Having grown up with John Wayne movies perpetually playing on TCM, I've seen True Grit a few times. It's one of my favorite Westerns...but it isn't really a Western. When one thinks of "Western movies," we tend to think of the spaghetti westerns, the adventure stories of swashbuckling pirates of the open prairie who openly engage in shootouts with strangers who somehow killed my brother. We don't usually want to delve too far into the actual minds and personalities of the cowboys and hear about their hard lives--we just want to see them shoot some stuff and wonder who's actually the good guy (or watch the epic showdown between the hero and the obvious-because-he's-wearing-a-black-hat bad guy). True Grit is one of the few Westerns that captures the spirit of a Western but goes deeper than simply surface-y stunts and gunslinging.
That being said, here comes a tiny history footnote: the John Wayne version was made in 1969, a season in Hollywood where the Duke was really the King, a time where the American film industry Americanized nearly everything (and butchered most of the rest). Westerns were reaching a point where the singing cowboys were banished to television and Clint Eastwood's career was taking off, which meant that there were two distinct types of Westerns: silly swashbucklers and tense actions. Hollywood took the best of both, signed John Wayne as the hero, picked up the most popular book of 1968, and came up with one of the best known and best loved Western films to date. Enter the Coen Brothers, writers/directors who are known for their darker sense of humor and love of violence. They decide that True Grit is ready for a complete overhaul and bring forth a remake starring some A-list actors (Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon) and some new talent (Hailee Steinfeld). It is one of the best remakes I've ever seen, one that very nearly eclipses the original so brightly that I've almost forgotten the first one in light of this one.
The story: In 1877, Mattie, a 14-year-old girl in Arkansas, vows to avenge her father's murder. She hires a crusty and shady U.S. Marshal named Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn. The two set out on a risky venture to capture Tom Cheney (her father's murderer) and bring him to justice--but they find that they're in competition with a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf (pronounced, La BEEF), who is in pursuit of Cheney for the murder of a U.S. Senator.
Like I said, this version of True Grit is aaaaaaalmost better than the original. (The only thing it's missing is nostalgia in the form of the Duke.) The cinematography is gorgeous; the acting is amazing; the story is vibrant and catching. Bridges and Steinfeld are absolutely perfect together (KEEP AN EYE ON HER, this girl's going places!). However, I will warn the moviegoer to NOT go to this movie expecting a shoot-'em-up action film. You will be slightly disappointed. This film focuses more on the journey of the characters and their inner personalities than on the action and suspense part (although it is fun). Honestly, I really loved this film and enjoyed every minute of it--including the unnaturally stilted dialogue. (Many characters speak in gramatically perfect, complete sentences that don't exactly match their surroundings. For example, Cogburn sees a criminal's corpse and says, "I do not know this man," in a rhythmic and stiff fashion. But somehow it works.)
NEGATIVES:
>>Profanity: There are quite a few archaic racist comments (referring to Native Americans as "Injuns"). There are many instances where "mild" profanity is used--it's all in the vein of cowboys. ("d**n", "h*ll", and derogatory names of "b**ch" and "b**tard".)
>>Violence: Hey, it's a Western! There is a mildly graphic execution scene where several criminals are hanged publicly in the town square. One corpse is cut down from the isolated tree where he's been hung in a vigilante execution. Multiple characters are shot, but only one is graphic (he's shot point-blank in the face and blood spatters on the wall behind him). Blood is a constant presence, but it's not gratuitous. Horses are kicked, stabbed, and shot. Cogburn has a reputation for having an itchy trigger finger (he states that he's killed 28 people). In one scene, a bad guy's fingers get cut off quickly by a knife and we see them on the table. Some characters are stabbed. Mattie gets punched, slapped, spanked and switched (for being a naughty child), and receives a knife threat to her throat and a boot ground into her face. One character receives a pretty nasty rattlesnake bite to the hand. Finally, Rooster promises Mattie that he'll flay the soles of Cheney's feet.
>>Spiritual Content: This is one of the most God-conscious films that I've seen in recent years that actually treats God with a smidgen of respect. It's rife with old religion--including the old hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" woven into the soundtrack. The movie opens with a quotation from Proverbs ("The wicked flee when none pursueth"). Characters talk about praying to God, redemption, salvation, forgiveness, retribution, revenge, and meeting a person later, "walking in the streets of glory." It's got a good old Southern Christianity feel to it.
>>Alcohol and Drugs: What would a cowboy be without his whiskey? Cogburn is perpetually inebriated, and in one of my favorite scenes in the film boasts that he can shoot biscuits with his pistol while drunk. Even La Boeuf calls Cogburn's conduct a "debauch." It's almost a way of life for these characters, to drink nonstop.
>>Sexual Content: There is one scene where La Boeuf says he considered stealing a kiss from Mattie, and then he realized she needed a spanking worse. She replies, "One would be just as bad as the other."
This movie is rated PG-13 for a reason: It's most definitely geared towards teenagers and older. Younger kids will get bored easily, not to mention there are a few scenes that would be frightening or bothersome. However, I don't think this movie has very much questionable content. Yes, it deals with revenge, death, murder, pain, villains, etc., but it is also a fantastic story of good guys vs. bad guys, a great growing-up story for both Mattie and Cogburn. I highly, highly recommend this film. It's perfect on many levels, and may possibly be the first movie I think is better than its John Wayne predecessor.
6 out of 6 stars
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Wikipedia: True Grit (2010)
Wikipedia: True Grit (1969)
Great movie! They don't make westerns like this anymore. Even then, they don't make to many movies like this anymore.
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