True Grit

Plot synopsis:
Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14-year-old from Yell County, Arkansas, is determined to avenge the murder of her father. Frank Ross was killed by his hired hand, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), after trying to dissuade a drunken Chaney from shooting a fellow card player who had allegedly cheated him. Chaney stole Ross's horse and fled the town. Enraged that no one bothered to pursue or convict Chaney, Mattie decides to take the investigation into her own hands.Leaving her mother and two younger siblings at home, Mattie travels to Fort Smith where her father was killed. She identifies his body for the undertaker. Despite her age, Mattie is extremely quick-witted and confident, and is a fearless bargainer. She sells her father's now useless string of ponies back to the reluctant seller (Dakin Matthews), and acquires three hundred and twenty dollars from the sale. Renting a room at a Fort Smith boarding house, where her father had been staying before his death, Mattie resolves to hire a U.S. marshal to pursue and catch Tom Chaney. After consulting the local sheriff, she settles on the marshal described as the meanest: Rueben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). After trailing Cogburn to a saloon, she attempts to hire him but is rebuffed. Mattie makes a second attempt after a court hearing at which Cogburn was questioned, but Cogburn turns her down again, doubting that she actually possesses the fifty dollars she offered him as a reward for Chaney's capture.A Texas Ranger, LaBouef (Matt Damon), takes a room at the boarding house and consults Mattie about her endeavor. LaBouef had been tracking Chaney for several months after Chaney had killed a Texas senator in an argument. He offers to combine his knowledge with Cogburn's to track Chaney down. Mattie rejects his offer.
The following day, Mattie buys back one of her father's ponies to use on her journey, naming him Little Blackie. She speaks with Cogburn who has decided to accept her offer. However, he initially refuses to let Mattie accompany him as she had planned. After Mattie threatens to report him to the sheriff if Cogburn leaves with her fifty dollars, he seemingly gives in and instructs her to be ready for the journey the next morning.Mattie takes her father's clothing and gun and rides her horse to Cogburn's lodgings in the morning, only to find he has left without her (with LaBouef), and left her a train ticket back to Yell County. Angrily, Mattie follows his trail to a nearby river, spying the two men on the opposite bank. After the ferryman refuses to take her across, Mattie rides Little Blackie into the water and the two swim to the other side. Cogburn seems impressed by Mattie's gumption, but LaBouef is clearly irritated by her domineering attitude. After an argument with Cogburn (whom he also dislikes), LaBouef abandons the mission, taunting Cogburn for being "hoo-rahed by a little girl."Mattie and Cogburn continue the journey, forming something of a kinship as they travel. Cogburn picks up the information that Tom Chaney is not too far ahead of them, and that he may have joined up with another outlaw, Lucky Ned Pepper, and his gang. Seeking shelter from the cold, the two discover a cabin at nightfall. Cogburn recognizes the pair of inhabitants as outlaws tied in with the Ned Pepper gang, one of them badly shot in the leg. Suspecting Ned and his gang will arrive at the cabin soon, Cogburn offers to take the injured man to a doctor and to give them some escape time if they provide information. The injured man (Domhnall Gleeson), desperate for medical attention, begins to talk, but is stabbed by the other man (Paul Rae), who is then shot dead by Cogburn. As he dies, the man with the injured leg admits that Lucky Ned is expected at the cabin that very night.Cogburn and Mattie hide in the bushes near the cabin, waiting for the gang to arrive. They first see LaBouef approach the cabin, continuing the search alone. However, the Ned Pepper gang arrives moments later and lassos LaBouef, dragging him behind a horse. From cover, Cogburn shoots two of the gang members (inadvertently winging LeBouef in the arm) and the others flee. He and Mattie take the injured LaBouef into the cabin. Cogburn drinks heavily throughout the night and is incredibly drunk the next morning. He and LaBouef argue over each other's shooting skills, but Mattie attempts to keep the two men on task.After setting up camp in the woods that night, Cogburn becomes increasingly frustrated with their mission, claiming he has been "dragged into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop." He bows out of the agreement, and LaBouef leaves again, though he has gained a new-found respect for Mattie. Both men agree that Chaney's trail is cold, and that continuing the search would be useless. A dejected Mattie falls asleep.The next morning, Mattie goes to a nearby stream for water and notices a stranger there watering his horses. Shocked, she realizes it is none other than Tom Chaney himself. Chaney recognizes her and does not initially act hostile until Mattie pulls a revolver and attempts to take him into custody. An angered Chaney approaches with his rifle and Mattie fires, but only grazes his arm. Chaney drags her to the opposite bank, where the rest of the Ned Pepper gang has set up camp. Cogburn, having slept in the woods through the night, hears the commotion but is too late to retrieve Mattie.Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper), familiar with Cogburn, shouts across the stream to him and bargains Mattie's life for ample escape time. Cogburn agrees to not pursue the gang if Mattie is not harmed, and appears to ride away over the hills. Pepper is impressed by Mattie's strength of will, and assures her that she will not be hurt. While Ned and the three other gang members leave to address finances, Chaney is ordered to stay with Mattie and to leave her somewhere safe. Chaney tries to get out of the assignment, but to no avail. Mattie, despite Lucky Ned's assurance otherwise, fears that Chaney will kill her once they are alone. After the gang departs, Mattie offers to give Chaney an affidavit if he sets her free. Chaney refuses, saying that all he needs is Mattie's silence. He attacks her and holds a knife to her throat, but is knocked unconscious by LaBouef, who had remained in the area and heard the gunshots. He explains that he rode back to the woods, met with Cogburn, and outlined a plan for Mattie's rescue. He says that Cogburn himself has arranged a showdown with Lucky Ned.As Mattie and LeBouef watch from a hilltop, Cogburn comes face to face with Ned and the three other gang members. Having pursued Ned on and off for some time, Cogburn gives Ned the choice of being taken back to Fort Smith to be hanged, or to be killed on the spot. Ned taunts Cogburn, calling him a "one-eyed fat man," and Cogburn charges his horse. Holding the reins in his teeth, he fires revolvers with both hands, killing the three other men and mortally wounding Lucky Ned before his horse takes a fall and traps him underneath. With his last moments of strength, Ned prepares to kill Cogburn. From the hilltop, LaBouef proves his shooting ability by making a 400 yard shot, shooting Lucky Ned off his horse before he can harm the marshal. Moments later, LaBouef is knocked unconscious by a now-awakened Tom Chaney, who attempts to grab LaBouef's rifle. Mattie intercepts and gets the gun herself, proudly shooting Tom Chaney at last.Though her goal is completed, the blast from the gun sends Mattie stumbling backwards into a deep pit. She calls for help, but LaBouef is still out cold. Cogburn appears and begins to scale the side of the pit with a rope to rescue her, but Mattie's left hand has already been bitten by a rattlesnake. Cogburn retrieves her and temporarily treats her wound, but knows he must get her medical attention quickly or she will die. A revived LaBouef hoists them out of the pit, and Cogburn and Mattie ride away on Little Blackie.After miles of running, Little Blackie begins to suffer from exhaustion and eventually collapses. Knowing they cannot stop their journey, Cogburn shoots the horse and continues on, carrying Mattie himself. They soon reach a general store and Mattie is taken inside.Twenty five years later, 40-year-old Mattie (Elizabeth Marvel) looks back on her adventures. Her arm had been severely damaged by the snake bite, and was amputated . She explained that Cogburn had departed by the time she came back into consciousness. After arriving home, Mattie had written to Cogburn, inviting him to visit her and collect his fifty dollar reward, but he never responded or appeared. The adult Mattie learns that the elderly Cogburn is a performer in a traveling wild west show, and finally exchanges letters with him, arranging to meet once again to swap stories. Arriving at the fairgrounds, Mattie is told that Cogburn had died three days earlier.Mattie has Cogburn's body moved to her family plot. She reflects on her life; she never married, and kept her no-nonsense attitude over the years. She never heard again from LaBouef, but holds him in her memory. Mattie laments that "time just gets away from us."

Tags: comedy, dark, boring, murder, atmospheric, action, revenge, historical

Review:
In this case, it is "The Dude" Lebowski himself, Jeff Bridges, who makes his triumphant return in a Coen brothers film, filling the very large shoes of John Wayne, who gave an iconic performance as Rooster Cogburn in the first adaptation of True Grit, from 1969.
14-year-old Steinfeld proves she is a talent to watch, though – she totally commands the screen with her strong-willed, stubborn character, and manages to hold her own against Bridges, Damon and Josh Brolin, who makes a brief but memorable appearance later in the film.
As with No Country, I came to this film looking to see is there a statement on violence, does it happen in a certain way and is the universe indifferent to it, is life worth a damn?This one here works very much like the Henry Hathaway film from '69, except everyone's better, where John Wayne played a character, Jeff Bridges plays a man, and even Barry Pepper betters my beloved Robert Duvall's turn as Ned Pepper.
Perhaps we are even seeing the film as Mattie relives the experience in her old age, an affair shaped by memory and time.This is the marvellous touch effected by the Coens on the material; the minute recreation of the Old West as a historical place and the odd, incongruous moments found within it annihilate any authority over the material.The epilogue is important in that aspect.It's not only that Mattie's revenge didn't accomplish anything, that it was for her merely another practical inconvenience to be bargained, paid for, and settled, like her father's ponies and saddle or the service of the US Marshall before, but that she clings to the memory of it so fiercely.
Even the last scene failed to ring true: it was possible to suspend disbelief over Mattie's character for the sake of letting the young actress show her stuff and the director to add a curious dimension to the character, but in the end I didn't care about her at all.There was a real tension being built up to the confrontation with the villain but from then on the move just seemed to run out of gas and depend on clichés to get it thru to the down-beat ending.Cinematography was excellent, script was good, cast was good, but somewhere in there the directors lost interest and failed to do a professional job of making a movie..
But after the critical and financial success of their "contemporary" Western, No Country for Old Men, the source material for True Grit looked a nice fit for the Coen's, and with them announcing they were to cleave close to Portis' novel, hopes were high of a modern Western fit to sit alongside the likes of Unforgiven in terms of stature and widespread appeal.
When at the dinner table with the family some months back news came in that TRUE GRIT was going to be remade, and with Jeff Bridges, no less, the immediate response from everyone present was a burst of derisive laughter and rolling eyes.I'm afraid seeing the film confirmed the initial reaction.The film is rubbish from start to finish and the only recommendation I can offer is that it may spark interest in Henry Hathaway's moving and vastly superior 1969 film.The original is superior in every way: the screenplay.
Slow and boring.I didn't like any of the characters, unlike the original True Grit.First off, Hailee Steinfeld is a terrible Mattie.
If so many of you really want to watch remakes which butcher the original story from great books, and much better movies which didn't hold back on real character development with the actors, dialog, scenes, and beautiful scenery which the hatchet-men Coens chopped up, then this bodes very poorly for the future of cinema, and humanity on this earth.That so many of you are fascinated by the most no-talent, wooden actors and actresses in the history of movie making is just depressing beyond words.
Whole scenes were completely flushed, beginning with the first scene which defined the life of Mattie Ross before she lost her father.The few added scenes were like a political ad campaign against alcohol, but you know that the Coens saved money on the extra actors.The re-tooling of the dialog was by far the worst crime of this remake, which made every character more wooden than Pinnochio.I've got news for all the brain-dead sycophants who rave about the accuracy of the realism in this horrible remake(which for good reason wasn't good enough for the book or the 1969 movie) - it's still just a movie, and there's really no point in making a movie more realistic than watchable.
I wasn't sure how to take the news that the Coen brothers were remaking the John Wayne film True Grit and I remained unsure even when it was clear that they were not so much remaking the film as making a different version of the original book.
Ethan and Joel Coen, more famously known as the Coen Brothers, team up with Jeff Bridges twelve years after he starred as The Dude in the Coens' "The Big Lebowski" and with Josh Brolin three years after he starred as Llewelyn Moss in the Coens' Academy Award winning "No Country for Old Men", to create their newest classic, "True Grit".
The film begins with a shot of Mattie Ross's (Hailee Steinfeld's debut movie role) dead father on the ground after being shot in cold blood by a man named Ton Chaney (Josh Brolin).
True Grit is a great revival of a classic Western film by possibly the greatest team of brothers in film history.Mattie Ross (Hailie Steinfeld) is a thirteen year old girl who was raised in the eye-for-an-eye old west.
Josh Brolin has a small role, but he's good too.The Coen Brothers have created another modern classic with True Grit, a modern version of the classic Western story.
Jeff Bridges did one hell of a job as the washout Rooster Cogburn alongside newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Matt Damon the Texas Ranger LaBouef.
Action scenes are drawn out in between and in place of blazing gunfights we get character driven scenes which made the characters all the more human.Don't get me wrong, the 1969 version with John Wayne as the lead was great and I do love me a good John Wayne film but this version of TRUE GRIT simply stands out since it was able to make a mark of its own; it didn't succumb to being under the shadow of a classic and instead chose its own path.The only reason why I'm writing this is because for some reason, a lot of people hate it; obviously there's a lack of people who support it.
I've read some forums mentioning that the Coen's TRUE GRIT is nothing compared to the John Wayne version due to a massive lack of gun fights and Rooster Cogburn screen time as the lead, others saying that the film was a total disappointment because of something as trivial as bad CGI backgrounds or slow pacing and debates questioning the possibility of a 400 yard gun shot.
Maybe it's because it's cool to hate pretty much everything that's doing well on the internet right now as seen in the hype backlash against THE DARK KNIGHT and INCEPTION or maybe it's just because people are bored; I don't know.Sure, for a Coen Brothers film TRUE GRIT was pretty shallow, simple and straight forward even after they made a name for themselves by creating unique genre busting films and the fact that it was a PG-13 film didn't help much but the duo still managed to do what they do best; make a good film that's more than worth your money.Bottom line is if you don't like a slow paced Western and prefer the fast paced action ones, go ahead and watch TOMBSTONE or the 2007 version of 3:10 TO YUMA and the like; they're both good films that have heavy emphasis on action balanced with story.
A Movie Fun To Look At And Listen To. Count me as another viewer who enjoyed this re-make and likes both movies the first True Grit, starring John Wayne, as this one.The acting in this new version is superb, from 12-year-old Hailee Steinfeld playing 14-year-old "Mattie Ross" to Jeff Bridges playing the crotchety "Rooster Cogburn." Wayne would have been proud.The cinematography was good and that's no surprise since the main cameraman was the famous Roger Deakins.To me, the best part of the film was the dialog and a few quirky characters.
Damon is such a versatile actor.In the original "True Grit" John Wayne won his Academy Award for playing his larger than life self as Rooster Cogburn with ease and grace.
In this beautifully constructed Western remake of Henry Hathaway's 1969 version, 14-year-old girl Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) sets out with an eye-for-an-eye attitude to capture Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who has mercilessly killed her father.
"Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a man of "true grit" and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon).
It's boring, the acting is awful, especially Jeff Bridges, the scenery is not spectacular at all, I really don't know why they bothered to remake this film, it's just a waste of time.Honestly, I have no idea why it's got so many glowing reviews.The *only* good thing about this movie, is the 14 year old actress, she's excellent as Mattie.I had to create this account on IMDb just to write this, because reading the other reviews was too much to bear.Avoid this film at all costs!.
Thankfully, True Grit makes you almost completely forget the Coens have made anything since No Country.The father of the young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) has been murdered in cold blood by outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
I just wish they used Brolin and a nearly unrecognizable Barry Pepper a lot more often.I am still unsure how to feel about True Grit a day after seeing it, but can say I was very pleased to see the Coens return to what worked in No Country for Old Men. It is a visually astounding and ambitious film that is imperfect, but still manages to be very good.
Jeff Bridges gets to put his own spin on the character of Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, first portrayed by an Oscar-winning John Wayne in the 1969 film adaptation.
If their purpose is to reinvigorate the public's interest in a lost genre in a way that braver movies like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford couldn't do then perhaps it'll have been worthwhile.14-year-old Mattie Ross (impressive newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) hires past-it Marshall Rooster Cogburn (a gloriously grumbling Jeff Bridges) and self-promoting dandy Ranger LaBoeuf (an amusing Matt Damon) to track down her father's killer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin, playing the simpleton flip-side to No Country's crafty Llewelyn Moss).It's a classical western: a movie crafted to show affection toward, without spoiling, the self-contained myth of the Old West.
But it also has some hindrances, the ending is abrupt, and some of the characters perhaps are not quite as intriguing as they are in the 1969 film, Rooster especially has a more somewhat cantankerous personality there.Like all the Coen Bros movies, True Grit is beautifully shot, the scenery is stunning and there are some typically quirky moments in the cinematography.
etc., and I'll keep this simple!I did manage to see all of this remake but it was a real struggle!1) First of all never try to remake a John Wayne film as it will be doomed to failure as this movie has proved!2) I like Jeff Bridges in most of his films, but he fails miserably to reproduce John Wayne's version Of Rooster Cogburn!3) I also like Matt Damon in some of his films, but he also fail in the role of Texas Ranger La Beouf played originally played by Glen Campbell!4) I've never heard of Halie Steinfeld and she may be good in some other role, but here again fails miserably to compete with Kim Darby's version of Mattie Ross!5) Just as important in any movie ever made are the character bit roles, two roles I particularly refer to are that of Tom Chaney and Lucky Ned Pepper played by Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper, and both actors failed miserably to reproduce roles played by Jeff Corey and Robert Duval!So to the producers I say, get a clue...there just is no remaking of a good old John Wayne film!
The resurrection of western genre has tumbled through a long and bumpy way, sometimes it seems to be a pipe dream because we all admit time is a ruthless bitch, but in the hands of Coen brothers, the clicking steps are by far the firmest one to satisfy our nostalgia for that era (who could forget NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN?).It's hard to believe that TRUE GRIT actually is my first John Wayne's film if my memory doesn't fail me (which partially testifies that Western film usually is not my cup of tea), also I discovered it got Wayne an Oscar winning for Best Actor, which honestly speaking, is far from academy's normal criterion, the performance is particularly unexceptional, to me it's rather a tribute to his entire career, which is a stock and unfair trickery using by the academy (Paul Newman for example), Jeff Bridge's interpretation also doesn't take my breath away as well, mainly because his weird accent does bug me a lot.
True Grit is a very good western with a great story, great cast and two brothers who yet again churn out a film that is simply highly rated as so many of there other works are.
Based on the old film of the same name with John Wayne, the Coen Brothers possibly live up to the infamous Wayne version and the way they make the characters intertwine so well is fabulous.Jeff Bridges plays the infamous Rooster Cogburn with style and ease and know's exactly what kind of character he really is.
I also enjoyed the thuggish like performance of Josh Brolin who portrays yet another fine character in a Coen Brothers film(he also appeared in No Country for Old Men),he does a great job albeit maybe not featured as much as he should have.The film isn't too long at all and any more possibly could have ruined it's integrity but I will say if any criticism come's it is in the way the film's action is left until the end and I felt a little more would have been brilliant to see but not too much or the Drama and dialogue would be ruined.
But in True Grit, they seem to just want to make a solid western, and outside of a few quirky moments and a feverish final ride, the movie has little of the brothers' flash.It is a very well made movie, well acted, well filmed with an engaging story and characters.
True Grit is an excellent and perfectly executed Western and it will stand out as one of the best among the genre.The movie takes place in a small town in Arkansas where a 14 year girl named Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) narrates the story of how her father has been cowardly murdered by a thief who goes by the name of Tom Chaney (Josh Broslin).
Luckily they know how to make a remake right this time.Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a 14-year-old girl whom father had been murdered by one of his hired hands, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
More recently, the Western has enjoyed a modernised resurgence through quality films such as 3:10 To Yuma, There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, also directed by the Coen brothers.In 1969, John Wayne starred in (and won the Oscar for) True Grit.
Jeff Bridges is excellent as the aged US Marshall Rooster Cogburn who is a man of true grit who Mattie Ross (Steinfeld) hires to hunt down the murderer of her father one Tom Chaney (Brolin).
Won't going to tell the story, just wanna say, that this is my favorite film so far by Coen brothers, and one of the best in 2010-2011.Jeff Bridges ABSOLUTELY steals the show creating one of the most memorable characters in a movie history - Rooster Cogburn (didn't saw J.Wayne) and the whole cast is just Great!
That film seems to have been put out of their minds - there are some acts you just can't follow.The Coen Brothers vision of True Grit never feels for one single second like a standard movie western.
What you get with Coen Brothers' True Grit is something similar, but with a Western flavor.After her father was murdered and robbed by his handyman, 14-year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is determined to find the killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
Thanks to a smart script and strong acting, True Grit comes off as a very solid film with some similarities and noticeable differences from the original film.Told in flashback by a woman's voice, a 14 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) wants to avenge the murder of her father at the hands of Tom Chaney (a grizzled Josh Brolin), and she arrives in a small town to hire Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), an aged, hard drinking veteran lawman who has done his share of killing and more.
Having never seen the older film (gasp), I'm not in a position to say which is better, nor which is more faithful to the book both are based on, having never read it, but what I do know is that the newer film is fantastic.Spot-on performances from all involved, superb dialogue, beautiful cinematography and a straight forward storyline made for the most enjoyable film I have seen in some time.Most people are probably aware of the premise of True Grit, but to summarise: 14 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hires US Marshall 'Rooster' Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track down and bring to justice her father's killer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).