Coen Brothers' Netflix Western Movies Gets High Accuracy Score From Cowboy Expert

Summary The Ballad of Buster Scruggs earns a respectable score for its historical accuracy due to how it pokes fun at depictions of cowboys in the 1930s and '40s.

The 2018 Netflix Western depicts a violent saloon with partial accuracy, but exaggerates other elements for stylistic or dramatic effect.

The Coen Brothers proved themselves masters of the Western with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs after three previous well-received explorations of the genre.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coen Brothers' Netflix Western, earns a high accuracy grade from an Old West historian. Released on the streamer in 2018, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs comprises six vignettes, all of which chronicle different aspects of life on the American frontier in the 19th century. The well-received Western anthology film features a star-studded cast across the six shorts, with actors including Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, and Clancy Brown.

In a recent video for Insider, Old West historian and real-life cowboy Michael Grauer takes a look at select scenes from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, analyzing them for their historical accuracy.

While the film does feature some inaccuracies, Grauer explains that many elements of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, particularly, the first vignette with Nelson's titular cowboy, are being presented in a way that's poking "gentle fun" at past depictions of cowboy life. Check out Grauer's comments below and his score for the film out of 10:

“This Tim Blake Nelson character, Buster Scruggs, is hysterical because he’s a singer cowboy right out of the 1930s suddenly appearing in the Old West. Nobody wore a costume like that, that’s all an invention of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, movie cowboys from the ‘30s and ‘40s. Strolls into a saloon that has batwing doors, which most did not, by the way. The swinging doors was an invention of movies and television. “Saloons, variably, attracted a criminal element. Either gamblers – gambling was quite common – and of course alcohol consumption was a big part of that. So often times you saw them as gathering places, but typically they were gathering places for criminals in gangs and gamblers. “You did have saloon fights, that part is true, and in some cases someone might pull out a concealed weapon. Sometimes. Most of the time it was with fists, and they didn’t last that long. You didn’t have the great scenes like you see where everyone is punching everybody else, punching furniture and so on. It was usually just a couple of people. “On a frontier town like that, there wasn’t a whole lot of cash available. It was largely a cashless society. It was more on barter than anything else, and so only banks in more established communities really had the cash that was worth the effort, that bank robbers might undertake to rob one. “I’d call it a seven. They’re poking fun – gentle fun, to be sure – at the singing cowboy films of the ‘30s and ‘40s.”

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs Cemented The Coen Brothers' As Masters Of The Western

The Coens' Previous Westerns Explained

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs earned glowing reviews from critics upon its release in 2018, with praise aimed at how the filmmaking duo injected their signature sense of dark humor into a somewhat tired genre. The six vignettes are all different enough as to keep the viewing experience fresh and surprising, and each features some combination of violence, comedy, irony, and commentary on the nature of human existence. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, however, is far from the first time the Coens tackled the Western genre.

1984's Blood Simple, the first Coen Brothers movie, is very much a low-budget neo-Western, and it's the project responsible for getting their filmmaking career off the ground. In subsequent decades, the brothers would return to the genre on several occasions, each time presenting a radically different take on it. In 2007, they would release the critically-acclaimed No Country for Old Men, a deadly serious neo-Western, and in 2010 they released True Grit, their first true period Western.

Related 10 Most Dangerous Villains In Coen Brothers Films The Coen Brothers are among the all-time most celebrated film directors, and their movies are full of memorable albeit dangerous characters.

In addition to the crime drama, then, the Coen Brothers clearly have an interest in the Western as a genre, and each movie they've made in the genre has been very well-received. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs marks the last movie that the Coens made together, and they've since been working separately on their own projects. Earlier this year, however, Ethan Coen revealed that he's set to reunite with brother Joel on a "very bloody" horror movie. After mastering the Western, it seems like the duo will be exploring some new territory.

Source: Insider