TRUE GRIT
US, 2010, 111 minutes, Colour.
Jeff Bridges, Hallee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper.
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.
The Coen Brothers seem to be able to turn their minds and imaginations to most genres - although their remake of The Ladykillers seemed a doomed project - and was. This time they have avoided the remake approach, a film that has become a classic Western and the Oscar-winner for John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn in 1969. The Coens have gone back to Charles Portis' novel and written their own interpretation. And it works very well, a solid western in the classic tradition, and a humorous, sometimes witty comic atmosphere.
The casting directors must have been delighted to find Halle Steinfeld to play Mattie Ross. She is completely persuasive as the strong-minded 14 year old who sets out to complete her father's business, to bury him and to begin a justice process to find his killer. She is motivated by a deep desire to avenge him. When she seeks out a US Marshall to employ for the hunt, she is directed to the one-eyed, hard-drinking, former Quantrill raider, Rooster Cogburn. This time he is Jeff Bridges, who has a roistering time, impersonating a larger than life character of the West.
Wary, and trying to avoid Mattie, he comes to admire her and they go off on their quest. There is a complication with a Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf?, who is also pursuing the killer (Josh Brolin). As played by Matt Damon, LaBoeuf? is a very serious, loquacious Ranger, who is prone to exalt the Ranger ideals but pompously. His involvement in the quest is well worked out and he and Cogburn have a number of encounters with gangs and criminals. Barry Pepper is also good as Lucky Ned, another outlaw leader.
The Coens bring some biblical tones to their storytelling with a quote from Proverbs to open, about guilt and pursuit; a reference to Ezekiel and the valley of bones; and a quotation from Mattie that the only thing that is free in this world is the grace of God.
Which means that anyone wanting an old-fashioned western will like this True Grit. Anyone wanting a 21st century take on characters and plot should be satisfied.
1. The Coen brothers’ work, adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel, the film version of True Grit in 1969, John Wayne’s Oscar and mantle? The Coens’ fresh approach?
2. The re-creation of the 1870s, the American west, Texas and Arkansas, the west as a frontier, developing, issues of crime and the law, the US marshals, the Texas Rangers? Bounty hunters? The harsh country? Desert, rivers, mountains? The title and the people of the west?
3. Mattie and her narrative, age fourteen, her situation, justice and revenge? Her mother and the family at home? Her travelling, poise, knowledge, articulate, English, the law? Wanting her father’s body, at the undertaker’s, the cost, her arguing the costs, agreement? Watching the hangings? Sleeping in the undertaker’s, the dead men? Her going to the house, getting her father’s goods, the gun? Her sleeping with Grandmother Turner and her snoring? The confrontation with the manager, the horses and ponies, the deals, beating the man down, threatening him with legal action?
4. Rooster Cogburn, his age, his one eye, the patch? His being in the toilet and arguing against Mattie? In court, testimony, the number of the shootings, evidence, the case against him, the prosecution? Mattie and her watching, visiting him, making the deal, his reaction, their confrontations? His agreement – but leaving early with the note, her pursuing him, catching up?
5. La Boeuf, the Texas Ranger, ultra-serious, his manner of speaking, chasing Chaney, the history of Chaney’s activities, his clashes with Mattie, his actually spanking her, Rooster’s reaction? Confronting La Boeuf? His going on by himself?
6. Travelling in the countryside, the difficulties, the camp, La Boeuf and his theories about fires and camps? Seeing the hanged man, cutting him down, the Indian taking the body, the encounter with the dentist and his covering with the bear head? Going to the store, getting the information?
7. Approaching the hut, the smoke in the chimney, the men coming out, the talking, Rooster trying to get information, one stabbing the other, Rooster shooting him? The stalking? La Boeuf and his arrival, the confrontation with the gang, Rooster shooting, the dead, leaving them outside the house? La Boeuf being wounded? The later competition in seeing who was accurate in their shooting? La Boeuf going on?
8. The continued pursuit, the mine? Looking for Ned Pepper’s gang? The camp, Mattie going down to get the water, seeing Chaney, confronting him, the shooting, her being taken? Cogburn and his confrontation of the gang?
9. Mattie and Chaney, her being rescued by La Bouef, his being bashed on the head, the shooting? Mattie and the gun, Chaney falling?
10. Cogburn, the confrontation of Ned Pepper, the gang, the reins in his mouth, two hands shooting? La Boeuf and his shooting at a distance?
11. Ned Pepper, the outlaw, his gang, the feeble-minded man? His respect for Mattie, warning Chaney?
12. Mattie, the shooting, her falling down the hole, her leg caught, the snakes, her being rescued, Cogburn and his taking out the venom?
13. Twenty-five years passing, the letter from Cogburn, Mattie at forty, visiting the carnival? Being informed about his death? Her wondering about La Boeuf, his age, no contact with him?
14. The gravestone, the life shared with Rooster? Mattie and her observations on her life, alone?
15. A film gathering together the western traditions? An interpretation for the 21st century?
