True Grit

Anyone over say 35, will ( or should) remember the  much tv shown 1969 western True Grit. What usually sticks in the memory about the Henry Hathaway movie is the warm no holds barred performance by John Wayne as the fat one eyed old Marshall who is softened by, Kim Darby's, spunky Mattie Ross, a teenager looking to avenge her father's death. The sight of him attacking the Ned Pepper gang to the strains of Elmer Bernstein, reins gripped in his teeth and with all guns a blazing, lingers long in my movie soaked mind, so it was great interest that I went to see the Coen Brother's remake this afternoon.

True Grit ( the remake) is a much darker and a totally different movie than its predecessor.The Coens have all but eliminated the sentimental touches that Wayne and Darby generated. Instead, the affection that crusty old drunk Rooster Cogburn ( Jeff Bridges ) has for the precocious Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld ) is all but hidden away until the very final moments of action, and in its place  a powerful unsaid respect between man and girl can be seen in the odd phrase or telling glance ( watch the uplifting crossing of the river scene and you'll get my drift)
Bridges' Cogburn is a gruff, growling man who spits out his words like an old bear. Unlike in the 1969 movie, he is not Mattie's replacement father, however he does "blossom" under her forcefully, clever and slightly bullying ways.and the interplay between Rooster, Mattie and the self indulgent but emotionally warm Ranger, La Boeuf (Matt Damon) makes for a more interesting movie, a movie which is more a three headed love story than a  Western action piece.

Wisely the Coen brothers mirror the pace of the movie with the atmospheric use of the  hymn " Leaning on the Everlasting Arms  " ( Funnily enough it was the hymn that the psychotic preacher Robert Mitchum sang constantly in Night Of The Hunter) The music soundtrack is not uplifting, it is tough and a little harsh, a thing that is reflected again in the impressive cinematography of the austere countryside,and in the narrative of the film itself, which underlines the "life is cheap" mentality of Indian territory of the 1880s.
Surprisingly there is very little action in this atmospheric movie, but when the action does surface, it does so with power and some shocking violence
Jeff Bridges gives Rooster a hard edge that was perhaps missing from Wayne's  shouting performance, and Hailee Steinfield is absolutely amazing as the tough, wisecracking and emotionally hardened Mattie, who only shows her softness in one short telling scene with the rather good Damon.
I enjoyed this movie and give it a cracking 8.5 out of 10
But you know what?. for a couple of minutes, I did miss fat old John Wayne riding out and yelling "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch! "