"No Country for Old Men" took two of the awards: The screenplay Globe for writer-directors Ethan and Joel Coen and the supporting actor honor for Javier Bardem. The film portrays a merciless killer tracking a fortune in crime cash poached by an innocent bystander who stumbles onto a drug deal gone bad.
"Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press!" said Bardem in a written statement after his win. "It is a great honor to have been recognized with this award in a time when there are so many outstanding performances in this category."
"Atonement" led contenders with seven nominees, also won for best score. The film stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in a period drama that traces the dire consequences that follows a jealous teen's false criminal accusation against her sister's new lover. Neither Knightley nor McAvoy won the dramatic actor award for their work.
Daniel-Day Lewis did take best dramatic actor for the historical epic "There Will Be Blood," in which he plays a baron of California's oil boom in the early 20th century whose commercial interests put him at odds with a young preacher.
Julie Christie won best dramatic actress for the gloomy drama "Away From Her," starring as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's who forms a new attachment to a fellow patient that causes heartache for her steadfast husband.
Cate Blanchett won the first award of the night, taking the supporting actress Globe for the Bob Dylan tale "I'm Not There."
Actors and filmmakers skipped the Golden Globes because of the two-month-old strike by the Writers Guild of America. The guild had vowed to hold pickets outside the show if organizers had tried to do their usual ceremony.
Among TV recipients, Jeremy Piven won for his supporting role as an acerbic agent in HBO's "Entourage," his first win after three previous nominations. Samantha Morton supporting actress for "Longford."
Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder won the prize for best original song in a movie for "Guaranteed," featured in director Sean Penn's road drama "Into the Wild."
