True Grit Review

I don’t know how, but I went 25 years without ever seeing a John Wayne movie. My grandparents were huge fans of the Duke, but I always ducked out of the room when he was on. It wasn’t until a few months ago when I first heard that the Coen brothers were remaking a classic John Wayne film that I became interested. I watched the original True Grit and fell into a months-long John Wayne kick. The original is a great film, filled with classic characters and a simple, but poignant, revenge plot.

The Coen brothers were the perfect choice to create another adaption of the novel by Charles Portis, and they’ve created their own classic. I think it’s their best film, and I can’t think of a better compliment considering their impressive filmography.

The biggest surprise of the movie to me was the performance by Hailee Steinfeld as young Mattie Ross. Mattie is the 14 year old who is out to see justice done on the murderer of her father. She is as tough as nails, and doesn’t take no for an answer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hailee up for an Oscar come awards season.

Every actor was perfectly cast and totally became their characters. Jeff Bridges disappeared into the role of Rooster Cogburn, the one-eyed whiskey drinking US Marshall. Matt Damon was a lot easier to take seriously as a Texas Ranger than the 1969 version’s Glen Campbell, but still had a lot of the same goofiness that made his character fun to watch. Josh Brolin doesn’t get a lot of screen time as the dumb-witted outlaw Tom Chaney, but he was a perfect choice to play the part. Barry Pepper ironically plays the gang leader Lucky Ned Pepper, the role that was previously played by a young Robert Duvall.

True Grit was beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins, who has somehow never won an Oscar for his cinematography. It’d be great to see him win for this. Overall, I think True Grit will end up as one of the more timeless Coen brothers classics. I’m ready to see it again, and I know once it’s available on Blu-ray I’ll want to watch it often.

If you haven’t seen the original True Grit, I’d wait until you’ve seen this one and then check it out. It was just released on Blu-ray but it’s available on DVD as well. I’ll leave you with a clip of the classic John Wayne line from the original.