Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (adapted from Cormac McCarthy) · 2007
The Coen brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel. A welder finds two million dollars at a drug deal gone wrong. Anton Chigurh comes to retrieve it. Won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. A masterclass in tension, restraint, and the power of what isn't shown.
The Coens cut McCarthy's book to its bones. The screenplay is shorter than most. Action is sparse. Dialogue is sparser. What remains is pure tension. Notice how violence happens off-screen. Notice how Chigurh's coin toss scene takes its time — minutes of silence and breathing — because the Coens know that suspense is a function of duration, not of stakes. They trust the audience. They trust the silence.
EXT. GAS STATION — DAY
ANTON CHIGURH, eyes dead, stands at the counter. The PROPRIETOR, an old man in his 60s, scans his items. PROPRIETOR Y'all gettin any rain up your way? CHIGURH What way would that be? PROPRIETOR I seen you was from Dallas. CHIGURH What business is it of yours where I'm from, friendo? PROPRIETOR I didn't mean nothin' by it. CHIGURH Didn't mean nothin'. PROPRIETOR I was just passin' the time. CHIGURH If you don't want to accept that, I don't know what else I can do for you. A long silence. Chigurh looks at him. CHIGURH (CONT'D) Will you call it? PROPRIETOR Call it? CHIGURH Yes. PROPRIETOR For what? CHIGURH Just call it. PROPRIETOR Well, we need to know what we're callin' it for here. CHIGURH You need to call it. I can't call it for you. It wouldn't be fair. PROPRIETOR I didn't put nothin' up. CHIGURH Yes, you did. You've been puttin' it up your whole life. You just didn't know it. You know what date is on this coin? PROPRIETOR No. CHIGURH 1958. It's been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it's here. And it's either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it. PROPRIETOR Look, I need to know what I stand to win. CHIGURH Everything. PROPRIETOR How's that? CHIGURH You stand to win everything. Call it. PROPRIETOR Alright. Heads then. Chigurh removes his hand from the coin. Looks at it. CHIGURH Well done. He slides it across the counter. The Proprietor stares at it, doesn't pick it up. CHIGURH (CONT'D) Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter. PROPRIETOR Where do you want me to put it? CHIGURH Anywhere not in your pocket. Where it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is.