Howdy! The GoodTrash GenreCast movie podcast is back to wrap up the AntiTrash portion of our western journey with a discussion of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Explained

The Coen Bros. recent effort started its journey as a western anthology series, but the directors called an audible and went sidesaddle, turning the idea into film containing six vignettes.

The stories within The Ballad of Buster Scruggs are:

• “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
• “Near Algodones”
• “Meal Ticket”
• “All Gold Canyon”
• “The Gal Who Got Rattled”
• “The Mortal Remains”

Each story is distinctly Coen in every way. The humor, irony and structure are reminiscent of their filmography.

This is the first time since our first year that we’ve tackled an anthology film. The anthology structure is interesting on its own, pairing that with the Coens’ approach offers a more interesting movie.

This week, we discuss the anthology structure in film, the Coens’ approach, the overarching ideas and the underlying themes in each story. We also discuss the film in relation to the western genre.

Our game this week? Simply, a ranking of the vignettes.

Now, our AntiTrash journey is coming to an end, but the frontier is vast. Next week, we journey to Arizona in search of some huckleberries—we’ll see you then.

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