The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2018)

[mfunk9786]

Okay, I've seen this a half dozen times now, so it's time to be annoying and do this thing:

01. "The Gal Who Got Rattled"
02. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
03. "Meal Ticket"
04. "Near Algodones"
05. "All Gold Canyon"
06. "The Mortal Remains"

[dda1996a]

Put Meal Ticket last and I'm fine with your ranking. Also why did you watch this half a dozen times???

[Persona]

Because mfunk likes it a lot!

1. "The Gal Who Got Rattled"
2. "All Gold Canyon"
3. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
4. "Near Algodones"
5. "Meal Ticket"
6. "The Mortal Remains"

[swo17]

The Gal Who Got Rattled
Near Algodones
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Meal Ticket
The Mortal Remains
All Gold Canyon

[knives]

Mfunk is plainly correct so I think we can not continue to do this.

[Cremildo]

1. "The Mortal Remains"
2. "All Gold Canyon"
3. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
4. "Meal Ticket"
5. "The Gal Who Got Rattled"
6. "Near Algodones"

[Big Ben]

No it's this:

01. "The Gal Who Got Rattled"
02. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
03. "Meal Ticket"
04. ""The Mortal Remains"
05. "All Gold Canyon"
06. "Near Algodones"

[solaris72]

1. All Gold Canyon
2. The Gal Who Got Rattled
3. Meal Ticket
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
5. Near Algodones
6. The Mortal Remains

[mfunk9786]

Put Meal Ticket last and I'm fine with your ranking. Also why did you watch this half a dozen times???

Because the first segment is massively entertaining and it's often hard to turn it off afterwards

[cdnchris]

I've watched it a few times too for the same reason: put it on just to watch the first one (maybe two) and it up watching it all. Despite the violence of the first one (and the darkness of a couple) I let my kids watch this and they both love it. I thought my son would tune out after the first but he went right to the end. My daughter has watched it a couple of times as well. Her favourites are "Buster Scruggs" and "the Girl Who Got Rattled" though that one did upset her not too surprisingly. My son likes the first two the most.

[FrauBlucher]

1. "The Mortal Remains"
2. "All Gold Canyon"
3. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
4. "Meal Ticket"
5. "The Gal Who Got Rattled"
6. "Near Algodones"

For me it’s this one. Maybe flip around 4,5 and 6. But really all are terrific.

[Ribs]

Good to know that even here it is apparently impossible to discuss this film without it being nigh-entirely about ranking things. An unfortunate fact of all their work that the Coens have probably been reconciling with for the last several years!

[mfunk9786]

Hey Ribs, you just said "But the movie is good though" on another thread about a film that no one has weighed in on yet here. Maybe instead of griping about people having fun engaging with this film, you could actually contribute somewhere, or scroll back and read several of us discussing this one!

[Finch]

What a beautiful looking film. I could grab so many stills and frame them. At slightly over two hours, this thing is far too long though: I think it'd have benefitted from focusing on three stories or four stories. My picks would have been Girl, Gold Canyon, and an extended version of Meal Ticket. I'd have been interested in seeing more interaction between Neeson's character and the legless performer; as it is, the ending doesn't hit as hard. Scruggs is entertaining but I'm not sure there is much else to it, especially on repeat viewings. Personally, I found the character obnoxious. The Oregon trail chapter with Zoe Kazan is the only one I truly connected with from start to end and the ending is upsetting but in a way that feels earned, unlike the majority of the film.

I'd also like to mention the score which I adored and just about eclipses Colin Stetson's Hereditary score as the best film music of this year.

[Murdoch]

1. All Gold Canyon
2. The Gal Who Got Rattled
3. Meal Ticket
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
5. Near Algodones
6. The Mortal Remains

This is the correct ranking. Maybe with "Near Alhodones" at the end. I honestly forgot it even existed until I googled it after looking at this list.

[mfunk9786]

Just dawned on me this morning (or so I thought for a matter of a literal few minutes) that the song that Buster sings over the opening sequence of this film seemed to be inspired in part by John Lennon's "Old Dirt Road" - it played on a shuffle when I was in the shower and when he says "cool... clear... water..." then self-echoes it I almost leapt out of my skin.

AND THEN I looked into it more and realized that Lennon was just making reference to the 1936 song "Cool Water" by Bob Nolan, which was most notably recorded by Vaughn Monroe and Hank Williams, among many others, and is exactly the song Scruggs is singing.

Weird morning. Educational, though. And now I feel essentially naked, knowing to a near-certainty that everyone knew this but me. I was in the shower when this began, after all, so we've come full circle.

[knives]

I didn't, but also don't pay attention to Williams nor Lennon.

[Brian C]

The song was also in another recent movie, which I thought was an odd coincidence. Maybe it was The Mule?

[Michael Kerpan]

I didn't, but also don't pay attention to Williams nor Lennon.

Both are worthy of attention.

[mfunk9786]

They're no Awkwafina

[Roger Ryan]

An allusion to the Nolan song also shows up in The Beach Boys' "Cool, Cool Water" (off 1970's Sunflower) as well as their song "California" (off 1973's Holland).

They're no Awkwafina

Did you even realize you were referencing a play on bottled "cool water"?

[mfunk9786]

Yes, which made it worth the risk of insulting knives (to whom I mean no ill will whatsoever), because the opportunity to blurt out a quick pun could make me put my life on the line, even vs a sharp object

[knives]

I didn't, but also don't pay attention to Williams nor Lennon.

Both are worthy of attention.

TBH I almost never listen to stuff besides instrumentals nowadays.

[Kirkinson]

I knew "Cool Water" because my dad used to listen to a lot of cowboy songs when I was a kid, but I had the opposite problem: I mistakenly thought I also recognized "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings," which turned out to be an original.

[Brian C]

I knew "Cool Water" because my dad used to listen to a lot of cowboy songs when I was a kid, but I had the opposite problem: I mistakenly thought I also recognized "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings," which turned out to be an original.

That’s funny because I figured at first that “Cool Water” was an original and “Cowboy” was an old song.