Home Entertainment Watch the charming first trailer for new Coen Bros western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Watch the charming first trailer for new Coen Bros western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

2 min read
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Peanut butter and jam. Batman and Robin. Darryn and any food that doesn’t contain any slightly healthy elements or any redeeming culinary value whatsoever. There are things that belong together… that just feel right. And in Hollywood, one such fated pairing is the Coen Bros and westerns.

Four-time Oscar-winning filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen started their critically acclaimed careers with quirky crime dramas and comedies, but they really have a flair for westerns. We saw this with both No Country For Old Men (a modern western) and True Grit, which were both incredible films. Now they’re back at it again with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs which seems to merge their earlier whimsical stylings with their later dry and dusty western work and it looks charming as hell.

A star-studded anthology film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs follows six separate stories “from the wild frontier”. The titular chapter tells the story of a sharp-shooting songster. In Near Algodones, a wannabe bank robber gets his due and then some. Meal Ticket, is a gothic tale about two weary travelling performers. All Gold Canyon is a story about a prospector mining for gold, while a woman finds an unexpected promise of love, along with a dose of life’s cruel irony, on a wagon train across the prairies in The Gal Who Got Rattled. Finally, ghostly laughs haunt The Mortal Remains as a Lady rains judgment upon a motley crew of strangers undertaking a final carriage ride.

Check a look at all of these story beats in the first trailer below.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs made its debut at the Venice International Film Festival a few weeks back to rapturous praise, taking home the award for Best Screenplay. With it only hitting the festival circuit at the end of August, you may be thinking we have a while to go before you we can see it ourselves. And just like Darryn with his opinion on baked beans belonging in burritos, you would be wrong!

This production had originally been planned as six-part series, but back in August it was announced that Netflix had picked it up and retooled it as a feature-length film that still retained its anthology leanings. The film, which stars Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, and Tom Waits, will now premiere simultaneously on the streaming service on 16 November, while also enjoying a limited theatrical run in the US.

Last Updated: September 13, 2018

8 Comments

  1. It looks very cool. Will definitely be a watch for me. Every month confirms for me it was worthwhile subscribing to Netflix. I just wish Prime Video would start releasing more quality content. I mean it’s not that they don’t have the money to produce good content.
    The company is valued at over R 1 000 000 000 000.
    Every month I draw closer and closer to cancelling that service.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      September 13, 2018 at 14:59

      Amazon has a HUGE list of amazing sounding content on the horizon. Basically, if you’re a sci-fi and/or fantasy geek, it’s going to be the streaming platform of choice. But you’re right, they’re not yet.

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        September 13, 2018 at 15:15

        I’m planning on hopping in once they start with their LOTR series. If it’s good, of course.

        Reply

        • Kervyn Cloete

          September 13, 2018 at 15:31

          LOTR, Wheel of Time, Conan, Ringworld, Snow crash, Lazarus, and more in development at Amazon.

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            September 13, 2018 at 15:33

            I’d forgotten about Wheel of Time and Ringworld. Noice. Toight.

            Jeez, if they faithfully stick to the books (WoT), it could end being extremely long-winded.

          • Kenn Gibson

            September 14, 2018 at 08:57

            Wheel of Time series??? For reals? If done properly awesome if not emo Rand and Nynaeve pulling at her braid for 12 seasons

          • Original Heretic

            September 14, 2018 at 09:25

            12 Seasons?! You’re being rather optimistic. Considering how thick those books are, I’d be surprised if we ONLY get 12.
            Then again, I’m sure there are swathes of it that can be cut.

          • Original Heretic

            October 3, 2018 at 15:58

            Speaking of all these novels, what you reading at the moment?

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