Original Premise: No Country for Old Men (2007) – The Coin Toss
Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh calmly forcing a gas station clerk to gamble his life on a coin flip is psychological suspense at its peak.
Opening Scene
A dusty gas station in the middle of nowhere. A single neon sign flickers overhead, the letter “O” in “Open” is hanging on by a thread. A lazy ceiling fan wobbles in slow circles, its sole purpose is to spread the heat around like a bad rumor.
Inside, a middle-aged gas station clerk stands behind the counter, flipping through a magazine titled World’s Most Exciting Paperclips. A jar labeled “Take a Penny, Leave a Penny” sits in front of him, completely empty. The cash register is slightly ajar, revealing a grand total of $4.12.
The door creaks open. Anton Chigurh steps inside. He moves like a man who has never run for a bus in his life, cold, deliberate, but oddly well-moisturized. He walks to the counter, places a single tube of Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream down, and stares. The clerk stares back. The ceiling fan continues its brave struggle to remain functional.
Clerk: That’ll be twenty-five cents.
Anton pulls out a coin, inspects it like it personally insulted his family, then holds it up between two fingers.
Anton: Call it.
Clerk: What is it?
Anton: It’s a little round blob of metal worth 25 cents. But we don’t have time for that now.
Clerk: What am I calling it for?
Anton: Everything.
The clerk looks around, confused. He glances at the tube of Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream.
Clerk: Look, mister, if you don’t have a quarter, you can just pay me later.
Anton: Call it.
The clerk blinks. The fan wobbles. A fly lands on the Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream, only to immediately regret its decision and keels over dead.
Clerk: …heads?
Anton flips the coin. It lands on the counter.
Anton: It’s tails.
Clerk: Surely you can’t be serious.
Anton: I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.
The clerk looks at the coin. Looks at Anton. Then looks at the tube of Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream.
Clerk: (shrugs) Well, I had a good run.
Anton raises an eyebrow.
Anton: You accept your fate that easily?
Clerk: Look, mister, I’ve been running this wretched, old gas station for thirty years. My best customer is a guy named Lt. Frank Drebin from Police Squad who pays in nickels and talks to a raccoon he thinks is his uncle. This might be the most exciting thing that’s happened to me since we got a second flavor of beef jerky.
Anton pauses, re-evaluating. He looks at the clerk. He looks at the Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream. He looks back at the clerk.
Anton: I’m starting to think you might be the dangerous one here.
The clerk shrugs again, opens the register, and pulls out a dusty, faded coupon.
Clerk: Tell you what, I got a “Buy One, Get One Free” for Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream. You want another tube?
Anton stares. The fan wobbles ominously.
Denouement and Closing Scene
Anton slowly reaches forward, picks up the tube of Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream, and nods. He pockets the coin and walks out the door, pausing only to glance up at the flickering neon sign. It blinks one last time before sputtering out completely.
The clerk watches him go, then turns back to his magazine, flipping to the article titled The 50 Most Controversial Staplers in History.
Anton Chigurh was last seen still contemplating his Dr. Brock’s Hemorrhoid Cream purchase. The clerk went on to live a completely unremarkable, yet oddly satisfying life.
Next up: Ape Ape and Away
