Movie · 2018 · Western, Comedy, Drama · 2h 12m · R · English
Curator score: 6.6/10 (568.9K ratings)
Stories live forever. People don't
Overview
Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.6/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.65/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 79
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Production
Mike Zoss Productions
Cast
Tim Blake Nelson, Willie Watson, Clancy Brown, Danny McCarthy, David Krumholtz, Thomas Wingate, Tim DeZarn, E.E. Bell, Alejandro Patiño, Tom Proctor, Clinton Roberts, Matthew Willig, Jesse Youngblood, J.J. Dashnaw, James Franco, Stephen Root, Ralph Ineson, Mike Watson, Brian Brown, Ryan Brown
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A darkly funny, beautifully made anthology western that mixes deadpan comedy, sudden violence, and melancholy frontier fatalism. It’s uneven by design, but the strongest segments are memorable and the film’s visual style and tonal control make it a distinctive watch.
Best for
Coen brothers fans
anthology and vignette structures
dark comedy with bleak endings
stylized westerns
viewers who like ironic, literary storytelling
Skip if
you want a single continuous plot
you dislike abrupt tonal shifts
you prefer warm or heroic westerns
anthology films frustrate you
you need every segment to feel equally strong
Overview
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a western anthology that treats the frontier as a stage for jokes, fables, and sudden mortality. Each chapter has its own rhythm, but the throughline is unmistakable: the West is beautiful, absurd, and indifferent, and people keep walking into it with delusions of control.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the precision. The performances are sharply tuned, the dialogue snaps, and the imagery is often gorgeous enough to make the violence feel even colder. Some episodes are richer than others, but the best ones land like miniature morality plays with a wicked grin.
Bottom line
It’s not a comfort watch, and it doesn’t aim to be. If you like your westerns strange, literary, and a little cruel, this is one of the more distinctive modern entries in the genre. If you want momentum or emotional continuity, the anthology format may leave you at a distance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (4★) · 3516 likes
I loved every story but also I'd watch a 6-hour series just about Buster Scruggs.
Peter Labuza (3.5★) · 3073 likes
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Death Comes Unexpectedly
Near Algodones: Death is Inevitable, But Sometimes There's Grace
Meal Ticket: Death is Inevitable, There's No Grace
All Gold Canyon: Sometimes You Can Escape Death
The Gal Who Got Rattled: Sometimes You Can't
The Mortal Remains: Sometimes You're Already Dead
Ralph (4.5★) · 2779 likes
A genuinely funny and wonderfully acted version of A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Matt Singer (4★) · 2237 likes
Imagine a bunch of Western-themed Twilight Zone episodes shot in glorious color. (This is a very good thing.)
Sean Baker · 1647 likes
Love this film and very disappointed that it isn't getting a proper wide theatrical release. I would have greatly preferred to see this on a big screen. I watched it on a 50" television and it felt disrespectful to the film.
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen's second collaboration with French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and I hope it continues. He's brilliant.
2007 · Crime, Thriller, Western · 2h 2m · R · Curator 9.6/10 (3.1M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
Shares the Coens’ cold-eyed fatalism, dry humor, and sudden eruptions of brutality.