The novel has received a significant amount of critical attention , for example , Lynnea Chapman King , Rick Wallach and Jim Welsh 's edited collection '' No Country for Old Men : From Novel to Film '' or Raymond Malewitz 's " Anything Can Be an Instrument : Misuse Value and Rugged Consumerism in Cormac McCarthy 's '' No Country for Old Men '' . " In 2007 , Joel and Ethan Coen adapted the book into a film - also titled '' No Country for Old Men '' - which was met with critical acclaim and box office success . On January 27 2008 , the film won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture . On February 24 , 2008 , it won four Academy Awards : Best Picture , Best Director ( Joel and Ethan Coen ) , Best Adapted Screenplay ( Joel and Ethan Coen ) , and Best Supporting Actor ( Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh ) . The source novel may have been influenced by the 1973 film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau '' Charley Varrick '' , itself based on the crime fiction novel '' The Looters '' by John H. Reese , which features similar plot elements as the Southwestern United States , stolen money that is ruthlessly tracked down , and milk-drinking
Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
No Country for Old Men