True Grit

[helen]

The movie True Grit openned on December 22, 2010.

[pzarquon]

Re: True Grit

Has anyone seen this? Right now, it's our top "if we could only get out of the house" movie pick. People are going as far to say it's even better than the John Wayne original, particularly if you're familiar with the book it's based on.

[scrivener]

Re: True Grit

It’s got basically the same plot as the 1969 film; in fact, the first twenty minutes look almost exactly the same, but then the plot veers off into a couple of different directions the original never takes.

Jeff Bridges’s Cogburn is comparable to John Wayne’s. It’s tough to pick one over the other; I like them both quite well. Hailee Steinfeld, whom I have seen interviewed on television, is very impressive as the teenager who hires Cogburn to find her father’s murderer. I’m giving the advantage to Steinfeld, who is smart but still teenagery. Kim Darby’s version of the same character in the original film seems already to know what she knows, while Steinfeld’s seems to figure a lot of it out while it’s going on. I like this better. Matt Damon is tough to compare to Glen Campbell because the characters are quite different. Damon’s not nearly as lecherous as Campbell, and I like this better, ‘though the “teaching a lesson” scene is still there. I like the scene better in this film because Cogburn doesn’t stop him for reasons as sexual as in the first film.

This one’s grimmer and darker and more depressing. It seems realer. But realer doesn’t make it a better movie. Visually, it is as interesting as the original; I might give this one the advantage there, too. The soundtrack is better; I really like the slow, melancholy interpretation of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which is much better this way than the way we’ve sung it in church all our lives. Iris Dement puts vocals on it in the closing credits and it’s really good, ‘though not as good as the instrumental version in the film itself.

Better than, worse than, or about as good as the original? I say slightly better, but only slightly.

7/10 (IMDb rating)
76/100 (Criticker rating)

[salmoned]

Re: True Grit

...which is much better this way than the way we’ve sung it in church all our lives.

Who's reviewing this film here, you or you and your brethren? One thing's for sure, I haven't been singing in church all my life. I might see this one just to compare notes on the trivia you found worthy to mention.

[scrivener]

Re: True Grit

You've still got a lot of life left, and I'm not giving up.

I just re-read what I wrote and some of it would make a bit more sense if I also posted my review of the original, which I never saw until Christmas Eve (I saw the new version on Christmas night). I wonder if that would be interesting.

[timkona]

Re: True Grit

Saw True Grit last night.

Exceptionally bloody. Close ups of head shots with brain splatter. Cut-off fingers, etc. Kinda like the Wild Bunch by Sam Peckinpah.

Bridges was awesome, just different from John Wayne. Bridges is more believable in the drunken, bum kind of way. The doctor was a classic scene.

Highly recommended.

[salmoned]

Re: True Grit

Of course, it'd be of interest. New movies don't deserve more attention just because they're new. To generalize, general news is highly overrated.

[escondido100]

Re: True Grit

i saw it yesterday, i didnt think it was that bloody. pg-13 afterall.
one thing that was curious... it seemed that the dialogue had made special effort to not use contractions....once i paid attention there was none to be heard. dont was do not, cant was can not. etc
i wonder if that is the way we talked back then...maybe contractions are a more modern way to talk. also the educated people were very educated..latin and all and big words... i know its just a movie...but i am sure they have tried to be accurate. I have heard that many movies that are period pieces do a lot of research to make sure they dont use colloquialisms not typical of the era portrayed.

[scrivener]

True Grit (1969)

This is the review I wrote for the 1969 True Grit, which I saw for the first time last Saturday night. It's showing up in RedBoxes around the island for those of you who want to check it out.

True Grit (1969)
John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, and Robert Duvall

John Wayne plays Rooster Cogburn, an aging U.S. Marshall hired by a teenaged Kim Darby to track down her father’s murderer. Glen Campbell is a young Texas Ranger already on the murderer’s trail. The three of them chase the murderer, who has taken up with another known criminal played by Robert Duvall.

The performances are pretty good all around. I was especially impressed by Glen Campbell, who I guess I’ve only really thought of as the guy who sings “Rhinestone Cowboy.” He’s charming in this, with just a touch of lecherousness to add to the film’s dark overtones.

People talk a lot about Kim Darby’s performance, and I have to say that while I found her irritating in the first half hour (as an actress, not as a character), she won me over later. Wayne is Wayne as always, in this case at perhaps his grizzled, cranky, charming, avuncular best. The Darby character is a girl on the edge of womanhood and she puts herself in situations where lesser men might do bad things, but there is never a threat of impropriety from Wayne, ‘though one gets the feeling that in his younger days, he certainly wouldn’t have been above it.

Campbell, on the other hand, from the very beginning adds an air of lasciviousness that goes beyond flirtation and into creepiness. I think the director does this on purpose: Campbell admits early in his acquaintance with Darby that he was thinking of stealing a kiss but is now more inclined to hit her in the head. This creates a sexual tension that isn’t relieved until about two thirds of the way through. I don’t know how I feel about this; I think it would have been a stronger movie without this element, but I admit it does give the film an extra layer that lesser films might not attempt. Early in the film, when Campbell takes it upon himself to teach Darby a lesson, Wayne intercedes and says it’s because Campbell is “enjoying it too much,” basically highlighting (and acknowledging, much to my relief) that sexual tension.

The film is gorgeous to look at. I don’t know if I got some kind of remastered print of it, or if it’s just the fact that I was watching it on the higher-resolution screen of my laptop computer, but it looks a LOT better than most westerns from the same period. There is a brightness I appreciate, with lots of panoramic shots that show off the beauty of the land the characters traverse. I said aloud more than once, “Thank goodness this film’s not in 3D” because the whites are just too gorgeous to sacrifice to those dang dimming 3D glasses.

I could have done without the soundtrack music most of the time, but I acknowledge that it’s not any worse than most films from the same time.

It’s a lot better than I expected.

7/10 (IMDb rating)
75/100 (Criticker rating)

[shaveice]

Re: True Grit

four am already! just enough energy to say that it was better than i had expected; i enjoyed it; some funny lines at damon's expense; personally, i had hoped that the two characters would meet again...

[mel]

Re: True Grit

I saw the original True Grit with John Wayne and Kim Darby at the old Royal Theater back in 1969. Was a good movie as I recall (and thanks for the review on it above; that refreshed my memory).... Don't know if I want to see the new re-thread.

[shaveice]

Re: True Grit

i forgot to mention one thing that struck me as odd but one's mentioned it yet: the strange way in which they spoke; as though there were just learning the english language! weird!