Warning! Spoilers ahead!
I always enjoy when a minor character appears in a movie or show, steals the scene and disappears, leaving me with more questions than they answer. The first such character who comes to mind is without doubt Moe Greene from Godfather II and I was planning to start this series of short analysis with him, but then I realized that the mobster who came to pick Anton Chigurh to the shootout scene was my favorite.
He simply gets out of the car with a serious demeanor, kind of flexes and with threatening eyes and a lack of sympathy in his voice asks Chigurh “Mind ridin’ bitch?” The first time I watched that scene I did feel uneasy. I couldn’t name it and the character keep coming to my mind.
To start with, he is not a young guy, an action figure with muscles, unrealistic screen charisma or charm. On the contrary, he seems to be on the wrong side of middle age, is bald on the top of his head with longer curly hair at the back and sides, has a mustache, wears a cowboy-like attire and a bolo tie implying that he is from Texas.
Secondly, when he gets out with all his gravity one expects him to utter a greeting or say something matching the situation. Instead he immediately thrash talks. The way he says the words also lacks empathy. I had the impression that not only that he had no respect for anybody but also no respect for human life either. It is so well-done. One immediately understand that he is one of those mobsters, a sociopath who can hurt without remorse. Just three words are enough to see the depths of the mafia/mob he was working for. Of course these people are bad people, but in NCfOM, the quality of being bad is akin to real life evil unlike in many other films and shows that try to portray it.
Lastly, and for me most importantly, it is his age. For most of the viewers such a guy is reminiscent of an uncle maybe even a father. He is old, has proper attire, travels in a car and seems to be earning money. A proper adult. But the way he exits the car and the way he communicates were bone chilling for me. I thought a lot about that feeling and came to the conclusion that I felt like a little child looking at a grown up person expecting him to a a role model and he totally ruined it and acted with the emotional intelligence of an 8 year old. Then I thought, maybe the character had a family, children a loving wife and he was also reciprocating their love and taking good care of them (with blood money). That thought made me even more uneasy because it meant he had a darker side he was hiding from his loved ones.
I don’t want to over-read the character but Coen brothers did an excellent job in bringing him to life. He is even more representative than the world of crime. He is most probably not a psychopath but a sociopath who can navigate intricacies of social life and maybe even show some empathy. He is one of those criminals who steals he security, money, and lives of innocent people for personal profit. We have seen examples of his character in shows like The Sopranos and films like the GoodFellas. The difference between Coens’ portrayal is that we don’t have to dwell long enough on him. He is what he is. I am a huge fan of The Sopranos and the way David Chase made an antihero the focal point of a TV show was revolutionary. We have rooted for Tony Soprano and felt what he felt, until we didn’t as even Chase had to finally expose him for what he is. A thug, a sociopath, an egoistic criminal who couldn’t stand other people being happier than him and who does what he does only for his personal gain. The mobsters look sharp, they have superficial charisma (sometimes)i they are money earners, but they are not role models. Our world is fascinated with their lifestyle and the media, film industry and television usually portrays them in favorable terms, but hey are just thugs, thieves, murderers. The NCfOM character, for me, portrayed he disillusionment, the disappointment of a child in an adult who was supposed to behave and be a role model as a grown up. And he did it in 3 seconds unlike Tony Soprano for whom we needed 5 seasons.
Llewelyn Moss was a good guy but his greed got him and his wife killed. We can feel for him and even some of us can understand why he insisted on keeping the money after seeing that he was collecting the empty cases for future use after hunting and living a a trailer. Carson Wells was another hit man, yet unlike Chigurh he seemed to be a social person with a sense of humor. He had “the game is the game” mentality and for that he was indeed a flat screen character. Chigurh was a true psychopath and the viewers (I hope) could easily distance themselves from him. He was an aberration. But the basic mobster was not only a true criminal but he was also a good portrayal of a realistic character. He was so down to earth that he was carrying a “scroogie (screwdriver)” on himself. That is why his small role stuck into my mind. The actor who gave life to the character is Boots Southerland. As far as I could find he was a horse supervisor for Western movies, later became a stuntman, and finally found his way into movies for small roles. In case you want to watch the full scene again, here it is:
