Westerns are not dead! The Coen Brothers created a super team for this “remake” of the 1969 John Wayne film with the same name, and it does not disappoint. I hesitate, and actually kind of resent the idea, to call this a remake, since the 1969 film was an adaptation from the novel (also of the same name) that was released in 1968. The Coen Brothers just happened to adapt the same novel into a movie, and they kinda did it better too.
That last sentence may ruffle some feathers, and if you had showed it to me fifteen years ago, I probably would have been up in arms as well. I grew up with my dad showing me countless John Wayne movies, with True Grit being one of them. The idea of someone doing a Western better than John Wayne would have wrinkled my child-sized brain to a raisin, what with him having appeared in a measly 179 films over his 53-year career. But there was something about the Coen brothers’ adaptation that sat more pleasantly for me and made it a more enjoyable watch.
John Wayne was always known for his surly demeanor (in both his movies and in real life), which plays well in war movies and westerns. But there is something about the way the Coen brothers wrote the character of Rooster Cogburn that makes him so much more endearing than the 1969 version. Instead of being a mean, old, cocky, drunk Marshal, he is a mean, old, cocky, drunk Marshal who is also funny. Maybe it’s just me, but that (along with Jeff Bridges’ acting, more on that in a bit) made this movie so much more fun of a watch. All that said, I just think the 2010 version is better than the 1969 version.
Speaking of Rooster Cogburn, it is time we turn our attention to Jeff Bridges and his Oscar-nominated performance. There were so many times throughout this movie that I was laughing out loud at this character. Whether it was the way he drunkenly said a word in that thick southern accent, or his back-and-forth banter with Mattie or LaBoeuf throughout, Jeff Bridges absolutely nailed his performance. There is one scene in particular that will make me laugh even just thinking about it (I’m literally chuckling as I type this, thinking about it), but I won’t spoil it for one of the future categories. Just as quickly as he can make you laugh, though, he turns on a dime to being a mean, calculating, tough as nails US Marshal who knows how to get the job done.
I would also be remiss if I wrote about a movie with Matt Damon in it and didn’t spotlight his performance even just a little. If there’s one thing you will learn about me through this blog (if you didn’t already know it), it’s that Matt Damon is my favorite actor. I am currently in the process of watching through his entire catalog in chronological order, which is actually what led me to watching this movie again for the first time in a year or so. Damon plays the role of LaBoeuf, a gritty and proud Texas Ranger, who ends up flustered by fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross on more than one occasion. We are introduced to his character smoking a pipe on the porch of the hostel that Mattie is staying in, and then again sitting in her room waiting for her to wake up. But almost immediately, she rebuffs him and outwits him much to his chagrin; so much so that he says she deserves a good spanking. Just a few scenes later we see LaBoeuf so flustered by her attitude that he indeed ends up giving her the spanking, before attempting to quit on the team out of spite. It is beautiful stuff.
Finally, we get to talk about the true shining star of this cast, Hailee Steinfeld. Hailee had appeared in a handful of short films in 2008 and 2009, but made her full-length, feature film debut in 2010 with True Grit. She went on to then be nominated for 22 acting awards, including nine wins and an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actress; all at the age of 13, and while acting alongside two greats in Damon and Bridges! It cannot be overstated how impressive her performance was, especially considering her age and extremely limited feature film experience. But right from the start, you immediately believe her to be Mattie Ross, a spunky, driven, and brave young girl looking to avenge her father’s murder. What blew my mind away the first time watching this was learning that Steinfeld was born and raised outside of Los Angeles but put on a pretty spot-on southern accent! You would expect a thirteen-year-old to not be able to hold a believable accent for an entire movie, but she truly nails it. I think Time magazine summed it up really well: “She delivers the orotund dialogue as if it were the easiest vernacular, stares down bad guys, wins hearts. That’s a true gift.”
Lest we forget, the Coen Brothers were also a huge part of what makes this movie so good. Venturing into a more straightforward story and genre film, True Grit looks like a bit of an outlier on their résumé. They were coming off a run consisting of The Ladykillers, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, and A Serious Man, all of which are some combination of black comedy, crime or thrillers. But they went into production of True Grit with a reverence and love for Westerns, wanting to do a more faithful adaptation of the novel. In reference to the novel and the 1969 John Wayne adaption, Ethan Coen had this to say: “The book is entirely in the voice of the 14-year-old girl. That sort of tips the feeling of it over a certain way. I think [the book is] much funnier than the movie was so I think, unfortunately, they lost a lot of humor in both the situations and in her voice.” I’d say they captured that perfectly.
With that being said, let’s head to the categories!
By The Numbers
- Budget: $38 million (estimated)
- Box office: $252.3 million1
- Run time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
- Letterboxd rating: 3.8 ★
- My Letterboxd rating: 4.0 ★
- Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (Certified Fresh ?)2
- Accolades – 96 total nominations, 15 total wins
- Ten Academy Award nominations, zero wins (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor [Bridges], Best Supporting Actress [Steinfeld], Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing)
- Zero Golden Globe nominations (what?!)
Best Scene
Alright so this movie is kinda packed with great scenes. Let’s start with our introduction to Rooster Cogburn during his testimony in a court hearing. This is arguably as to the point as you can get for a character introduction – we see that he is unforgiving, cocky, smug, and trigger-happy. We also get our first of many great cinematography moments from Roger Deakins with the beautiful lighting and framing of Mattie and Rooster throughout the scene.
Next up we have arguably the climax of the entire film, when Rooster takes on Ned Pepper and his gang in a one-on-four showdown, assisted by LaBoeuf. We get more great cinematography from Deakins, Rooster at his proudest, and some great Western action. The slight delay in timing from when LaBoeuf take his shot to when it hits Ned to when he falls of his horse just adds a little more tension and reality to the scene.
A scene that I think may sometimes be forgotten in the grand scheme of things is when Mattie and Rooster interrogate two outlaws in their cabin before being the only two to walk out alive. The way Bridges is able to turn up the intensity that doesn’t feel out of character, while also slyly finding a way to get Moon to admit he knows exactly who Tom Cheney is and where he’s headed, is yet another stroke of brilliance that should have netted him an Oscar. The brutality, coupled with the shock factor of the scene being over before you know it, makes for a great watch.
And the final scene, the winning scene, is when LaBoeuf and Rooster have a shooting contest, with both of them proving they don’t have that good of a shot. This scene has me laughing the entire time and never gets old. I’m laughing, again, just thinking about it. Bridges’ hilarious acting as a drunk, Damon’s control of being cheeky while not-so-talented, and Steinfeld’s sheer impatience with the men acting like boys makes for such a fun watch. It’s a shame to have wasted all of that cornbread, though.
What’s Aged the Best
The simple, yet beautiful score – the majority of it is re-purposing of old hymns, which made it ineligible for Best Original Score, but accompanied the pacing and feel of a Western. Hailee Steinfeld has aged well (get your mind out of the gutter), having now starred in multiple films and television shows such as Romeo & Juliet, The Edge of Seventeen, Bumblebee, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Hawkeye. We can throw Domhnall Gleeson’s name in the ring as well – since some minor roles in 2010, Gleeson has gone on to have significant roles in movies like About Time, Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and more. True Grit succeeding at the box office as a Western has aged really well too – I can’t think of many other Westerns since the turn of the century that have been this true to form while also succeeding so grandly in the box office. My pick, not surprisingly, goes to the cinematography of the film. Roger Deakins really flexes his muscles in this one and begins a path of cementing himself as one of the greats, following up with projects like Skyfall, Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049 and 1917.
What’s Aged the Worst
Not much, honestly. The only criticisms I have found online are for the pacing of the movie, which really just shows me that those people don’t like Westerns. They’re not known for their fast pace, quick edits or heart-pumping action scenes. They take their time, do some world-building, give you lots of dialogue to chew on, and throw in some fun shootouts here and there. Outside of that, all of the actors and crew haven’t had any controversies (to my knowledge), there was no unnecessary or weird racism and the plot itself is simple and cringe-free!
The Jason Clarke Award
Not much to choose from here when you have a small cast that is top loaded. Most of the smaller parts were played by people I didn’t recognize from anything else (aside from Domhnall Gleeson) so I couldn’t point them out. All that said, Elizabeth Marvel is today’s winner of the Jason Clarke Award. Playing 40-year-old Mattie Ross at the end of the film, I immediately knew I recognized her face from something. I was then delighted to find out I actually knew her from two things – she plays the fake psychologist who tries to kill Rachel Weiss’ character in The Bourne Legacy but more importantly, she plays “The Major” in one of my favorite shows, Manifest. Congratulations, Elizabeth!
The Jack Nicholson Award
By default, I think this one has to go to Domhnall Gleeson, right? Everyone else is in the movie for too long or doesn’t make a large enough impact. I considered giving it to Josh Brolin, but I think he just passes the threshold of screen time to qualify for this award. 2010 was Gleeson’s coming out party, with considerable parts in Never Let Me Go, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and True Grit. He’s in the movie for about five minutes and you’re immediately pulling for his character to survive and do the right thing.
The Roger Deakins Award
We all knew it was only a matter of time, but today, the Roger Deakins Award goes to…Roger Deakins! I’ve already talked about his impact on this film, so let’s just talk about the best cinematography of the movie instead. The court room scene and the cabin interrogation scenes were already discussed but are worth repeating – the way Deakins lets the light into the rooms, but only through sunlight and oil lamps, gives such a stark and beautiful look that mimics what is happening in the scenes. In the courtroom, there is light pouring in from a window, lighting up Rooster Cogburn while he gives his testimony, reflecting in a way how he views himself as a light in darkness, doing good work that shouldn’t be questioned. To contrast it, we have the cabin scene where his face is lit by nothing more than the flames from the fireplace that exemplify his darker, more insidious side. We also have Deakins’ own favorite shot, when Cogburn and Mattie come across the body hanging from the trees in a forest of cottonwoods. You can feel the coldness of the season in the bare trees, dead grass, and the stark image of a dead body hung high from a tree for all to see. My pick goes to the wide crane shot of the three travelers in an open field, coming over the horizon. As the crane lifts, we see our three main characters riding their horses and as it continues to rise, the beautiful New Mexico mountains slowly rise into the shot as well. I’m a huge sucker for wide, landscape shots, especially when they are taken in the Midwest or Southwest – Oppenheimer, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are other great examples of this.
Conclusion
This movie continues to grow on me the more I watch it, and the more time that passes since it came out. I’ve only seen it twice now and wasn’t sure I wanted to write about it after watching it a few weeks ago. But after talking about the movie for just a few minutes with some friends, I realized how much I appreciated the film, the acting, the Coen Brothers’ palpable admiration for Westerns, and the fact that it was more nostalgic for me than I realized. If you’re not into Westerns (and their pacing) then this may not be the movie for you, but at a “chef’s kiss” runtime of 110 minutes, I suggest you give it a shot anyway.
