Every so often, a piece of movie trivia surfaces that feels less like a fun fact and more like a strange coincidence you can’t quite shake. This is one of those.
No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers’ 2007 crime classic, is widely remembered for its brutal violence, haunting performances, and Javier Bardem’s unforgettable hitman. What most viewers don’t realize is that the story includes a quiet reference to a real-life assassination tied directly to the family of one of its actors.
And yes — that actor is Woody Harrelson.
@alltherightmoviesWOODY HARRELSON talks about his father, jailed as a real life hitman.♬ original sound – All The Right Movies
A throwaway line with real-world roots
Based on Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, No Country for Old Men is set in 1980, in a small Texas border town rocked by a sudden wave of cartel violence. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones, struggles to make sense of a world that feels increasingly lawless as bodies pile up around him.
In the novel, Bell reflects on how bad things have become by mentioning a recent and shocking event: the assassination of a federal judge in San Antonio. The line never makes it into the film, but it’s not fictional.
McCarthy was referencing a real murder that stunned the country just a year earlier.
The murder of Judge John H. Wood Jr.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
On May 29, 1979, U.S. District Judge John H. Wood Jr. was shot and killed outside his San Antonio townhouse. Known as “Maximum John” for his harsh sentencing of drug offenders, Wood had become a major obstacle for powerful traffickers.
His assassination set off one of the largest federal investigations of its time. Authorities ultimately determined that the hit had been ordered by the Jamiel “Jimmy” Chagra drug organization — and carried out by a contract killer named Charles Voyde Harrelson.
That name matters.
Charles Harrelson was the father of actor Woody Harrelson.
Where the coincidence gets uncomfortable
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Woody Harrelson appears in No Country for Old Men as Carson Wells, a smooth-talking bounty hunter hired to retrieve stolen drug money and eliminate Anton Chigurh. Confident and composed, Wells believes he understands the world he’s operating in — until he doesn’t.
In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Wells is executed in a hotel room by Chigurh, a cartel hitman.
Which means that Harrelson is killed by a cartel assassin in a story that references, in its original source material, the real-life cartel-ordered murder his father committed.
Charles Harrelson was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to two life terms. He died in prison in 2007 — the same year No Country for Old Men was released.
Woody Harrelson has spoken openly about his father’s criminal history over the years, describing a distant and complicated relationship. He has consistently emphasized that he had limited contact with his father growing up.
Just a coincidence — but a striking one
There’s no evidence that the Coen Brothers were aware of this connection when casting Harrelson, or that it played any role in his involvement with the film. The judge’s assassination appears in McCarthy’s novel, written years before the movie entered production, and the case itself had largely faded from public memory by the mid-2000s.
Still, the overlap is hard to ignore — especially given the film’s themes. No Country for Old Men is deeply concerned with the spread of cartel violence and the sense that something fundamental has shifted for the worse. Sheriff Bell’s quiet despair reflects a world where acts like the judge’s assassination marked a turning point.
The film went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Bardem. Harrelson’s brief but memorable performance as Carson Wells remains one of the film’s highlights — even as it echoes a grim chapter of real-life history tied to his own family.
Sometimes the strangest movie trivia isn’t about Easter eggs or casting secrets. Sometimes it’s about how fiction and reality accidentally brush up against each other in ways no one planned.
Editor’s note: This article was inspired by a TikTok video from Jason Pargin (@jasonkpargin), bestselling author of John Dies at the End and former editor of Cracked.com. Readers are encouraged to check out his work.
