No Country for Old Men

I was sheriff of this county when I was 25 years old.

Hard to believe.

My grandfather was a lawman. Father, too.

Me and him was sheriffs at the same time,

him up in Plano and me out here.

I think he's pretty proud of that.

I know [ was.

Some of the old-time sheriffs never even wore a gun.

A lot of folks find that hard to believe.

Jim Scarborough never carried one. That's the younger Jim.

Gaston Boykins wouldn't wear one up in Comanche County.

I always liked to hear about the old-timers.

Never missed a chance to do so.

You can't help but compare yourself against the old-timers.

Can't help but wonder how they'd have operated these times.

There's this boy I sent to the electric chair

at Huntsville here a while back.

My arrest and my testimony.

He killed a 14-year-old girl.

Paper said it was a crime of passion,

but he told me there wasn't any passion to It.

Told me he'd been planning to kill somebody

for about as long as he could remember.

Said if they turned him out, he'd do it again.

Said he knew he was going to hell.

Be there in about 15 minutes. I don't know what to make of that.

I sure do don't.

The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure.

It's not that I'm afraid of it.

I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job.

But I don't want to push my chips forward

and go out and meet something I don't understand.

Man would have to put his soul at hazard.

He'd have to say, "Okay.

"I'll be part of this world.”

Yes, sir, I just walked in the door.

Sheriff, he had some sort of thing on him,

like a oxygen tank for emphysema or something

and a hose that run down his sleeve.

Oxygen tank? What the hell's he got that for?

You got me. Well, you can look at it when you get in.

I'll be down there in a bit.

Yes, sir, I got it under control.

-Howdy. What's this about? -Step out of the car, please, sir.

-What is that? -I need you to step out of the car, sir.

-What is that for? -Would you...

Would you hold still, please, sir?

You hold still.

Shit.

I ain't got no water.

I told you, I ain't got no agua.

Do you speak English?

Where's the last guy?

Ultimo hombre. Last man standing. There must have been one.

Where'd he go?

I reckon I go out the way I come in.

There ain't no lobos.

You stopped to watch your backtrack.

Now shoot my dumb ass.

But if you stop,

you stopped in shade.

Yeah.

-What's in the satchel? -It's full of money.

That'll be the day.

-Where'd you get the pistol? -At the getting place.

-Did you buy that gun? -No. I found it.

-Llewelyn. -What? Quit your hollering.

What'd you give for that thing?

Well, you don't need to know everything, Carla Jean.

I need to know that.

Keep running that mouth of yours,

I'm gonna take you in the back and screw you.

Big talk.

Keep it up.

Fine. I don't want to know.

I don't even want to know where you been all day.

That'll work.

All right.

-Llewelyn? -Yeah?

-What're you doing, baby? -I'm going out.

Going where?

A little something I forgot to do, but I'll be back.

And what're you gonna do?

I'm fixing to do something dumber than hell, but I'm going anyways.

If I don't come back, you tell Mother I love her.

Your mother's dead, Llewelyn.

Well, then I'll tell her myself.

-How much? -69 cents.

And the gas?

Y'all getting any rain up your way?

-What way would that be? -Well, I seen you was from Dallas.

What business is it of yours where I'm from,

friend-o??

-Well, I didn't mean nothing by it. -You didn't mean nothing?

I was just passing the time.

If you don't want to accept that, I don't know what else I can do for you.

-Will there be something else? - I don't know. Will there?

Is something wrong?

-With what? -With anything.

Is that what you're asking me?

Is there something wrong with anything?

-Will there be anything else? -You already asked me that.

Well, I need to see about closing now.

-See about closing? -Yes, Sir.

-What time do you close? -Now. We close now.

"Now" is not a time. What time do you close?

Generally around dark. At dark.

You don't know what you're talking about, do you?

Sir?

I said you don't know what you're talking about.

-What time do you go to bed? -Sir?

You're a bit deaf, aren't you? I said, what time do you go to bed?

Somewhere around 9:30. I'd say around 9:30.

I could come back then.

Why would you be coming back? We'll be closed.

Yeah, you said that.

Well, I got to close now.

You live in that house out back?

Yes, I do.

You lived here all your life?

Well, this is my wife's father's place, originally.

You married into it?

We lived in Temple, Texas for many years.

Raised a family there, in Temple.

We come out here about four years ago.

You married into it.

If that's the way you want to put it.

Well, I don't have some way to put it. That's the way it is.

What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?

-Sir? -The most you ever lost on a coin toss.

I don't know. I couldn't say.

Call it.

-Call it? -Yes.

-For what? -Just call it.

Well, we need to know what we're calling it for here.

You need to call it.

I can't call it for you, or it wouldn't be fair.

- I didn't put nothing up. -Yes, you did.

You've been putting it up your whole life. You just didn't know it.

-You know what date is on this coin? -No.

19568.

It's been travelling 22 years to get here. And now it's here.

And it's either heads or tails.

And you have to say. Call it.

Well, look, I need to know what I stand to win.

Everything.

-How's that? -You stand to win everything. Call it.

All right.

Heads, then.

Well done.

Don't put it in your pocket, sir.

Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter.

-Where do you want me to put it? -Anywhere, not in your pocket.

Or it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin.

Which it is.

Llewelyn?

What the hell?

-The Odessa. -Why would we go to Odessa?

No, not we. You. You stay with your mother.

Well, how come?

Look, right now it's midnight, Sunday.

The courthouse opens nine hours from now.

Someone's gonna be calling in the vehicle number

on the inspection plate on my truck.

And around 9:30, they'll show up here.

But for how long do we have to...

Baby, at what point would you quit bothering

to look for your $2 million?

What am I supposed to tell Mama?

Why don't you try standing in the door and hollering, "Mama, I'm home"?

-Llewelyn... -Come on, pack your things.

Anything you leave, you ain't gonna see again.

Well, don't fall down apologising.

Baby, things happen.

Come on, I can't take them back.

Mind riding bitch?

This his truck?

Got a screwgie?

Who cut his tires?

Mexicans, I guess. Wasn't us.

-That is a dead dog. -Yes, it is.

-Where's the receiver? -I've got it.

These are some ripe petunias.

Hold this, please.

Want it?

You getting anything on this?

Not a bleep.

All right.

Give me that.

-I thought it was a car afire. -It is a car afire.

Wendell said there's something in the back country, too.

Step in there.

When's the county gonna start paying a rental on my horse?

I love you more and more every day.

That's very nice.

-Be careful. -Always am.

-Don't get hurt. -Never do.

Don't hurt no one.

If you say so.

Wouldn't think a car'd burn like that.