Post 4: Adaptations

No Country for Old Men Adaptation

By, Alex Testerman 

 

I am reading the novel No Country for Old Men by, Cormac McCarthy which is about a man named Llewellyn Moss who finds in the mess of dead bodies and bullet filled cars, a briefcase of money which he takes. An assassin is hired named Chigurh to find and kill him and return the money back to his boss. The Main character, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, has to protect The Moss family from the drug cartel while he investigates the crime and the story alternates the 3 storylines and where they eventually all collide. There are plenty of scenes throughout this book that are essential to the plot of the novel and are essential to have for the film adaptation of this book.

One of these scenes is at the beginning of the novel after a short excerpt from Moss, where you are introduced to the main villain Chigurh. After he had already killed a police officer by chocking him with his handcuffs, then stealing his police vehicle and driving down the road and pulling over a random civilian and telling his to exit his vehicle. From the police station, Chigurh picked up a cattle gun and had this on hand with him as he pulls over this unsuspecting man. Once the man exits the vehicle and is told by Chigurh to stand to the side he asks “Why?” and this is when Chigurh lifts the tip of the cattle gun to the man’s head and shots him. Then saying “I didn’t want to get blood on the car.” He drives away in the dead man’s car, leaving him on the side of the road. This scene is essential to have in both forms (Film and novel) because it really shows the sick nature of Chigurh, which is so important because it shows how crazy and dangerous he will be to the main character, and that he means business.

                Another scene from the book that is essential to keep and not change is (Spoiler) the Death of Moss from the Mexican gang members who tacked a phone call from his wife. This scene has a main character murdered from a random gang of people, and it adds more danger because Bell now has to not only worry about Chigurh getting the money, but also Mexican gangs that want the money aswell, this also gives Bell a horrible feeling because he said he would protect him and make sure he stays alive but fails.

                The final scene that is essential to keep is the death of Moss’s wife, Clara Jean, because prior to Moss being killed, Chigurh is on the phone with Moss and says that he will kill his wife if he doesn’t give him the money, and Moss refuses. At this point Chigurh has the money.