By Joe Bendel. Rooster Cogburn is not just a familiar character, he is an icon. Considering the critical drubbing the Coen brothers’ last classic movie remake (The Lady Killers) received, taking on such a storied figure of Americana certainly was gutsy. Yet thanks to their satisfying command of the western genre, the Brothers Coen’s True Grit is able to establish its own identity while keeping faith with the spirit of the original film and source novel. Considered to be a major player for Oscar campaigning (despite being blanked by the Golden Globes), Grit recently opened in select theaters nationwide.
Of course, Grit has an Academy Award winning lineage. John Wayne won his only Oscar for playing the one-eyed, cantankerous old Cogburn. Given the large shadow the Duke casts, it is quite impressive how comfortably Jeff Bridges eases into the role. In a weird way, there might be a similarity between Cogburn and Bridges’ “Dude” from the Coens’ Big Lebowski. Both have a healthy disregard for social convention – however, Cogburn is not exactly what one might call laidback.
As in the Henry Hathaway classic, young Mattie Ross is looking to avenge her father, so she hires the grizzled old Cogburn to track down the killer, Tom Chaney. La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger, is also on Chaney’s trail in hopes of collecting the reward offered for another murder the fugitive committed. Ross is not looking for courtroom justice though, but justice of the frontier variety. Despite Cogburn’s questionable commitment, they press on into forbidding country, in a halfway alliance with La Boeuf.
Though Grit is a tad slow out of the blocks, the Coens show a deft touch staging old school western shootouts. Genre purists will be happy to know that not only is Cogburn’s famous battle cry still in the film, Bridges totally nails it. And exhibiting assurance on-screen beyond her years, Hailee Stenfeld invests Ross with considerable grit as well. Unfortunately Matt Damon often seems distractingly off target as La Boeuf, almost portraying the Texas lawman as a caricature of Talladega Nights’ John C. Reilly. Still, Cogburn is the key to the film and Bridges really does pull it off.
Slightly more wistful than the original, the Coen Grit will pleasantly surprise diehard fans of the John Wayne film, nevertheless. Indeed, Bridges ought to be in contention for Oscar consideration. Executed with the gusto the filmmakers are known for, Grit represents a welcome big time return of the western genre to the American film industry. Definitely recommended, it is now playing in select theaters around the country.
Posted on December 23rd, 2010 at 1:30pm.
I just watched the original movie. It was pretty bad actually and I don’t think merely dated: Disney where Disney ought not to be and over-acting – Swiss Family Robinson meets Peter Pan meets Bonanza. Please, Voigt should have won best actor for Midnight Cowboy and if not Dustin Hoffman.
The Shootist was much better even though that was a little Disney-fied, too.
Wayne maybe was just not that great an actor, huh? A wonderful looking fellow for his parts, but without subtlety.
You obviously have never seen The Searchers, or you wouldn’t make such remarks about Wayne.
Voigt? Hoffman? Please.
The Searchers is an excellent example of how bad an actor Wayne was; he looked very awkward to me getting worked up about his niece (or whatever she was to him). Jeffrey Hunter was cardboard-ish in that one, too. Maybe it’s Ford’s direction. The movie’s plot seemed ridiculous. Look, I thing The Duke is tops – his movies all great. But he was stiff as an actor. The Shootist was the best he did. Maybe Red River, although that one, too, he’s strangely one-dimensional, i.e., without subtlety. He goes from one way of being to another without segue.
Proof! I just saw the new one. Jeff Bridges, who is no Lawrence Olivier, was 10x better than Wayne. Awesome! But is that how the book ended? The ending was … empty. I guess that was the point? Matt Damon was excellent. It is a hard part to play and he nailed it.
I don’t buy Chaney walking into a pistol shot, though. Or men taking getting shot so lightly. Right?
Because it’s Christmas, Commentator, we will have to agree to disagree – in the strongest possible terms – on Wayne. Suffice it to say I couldn’t disagree with you more.
How about Wayne in The Quiet Man? I think he was great in that.
Commentator probably thought Watchmen should have won a Oscar! Please Commentator wow us with your acumen! Who do you consider a great actor? What’s your favorite movie or movies? Show us the light!
Oh and Matt Damon was trying to do a poor version of his friend Matthew McConaughey (He did a better job on Letterman). The only thing you can say about his performance is that it was a million times better than Glen Campbell’s in the original. Heck a cadaver was better than Glen Campbell.
One of my favorites from the Duke is The Man Who Shoot Liberty Valance. Just the withering look of murder he gives Lee Marvin in the diner after taunting him to a gunfight is worth watching that movie.
I loved the original, have not seen the remake yet. My friend (who has not seen the original) said it was very gritty. The scene where Rooster shoots the horse Blackie was described as being needlessly violent.