The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

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.

The Coens' anthology Western earned broad critical admiration on release, with most reviewers finding it a cohesive and tonally consistent collection rather than a patchwork misfire. The dark humor and formal elegance held up across segments, though individual stories provoked sharply different reactions — what one critic found sublime, another found slight.