Ballad of Buster Scruggs

[dave jenkins]

Ok, I didn’t see that coming:
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/coen-brothers-buster-scruggs-oscar-nom-adapted-screenplay-not-original-1202037160/

 

You mean, you can get nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay even if only parts of the movie are adapted? And if the adapted parts are separate adaptations? Yeah, well, I'm sure the rules are just vague enough that people can get away with whatever.

That article sure had some good links, though:
https://americanliterature.com/author/stewart-edward-white/short-story/the-girl-who-got-rattled
http://www.online-literature.com/london/49/

I appreciate being able to read the originals.

[noodles_leone]

Yes I read the opening paragraph of The Girl Who Got Rattled and I liked it a lot.

[dave jenkins]

I went through "All Gold Canyon" this morning and was impressed by how closely the Coens stuck to London's telling. One obvious addition was the bit where the prospector goes up into the tree and steals the owl eggs. I think that was an addition worth making. The other change was swapping out the obscure song the guy sings for the too-well-known "Mother McCree." OK, maybe they needed to change the song, but they should have gone with something less obvious. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the adaptation, and I say again it's much easier to grasp the mechanics of prospecting visually rather than having to read about it.

[cigar joe]

I went through "All Gold Canyon" this morning and was impressed by how closely the Coens stuck to London's telling. One obvious addition was the bit where the prospector goes up into the tree and steals the owl eggs. I think that was an addition worth making. The other change was swapping out the obscure song the guy sings for the too-well-known "Mother McCree." OK, maybe they needed to change the song, but they should have gone with something less obvious. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the adaptation, and I say again it's much easier to grasp the mechanics of prospecting visually rather than having to read about it.

Exactly, its why I love that scene in The Sand Pebbles where Steve McQueen is explaining how the steam engine works to Po-han.

[stanton]

I just watched the first Episode, and ha ha, it was marvellous. I actually watched it the third Time now, I Love it. Now to the 2nd one ...

[dave jenkins]

I just watched the first Episode, and ha ha, it was marvellous. I actually watched it the third Time now, I Love it. Now to the 2nd one ...

You're all right, stanton, I don't care WHAT noodles_leone says about you!

[stanton]

Noodles? He loves me, why?

[dave jenkins]

Noodies? He loves me, why?

Gotcha! 

[T.H.]

Episode 1: I was very weary watching this thinking the whole movie would have such a slapstick tone. I enjoyed the first segment a little more knowing how the rest of the movie went. Some of the landscapes are very pretty.

Episode 2: This is very short and hard to criticize due to its length. I'm not the biggest fan of Franco but he looked more natural in a western setting than I would have imagined. On the whole, the casting and makeup department did a hell of a job in this movie making characters look right out of a Leone or Peckinpah movie, or right out of an old photograph.

Episode 3: It held my attention and was interesting enough. There are some really nice shots with the stage setup serving as the backlight in a long shot.

Episode 4: I'm a big Waits fan and have always appreciated his acting skills too. I enjoyed this very much even if the owl/eggs scene is a little out there. But that's nitpicking, the setting was fantastic and served as a main character here. It was like a mixture of an old Disney documentary + Shane's landscapes.

Episode 5: I guess I'm a sucker for trail or journey westerns. The characters were great and the ending was very clever even if you can nitpick a bit.

Episode 6: I couldn't get into this one and the Coens should have went in another direction instead of having a long dialogue sequence featuring strangers on a stagecoach only a couple years after Tarantino had such a similar sequence.

For me, the winners are the Waits and the trail episodes. Overall, I'd give it an 8/10 especially because I can stop watching after the finale of the trail.

[dave jenkins]

Still waiting for the disc . . . . But in the meantime, this helps tide me over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dwcxbr9o5A