True Grit

Remember the 1977 remake of this film starring Warren Oates? I'm sure just as many people will remember this version in a few years, while the original is still memorable over 40 years after its release.

Look, I like the Cohen Brothers films. I like Jeff Bridges films. I like westerns. I even kind of like Matt Damon in films (he is AWFUL at cocktail parties and always trys to tell me "knock knock" jokes). But to be honest this version of "True Grit" that everyone is raving about I found disappointing and overrated.

This version of the film is certainly grittier and grimier, but is NOT that much different than the original. The biggest difference is probably the fact Mattie is played by an actress actually close to the age Mattie is supposed to be in the book. Kim Darby was 21 when she played Mattie Ross in the original and was already a mom to boot.

The other big change was the ending scenes featuring an adult Mattie in search of Cogburn. It's grimmer and more bleak than the original, which had Cogburn riding away on a horse in grand style.

The Coens added a scene where Mattie stays overnight in a funeral parlor when she first arrives in town to claim the body of her father and the sequence where Cogburn and Mattie find a body hung in the forest, then later find a medicine man trying to peddle it. If you've seen the film ask yourself: what purpose did that scene serve? If you cut it out nobody would have missed it.

I read a review praising the Coens for the dialogue in the scene where Mattie negociates the resale of the ponies her father bought with Colonel Stonehill (Dakin Matthews). Yes, it is good. But better than the same scene that featured Strother Martin as Stonehill? I think not.

The original's score by Elmer Bernstein is magnificant, memorable and instantly recognizable. The score by Carter Burwell is interesting.

The new version does have some distinct advantages though. Hailee Steinfeld is good as Mattie. Matt Damon is WAY better than Glen Campbell as LaBeef. And unlike the last time he did a western ("All the Pretty Horses") he remembered NOT to leave his teeth movie star gleaming white.

Barry Pepper is also a delight as Lucky Ned Pepper. But it seems like he's really trying to channel Robert Duvall, who played the part in the original. It's a nice homage.

14-year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hires Deputy Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to find Tom Cheney (Josh Brolin) the killer of her late father. Cogburn is a grizzled man in desperate need of elocution lessons but with a reputation of bringing criminals back dead or alive (with emphesis on the former). A Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) joins the search for the evil Cheney (no doubt a distant relative of Dick) who also killed a prominent politician back in Texas.

 Cogburn and LaBeef (sorry, that's the way its pronounced) try and ditch Mattie, but the young girl is determined to see justice done and comes after them, crossing a wide river on her horse, Little Blackie (where are the protest groups?)

Cogburn learns Cheney is riding with the Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) gang. After LaBeef Labungles a Cogburn stakeout at a remote cabin where Pepper and his gang is expected, the one eyed fat man faces down Pepper and three of his gang, riding hard firing two guns with the reins in his mouth in the film's most exciting yet disappointing sequence.

This should tell you something.

Since John Wayne was a well-known conservative and wore his eyepatch over his left eye when he played Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges decided he would wear his eyepatch over his RIGHT eye, since he supports liberal causes. See, to show he's BLIND to the right. Think John Wayne wore his eyepatch over his left eye citing politics?

How weak.

Wayne's performance was larger than life. It was helped by the fact he actually ennuciated his words and audiences could understand what he was saying. Bridges plays the courtroom scene as if auditioning for the part of Mumbles in the long awaited "Dick Tracy" sequel.

I get how Wayne's Cogburn gave in to Mattie's determination and pluck and let's her join them eventually.  Not convinced Bridges grimier Cogburn would have done so.

Okay, so Wayne shaved and probably looked better kempt than he might have looked when on the trail. But looking at Bridges' Cogburn, aren't you glad the film wasn't in Aromarama?

When Robert Duval says "Mighty bold talk for  a one-eyed fat man", John Wayne's reaction is classic. I'm still waiting to see Bridges' reaction to the line.

Rooster's desperate attempt to get Mattie to the doctor after she's been bit by a snake. Or maybe the scene where she negociates with the Colonel for the horses. Nah, the first one.

This is where I usually mention any babes in the film. There are none (though one might check up on Hailee in about 7 years).

Instead, the ladies get Matt Damon.