The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs: Every Major Performance, Ranked

From The Kissing Booth to Bright, Netflix isn’t particularly well-known for showcasing cinematic masterpieces in its library of original content. However, the streaming service has delivered a few gems over the years, such as Marriage Story and The Irishman.

The Coen brothers’ darkly comic western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a movie like no other, telling classical tales about the Old West through the lens of the directing duo’s uniquely quirky style. With an ensemble cast full of recognizable stars, the movie features some terrific acting. Here is every major performance from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, ranked.

10 Sam Dillon As Young Man In “All Gold Canyon”

In the “All Gold Canyon” segment, Sam Dillon played the young man who showed up to shoot the old prospector, leave him for dead, and take the gold he worked so hard for.

However, the prospector survives the gunshot wound, wrestles the gun out of the young man’s hands, and shoots him with it. Dillon didn’t have much to do, as he only appeared briefly, but he made for an interesting antagonist.

9 Brendan Gleeson As Clarence In “The Mortal Remains”

The usual trick in filmmaking is to go out with a bang, but the Coens took a different approach with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, ending their western anthology with the least action-packed and most melancholic segment: “The Mortal Remains.”

Brendan Gleeson gives one of the most memorable performances in this segment. He really gets a chance to shine when he performs the folk song “The Unfortunate Lad” before revealing that he and his friends are bounty hunters.

8 James Franco As Cowboy In “Near Algodones”

In the second segment, “Near Algodones,” James Franco plays a cowboy who attempts to rob a bank, fails miserably, and gets sentenced to death while he’s unconscious.

There are some wild twists and turns in his story. The defining element of this character — especially given the situation he’s in — is his gallows humor, and Franco plays that brilliantly.

7 Tyne Daly As Mrs. Betjeman In “The Mortal Remains”

She may never play another role as iconic as Detective Lacey, but Tyne Daly has been showing up in movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming every couple of years to remind audiences that she’s a great actor.

Her performance as Mrs. Betjeman in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is arguably her finest in recent memory, as she commands every scene in “The Mortal Remains.”

6 Tom Waits As Prospector In “All Gold Canyon”

Adapted from the Jack London book of the same name, the “All Gold Canyon” segment follows an aging prospector, played by Tom Waits, who camps out by a stream.

After three days, he discovers a huge gold vein, and all his hard work pays off. Waits did a terrific job of playing the prospector’s decision-making and emotional turmoil non-verbally.

5 Stephen Root As Teller In “Near Algodones”

Stephen Root’s performance as the teller in “Near Algodones” is delightfully wacky. He covers himself in pots and pans before fearlessly marching into a shootout with the cowboy who tried to rob his bank.

Having given similarly zany performances in Office Space and Dodgeball, Root was the perfect casting choice for this unusually courageous bank teller.

4 Liam Neeson As Impresario In “Meal Ticket”

After years of seeing Liam Neeson as a glorified action star, it was refreshing to see him as a dark, brooding presence in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ “Meal Ticket” segment.

As the impresario who turns his limbless artist away when he beds prostitutes, Neeson’s character is pretty grizzled. He makes some harrowing decisions, like tossing the artist into a river to drown, and Neeson plays the deep conflict in the impresario’s eyes masterfully.

3 Zoe Kazan As Alice Longabaugh In “The Gal Who Got Rattled”

Zoe Kazan plays the lead role of Alice Longabaugh in the segment “The Gal Who Got Rattled.” She’s part of a group that’s ambushed by a Native American war party.

The Coens shot the gunfight from Alice’s perspective, which made the whole thing feel more realistic and intense. But it wouldn’t have worked if Kazan’s performance didn’t sell the terror — and it does.

2 Harry Melling As Artist In “Meal Ticket”

Driven around the country by Liam Neeson’s impresario character, Harry Melling’s artist character is a brilliant performer played by a brilliant performer. Before the impresario gets his hands on a chicken that can do math, his artist performs Shakespearean monologues and biblical readings.

Melling performed both his scenes and his character’s in-universe performances brilliantly. His life comes to a bleak end, and Melling’s poignant portrayal of the character makes that even more tragic.

1 Tim Blake Nelson As Buster Scruggs In “The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs”

Reuniting with the Coens after their collaboration on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Tim Blake Nelson knocked the title role in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs out of the park.

In the opening segment, Nelson’s gleefully sociopathic portrayal of Scruggs sets up the film’s uniquely cynical tone. When Scruggs realizes that his arrogance has finally gotten the better of him, as he looks upon the bullet hole in his hat, Nelson humanizes a brazen jackass.

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Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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