The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
An interwoven suite of vignettes set in the Old West in the closing days of the Civil War, tracing six lives: a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West toward an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.
Director(s)
Betsy Magruder
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
Zack Earl Edwards
David Tierney Lerner
Kevin Lumley
Jeremy Reisig
Paul Schmitz
Zack Smith
Where to watch
Netflix
Subscription
Cast & Crew
Details
Reviews
CinemaSerf
Tim Blake Nelson turns in a Wild West version of "Alan a-Dale" as he plucks his minstrel's guitar and tells us an half-dozen tales of life in the pioneering United States of the late 1800s. His is the first of these stories, and serves to give us a clue as to the quirkiness of what's to follow from these stand-alone observations of a dog-eat-dog society as it emerges from it's civil war. Along the way, there are homages paid to both the plots of films like "Stagecoach" and to just about any of the actors who rode an horse, cracked a whip or slung a rifle. My own personal favourite has to be the ageing prospector (Tom Waits) who armed with his mule, his giant pans and what appears to be the mining equivalent of a divining rod, attempts to find a lucrative seam of gold from a seemingly random stream - and, of course, there are quite a few twists in this tale of perseverance which did make me smile. On that front, there is plenty of humour for us to appreciate here too as Vaudeville meets gambling, banks get robbed and romance gets it's due comeuppance. Though light-hearted, this also manages to remind us of just how brutal and torrid life could be for those setting off into these virgin territories facing the difficulties of terrain, Indians and of the vengeful grudges that survived their recent blue v grey conflict. No expense has been spared on the production design of the film. It's constituent scenarios of the grand cinematography that combines the vast with the intimate - especially as our final story confines itself largely to the interior of the stagecoach; and the episodic nature of these stories provides us with entertaining vignettes without the need for an anchor star.
All Trailers
Behind the scenes
Media engagement
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs FAQs
The directors of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs are Betsy Magruder, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Zack Earl Edwards, David Tierney Lerner, Kevin Lumley, Jeremy Reisig, Paul Schmitz, and Zack Smith.
The cast of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs includes Billy Lockwood as Father (segment "The Gal Who Got Rattled") (uncredited), Clancy Brown as Curly Joe (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), Liam Neeson as Impresario (segment "Meal Ticket"), Brendan Gleeson as Irishman (segment "The Mortal Remains"), Stephen Root as Teller (segment "Near Algodones"), James Franco as Cowboy (segment "Near Algodones"), Tom Waits as Prospector (segment "All Gold Canyon"), Tim DeZarn as Mean-Eyed Card Player (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), Jonjo O'Neill as Englishman (segment "The Mortal Remains"), David Krumholtz as Frenchman (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), Doris Hargrave as Boarder (segment "The Gal Who Got Rattled"), Jefferson Mays as Gilbert Longabaugh (segment "The Gal Who Got Rattled"), and more.
The duration of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is 2h 12 mins.
Yes. You can watch the The Ballad of Buster Scruggs trailer on this Fanbiz page on Fanziz.
You can watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix (Subscription). Check this Fanbiz page for the latest platforms.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was released on 09 Nov 2018.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is listed under Western, Comedy, and Drama on Fanbiz.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has 1 review on Fanziz, with an average rating of 7.0/10. One reviewer wrote: "Tim Blake Nelson turns in a Wild West version of "Alan a-Dale" as he plucks his minstrel's guitar and tells us an half-dozen tales of life in the pioneering United States of the..."
