True Grit 2010

When I watched a quick preview for this movie I thought I had made a huge mistake watching the John Wayne version of this story a week ago or so. Seeing this scene were young Mattie banters back and forth with the horse trader (played in the 1969 classic by Strother Martin) I saw too many comparisons between this modern version of Mattie and the classic version which was also terrific. I let that keep me from seeing the newest version until now.

I was so glad to once again realized that the Coeh brothers have a gift for storytelling that not only honors the tale's source material (A 1968 book by Charles Portis) but brings something fresh to a great western epic.


Everyone knows the story. 14 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) has come to the city to see the body of her death father returned to his family. She is only 14 but intelligent and precocious to a fault. She is also stubborn about what she wants in a way that brings grown men to their knees begging that she can have what she wants if she will only stop talking.

I loved how Mattie's first contact with ornery US Marshall hunter Rooster T. Cogburn happens outside an outhouse. First of all it lets us HEAR Rooster's bellow before we actually see him (a genius way to establish character and calm our fears that no way could anyone (even the brilliant Jeff Bridges) match John Wayne's performance in the origin. He can as he does).

Secondly the imagery of her talking to an outhouse door reminds us again that Mattie doesn't have any fear and won't take any shit.


One of the great things this movie does is to always remind you that this is MATTIE'S story, not ROOSTER'S. That realization comes to you from the incredible talent of the performer playing this part.

Hailee Steinfeld owns every scene she is in and more than holds her own against some of the finest actors working today.

There is a part early in the film when they first meet when Rooster is forced to take several steps backwards after being shocked at the things she is saying to him. In all his born days he has never seen nor heard of a child like this one and neither have we.


It's too bad that while being nominated for an Oscar this year (which I know she will be) Hailee will have to compete with Natalie Portman and Annette Benning and not even unearthly natural skills like hers can overcome that kind of a tsunami.

Take heart kiddo. You are the reason everyone will recommend this movie to their friends and you will have a most awesome of acting careers if that is what you want. You time will come. The irony here is that you will be competing against the LAST girl to so impress me with her major movie debut. That was Natalie Portman's role in 'The Professional'.

The language of the film is beautiful. I had heard that there were no contractions in the speech to make it more believable for the time. Don't think I didn't listen for them.

I have this mimicry 'problem' when I see a period picture or I am around a person with an accent for two long. I pick up the accent and the change in my voice will reflect that. Sometimes people have accused me of making fun of them when they experience this happening to me. At that point I have to describe to them my mental disorder and concentrate of not letting their unique vocal patterns enter my speech.

For the next 24 hours, let me know if my writing drifts into 'cowboy voice' territory because I just got a heavy does of it.


Movie of the year? For what Oscar gives the best picture award too. - yeh, it will be best picture this year and deserves to be. It's sentimentality will win over 'The Social Network's' own brand of brilliance. It should be enough that Aaron Sorkin will be recognized for his script. Academy voters are old types and always go for heart over head.

Back to the story. Mattie determines that Rooster is a man with what she calls 'tru grit' after seeing him testify in court. She offers him a job to go after Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who killed her father and robbed him of his horse and money.

(It's testament to the respect that Coeh brothers have among talent that a big star like Josh Brolin would take any role these days that really amounts to nothing more than a walk-on. Barry Pepper is good here too and nearly unrecognizable as 'Lucky' Ned - the role played by Robert Duvall in the original film.)

Rooster agrees to the contract. Mattie wants to go with him but he leaves her behind and hooks up with a Texas Ranger named LeBoef (Matt Damon) who has reasons of his own for wanting to capture Chaney. Chaney killed a Senator in Texas and there is a high priced bounty on his head.

Mattie will not be just be left behind, however. Soon the three characters are on the trail together.

What happens along the way is the development of one of the truly great relationships in movie character history. They are so unlikely a pair to find respect and admiration in the other one's eyes. That father/daughter dynamic is terrific here.


The Coeh brother remade this movie with many of the scenes intact from the original. I knew what was going to happen but that made it fun for me to see how scenes I was already familiar with were handled.

Some were nearly identical in script and tone to the 1969 original but were a fresh take on that story element. The Coeh's had the confidence in this great tale that they didn't try to rewrite it and add what THEY thought was better than the book. They respected the source material and it pays off big time.

I dare you to find me a another remake that does that. You can't think of one and that is because it is RARE. The ONLY scene the Cohen's changed was one from the book. It was not in the original 'True Grit' and that change made all the difference in the world. It made the remake of a movie I had just seen into something fresh and thrilling.

10/10


I also have to add that I love this picture. Hailee STILL owns both these guys long after the movie was done. How much do you think they just adore her?