The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Main Plot

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" is an anthology film composed of six distinct stories set in the American frontier. The first tale follows a cheerful yet deadly gunslinger navigating the Old West. The second story centers on a hapless bank robber who faces an unexpected turn of events. The third narrative involves a traveling impresario and his limbless performer, exploring themes of exploitation and survival. The fourth vignette tells of a prospector's quest for gold in a secluded valley. The fifth segment focuses on a young woman traveling westward in a wagon train, confronting difficult choices and unforeseen challenges. The final story features a group of disparate passengers on a stagecoach, engaging in philosophical discussions as they journey towards an uncertain destination. Each story delves into themes of mortality, fate, and the harsh realities of frontier life, blending dark humor with poignant moments.

Characters

• Tim Blake Nelson plays Buster Scruggs, a cheerful, singing gunslinger who navigates the Old West with charm and deadly skill, ultimately meeting his match in a duel.
• Willie Watson plays The Kid, a young gunslinger who challenges and ultimately kills Buster Scruggs in a duel, altering the course of the story.
• Clancy Brown plays Curly Joe, a grizzled prospector who encounters a mysterious stranger in the segment "All Gold Canyon," adding tension and conflict to the story.

Ending Explained

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, concludes with the segment titled "The Mortal Remains." In this final vignette, five strangers—a Frenchman, an Englishman, an Irishman, a lady, and a fur trapper—are traveling in a stagecoach. As they converse, it becomes apparent that the Englishman and the Irishman are bounty hunters, transporting a corpse atop the coach. The passengers discuss life, death, and morality, with the bounty hunters revealing their philosophy of seeing people as either "targets" or "clients." As night falls, the stagecoach arrives at a mysterious hotel, which seems to symbolize the afterlife. The passengers disembark, and the bounty hunters carry the corpse inside, leaving the others to follow hesitantly. The segment ends with the remaining passengers standing at the entrance, their fate ambiguous but suggesting an inevitable confrontation with mortality. This conclusion encapsulates the film's overarching themes of death and the human condition, tying together the anthology's exploration of life's unpredictability and the inevitability of death.