I watched it a second time with my daughter...one of the things I love about Coen films is how much I "pick up" the second+ time I watch (maybe I'm slow...I found the same thing with "No Country for Old Men).
My favorite story was the third with the quadruple amputee vs the counting chicken (I believe it was called "meal ticket")...I think this story relates to all the stories, in that the first two are comedic, almost simple slapstick (the counting-chicken stories) while the last three are tragic, with intense dialog stories (the quadruple-amputee-oration stories). I find it funny too that most seem to like the chicken-counting stories here on this board (just like in the movie)...
***Spoiler*** if you haven't watched don't read further...
I did also find it interesting how in the fourth story, about the prospector...when he goes to take the eggs from the owl, he says, "How high can a bird count anyway?" Which seems to relate back to the third story and the counting chicken...maybe saying that Liam Neeson got ripped off, and threw his "meal ticket" off the bridge, sort of counting-his-chicken (plan) before-it-hatched.
The fifth story, about the wagon train, I found interesting too...the girl repeatedly says how indecisive she is, and her cowboy fiancé tells her its good to be indecisive...yet she wasn't indecisive at all when she should have been. Also, if you know anything about President Pierce, I find the dog's name a warning or possible omen of bad events...(and when the dog is around, bad things happen).
The last story was good too: obviously about the grim reaper and death, with the French man, the woman, and the trapper riding to their demise (or maybe they are already dead?).
Good stuff!
