The title song, sung by Campbell, was also Oscar-nominated.Ī remake of True Grit was released in 2010, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, and Josh Brolin. The cast also features Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Corey and Strother Martin. Marshal Heck Thomas, who brought in some of the toughest outlaws. Historians believe Cogburn was based on Deputy U.S. Wayne won his only Oscar for his performance in the film and reprised his role for the 1975 sequel Rooster Cogburn. The screenplay was written by Marguerite Roberts. It is the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Glen Campbell as La Boeuf and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. It's about these characters and finding out who they really are when it all comes down to it.True Grit is a 1969 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne as U.S. I like that the story doesn't quite end after the basic plot is resolved, because it's not about hunting down the man that killed Maddie's father and hoping to bring him to justice. In fact, it does the opposite, jumping into holes where it could become clichéd and sentimental and then digging it's way out, surprising at every turn. It's a real cinematic piece, surprisingly Hollywood for the Coens, but it doesn't fall into a lot of the traps that it could have. I didn't much care for the epilogue, but with the wildly entertaining journey that came before it, I can't fault the film that strongly for it. The final confrontation with the men they are hunting is turns suspenseful, surprising and a little too short-lived. I enjoyed living with these characters very much and wish that there had been more time to just be with them on their journey. This is a film that I enjoyed even more than I thought I would, a Coen film in the most un-Coen of ways (which was a nice change of pace given that their previous effort, A Serious Man, is probably the most Coen film out there). He's a good man at his heart, as are Maddie and Rooster, and it makes it easy to root for all three of them to come out of this alright. LaBoeuf is a silly man who thinks too highly of himself, but as the film progresses it becomes very hard not to care for him. Matt Damon gets arguably the most interesting role, a character who is detestable when we first meet him and then has the large task of making us realize that he just may have the truest grit of all.
Bridges was my least favorite of the three, performance-wise, but that's not a huge slant given how highly I thought of the other two. Maddie goes to him because she believes he has the most grit of all and that he is the right choice for her, but as the journey goes on she doubts her decision and Rooster Cogburn plays with our perception of him quite a few times. Jeff Bridges was different than I had expected, but I love his arc throughout the film. She's entirely convincing, taking a character that could have been this annoying little brat and making her simultaneously strong, whip smart, endearing and adorable. Hailee Steinfeld is remarkable here, an actor with talent well beyond her years. From the very opening, we see that Mattie Ross has a whole mess of it, this headstrong girl who won't back down to anyone, despite her small stature. There's a constant battle over what grit truly means and over the course of the film the balance shifts back and forth over which of the three has the truest grit. Unsurprisingly, these people are written very intelligently, given lots of depth and room to grow and surprise. Above all else, the film is a character piece and what a wonderful one it is. The Coens do what they can to avoid Hollywood conventions in what is, at it's core, a very Hollywood film. There's a real lack of obvious arcs for these people and that was a nice surprise. There's a lot of twists that I didn't see it taking and none of the characters ended up being what I initially expected them to be. It's such an entertaining film, with some emotional power that resonates afterwards.
The technical qualities are all astounding fantastic costumes, a beautiful score and some of the most exquisite cinematography I have ever seen, courtesy of the always reliable Roger Deakins.
And while generally "old school Hollywood fashion" would be something I would cringe and run away from, the Coens make it enjoyable, emotional and breathtaking. Surprisingly this doesn't detract from the film at all, which is a riveting character journey in classic old school Hollywood fashion. It has a few Coen inflections to it (Damon's twang of a voice, a few random mustached characters crossing paths with our heroes) but for the most part it's a lot more straight forward and less humored. The least "Coen" of all of the Coens films is also one of their finest.
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