MovieChat Forums > No Country for Old Men (2007) Discussion > Why did he kill the hotel clerk?

Why did he kill the hotel clerk?

posted 6 years ago by Hans-Wilhelm (1320)
3 replies | jump to latest

Anton tracked him down at two hotels. The first he takes his time. He goes to the desk and orders a room next to the room he's tracked the money to. He plans his entry and scopes the layout of the room so he'll know where to aim quickly and where the hiding spots are. He has no issue with the desk clerk.

Then he tracks him down at a second hotel. This time we know Llewelyn knows he's there and is coming. So if Anton had taken the same action things would have turned out differently. This time he kills the desk clerk. Why? Then instead of ordering a room and plotting the room layout he just goes right after Llewelyn as soon as he enters the hall.

Why the sudden changes in behavior and killing of the desk clerk?

[–] Jones70 (6195) 5 years ago

He’s a pyshcopathic killer.

[–] spurtle467 (1498) 5 years ago

We're not privy to the attack on the hotel clerk. For all we know Anton may have sensed that the hotel clerk was going to warn Moss and so he killed him. Moss did ask the clerk to call him if any guy checked in.

There's probably an element of underestimating Moss from Anton also.

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 5 years ago

At this point in the story, Anton already knows that Llewellyn is privy to being pursued so it's all out death at this point. You also have to take into account that Anton is pissed off that his employer also hired the Mexican guys to pursue the money after he takes them out at the first Motel. After Llewellyn escapes from Anton's grasp a second time, Anton goes to kill the employer for violating the code of whatever he considers the honor of using "one tool".