| True Grit (2010) |
The 2010 version was written and directed by the Coen brothers who have brought us such great movies as: Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country for Old Men and Raising Arizona. I was expecting quite a bit from them as I set the bar pretty high for whatever they do given their film track record. The movie begins with the narration of fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) telling us of her quest to hire someone to hunt down and bring the man who murdered her father back to be convicted and hanged. She ends up choosing drunkard U.S. Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and Texas Ranger LeBoeuf (Matt Dillon), who wants the outlaw for his own purposes back in Texas, as her tracking team. Cogburn and LeBeouf take off on their search for Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) into "Indian Territory" with unwanted third-party Mattie in tow. They eventually track him down as a part of a gang run by Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and "duke" it out with this outlaw gang. Most of the movie, like the 1969 version, focuses on the three main characters and their journey to find the killer. It shows how their relationships with one another, though they are such different people, make each one of them grow in some way. It is a typical quest/journey film in many ways.
| True Grit (1969) |
Being a huge fan of the Coen brothers, Bridges, Damon and Pepper I was hoping for a little more from this movie. I liked how the new version showed Cogburn as more of a drunk though at times he was hard to understand as he spoke like Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) in Sling Blade. I would say that overall I preferred Bridges to John Wayne's portrayal of Cogburn even though Wayne won the Oscar for Best Actor. I also liked Damon quite a bit more than Glen Campbell in the role of LeBeouf. The background music of the 1969 version sounds like the soundtrack that they play in the Disney theme parks; that was the way films were made back then though. I liked the ending of the new one better but knowing that the Coen Brothers wrote the script I was surprised at how much of the film dialog was identical to the 1969 version; that's where I meant I expected a little more from this film. The eye Cogburn covered with a patch changed though - I preferred Bridges' portrayal with the right eye covered. I have to give True Grit (2010) 3 1/2 stars and True Grit (1969) 3 stars. Both films are worth viewing if you are a fan of movie westerns.
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