How All Six Stories Fit Together in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2022
- This video compares and contrasts the six chapters/stories in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), directed by Joel & Ethan Coen. Despite appearing to be unrelated at first glance, these stories share many of the same features and thematic elements. The specific ordering of the stories is also considered.
Be sure to check out our other videos analyzing the individual chapters! - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Buster Scruggs had what called the “Dead Mans Hand” which includes Aces and Eights in Poker, it is called this because Legendary Gunslinger “Wild” Bill Hicock had this hand and he got shot in the back of the head while holding the cards which was the reason Buster did not want to play the hand, but he still got shot in the head afterwards
Damn! So it had an ever deeper meaning! I always wondered what that hand meant as someone who doesn't know poker
“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Buster scruggs was undefeated as an outlaw until he met his match.
Buster did end up playing his "cards" and showing his hand in a way, got too cocky and made a name for himself, which soon attracted his killer
@@imnotabeetleiswear6549 The Kid was already en route looking for, Scruggs.
He shouldn't have even touched those cards.
@@Gravastar7 I guess I meant his whole life he'd been cocky, not just at the end
A part of meal ticket that I always found interesting is the Irishman buys the chicken, not the trick. The chicken is just a normal chicken. The trick has to do with the stage the chicken is on. He traded out his old trick for a new one that won’t even work
And if he knew how to market his talent, he would actually get somewhere. For example, taking the Wingless Thespian to a populated, more affluent town would have surely increased their revenue.
I was going to say the same.
Ha your the only person I heard saytat besides me lol
@@ericantone8709he a lazy drunkard looking for an easy buck
I thought that as soon as I watched that short
I watched this collection of stories and found them emotionally engaging. The two stories where the protagonists die were pretty sad. I suffered with the old prospector when he was shot, and cheered when he survived. And I still sing “when a cowboy swaps his spurs for wings.” This was a good comentary.
What is a protagonist? The reason I ask that is because I counted 4 where the protagonist die. But I may see what you are talking about and don't know what the technicalities are to be considered such.
@@llamasarus1hes saying after the first two he was worried about the prospector
“How high can a bird count anyway?” Next episode has a counting chicken lol
haha I love all the little connections like that.
Birds cant do math. Its an old school scam.the chicken wad told what to do. The commands were hidden in the banter. Liam's character will likely never make a dime off the chicken, and ironically eat it out of desperation... then die as th "meal ticket" he killed
You got the order wrong, the chicken came before the egg, the wordplay very much intended.
To clarify, Meal Ticket is shown before All Gold Canyon. It is actually better this way, because as the other person stated, the chicken couldn't count, the old gold digger is in a way calling out the scam.
I always figured Liam Neson got swindled with the chicken. The chicken didn't actually know math, something in the cart was used to perform the trick. Something that wasn't sold to him with the chicken and bell.
Ye like why would he sell his act for what he could make a killing off of.
I feel like you can assume Neeson’s character understands the full trick since he too is a swindler. Just because we only saw him buy the chicken and feed doesn’t mean he didn’t come up with something he can actually do with the chicken
@@jessepinkman5702I don’t remember anything that would imply the Impresario was a swindler
I defiantly agree all the feed he brought for the chicken implies he’s going to train it.
@@ymatT601 *definitely 🤓
The song Liam Neeson sings in the woods is "Weela Waila", an old Irish song about a woman who lives in the woods who kills her defenseless 3 month old baby... Foreshadowing his cruel murder
another thing is that the orator talks about Cain and Abel, Cain being the irishman and Abel being the orator
7:34 - 8:08
Exactly this. After all the death and destruction in the first three stories (as light-hearted as the first two were,) the Gold Canyon made me weep with joy for the old man and his victory. I doubt I would have reacted the same way if I had not seen the tragedy and injustice that took place in Meal Ticket immediately prior.
i actually smiled from ear to ear when the old man won
Gold Canyon was written by Jack London.
Another opposite between the first and last episodes is Buster Scruggs and Mr Thorpe. The wanted poster links them by calling Buster "the misanthrope" which is almost "mister thorpe". Buster is very animated, talkative, and literally dancing around starting a musical number in the saloon while mr thorpe is the exact opposite as a wrapped up corpse. Finally we see buster flying up to heaven (despite killing a lot of people) while mr thorpe seems to be going to hell
Wow, I didn't catch that connection between misanthrope and Mister Thorpe! Nice!
I agree with the majority of your comment until the end. Although the ‘Morgue Inn’ is depicted as bleak and hopeless(hell) we still see Mr. Thorpe rise of the steps into a white light showing him rising to heaven. Two bounty hunters are reapers but not necessarily archangels
The dust image Buster left in the first saloon may have been a foreshadow since it looked like his ghost. I think the man in Meal Ticket was fooled. It was the stage set not the chicken that was how the trick worked.
That fits his character. He thought of his business partner as nothing more than a meal ticket, and something to be replaced once the meal ticket stopped paying out. Without proper understanding of showbiz, and clearly, of other people, he assumes one draw is as good as another. He'll probably find out soon as the next stop that he's wrong, but thats far too late for the orator's sake.
Exactly. Chickens can't count. It was a trick, and the Chicken Man was a charlatan. Liam Neeson didn't just murder his friend, he sealed his own fate, too.
@@grokeffer6226 Justice.
@@kidam8438 plus, the chicken could be good for a few meals down the road, especially considering the climate (refrigeration joke)
@@caseymclane1972I'd be surprised if the irony that the chicken could (and likely will) be a literal meal was not intentional.
I took the prospector calling his find "Mr. Pocket" to mean he was a "pocket hunter". Mary Hunter Austin related a few tales of a pocket hunter she knew in the anthology Lost Borders (worth reading if you enjoyed this film). They were men who enjoyed the wandering life of the prospector, but had no strong desire to stake claims or be tied to a mine, preferring to hunt and find just enough wealth to let them continue their nomadic existence. I don't remember the prospector in the movie leaving a claim or mentioning returning to mine his pocket, and the final scene suggested to me he is at ease moving on after one last look at the idyllic canyon, never to return. This would seem to align with your excellent interpretation of the character, whose tale was my favorite out of a great set of stories. And a set of stories I can appreciate all the more after finding and watching your videos. Thanks for sharing your take.
Definitely, that was the idea i got from it as well
Didn't the prospector fill in the hole he dug so as to return the valley to the state it was in before he arrived? I may be misremembering, but if so, I think it only supports your point.
Supports the idea of why he returns the eggs of the owl. He only takes what he needs to get by and doesn’t destroy the land.
Which is why the animals are able to return to the river like nothing happened.
In other words, that stupid skunk boy had no reason to shoot him.
I don't understand why this movie isn't more popular. I absolutely love it.
1. many people are turned off by the title character's almost immediate death
2. many people did not expect a series of short tales.
@@Puritan1985exactly. it's very difficult to market a film like this. It's a problem the Coen brothers have had with almost every single one of their films
@@Puritan1985Yep. watched it last night not knowing it was an anthology, and when buster died and i realized he wouldn’t come back i stopped watching. fortunately i gave it another chance today and now realize that i love every story in there. Great movie for sure
I think you have to understand what you are about to watch. When I first saw it, I didn't liked it as much as I thought I would. I normally love the Coens, so I thought I would like this one as well.
I went into it with the wrong frame of mind, I just watched, but thought too little. Some of the stories grabbed me, but others not so much. I didn't truly got the connection of them all at first, which actually surprises me, as I tend to analyze more than I probably should when seeing a movie.
I happened to see the video on the Mortal Remains from this channel some time ago, I clicked on it, because I had some nagging feeling that I may have missed something about the movie, so I was intrigued by the video, when I saw it recommended. After seeing it, I had some urge to revisit the movie, but mostly only the last story.
After having put of rewatching it for quite some time, years to be exact, I just rewatched it today, knowing to have the theme of death in my mind. Oh boy is it a different viewing. It is a totally different movie and I have much more appreciation of it now. I simply think that many people will miss it like I did and unfortunately don't give it a second chance. I am very glad I did.
Always saw this as a six vignette Grecian inspired play on mortality.
Every character's mortality is either finalized or promised by implication. Every villain gets, in some way, "what's coming to them."
The film's context as a whole is set by bookending dialogues.
In the opening monologue, a cheerful and lively murderer confidently pontificates on the nature of life and proclaims his mastery of death while killing his way through bars and byways. His life is ended by a younger killer as his monologue becomes their duet. Buster's death comes suddenly, unexpected by the character and making lies of his monologue's claims. The younger man's death is promised in his obvious celebration of his own life through song as he kicks dust on a dead Buster and sings happily along with Buster showing a parallel of behavior and implying a cyclical, repeated fate. 7:34 7:34 7:34
In the final dialogue, a thinly veiled crossing of the Styx shows an unhalting, unspeaking ferryman talking three souls to an unknown destination. With one having lived a life of cards, one a lonely life of rejection and abandonment, and one fearfully and uncertainly hoping their morality will allow them to reunite with relations, a climax is brought in a storytelling bounty hunter's monologue.
In his monologue he says people can't get enough of stories about death because we like to see ourselves in them and think "not me, I'll live forever." When he is asked if, in watching the eyes of his victims as the pass on to wherever they go, any succeed in making sense of it all, he replies "I don't know, I'm only watching." This mirrors Buster's fourth wall break monologue in the opening, placing the bounty hunter in the seat of a watcher along with the audience. We all watched, enjoyed, and were fascinated by stories about death along with him. And just like the three first-timers, we are accompanying the watcher to our own creaky-doored final destination that we can't control or remember or see in it's surrounding cover of fog and night.
Within this context, the four central, paired stories are about living in the context and awareness of our own and other's mortality.
Beautifully written.
Yet the creator of this video saw none of this and lost me 30 seconds into his BS sesh. Glad I decided to scroll comments for actual insightful comments, well done !
I do believe kicking dust is a sign of respect, if you were implying he disrespected buster by doing so
I'm late but another bit of foreshadowing is how in the first chapter we saw one man survives because Buster shot him in the back the same thing that happened with the old man. Also every note worthy character that died from a gun was always facing it: Buster, the outlaws, the woman, the indians and even the guy who shot the old man.
Buster was destined to die, he started in a canyon, the valley of death, the ghost of dust, the deadmans hand, and the undertaker line, everything lead to his last duel
The Buster Scruggs portion of the movie was filmed 10 years before the rest of it. I heard Tim Blake Nelson say that in an interview.
Nope. Production of the movie started in 2016.
However, Tim Blake Nelson received the script for the Buster Scruggs portion in 2002. The movie itself, all 6 stories, took 25 years to write. But yea, they only recorded any footage in the actual movie starting 2016.
They should have made a full-length feature origin story of Buster, while they had TBN in costume. Just make something up!
I found it quite mean they put the gal who got rattled after all gold canyon.
After the first stories all ending in death, all gold canyon seemed to show that characters can survive their stories, that not all of them have to end in death.
Which made it all the more heartbreaking to see the ending of the gal who got rattled
The funniest line I heard was when the guy said "First time?" at the gallows.
When the dude is standing at the gallows and he looks to the nervous guy beside him and says “First Time?”
Superbly done! I love finding the subtler connections between seemingly disparate moments in Coen films. Like, when Tom Waits says, “How high can a bird count, anyway??” do you suppose that is a deliberate callback to the counting chicken from Meal Ticket?
Thanks! I love the Tom Waits line, but never made the connection before! Nice.
Was your ‘All Gold Canyon’ analysis taken down? Not seeing it. Thx.
I enjoyed the movie...
It was a lot deeper than I thought.
Feels like literature class 40 tears ago and I am missing all the points of Sons and Lovers, The Grapes of Wrath, or Brave New World.
yeah, it definitely is. Always loved that line for that reason hahaha
I always fancied that Tom Waits adlibbed that line. He’s the best.
I think this movie oozes a certain type of absurdistic energy. It shows us that no matter what scenario we are thrown into, no matter how silly, pointless or interesting the main objective of the plot may be, we can always get invested into them. Now only if we had this same outlook on life
That loose piece of board down the middle must’ve been a real pain in the ass during all those card games
especially for surly joe
I interpreted all gold canyon completely differently. I focused on how the animals left when the prospector came, and returned when he left, thinking the story was about how both the prospector and the thug were short-sighted and cursed. That human ambition itself is why we suffer and die while everything else works in harmony
i got the same thing out of it. Not only that, when he claimed the bullet didn't hit anything important.. well... my knowledge of anatomy, the medicine of that time, coupled with his misplaced faith in the severity of the wound.. my hopes weren't all that high for his future success in finding anymore pockets.
also didn't like him stealing that egg. something else i've always known is owls are considered bad omens and symbols of death in certain native american tribes. he was NOT in harmony with nature. he pissed it off.
@Emily Pollifax Yeah he was not harmonious with nature and that shot couldn't have missed both his liver and his lung
@@Hy-Brasil people were dying from minor scratches back then so I doubt the old mans imune system would prevent infection of that severe damage - flesh wound is still a wound and this one was wound with two big holes just inviting the death
@@histkontext yeah, but Hugh glass survived a bear mauling without meds so fuck it some people are just built different, some people survived crazy shit like that, even with the possibility of infections.
I also got the impression and given the ending page of his tale it definitely seems that nature was glad he left after causing a ruckus and scaring the land, but I think given the ending he knew when to take what he needed and when to leave well enough alone and not go too far, by the owl and the eggs.
I kept hoping The Girl and The Dude would've had a happy ending; the Guy who fought the Indians reminded me of Jim Varney. What hits most was the Guy who basically said "fuck it" tipped his hat and accepted his fate in the last story. New sub!
Please keep making videos like this I’m so interested in how you break down the aspects of film. You have a great understanding of the art.
I’ve now watched all of these and have a deeper appreciation for this movie - thank you for sharing your perspective
These essays are so good! I never thought about how the pacing and order of these individual vignettes was a parallel to the ups and downs of life. Makes me appreciate this movie even more.
Outstanding series on the Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Magnificent evaluation and analysis sir. Excellent
Absolutely brilliant analysis. Thank you for your insightful comments.
..Amazing breakdown sir. Please continue.
Loved this movie. Greatly appreciate your insights.
When I saw Stephen Root, I got excited, love that guy. When I saw Tom waits I almost cried. Love seeing Tom in films.
Bill Dibatrove
Not against long video essays but I appreciate how short and condensed you kept this
One thing about the Irishman and the counting chicken is I truly dont believe he understands how the scam with the chicken works.
He was just sold a random chicken he thinks can count (it cannot) he will get where he is going next and will realize not only was he swindled he also murdered a man and lost his meal ticket as well. I think it makes it a bit more tragic that not only did he do such an awful thing that it was all for nothing and he was a fool. We just dont see that part.
Maybe this was touched on in another movie but in the first story I always took Buster Scruggs to be more of a 'singing cowboy' Gene Autry type clean cut with a white hat and strumming a guitar and he was taken out by a new kind of hero in all black with longer hair, stubble and playing harmonica and it made me think of the next era of westerns that were more gritty with Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson.
Yes, it's a classic callback to the story of the Goose that laid the Golden Eggs. The greedy owner killed the goose to get the gold inside, and thus lost his fortune. The Irishman killed the Orator because he thought he didn't need him any more, and would surely find later that his hopes for future wealth without him were false.
Fuckin hell. My friend couldn't watch after meal ticket.
"That's the worst one, i promise." "I am this close to crying. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then we're gonna watch something else."
Same here. Hated it.
Excellent work.
Underrated honestly.
Excellent analysis.
fantastic analysis man
Great breakdown!
Such a good essay. Like it!
Nicely analyzed.
Very well analyzed. Have to completely agree. Ran across your video after just finishing a rewatch after a long period. I have never been able to find enough association btween the stories. I've felt they where somewhat tenuous- and i feel like you hit on the links. ( small comment that I'm sure was mentioned before) you have great analysis and spoken text- a better mike would really bring that out in the best way. Thanks' for the great video.
Great movie. I never understood the last one, but the first, Buster Scruggs is one of my all time favorites.
Underrated channel
Thanks! Hopefully soon that changes!
Love your viewpoints. Subscribed
Great breakdown 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
One of the best Coen brothers' movies!
Thank you for these videos. Super helpful for understanding this film. Hollywood movies have happy endings specifically to minimize the horrors of modern life. Audiences want to feel "It's going to be okay" when they know in their guts it isn't. Peace.
“hollywood movies have happy endings” what a huge generalization that isn’t even correct.
Amazing video. I love this movie.
I noticed quite right away that there was a themes that followed. Then when I later watched the first short again it is kinda sung when Buster goes to the heaven on what it's all partly about
Even tho Buster is likable, he can be put into the same pot with the two outlaws since.. Buster is one. He kills for a sport. He still does have some morals so he is a bit of a mix of the 2 of 2 differend pairings.
Also I have to say that the orator and woman have the same similarity of there being and aspect of being an object. The Neeson's character keeps the orator as long as he is more profitable than work and she is essentially a bride whose decided who she will marry. Often these marriages being made based on money and such things.
I feel many of the comments complaining about this analysis are probably the ones who didn’t do well in English class and were the ones complaining about how the red curtains were just red… Great video, I had never thought of looking at the stories paralleling each other the way you do and I think it is a really interesting way of piecing them together.
I was looking for something that linked the stories together. I recall one part in Buster Scruggs story at the saloon the man who got splattered in the gunman's blood was in the carriage in the last story.
"He didn't hit nothin' important! HE DIDN'T HIT NOTHIN' IMPORTAAAAAANT! NOTHIN' IMPORTAAAAAAANT!"
Chapter 1 is how i though all of it will be like.
I thought Buster Scruggs was going to be in the whole movie
same, its still an incredible film but nothing comes to even as close and memorable as the opening scene with buster
The "gal who got rattled" was my favourite only because of that dog and of course Mr.Arthur
Excellent
Not sure about the particular meaning, but all of the passengers in Chapter 6 are alluded to in Chapter 1 (for example, the Frenchman playing cards in Ch. 6, there is also a French bystander at the table when his friend leaves and Scruggs is asked to take the hand, almost like it’s the same story).
imagine if that's a younger version of the French man and tells us you must play your hand as he knew what happened to Scruggs once he tried to run from it. Fate is patient but not eternally so
for real though i think the connecting theme is death. and the last one being an allegory for the river styx and the ferryman (or men in this case)
I didn't think the relationship of Meal Ticket was as callous as you did.
Really? I thought it was worse than callous. Notice how inattentive and uncaring he is while feeding. The complete lack of regard for his emotional well-being while being taken to the bordello. There wasn't even a reason for the murder - he could've abandoned him and moved on; it seems the murder was committed just to avoid some minor inconvenience and expenditure.
The best line in the movie is when the gold miner assesses his wounds stating, "he didn't hit nothin` important...nothing important...only guts." LOL
I don't think the counting chicken was going to be more lucrative cos the guy didn't understand the trickery involved in pulling off the party trick
I subscribed because you are an analytic thinker like me. I haven't seen the movie but my friend said that he was depressed after watching.
We are all meant to choose the tale closest to our own.
And then decide if we need to change our own tale.
The Cohen brothers created 2 characters in this movie who have relation to a character played in the movie The Ladykillers by Tom Hanks.
The 1st and last chapter of Buster Scruggs both have a character in the roll of a refined Gentleman, Look at those 2 characters and then look at Tom Hanks character in The Ladykillers,, you will see a genetic relation among these characters who were created and live in the minds the Cohen brothers.
And the thing with, "The Gal that got Rattled" the very first quote of the story is in the book shown to the audience quoting, "What do I say to Mr. Knapp?"
Ah well done 👍🏼
Not sure if you knew this or not, but The All Gold Canyon is an adaptation of a short story by Jack London with the same name.
These stories reflect the sometimes cruel and sometimes gallant American West even as they help us reflect on life itself. Filled with twists and turns of happy fortune, mean cunning, callous cruelty, quiet virtue and splendorous ignorance and joyous but vicious bliss.
Dickens' Tale of Two Cities writ small so that it might look large again.
Imagine the Coen Brothers watching that video and saying "wow, that kinda makes sense"
Movie is great, had a question about the first and last story tho,
Has anyone noticed the guy at the table with buster and Surly Joe? He looks exactly like the guy portraying the storyteller grim reaper from the last story?! It vcwould make sense what with surly Joe hat tricking himself and trail of bodies Buster left behind including his own. Just thought about that, maybe he already there for that reason, or it’s not him tho.. anyone??
Ze gambler with ze French accent at ze table? Yes I did notice him. But you're right, he does look like the dandy.
My guess is these folks are all (stereo)types from popular Western mythology. Some of the imagery is straight out of comic books, which in turn were inspired by Western movies, which were inspired by frontier stories in print, such as the book we're supposedly reading throughout the film.
Bro you just blew my mind this is the only analysis video on this film that makes sense
Buster Scruggs is definitely in my top 5 Coen Bros movies.
The Cohen brother’s message is always nihilistic.
Didn't they depict the German nihilists as cowards in The Big Lebowski?
Great quality vid
some royality free music would be nice
It all fits together, as long as you cut 1/3 of the stories.
This is one of those vids that make me wish you could hit the like button twice.
Such great movie!!!
Agreed
Shore is interesting, SANTEE!
That wanted poster looks a lot like --- Alfalfa!
Good video
Only the first story of this anthology involves Buster Scruggs. Why did the Cohn's choose the film title "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"? Was there an element in Buster's story that permeated the other stories or what?
As a contrast, Stephen King had an anthology movie called "Cat's Eye" and in that film, the cat ran through all the stories - tying them all together that way - so the movie title fit.
Can you help me out with my question? Thanks
The prospector looks like uncle from rdr2
I feel you should have talked more about how the prospector not only has respect for nature by returning the eggs, but did so specifically because the owl had got to them first. I know it makes no sense, but i’d like to think if he took all the eggs, he would’ve died by the ‘measly skunk’ haha
Dang! A real six shooter! Nice!
i think one connecting element of all stories is they all hint toward a future and moving on from things in the first we see the undertaking man move on after killing buster in the second before the man is hung we see a young woman at the end young and full of opportunities and we see several people doing different jobs and moving on after meeting him in the third after the performer is killed the cart owner moves on from him in the fourth the old man moves on from where he was with his gold flush with choice in the fifth after the woman kills herself the man who was hired moves on and goes away and in the sixth it shows that the different people have just started to go on their existence in the after life but i don't know how well this holds up in certain stories specifically 2 and 4 especially
I wished the whole movie was like the Buster scruggs part 😅
Was another amazing movie by The genius Cohen brothers.. it did get really Dark you have to go there when you're watching it so don't watch it if you're depressed because it gets bloody depressing but no less fantastic movie
You're really getting through these chapters, aren't you?
This may be my last Buster Scruggs videos, but I can't make any promises :)
It’s ridiculous that Buster is expected to possess the hand of cards he’s glimpsed merely because he’s seen them. He’s neither observed opponents stake their antes nor made this preliminary wager himself. He’s been offered no cut, nor has he witnessed a shuffle.
I mean you’re true but in the wild west, it’s as simple as, “You looked at the cards to check if you wanted to play first, that’s cheating. If you look, you must play.” Which ironically could be played by folding immediately, but I never have seen that play out.
Is is stated or presumed that the men in meal ticket are partners? For some reason I had the impression it was father and son.
The travelling chicken is a scam. The chicken isn't actually "educated;" the cart does all the work. Such shows were common not because they made a lot of money from the audience, but because every town they went to had a sucker who fell for the act and was willing to pay premium prices for what they thought was a "meal ticket."
That makes it extra tragic that the narrator where autentic, real and relateable. And he got killed because of greed
All I know is that Buster Scruggs shot Surely Joe when he was hardly looking.
3:46 Does he? As Tom Waits remarks later, “How high can a bird count anyway?”
ended the same way no matter who they were or what they were doing. But we had a different feeling about each story
Meal Ticket and Girl Who Got Rattled have serious Stephen King vibes.
Meal Ticket was a very sad story.
My understanding of meal ticket was its a father and son team. The father took care of his son and the son made them money. When the father decided to end his childs life (not out of pity but for convenience), it added an extra layer of abomination on his part. And i can sadly see how a businessman wouldn't want to continue to do everything he did, especially for far less money. I prefer my original conclusion out of the two.
The orator seemed very much british, so probably not a relative
I always thought "Meal Ticket" was an allegory about Hollywood!
I thought the stories were all based on Wild West tropes, always a faster gun, can’t cheat the hangman, etc.
My interpretation of the Ballads of Mr. Buster: They all show different lives in which Buster gets to live (sort of incarnation) but every time, he suffers more or less the same fate.
It's more like "A million ways of dying in the West".