In a holiday season when sex, violence and vulgarity are the overpowering images in most new movies, “True Grit” stands apart, its 19th-century language and a certain primness of attitude giving one almost the feeling of being at a Sunday School theatrical. Once again, Joel and Ethan Coen have shown their genius and their originality. Instead of trying to out-Wayne
John Wayne, who starred in the 1969 version, they have used the style and language of Charles Portis, whose novel was published only a year earlier.
They made some changes, however, like moving Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn’s eye patch. Wayne’s patch covered his left eye; Jeff Bridges wears the patch on his right eye. Either way, the movie, which opens today, is excellent.
The story, set in 1873 in Yell County, Ark., is the tale of 14-year-old Mattie Ross, whose father is robbed and killed by a thug named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Mattie, a dynamite debut by Hailee Steinfeld, wants to hire a man with “true grit” who will accompany her into the Indian Territory and capture Chaney. She offers to split the reward and add some from her own pocket. Cogburn, a drunkard and a wastrel, once a marshal, now a bum, but a man who can shoot the eyes out of a fly, wins the job.
Mattie is the kind of girl that most boys (me included) grew up hating. I’m certain she was the smartest girl in the class and the teacher’s pet. She’s tough, disciplined, a poised and pretentious purveyor of righteousness, a hard bargainer and just an all-American pain in the neck. But she’s fearless, and is going to see this through. Like many other frontier children of the 18th and 19th centuries, she probably learned at least some of her letters through the Bible, and her language shows it. She respects her elders and shows us how to emulate her.
That’s the way Portis wrote the character, and that’s the character the Coens have developed with her. It’s their first PG-13 movie, and a definite shift in style; while Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men” was one kind of recognizable Western movie killer, Bridges is another, equally easy to recognize but a very different character. The new film was shot in New Mexico rather than Monument Valley, but cinematographer Roger Deakins, who has worked on several Coen films, makes things look as if John Ford or Henry Hathaway were out there.
Hathaway directed the 41-year-old version from Marguerite Roberts’ screenplay, with Wayne, of course, as Cogburn. Kim Darby was Mattie, with Glen Campbell (remember “Wichita Lineman”?) as Mr. LeBoeuf and Jeff Corey as Chaney.
Matt Damon is an absolute delight, offering terrific work as Mr. LeBoeuf, the pompous Texas Ranger and apparent model for several generations of Dallas Cowboy fans, who would like to share in the reward money. He’s grown a mustache for the part, and it looks good on him. Bridges can be forgiven for “Tron,” after watching him as Cogburn. He’s not Wayne, of course (I can hear some people out there cheering), but he is Cogburn, not Bridges, and he’s splendid. There’s some overacting, of course, but it’s a big, juicy part. Brolin is mean and a bully as Chaney and he delivers splendidly.
It is, however, a pleasure to watch the Coens taking a different approach than they did in “Fargo” or “No Country for Old Men.” And it’s an equal pleasure to see an old favorite that has improved under the Coens’ vision and their exemplary cast.
True Grit opens today at a number of theaters
—Joe