True Grit

Just for grins we recently rented DVD copy of said movie. Reminds me that my son and I went to see this movie in 2010 at a theater, the first that I've paid for since he was in high school. That was over four years ago. The original is one of my favorite John Wayne movies after the The Quiet Man, The Sons of Katie Elder and the one that is not El Dorado and had drunken Dean Martin in the drunken Robert Mitchum role.
True Grit is the Coen brothers remake of the movie that finally got John Wayne his Oscar. A story of an, all-about-business, teen aged girl whose father was murdered by a vagabond killer. Following up on her father's death she finds that the the local sheriff is unwilling to chase the killer into Indian Territory, she is obliged to to offer a ransom to the Federal Marshal of her choice, a man this time played by Jeff Bridges, selected not because he is the best tracker, not because he is the most humane, but because he gets the job done no matter how tough and dirty it is. Just think about how few of those people live in your life today, or if any, at all, work in government.
Well, just like the original, Mattie gets Rooster to lead the way into the Indian Territory, with Texas Ranger LaBoeuf.  Rooster drinks too much and argues with the Ranger.  Mattie shoots Tom Chaney down at the creek. Mattie gets captured.  Rooster fights it out, one on four, saved in the end by a long shot.  LaBoeuf gets whacked in the head and is unconscious.  Mattie falls into the pit with the snakes and gets bit. Rooster goes into the pit.  The Ranger wakes up and pulls Mattie and Rooster out.  Rooster then kills Little Blackie racing to save her from the rattler bite.
Then the story takes a turn from the original.  First of all Laboeuf live after the two are saved from the pit, it is still the end of the part in the movie.. Twenty five years later, invited by the former marshal,  Mattie goes to visit Rooster for the first time while he is acting in the Wild West Show.  She appears minus one arm, lost to the snake bite, three days after Rooster dies.  Mattie has the coffin dug up and brought to her ranch where she has him buried with her family.  Mattie continues on as a middle aged spinster.
The cast included..

• Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, not as much fun as John Wayne, but that is the way the directors chose to go. 
• Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, I think played better and more realistically than Kim Darby.
• Matt Damon as LaBoeuf , better than Glen Campbell by a long shot.
• Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney, much better in the role of the simple minded murderer.
• Barry Pepper as Lucky Ned Pepper, played differently than Duval, more realistically unlikeable.
• Elizabeth Marvel as 40-Year-Old Mattie, a surprise to me. 

This is a in my opinion a stronger cast than was in the original movie. The subject was centered in the dark side of human nature, a more realistic construct to the time and situation.  This made for a better movie, though by no means happier.  I liked it, others must have as well because it was nominated for ten Oscars.

.

More