The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

"Stories live forever. People don't."

2018 2h 12m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 4,602

WesternComedyDrama

Synopsis

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Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

“Stories live forever. People don't.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Tim Blake Nelson
Buster Scruggs (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
Willie Watson
The Kid (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
Clancy Brown
Curly Joe (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
Danny McCarthy
Curly Joe's Brother (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
David Krumholtz
Frenchman (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
Thomas Wingate
Gun Check Man (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
Tim DeZarn
Mean-Eyed Card Player (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")
E.E. Bell
Piano Player (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joel Coen
Writers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joel Coen, shot by Bruno Delbonnel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joel Coen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Tim Blake Nelson and Willie Watson and Clancy Brown carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Stories live forever. People don't.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt6412452 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joel Coen directs. Bruno Delbonnel behind the camera. Carter Burwell scores. Joel Coen cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 8 years ago.
2Directed by Joel Coen, shot by Bruno Delbonnel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Carter Burwell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Joel Coen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Tim Blake Nelson and Willie Watson and Clancy Brown carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Stories live forever. People don't.".
7IMDB entry: tt6412452 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 11 themes, including "prostitute", "native american", "parody", "anthology".
9Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel
Original score: Carter Burwell
Editing: Joel Coen
Production design: Jess Gonchor
Costume design: Mary Zophres
Makeup / hair: Gretchen Bright
VFX supervisor: John Bair
Sound: Nicholas Cochran
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joel Coen

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-08-27
★ 7/10
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.

Production companies