > > Cutting off your arms and legs for a role shows incomparable dedication to the art of acting. But also helps you lose weight! That’s what Lt. Dan said, too! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/116 "2019-02-11T03:12:34Z")
Maybe I should have kept watching. I watched the first two episodes, got half way through the third one, and I decided I didn’t want to see any more of that. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/117 "2019-02-11T13:09:29Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Maybe I should have kept watching. I watched the first two episodes, got half way through the third one, and I decided I didn’t want to see any more of that. Eh. If you didn’t care for the mixture of comedy and cartoon violence in the first two stories, or the slow and dark atmosphere in Meal Ticket, you might like the two stories adapted from other writers: All Gold Canyon and The Girl Who Got Rattled. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/118 "2019-02-11T18:15:49Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Not that I remember. > That’s what Lt. Dan said, too! Tis just a flesh wound ---
**Author:** ![Pithily\_Effusive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pithily_effusive/32/252_2.png) [@Pithily\_Effusive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithily_Effusive)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/119 "2019-02-18T06:52:20Z")
I enjoyed this. It is in the style of the original _Western_ tales, which tended to be tall ones, indeed. They involved ghostly things, supremely difficult (if not impossible) deeds and one-of-a-kind characters as a rule. Then, Hollywood never really got into that sort of thing when the Westerns people know about today were being produced. This is probably because they were pushing a particular star; Tom Mix, John Wayne, Clint (_talkin’ to the chair now_) Eastwood. I was gratified to find an homage to how the tales were originally spun. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626/120 "2019-02-18T20:34:54Z")
Just watched this. Must think on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-new-netflix-film-by-the-coens-spoilers-possible-none-in-op/824626.md?page=7)