Milk

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The film Milk (2008) is a source of gay pride for those who participated in its making. Both the writer, Dustin Lance Black, and the director, Gus Van Sant, are gay, and so are actors Denis O’Hare and Victor Garber. They, along with the others who participated in this project, depict the life of gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, who, like others who fought on the front lines for justice, sacrificed themselves so that others could be free.

Over the opening credits there is Florida documentary footage about gays and police clashing as cops raided bars and arrested homosexuals. The use of film of actual events adds to the authenticity of this story which is most definitely based on facts. To show how there was the feeling that safety existed in being a closeted gay, one man at the bar who is being photographed throws a drink at the cameraman who filmed this old footage, as the man tried to hide his identity. Other men cover their faces, worried they will be persecuted.

The story moves to San Francisco, California. It’s November, 1978, and Harvey (Sean Penn, who received the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, which shows the full range of the man’s personality, including strength, vulnerability, humor, and intelligence), is making a tape to be played in the event of his assassination. Many crusading individuals who fought the establishment, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, felt they would be killed. In Harvey’s case he accurately predicts that his killer will be a “disturbed” person who is “insecure” in his own life and is afraid of someone like Harvey who would further upset attacker’s fragile hold on life.

Harvey’s narration is interspersed with dramatized scenes of what happened in the past. He points out that his signature opening remark in his speeches was, “I’m Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you.” It is a plea not just to tolerate homosexuals, but to enlist others into taking action to fight for gay rights. He admits that he initially had to speak to hostile, straight audiences, so he would open with a joke, such as, “I know I’m not what you expected, but I left my high heels at home.” It’s a funny line, but it points to the stereotypical attitudes toward gays and the lack of understanding that each person has an individual personality with behaviors separate from sexual orientation.

He records that San Francisco is the place that attacked sexual prejudice first, and he, being a gay activist, is the soldier at the front of the line of change, and is thus an identifiable person to target. There is then a clip of the announcement that both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed. There is no mystery here, as there is none in the movies Malcolm X, Gandhi, and Apollo 13. We know the endings, but what precedes the conclusion of each story is what absorbs us. 

To that end, the film jumps back to New York City in 1970. Harvey is walking down subway steps and sees the hippie-looking Scott (James Franco). Harvey says boldly, but in a high-pitched, halting, insecure voice, that it is his birthday, but has no plans for the evening. He is in a suit and Scott says half-jokingly that his straight look means he works for a large corporation. Harvey says yes, one that is part of “that corporate establishment” that Scott probably thinks is the “cause of all evil in the world, from Vietnam to diaper rash.” Scott adds Harvey, “left out bad breath.” This exchange shows how the two comment on how everyone has their prejudices, and may rush to judgment. But, it also shows the instant chemistry between these two, as they share a sense of humor. Harvey asks not to let him spend his birthday alone, but Scott says, even though he admits that Harvey is very “cute,” that he only dates guys under forty. Harvey says he just gets in under the wire because he won’t be forty for another forty-five minutes. They kiss, and Scott goes with him.

Back at Harvey’s place, after they have sex, and Harvey finds out that Scott is from Mississippi, he warns him that he can’t just go with anybody right away because it’s not safe in a large city like New York. Harvey says that the police are everywhere, stressing the anti-gay atmosphere of the times. He tells Scott he has to be careful, because Harvey knows a lot of people and he has to be discreet or else he can lose his job. Scott says Harvey needs to find a new place and a different set of friends. Harvey agrees and admits he hasn't “done a thing I’m proud of.” As we already know, he will drastically change his life, and his meeting Scott is the catalyst that makes this happen. Scott says Harvey is now an old man at age forty and if he keeps eating his birthday cake he will become fat before he is fifty. Harvey says he doubts he will make it to fifty, which is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Harvey, smiling, says they should run away together, and they resemble a couple of kids looking for adventure.

In his recording, Harvey says that San Francisco was the place to “drop out” of the established society in the 1960’s, a haven for the counterculture at the time. So the two men travel there, and Harvey looks like a hippie himself now, with long hair pulled back in a ponytail, and he has a beard. The filming of their car ride looks like documentary footage, emulating the real film shown earlier to give the fictional scene a realistic feel. The Haight-Ashbury area was the hippie destination in the 1960’s, but in his recording, by 1972, Harvey notes the area turned seedy, filled with crime and drugs and boarded up buildings. Instead, the place to go now for what Harvey calls “refugees,” those outcasts of society, was an eight-block area called the Castro, which in contrast, had a conservative Irish Catholic lineage. (We again have a mixing of actual black and white footage inserted here as Harvey, who is into cameras, takes shots of the neighborhood).

Scott says he cashed his last unemployment check, and used it to buy marijuana, which stresses the anti-establishment culture of the era. Harvey has an idea, and they rent the store on the ground floor of their apartment building and call it “Castro Camera.” The two are outside hugging after painting the name of the store on the window. A man, McConnelly (Steven Wiig), approaches and asks if they are the new renters. Harvey introduces them and he shakes the man’s hand, who immediately wipes it with a handkerchief. This time period is even before the AIDS epidemic, which shows how the bigotry against gays had deep roots. Harvey asks about joining the local merchants’ association. The man says the police will shut down their store because there is “God’s law” as well as man’s law, and the police will enforce both. McConnelly sees no separation of church and state, and is obviously saying that being gay violates absolutist religious doctrine, which emphasizes the enormity of the struggle gays faced when coming out in the open.

Harvey and Scott openly make out in front of their store in defiance of the accepted norms. Harvey tells Scott that they will establish their own gay business association, and ask every customer what they want changed in their city. Scott questions Harvey’s activist interest considering he was a Republican. Harvey says he is a businessman and all businesses should treat their customers the same, no matter if they are gay or not. Despite the American doctrine that declares that all men are created equal, the country did not live up to that belief when dealing with various races, ethnic groups, and obviously women. People like Harvey are in the vanguard in the attempt to bring all groups into the democratic fold. Despite the seriousness of their struggle, these two men are playful throughout this period of early activism, as we see Harvey preparing a dinner for Scott’s birthday, and then hitting him in the face with a pie.

On tape, Harvey says the Castro became a magnet for gays to find a home. There is real footage of droves of young gay men arriving in the neighborhood. Harvey says the cops hated them, as the unwelcoming McConnelly noted they would, and they hated them back. The cops beat them and arrested them, but Harvey said the residents did not give up. Harvey made a list of the businesses that were friendly to gays and those that were not, and made the information public, causing the bigoted ones to lose business and the others to flourish. He is already using his business and political shrewdness to accomplish goals. There is an amusing shot of Harvey entering McConnelly’s liquor store and asking if he likes all the gay customers he now has. McConnelly smiles. Apparently monetary profits outweigh biblical prophets.

Harvey says their store became a place for many gays to congregate as a “home away from home.” Harvey even received help from unexpected straight sources. The Teamsters Union asked Harvey to get gays to boycott Coors beer, and in return the Teamsters hired openly gay drivers. Harvey understands the power derived from making deals involving monetary gain. He narrates that someone, or possibly himself, started Harvey being called the Mayor of Castro Street.

There is a scene where the cops are sweeping the streets attacking gays. As Harvey treats Scott for getting hit in the head when he went with others to resist the police, Harvey says that gays need leaders like those in the black community who look out for their own people. He says politics is “theater,” which is what Gandhi and Martin Luther King knew. You must get publicity to expose the injustice. Harvey’s anger is evident when he learns that a gay man is jumped and killed, and the police say there are no witnesses to identify the attackers. A cop says the man with the victim was his “trick,” as if all gays are just male prostitutes. Harvey corrects the policeman by saying the dead man was with his lover, and that there would be witnesses coming forward if the neighborhood knew that the police supported them, like other citizens. Harvey’s statement reveals that even though gays abide by the laws, they are treated as outlaws, and receive no protection from the true criminals. He notes that the gay residents were so vulnerable to attacks that they carried whistles to call for help when an assault was imminent.

Harvey decides to publicly attempt to stir the community toward activism. He gets up on a wooden crate that he labeled, humorously, “Soap.” Using a bullhorn he announces that the police raided their neighborhood, with charges of “blocking the sidewalk,” and sent citizens to the hospital while covering their badges so they couldn’t be identified, implying admission that they weren’t acting legally. He says that their tax money should go for their “protection, not persecution,” and for “gun control, not marijuana control.” He advocates using tax money to help school kids and seniors. He announces his candidacy for City Supervisor, to help change policies in San Francisco. His speech is smart in that it addresses the universal desire to use taxes for areas that are necessary and not wasteful to help the various groups in society.

Harvey, Scott, and others campaign and try to get people to register to vote. One young man, Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), from Phoenix, Arizona walks by, and Harvey tries to get him to sign up. The kid is sarcastic, and doesn’t believe in the political process. Harvey says they can change how he was harassed in Phoenix, but they have to start in San Francisco first, by addressing issues like police abuse, rent control, etc. Cleve says good luck but he’s leaving for Spain the next day. But, he will not only eventually return, but also will become one of Harvey’s most proactive supporters.

While discussing strategy, Harvey is handed a written threat of sexual mutilation, and Scott says he’s going to call the police. Harvey notes with dark humor that the cops probably wrote it. The situation shows how sad the state of affairs is when those who are supposed to protect one can be the real enemy. Harvey continues with his macabre sense of humor by saying if they follow through with the threat, he’ll get the sympathy vote. The note has a stick drawing on it, and Harvey hangs it on the refrigerator, saying it only becomes scarier in our imaginations when you don’t face the evil. His response shows how he is adapting to cope with the dangerous hatred he must face if things are to change. Scott says he’s putting himself at risk and he won’t even get elected. But, Harvey reminds Scott that winning isn’t as important at this stage as drawing attention to the cause. It goes back to the idea of politics being theater and trying to draw an audience to hear what is being said.

Harvey and Scott meet with the established, older gay leaders to get their support. They were David Goldstein (Howard Rosenman), who owned the gay newspaper,  The Advocate, and civil rights lawyer, Rick Stokes (Stephen Spinella). These men say that the job Harvey wants is a city-wide position, and that it’s more practical to back straight candidates who are sympathetic to the gay community. These guys are in suits as they sit at Goldstein’s house next to the swimming pool. In stark contrast to their conservatism, Scott swims nude in the water. Goldstein says Harvey’s extremism will only incite more backlash. Harvey declares they have to have one of their own in office, and the solution is not to go back in the closet. As they leave, Goldstein says Harvey sees the election as a “lark,” like something to have fun with, and he’s too old to be a hippie. Harvey counters by saying he is not the candidate, the gay movement is. His words show that he sees his fight as an advancement for others, not himself.

In conjunction with that unselfish belief, he records that there were thirty-two candidates going after six seats in the election, and he says “we” came in tenth. He goes on to say, “We” lost. He does not say “I.”  He says only a few more votes would have made him the first “queer as a three-dollar-bill man to be elected to public office.” Based on the results, he narrates that “they” tried again in 1975.

For the second race, Harvey cuts his hair, shaves his beard, and wears a suit, saying he wasn’t going to give anyone a reason not to vote for him just because he wore a “ponytail.” But, he also says that he and Scott have to not frequent the “bath houses.” Gay men would go to these places for anonymous sex. (Many believe this promiscuity helped to spread the later AIDS epidemic). Showing he was a political strategist, Harvey obviously wanted to tone down the anti-establishment activity to try to win a supervisor seat. However, he still lost in the 1975 race, but he had more votes. He then ran in 1976 for the California State Assembly. He bucked the Democratic Party by running against their candidate, saying the liberal establishment was not defending gays from deadly attacks. Scott, however, is now feeling that the campaigning has hurt their relationship by leaving little time for them to be a couple. As happened to other public leaders fighting injustice, their family lives suffered since they dedicated their time and energy to their causes.

The day before the election, Harvey is walking at night toward his campaign office, and is scared when a man is left off by a car and starts walking toward him. It turns out to be a false alarm, but it shows how gays lived in fear every day. Harvey discovers young Cleve Jones from Phoenix outside his campaign office. Cleve was in love but the man he was with dumped him. While he was in Spain, there was a memorial to all the gays that died under Franco’s fascist rule. The police attacked the drag queens there, but Cleve was inspired by them as they fought back and rioted, showing courage and determination as they shed their blood in the streets. Harvey says there can be a revolution in the United States, but Cleve has to fight. Cleve, looking for a cause he can be a part of, is fierce in his determination to win, and promises to help Harvey round up a crowd on the day the polls open.

There is real film footage of Anita Bryant, who was a former beauty queen winner, recording artist, and subsequent orange juice spokesperson, who became a fervent religious crusader who was against a Dade County, Florida law that protected gays from discrimination. She called the gay movement part of the forces of evil. Harvey sees Bryant on TV as he finds out he lost the assemblyman spot. But, there is a proposition to change voting boundary lines to join the Haight and Castro areas, and he now could win the supervisor job. There is a repeal of the Dade County law after Bryant’s crusade. A riot is building in the Castro in response to the Florida action. Harvey tells the police that he will get the gays to march to channel their anger so as not to destroy property or break any laws which would give the cops a reason to attack them. Harvey addresses the crowd saying that Bryant united them, and he takes the advice of his opponent in the assemblyman race that a candidate must give the people hope. He gives speeches that call for unified gay action to bring about the changes needed to make things better.

It’s 1977, and there is still a part of the Castro area that is conservative, Irish Catholic, and a person who was an ex-cop, Rick Stokes is running for the supervisor position. But, there is another candidate in a different area, Dan White (Josh Brolin), who speaks against what he considers to be an undermining of traditional values. Harvey says he can’t let Stokes win, but in the process, Scott leaves, saying he can’t handle the toll the political fight is taking on them. Anne Kronenberg (Alison Pill) arrives as the new campaign manager. Harvey wants to show that it isn’t only gay men who must fight but also the lesbians. Anne gets them some newspaper endorsements.

While Harvey is at his campaign office, Jack (Diego Luna), a handsome Hispanic man, looking inebriated, walks by. He falls and Harvey helps him in. That action basically defines their relationship, which is Jack being dependent on Harvey. They are immediately attracted to each other and have sex. Jack says he came there after his father beat him when he found out that he was gay. The film implies that when one’s own family demonizes a person, it can seriously and permanently damage one’s soul.

Harvey wins this election. Now, David Goldstein shows up during the victory celebration, but Cleve won’t let him in, stressing that the man only wants to be part of the win while never being part of the fight. Scott is also outside, but walks away, happy for Harvey, but no longer feeling like an insider. Harvey catches a glimpse of him, calls Scott’s name, which shows that he does miss his old lover, but Scott is gone. Jack is right next to him when Harvey is interviewed by the TV news, as Harvey, trying to broaden his support, says he is someone who represents all the people, not just the gays. Undermining the victory is the fact that Dan White also won a seat.

It’s 1978 and Harvey is sworn into office by Mayor Moscone (Garber). In a TV studio interview, the reporter says there are many news faces on the Board, and asks will the diversity cripple getting anything done. Harvey is there with White. Harvey says six votes are needed to get anything passed, so compromise is necessary and makes a funny statement that whether White likes it or not, they are “in bed together, politically speaking.” Scott sees Harvey on the TV and smiles, showing how he still enjoys his ex-lover’s sense of humor. White says his prior reference to “deviants” referred “more” to junkies than to gays, which doesn’t negate his belief that gays are deviants. He says he is about to be a father and wants to protect his child. After the show is over, Harvey tells White he does want to work together, and they shake hands, but White looks like he is trying to escape.

Cleve shows up in a suit at the building that houses Harvey’s office. Harvey is flamboyant, waving his freak flag in his exhilaration, saying that Cleve should only show up in tight jeans and dance up the many steps leading to the offices of the supervisors. As he passes the different offices, he mugs, letting Cleve know how he feels about the people working there. At Harvey’s office, Anne, the campaign manager, is already there. Harvey tells the staff that they must pass a gay rights ordinance, and hopefully gain national attention by drawing Anita Bryant into the fight. The others there say Dan White won’t vote for it. But, White shows up asking Harvey to attend his child’s baptism. It seems like a strange request from a person who espoused anti-gay sentiments, but White shifts back and forth, because he is an insecure person looking for attention and approval wherever he can get it, and retaliates when he feels rejected.

Harvey is the only supervisor to show up at the White baptism. Harvey tries to convince White to help pass the gay rights ordinance. But, White says his constituents wouldn’t like it. It has more to do with whether he will be liked than what he thinks is right or not, despite what he says later about being brought up to believe in what’s moral and immoral. Harvey learns that the church is where White was baptized, and back then Harvey points out that the Irish Catholics were the outsiders who had to fight for acceptance. White then tries to bargain, saying he would like to stop a psychiatric facility from being established in his district because it attracts “arsonists” and “rapists.” The movie seems to be saying that after some people moved from being the “others” in society to becoming part of the establishment, they then wanted to keep the new “others” at a distance, seeing them as a threat to their existence. This attitude is a form of paranoia, and White demonstrates the characteristics of the condition. White says that the two of them should look out for each other’s interests, which seems reasonable on the surface, but it depends on the interests. When White’s wife comes by, and Harvey apologizes about talking about gay rights to her husband, the wife says it was inappropriate to talk about that subject in the church, as if human decency only applies to certain parts of the population. Harvey, trying to be diplomatic since he is in office now, changes the subject to how nice the event was.

At his office, Harvey contemplates voting against the psychiatric facility, but it will then be defeated six to five if he votes against it. He sees White as a man with no friends, and he suspects he has the look of a closeted gay man. Also, Harvey’s friends are not happy about Harvey’s attachment to Jack, who is unstable and upset about his rejection by the other gays in Harvey’s circle, and is constantly jealous and needy. Anne says that Anita Bryant’s man in California is trying to get a law passed to ban all gay teachers. State Senator John Briggs (O’Hare) says he wants to stop homosexuals who are deviants and pedophiles from trying to sway children toward joining the gay lifestyle. He says his bill can identify homosexuals, which recalls the McCarthy communist witch hunts of the 1950’s. He then invokes the stamp of approval of the Almighty onto his argument by saying that others can argue with him, but not with God. The movie is saying that there can be no discussion if one says his way is sanctioned by the deity, and that this practice can be used as an argument to justify bigotry.  Following Briggs statement, Harvey says in a TV interview that Briggs’s argument is similar to the one used in Nazi Germany, and that Anita Bryant has said the Jews and Muslims are going to hell, so he implies that the gays are being added to her list.

Goldstein, Stokes, and the old guard politicians tell Harvey that Briggs’s ordinance has widespread appeal in the polls. They want to change their city ordinance proposal by talking only about human rights in general and deleting anything specific to the gay movement. Harvey is outraged and tells Cleve that they need to mobilize on their own. Cleve suggests enlisting Scott, too. They have a meeting of the movement's leaders, and Harvey says that they need numbers to vote against the reactionary state Proposition 6. Harvey says the more people who come out of the closet, the stronger will be the resistance to the proposed law. He says they must tell all their friends and relatives that they are gay if they haven’t already done so in order to let people know that the law will hurt them. Scott confronts Harvey after the meeting and reminds Harvey that he was a paranoid closet gay in New York who denied Scott’s existence constantly. He says that Harvey is asking these young men who have not come out before to possibly lose their families if they expose themselves. Harvey, however, is an unyielding militant now, and in this current war argues if those family members don’t love their gay relatives for who they are, then they shouldn’t be in their lives.

At a city government meeting, White is angry that Harvey won’t vote to keep the mental health facility out of White’s district. Harvey argues that he never promised to vote against the bill. After the session, Harvey reminds White that if he convinces one of the other supervisors he won’t need Harvey’s vote. But White has made this lack of support for his opposition to the bill personal, as if Harvey personally betrayed him and he says he won’t help fight for the gay protection ordinance.

Elsewhere in the country, other states, fueled by Anita Bryant’s anti-gay religious crusade, have been successful in getting anti-discrimination laws protecting gays overturned. Cleve becomes Harvey’s go-to man to mobilize the forces to protest. He gives the bullhorn that the unions supporters gave Harvey to Cleve to get the gays to march to San Francisco’s City Hall. When it looks like there will be an angry confrontation, Harvey, showing his political intelligence, appears as a peacemaker, so he will be accepted as the spokesperson who can forge deals to make progress and prevent violence. He tells his group they need a win that all citizens can get behind. Apparently dog owners are not cleaning up after their dogs in the city and it’s a major problem. Harvey proposes fining those dog owners who do not clean up after their pets, and gets TV coverage, that contains some humor in it. By doing so, he shows himself as a representative who is not just centered about gay activism, but also as a person who gets something practical accomplished.

On the vote on the San Francisco Gay Rights Ordinance, all the supervisors except White votes to pass the bill. Harvey approaches White to see if they can agree on another bill. White says that they must maintain the family unit and the gay lifestyle prevents this, which of course, in reality, it doesn’t since gays are a minority of the population, and can still donate sperm for fertilization purposes. But because he keeps pushing the family argument, White says Harvey can sponsor a bill to increase the salary of the supervisors, since he needs more income to take care of his family, and Harvey doesn’t have that problem, being gay. White’s attitude shows the narrow view of the prejudiced who only see things through their point of view and don’t consider the full scope of each individual’s situation.

At Harvey’s flamboyant birthday party, Harvey has a conversation with Scott, who fondly reminds him of how the birthday on which they met years ago in New York was much less lavish. Scott has a boyfriend, now, and he questions Harvey staying with Jack. Harvey says he doesn’t talk politics with Jack, or anything at all, so he gives Harvey some relief from the stress of his public life. Scott repeats that foreshadowing line that was said on their first meeting, by saying that now that Harvey is forty-eight, it looks like he will make it to age fifty. White shows up drunk at the party. He acts like Harvey is a political winner by manipulating issues, like the dog clean up one. White is jealous of Harvey’s success, saying he has issues, too. Harvey says he knew people who committed suicide in his past because of persecution, so coming out for laws to protect people are more important than just political maneuverings. Ironically, it is the weak and insecure who Jack shows up and gets Harvey away from the unstable White.

Actual footage shows gays coming out against Briggs’s proposition to have gay teachers fired. At a gay pride parade, Kathy shows Harvey a postcard that says Harvey gets the first bullet if he goes in front of the microphone at a rally. The threat of death is a constant presence now in Harvey’s life, which is why he is making his “assassination” recording. Of course, he gives his speech anyway, saying how no matter how hard the bigots try, they can’t erase the words of the Declaration of Independence, or those on the Statue of Liberty (despite recent proposals to do just that). Many at the time who protested against the Vietnam War were told, “America, love it or leave it.” Harvey reminds them of the words that “All men are created equal,” and says if they don’t realize that is what America stands for, then they are the ones who should leave.

Harvey gets Briggs to engage in a public debate on Proposition 6, which goes so far as to have a straight person fired if an employee supports a gay person, since that person is assumed to advocate homosexuality. Briggs keeps talking about teachers in a position to “recruit” children to become gay, obviously not accepting that those that are gay are born that way. Gays can’t have their own children so, Briggs argues, they must convert straight kids into becoming gay or there wouldn’t be any gays left. And, that is why gays become teachers, to turn children, almost sounding like he is making an analogy as to what vampires do. Harvey says he was brought up by heterosexual parents, taught by straight teachers, and yet he’s gay. He humorously says that if children so easily mimicked their teachers, there would be “a hell of a lot more nuns running around.”

Afraid of losing the vote, Harvey asked for another debate without his supporters to entice Briggs to show up again. Harvey points out that Briggs’s literature contradicts his stand that child molestations are not the issue. Since sexual assaults on children are far more dominant in the heterosexual community, Harvey says why not ban straight teachers, too, to eliminate the attacks. He asks, if that is Briggs’s goal, why marginally reduce them by banning gay teachers? What he is revealing is that Briggs and his supporters see gays as a deviant group that are preferably expendable.

White is angry that Harvey not only won’t support pay raises, he will oppose them. Harvey points out that even White is against the salary increases for political reasons, which shows how obsessed he is with Harvey’s acceptance of him, possibly showing that Harvey’s instinct that White is a closeted gay may be correct. Harvey says he will come out for the raises if White will back a bill against discrimination in hiring police. White says he doesn’t trade votes, but that is what he proposed doing before. He says he does not want to be humiliated by Harvey, and cautions, “You will not demean me.” He finally shows what is his real concern which stems from extreme insecurity, possibly rooted in guilt over being in conflict about his sexual orientation.

Despite Harvey wanting to save the insecure, weak Jack, trying to help him did not fit in with Harvey’s life and his message of hope did not reach Jack. In a way, Jack is a sort of mirror image of Dan White’s neediness to gain Harvey’s dedication. He comes home to find that Jack committed suicide by hanging himself. Even though he felt devastated, Harvey says in his narration that there was no time for mourning, which shows how Harvey’s crusade was all that he lived for anymore. Even though Ronald Reagan felt that there was no need to pass any more laws to defend children from harm, and Jimmy Carter came out against Proposition 6, this event was the first time fundamentalist Christians became politically involved on a large scale in a governmental issue, according to the anti-gay Anita Bryant. Cleve says he can get 15,000 people to demonstrate if the law is passed, but he is afraid there will be a riot. Unofficially, Harvey tells him there should be a violent reaction if the law is passed. Harvey gets a call from a young man who had called a year ago saying that he felt like he was going to kill himself. He couldn’t run away from the hatred around him because he was confined to a wheelchair. He was now in Los Angeles, met a friend of Harvey’s there, and decided because of Harvey that he would live and he voted against Proposition 6. Harvey, thus, feels vindicated that his message of hope is getting out.

The bill is defeated by a two-to-one margin. In San Francisco, only White’s district voted for it. Harvey in his speech says they have come out to try to protect those who would have been harmed by “this wave of hate.” Mayor Moscone joins him on the stage to celebrate the victory. Afterwards, White confronts Harvey and says he just resigned. But, the police department meets with him, and then soon after White says he wants his job back. In a meeting with the mayor, Harvey says White has been the main opponent against protection for gays, and he threatens that the mayor won’t have gay backing in his next election if he reappoints White. Moscone says Harvey sounds like strongmen Boss Tweed of New York or Mayor Daly of Chicago. Harvey says humorously that it’s scary that there is a gay man with power. He’s pointing out that a gay person finally has some leverage after so many years of being victimized, and it’s the novelty of that strength that is so surprising.

White gets a phone call from a local news reporter who wants his reaction to a source who said he wasn’t getting his job back. He is in the dark about this information. Interspersed with Harvey going to the opera and then talking to Scott, who says he is proud of Harvey, there are shots of White getting dressed in a suit as if going to work, breaking into the Board of Supervisors building, and acting like he still works there. He gets to see Mayor Moscone and then shoots him when he can’t change his mind about rehiring him. Before anyone knows what’s happening he quickly goes to Harvey’s office and shoots him. The last thing that Harvey sees before he dies is the opera house, where he loved to go, where the stories performed there mirrored his attempt to amplify life’s great passions.

Thousands marched in a candlelight vigil after the assassinations in honor of Harvey Milk. The notes before the final credits state that Dan White was convicted of manslaughter, a much lesser offence, and served only five years. After returning to San Francisco he committed suicide. Scott Smith worked to continue Harvey’s work. He died of AIDS in 1995. Anne Kronenberg became a mother of three and was Deputy Director of Public Health in San Francisco. Cleve Jones created The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial quilt, which is an international symbol of the HIV pandemic. He continued working as a political activist.

In his narration, Harvey predicted the assassination, but hoped that the bullet to his brain would destroy all the closets housing gays, which poetically demonstrates the sacrifice of the one for the benefit of the many. He says that hope must be spread so that all the “us’s” can find freedom, which includes blacks, seniors, the disabled, and others who have been short-changed by society’s hatred and disregard.

The next film is Shane.

No Country for Old Men

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

This winner of the 2007 Best Picture Oscar, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, takes its title from the first line of William Butler Yeats’s poem, “Sailing to Byzantium.” Yeats was rejecting the biological forces in the natural world that cause aging, decay, and death, and instead was seeking refuge in the world of timeless art. This story, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, focuses on the moral corruption pervading modern times that contributes to the decay and death of civilization. “Old men” can remember a time when ethical standards were high, and they bemoan how now, to quote another Yeats’s poem, “Things fall apart.”

The film is difficult to categorize. It has elements of a western, film noir, drama, and comedy. The movie begins with vistas of unpopulated West Texas prairie land in 1980. You get a sense of being on your own here, without much protection from others. There is no music. The opening soundtrack consists of the sound of insects buzzing or the wind blowing through the desolation of the present day. There is a voice-over, which establishes the theme of the film immediately, by Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), whose name may mean he is sounding a warning or that what he has to say rings true. He says how his father and grandfather were lawmen, so his family has been one that not only obeyed, but tried to enforce laws. He says that he liked stories about the old-timers, comparing himself to them, as they were the gold standard, and wonders how they would deal with current times, suggesting that now things have changed, probably for the worse. He notes that some of these past lawmen didn’t even carry guns, implying that respect for the law was that powerful. He provides an example of a current criminal. He arrested a boy, who eventually was executed, who killed a fourteen-year-old girl. The press said it was “a crime of passion.” But, the criminal told Bell it wasn’t, that he had planned on killing someone for a long time, and if set free, would do so again. The boy “said he knew he was going to hell,” but even that was no deterrent to this kind of murderer. Bell says he doesn’t know how to “measure” the horror of what is going on now. He admits he always knew he was putting himself in jeopardy in his job. He just didn’t want to “go out” for something he “didn’t understand,” and that is the kind of unfathomable crimes that he sees taking place today.

As if to give an example of such a crazy criminal in our midst, as Bell talks we have the scene where a lawman takes into custody a man named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, in a Best Supporting Actor performance), whose last name, ironically, sounds like “sugar.” He does not in any way have a sweet disposition. We see that he had with him an air tank with a nozzle, which he uses to break through doors, or kill people. We find out later the contraption shoots out and retracts a metal bolt, and is used to kill cattle. Possibly that is how this killer sees people, as animals to be slaughtered. At the policeman’s small office, the lawman talks to someone on the phone, and says the man in his custody uses an oxygen tank, maybe for emphysema, which shows how unprepared he is to deal with someone who is so evil. Behind him, Chigurh is able, almost supernaturally, to put his arms that are handcuffed behind him, in front of his body. He sneaks up behind the officer, and strangles him with the chain linking the cuffs. They are on the floor as the cop struggles. Chigurh looks like a bug-eyed demon, grimacing as he kills the man. After it’s over he looks totally unemotional, almost inhuman, like the white-haired killer in another film by the Coens, Fargo, or like a shark, whose only purpose is to destroy, as is described in the movie, Jaws. Chigurh gets the keys to remove the cuffs, and his wrists are bleeding, which he rinses off, seeming unfazed by the injury. He steals the officer’s police car, and uses it to pull over another car. The driver is an innocent who stops because he accepts on face value the authority of the police. Chigurh quietly, almost hypnotically, gets the man to stand still as he puts the nozzle to his head and kills him. It is ironic, as it is in Terminator 2, that the criminal is cloaked in the guise of the lawful enforcer, because the world has turned upside-down in terms of morality.

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), whose relentless forward motion shows he gathers no “moss,” is hunting. He wounds a deer and tracks it after picking up his spent shell, which shows his meticulous nature. He comes across corpses that were the result of a shootout. There are four-wheel-drive vehicles there next to the bodies. A Mexican is still alive in a truck, asking for water, which Moss says he doesn’t have. He discovers one truck loaded with bags of drugs. Moss is smart, realizing there had to be one last man standing. He finds that fellow who made it out of the confrontation, but who died later next to a nearby tree. Close to the dead man is a suitcase filled with hundred-dollar bills. Moss takes the money in defiance of the fact that he knows people will be looking for such a large sum of cash. Moss is not a drug dealer, and is not a murderer, but he also breaks the law by taking the satchel full of money instead of alerting the authorities. He probably sees it as an opportunity to get ahead, since society has not rewarded him and his wife for all their years of hard work.

Some of the comic elements come out in the dialogue between Moss and his wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald, who one would never guess from her Texas accent here that she is really Scottish). He goes back to his trailer home, and Carla Jean asks what’s in the satchel. He says money, knowing she will think he’s joking, and she says “That’ll be the day.” He also took the handgun of the man with the money, and she asks where did he “get” the pistol? Without revealing anything he humorously says, “At the gettin’ place.” When she says she won’t ask what he’s been doing all day, he also says comically, “that’ll work.”

Later, Moss can’t sleep, and then says out loud to himself, “Alright.” Carla Jean wants to know where he is going and he says to do something “dumber than hell.” He fills a plastic jug with water to give to the Mexican who asked for it in the truck. He says that if he doesn’t come back (he knows he could be getting himself killed) that Carla Jean should tell his mother that he loves her. She doesn’t understand since his mother is dead. He says, “Then I’ll tell her myself,” since he expects he may meet her in the afterlife. His sense of decency, ironically, is what undoes Moss, because it puts him in the sights of the psychotic killer, Chigurh. He goes back to the scene of the crime, and finds the man dead, so his humanitarian effort is wasted in this topsy-turvy world. He looks back up to where he parked his truck and sees another vehicle there. He is shot at and wounded as the Mexican drug dealers pursue him. Moss dives into a river and, after killing a Mexican attack dog, escapes.

What follows is an increasingly tense scene which reveals what kind of creature Chigurh is. We never learn about his background, which makes him more mysterious, more of a force than a person. He has a foreign accent, and his puffy shag hairstyle and clothes show he is different, alien to the surroundings. He has exotic weapons, including the air pressure tank and later a rifle with a silencer on it. He goes into a convenience store to pay for gas and buy a snack. The shopkeeper makes the mistake of asking him how the weather is from where he came, saying it looked like he was coming from Dallas. Chigurh, not wanting anyone to discover his actions, says menacingly what business is it of his where he came from. The shop guy is surprised because he was just making small talk. He realizes that this customer is dangerous. Chigurh makes fun of his accent, and calls him sarcastically “Friendo.” He also criticizes him for repeating questions. The shopkeeper, looking for a way out of this encounter, says he is closing now, and when asked when is closing time, he answers with “now.”  Chigurh, ramping up the confrontation, says “now” is not a time. After the shopkeeper says he goes to sleep around 9:30, Chigurh says he can come back then. It is a threat, which the owner can’t comprehend because there is no need for one. He instead asks the sensible question as to why come back when the store is closed. Chigurh puts down a squished snack wrapper and it crinkles open in a grating way so that even this small action adds to the tension of the scene. Chigurh gives him a chance to live or die through a coin toss. For Chigurh, life and death are ruled arbitrarily by chance, separate from human action. Morality does not factor into one’s fate, nor does logic, reason, or compassion. Chigurh says the man must call heads or tails, or else it wouldn’t be “fair” if Chigurh called it, like there is some rule that one’s fate must not be interfered with by another party, so its power can work freely. When the shopkeeper guesses that it reads heads, allowing him to escape death, Chigurh tells him not to put the lucky quarter into his pocket because then it will be like any other coin, but he adds “Which it is.” There is no logic or meaning in which to ground oneself in this modern world.

After returning home, Moss tells his wife to leave and go to her mother’s home because he knows that the men who were shooting at him will trace his abandoned truck to their address, and come looking for the two million dollars he took. Moss says once things are set in motion, there’s no stopping what follows, and that is what they now have to deal with. He is describing the domino effect, and in a way, even though events may have been caused by human action, what he describes is an inevitability of outcomes that mirrors what Chigurh believes.

Chigurh shows up at the shootout site and meets two other men with whom he supposedly is working. They work for the organization that was paying the Mexicans for the drugs. Chigurh pries the serial number plate off Moss’s truck, and gets a transponder from one of the men so he can track a homing device hidden in the money. Chigurh politely asks one of the men to hold a flashlight so he can see them better, and then shoots the other two. He’s eliminating anybody who can identify him, not showing allegiance to anyone else, not even to his own employer’s operatives.

Bell’s wife, Loretta (Tess Harper) is very protective of her husband, telling him as he goes to work to be careful, don’t get hurt, and don’t hurt anyone, which are tough restrictions if you’re a cop. Bell describes the sequence of events to his deputy, Wendell (Garret Dillahunt), involving the killing of the local lawman, including taking the patrol car, then killing the man on the road, and then taking his car, followed by torching it. Chigurh leaves a scorched earth trail behind him. He is a sort of devil figure, and fire is associated with hell. Wendell says that Bell has a “linear” way of doing his detective work. Bell offers that old age squashes a man, so in a way it wears him down, so he doesn’t have time to look in tangents. Bell’s logic is straightforward, which is the opposite of Chigurh’s. They come across the drug shootout and Bell recognize Moss’s truck. The drugs are gone, and Bell can tell just from the residue that it was “Mexican brown dope.” Wendell says the couple of guys that we know were killed by Chigurh were “managerial,” criminals as they were dressed in suits, and by the rate of body decompensation, there was more than one killing event. Wendell says what a mess (which echoes the first words Jones spoke in The Fugitive). Bell humorously uttering a sort of Texas witticism, says well if it’s not “it’ll do until the mess gets here,”

Chigurh tracked down where Moss lives from the truck’s serial number and goes to the trailer home. He uses the air tank to blow open the door. Framed in the doorway, he looks around and moves stiffly, expressionless, like a robot, and then calmly drinks milk. Indeed, he is like the android in The Terminator, never stopping in his quest, and not able to be stopped. He picks up a phone bill, so he has lists of people to call to track down where Moss may be. He goes to the trailer residential office and just keeps saying about Moss, “Where does he work?” Each time is more intimidating as the receptionist says she can’t give out the info. He probably would have been more forceful with her, but a toilet flushes, so he knows there are more people about, and he backs off. Is it an example of chance, like the coin toss, saving the woman’s life?

Moss traveled with his wife on a bus, but now gets off, as she is supposed to continue to travel to her mother’s home, while he tries to fight off his pursuers. There is more humor as she says she has a bad feeling about him leaving, but he says he has a good one, so it evens out. Carla Jean is truly worried about her husband. She argues her mom will be saying bad things about him for sending her there, but Moss says she’s used to that. She says she’s used to a lot of things, because she works at Walmart, implying her lot in life has not been too easy (The Coens said referring to Walmart gives the audience something everyone can relate to). Meanwhile, Bell and Wendell show up at the Moss trailer and Bell notes how the door lock was blown inward. When Wendell asks Bell if he thinks Moss has any idea what kind of person is hunting him, Bell, again displaying his quiet, folksy humor, says he ought to, because Moss has seen what Bell has, and “it certainly made an impression on me.” 

Moss goes to a motel in Del Rio, and uses the closet bar on which clothes are hung to push and hide the money bag in the air vent. Unlike Chigurh, he must improvise as he goes along, taking weapons at the shootout site, or buying them, and figuring out ways to hide his money. Chigurh calls people listed on the phone bill to track down Moss. While driving, Chigurh takes a shot at a bird sitting on a bridge, which shows how randomly nasty he can be. Moss is cautious when he sees a truck parked at the motel, and makes the cab driver take him away from the motel lot. Wendell says the report concerning the death of the man on the road with a forehead entry, but no exit, wound shows there was no bullet, which baffles Bell. It’s like the world is finding new ways to kill people, which refers back to what Bell already said about not wanting to go out being unable to understand what he was fighting. As a precaution, Moss gets another room at the motel to throw off people looking for him. He invents a new way to push the money satchel around in the vent by buying tent poles and taping hanger ends to them. Chigurh’s detector alerts him to the money’s whereabouts. He stops at the motel, then walks around without boots so he can be quiet. He carries the air tank and the rifle with its attached silencer. He goes into Moss’s previous room, finds three Mexicans there,  and kills them. Moss hears the guns of the Mexicans going off, pulls out the money and leaves, hitchhiking along the way. Chigurh again looks robotic, sitting down on the bed in the room with the corpses of the Mexicans around him, and slowly takes off his socks (because there is blood on them?) He is smart enough to check out the air vent and sees the scratches on the vent lining where the satchel was placed.

Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) shows up at the business office of the drug buyers. Wells also has a sense of humor. He takes a seat and the businessman (Stephen Root) says he didn't ask him to sit down. Wells humorously says that the employer didn’t look like a man who would waste a chair. He also makes a joke about validating his parking, and that the thirteenth floor is missing. The businessman says that they are missing their money, and the Mexicans are out their “product.” (It’s possible Chigurh took it). The businessman says Chigurh, (whom he hired), is a loose cannon, so he called in Wells, who knows the killer, to try and control him. When the businessman asks Wells how dangerous is Chigurh, we realize that this man has no concept of how reckless it was to use a man he didn’t understand. Wells says basically that you can’t compare Chigurh to the damage done by humans, but might be better measuring him against the “bubonic plague.”

Moss checks into a hotel and as he rests in his bed, he says there is just no way he could have been followed. He is intelligent enough to realize the money has a tracking device on it. He looks through the bills and finds the signaling beacon. He calls down to the desk, but there is no answer, so he concludes that whoever is after him has arrived. But why doesn’t he just break the transponder or throw it out the window? Instead his overconfidence allows him to take out his sawed-off shotgun and wait for the attack. He sees a shadow under the door and cocks his rifle. It’s possible Chigurh heard the weapon cocking. He proceeds down the hall and the lights go out so Moss can’t see Chigurh near the room. He uses the air tank to blow the lock, and it hits Moss, delivering another shoulder wound. He gets off a shotgun blast and goes out through the window. Moss hitches a ride on a truck, but Chigurh shoots and kills the driver. As Chigurh continues to fire, Moss runs the truck into parked cars and hides behind another vehicle. When Chigurh shows up, Moss starts shooting at him near some parked cars. Chigurh runs off, but Moss sees he hit the man because there is a blood trail.

Chigurh is limping from his leg wound and there are blood stains on his pants. He cuts a piece of cloth, pushes it into a gas-cap opening on a car, and sets the material on fire. (Again, there is the association with hellfire). For him, it doesn’t matter who or what is destroyed as he continues on his path. He walks into a pharmacy without a reaction as the car explodes as a distraction for him to get medical supplies to treat his injury. He cleans the wound, anesthetizes it, and bandages it. His relentless pursuit of Moss is mirrored by Moss’s drive to fight to retain the money. Another way in which the two reflect each other is that they are both seen tending to their wounds in this battle between a sort of anti-hero and the evildoer.

Moss is suffering as he heads to the Mexican border. He encounters three boys and says he will give one of them five hundred dollars for his coat. Even these young guys are mercenaries, as they want to charge him for a bottle of beer, too. Moss uses the coat to cover his injuries and holds the beer to make it look like his weak appearance is due to drinking. He tosses the money bag over a low bridge to temporarily hide it. He wakes on the street the next day to musicians playing a song that has the lines (according to IMDb) “you wanted too much wealth, you wanted to play with fire.” The words fit in with Moss’s zeal for the cash, and his thinking he was adept enough to overcome attempts to stop him, which led to his confrontation with the fire-wielding devil, Chigurh. Moss winds up in a Mexican hospital. Wells shows up there, being funny by bringing a bunch of flowers. He is impressed that Moss saw Chigurh and is still alive. Wells insightfully tells Moss that he isn’t cut out for this type of life. Moss may see himself as being tough, but he is not naturally mean, which was shown by how he brought water to the shootout victim. Wells says that it only took him three hours to locate Moss, so Chigurh will find him. Wells says Chigurh may be on his way to Odessa to kill Carla Jean. He urges Moss to give him the money, and he may be able to give Moss a cut from it. Moss says he might be able to make a better deal with Chigurh. Wells says he can’t because even if Moss gave him the money, Chigurh would kill him just for inconveniencing him. Wells says Chigurh has some peculiar principles that govern his behavior, that “transcend” drugs or money. He’s says he’s not like either of them. Despite his physical condition, Moss can still be funny when he tells Wells that he has to give Chigurh points for not talking as much as Wells. Wells tells him the hotel he is at and to call him.

Bell goes to Odessa and meets with Moss’s wife, knowing she would go to her mother’s house. She tells him that she hasn’t heard from Moss and doesn’t know where he is right now. Bell says that the men looking for her husband won’t stop and will kill him. She says her husband is a relentless man. What we see is that when these self-righteous types clash, there is little room for reason or compromise. Bell interestingly tells her a story about a rancher who tried to slaughter a steer, and it went wrong, and the rancher was wounded by his own bullet that ricocheted. His point is that even between man and steer, how things will turn out is not certain. But he mentions how the steer was hit in the head first, and that makes him think about how they kill steers with air pressure and a bolt that hits the animal in the head. He begins to realize that is the instrument that the killer uses.

Wells traces Moss’s steps and sees the satchel in the high grass off of the bridge. As Wells goes up the stairs at the hotel to his room, he is followed by Chigurh who smilingly says they’ll go to his room. Wells tells him there is no need to kill him. He knows where the money is, and he can get him $14,000 from an ATM. Chigurh smiles while repeating “An ATM.” It’s like he finds Wells’s talk a curiosity, since what he has to say doesn’t matter to him. Wells tells him that the satchel can be there in twenty minutes. Chigurh wants things to play out the way he sees it should happen, with him as fate’s instrument, and says the money will be brought to him and laid at his feet, presumably by Moss. And, he questions Wells for his way of living, since it brought him here, to this end. Chigurh tells him he should accept his fate, because it would be more dignified, since it is pointless to fight against his destiny. Wells tells him to go to hell and asks him if he knows how crazy he is. The phone rings, and Chigurh shoots Wells, probably for interfering in his mission. He takes the call. It is Moss, maybe ready to make a safe deal with Wells? Chigurh talks to him as Wells’s blood starts to flow toward him. He simply lifts his legs, his only concern being not to stain his shoes, the way he took his socks off after killing the Mexicans, and closing the shower curtain as he shot one of them so as not get splatter on him. Chigurh says he knows the hospital where Moss is, but that he is not going there. Instead, he lets Moss realize that he is going to visit Carla Jean. If Moss brings him the money, he will spare her, but not him. Otherwise, his wife is just as responsible for what has happened, in the world according to Chigurh. Moss says he’s got something for him, and we know it’s not the money.

Deputy Wendell tells Bell that the lock was punched out at the hotel where the Mexicans were killed. Bell is reading the newspaper and says that it seems to be all out war with people these days. He says that there is a story about a couple who kidnapped old people and collected their Social Security checks, but also tortured and killed them, and later buried them in the yard. His dark humor shows when he says, “I don’t know why. Maybe the television set was broke.” Bells says one captive got out wearing a dog collar, and that caught the attention of a neighbor. Bell wonders why then, since seeing the burying of bodies in the yard didn’t seem curious. The deputy laughs at the dark joke. Bell says it’s okay to laugh, because he does so too occasionally. “Ain’t a whole lot else you can do,” he observes. Sometimes this old man uses humor to stop becoming engulfed by the modern world’s pervasive sadness.

Moss leaves the hospital and retrieves the money. He calls his wife who knows him so well that she can tell by his voice that he is hurt. He wants her to meet him in El Paso so Chigurh won’t get to her. Carla Jean’s mother (Beth Grant) in heard in the background. She has a big mouth and always complains. Chigurh shows up at the office of the businessman who hired him, but because he hired Wells and gave the Mexicans a tracking device to find the money, he shoots him. There is an accountant there who is scared. The accountant says that the boss felt that it would be better to have more people looking for the cash, but Chigurh interrupts saying that was a wrong move. “You find the one right tool,” he says, which is him, to do fate’s job. Despite Wells saying that he has no sense of humor, Chigurh does have a sort of scary one. The accountant asks if he is going to shoot him. He tells the accountant it depends. He asks, “Do you see me?” So, the answer is obviously yes, we know he will kill the accountant for just being there and later being able to identify Chigurh as a killer.

Because the Mexicans have also been recruited despite the falling out at the shootout, they follow Carla Jean and her mom as they get ready to go to El Paso. The mother complains about how hot it is, that she doesn’t know anybody in El Paso, and can’t find her medication. One of the Mexicans, looking smartly dressed and acting polite, helps the mother with her bags, and he gets her to say where they are headed. Meanwhile, Carla Jean reconsiders Bell’s help, and calls him, realizing her husband has gotten in over his head. She tells Bell where to locate Moss.

As Chigurh kills another innocent, a nice fellow, to acquire his truck, and has concluded that Moss will want his wife on a plane, he heads to the nearest city that has an airport, which is El Paso. Moss is already at a motel near the airport. There is a woman there who is coming onto him saying that she has beer in her room. He says he’s waiting for his wife, letting her know that he isn’t available. She asks is that who he looks for out of his window. He says partly, but he says he’s looking for “what’s coming.” She rightly says you never can see that, which turns out to be a foreshadowing, as the Mexicans arrive later and kill Moss. The Coens did not want to be predictable, so they made the unorthodox move of killing off the main character, and not letting him confront his pursuer. In the end, it was Moss’s hubris that was his undoing because it made him think he could beat the experienced, immoral criminals.

The next shot is of Bell arriving at the El Paso motel just as the Mexicans are leaving as they shoot up the place. Bell is just a little late which adds to the sorrow of the situation. Carla Jean arrives that night and her cries add weight to the sad situation. Bell meets with the local Sheriff (Rodger Boyce). These are two of the “old men” of the title. The Mexicans found and took the money. The Sheriff says it’s the drugs and greed that is multiplying, and complains it probably has its start with young people’s extreme altering of their appearances. Bell says “once you quit hearing ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am,’ the rest is soon to foller.” For them, it is the downhill road of a decaying society that has no respect for law or civility. “It’s the dismal tide,” says the Sheriff. Bell listens as the other man says how the killer returned to the scene of the crime, as he killed the desk clerk where Moss stayed and then went back and killed Wells. (Moss returned to the shootout scene, but unlike Chigurh, was doing a good deed by bringing a hurt man water). The Sheriff’s observation gives Bell the idea to go back to the motel in case Chigurh is there, having missed his opportunity to look for the cash because of the Mexicans.  Back at the motel, Bell hesitates, trying to convince himself that he should risk going there, since it goes against what he said earlier about sacrificing himself dealing with a criminal he can’t comprehend. He sees the door lock was blown open as before. Chigurh is there, listening, but he was able to get out of the room through the unlocked bathroom window. Bell sees that the air vent grate is off, as Chigurh was looking to see if the money was stashed inside.

Bell visits an old lawman, Ellis (Barry Corbin), who is the male version of a cat woman, with kitties all over the place. His house is falling apart, symbolic of the man, maybe the country. They talk about how Bell is ready to retire. Ellis was shot and is in a wheelchair. Bell asks what would have happened if the guy who shot Ellis hadn’t died in prison and was released. Ellis says that if you spend too much time trying to get back what you lost, you miss how much more is going out the door. After a while you have to put a “tourniquet” on it, he says. This old man is philosophical, and has reconciled himself to the way things are or else he will lose all sense of well-being. Bell says he wants to retire because he feels “overmatched,” and that’s why he’s quitting. Ellis says that what Bell is seeing really isn’t new. But, Bell says he thought that God would come into his life as he got older, but He didn’t.” Ellis says, “This country is hard on people.” He says, “You can’t stop what’s coming. It ain’t waiting on you. That’s vanity,” to think that one has that much of an impact on things in the bigger picture.

Carla Jean’s mother passed away, and after the funeral, she goes back to her mother’s house, sees the window open, and finds Chigurh there. She says she doesn’t have the money, only bills. With his deadly humor, he says “I wouldn’t worry about it,” implying she won’t be living long enough to have to deal with money problems. He gave his word to Moss that she would die if he didn’t give him the cash, so he must follow through with his vow. He says that Moss had the opportunity to save her, but didn’t, and tried to save himself. She says that’s not the way it was, since she knows that he wanted to save both of them. But, in the end, her husband’s refusal to at least go to the police led to his demise, and now hers. Chigurh only sees things from his perspective, that he is the inevitability that should have been respected. He has no cause to kill her, but he must because of his code, warped as it is, which gives him meaning. He gives her the coin toss option, but she will not surrender to arbitrary chance, even though it means she will die. She feels as if she at least is making the choice. He says people always say, “You don’t have to do this,” but he laughs because he feels that it is out of his hands. She says, “The coin don’t have no say. It’s just you.” He is upset that she won’t “call it,” because she is refuting his belief system. He says, “I got here the same way the coin did,” which associates himself with fate, not his own free will.

He leaves the house, looking at his shoes, which means he is probably seeing, as he did before, if blood has stained them. He drives off looking at two boys on bikes close to his car. He is then T-boned by another vehicle, which adds stress to the motel woman’s words about not seeing what’s coming. He, too, is subject to outside forces. But, he survives, again showing to be like fate’s Terminator. He asks for a kid’s shirt to use as a sling for his broken arm. He pays for clothing to deal with his wound, just as Moss did, linking them as stubbornly persistent men on a mission no matter the consequences. He gives one of the boys money, and says “you didn't see me.” The boys quibble over the money, showing here, too, the next generation is carrying forward the country’s corruption with its wallowing in greed.

Bell is retired now. He tells his wife that he had two dreams about his dad, who was younger than Bell is now. It was in past times, though. He says that he and his father were riding in the darkness and the air was cold. His dad rode on ahead of him, ready to make a fire for his son when he reached him. These appear to be nostalgic thoughts about how his father gave him protection from danger, but also possibly about how he will see him again when he dies, which is another form of comfort that helps one escape the hardness of this life.

The next film, after a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, is The Conversation.