OK, so I saw True Grit today.
I take back every bad thing I said about the casting, every bit of skepticism I had about whether the Cohens would fuck this up with their trademark weird twisty black humor shit, every bit of concern that one of the greatest Westerns ever made would be tarnished forever.
It was beyond awesome.
The cinematography was incredible. See it in XD if you can.
LOVED the score. It was seamless - and the rendition of Leaning On The Everlasting Arms that plays throughout is a perfect touch.
Jeff Bridges' dialog is hard to understand sometimes - like he has too much chaw in his mouth - but he nails Cogburn. He is nothing like The Duke - he makes the role his own - but no one could ever be John Wayne anyway. Even so, he did a fantastic job.
I fell a little bit in lust with Matt Damon as LeBouef - he is still about as Texas sounding as Gilbert Godfried, but he otherwise looks and acts the part of a straight laced, hotheaded yet idealistic young Texas Ranger to perfection. No pretty boy role for him this time - the mutton chops hide his face but his Ranger zeal shines in those beautiful eyes of his. He sat a horse well too - I was impressed.
The little girl who plays Mattie Ross will win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She MADE this movie, and played the role exactly as it should have been done. She channeled Kim Darby a little bit in her way of talking but she was so much better - and cuter too.
There were several scenes in this movie that are straight out of the book, and were not in the original. Most of them are Mattie's backstory while she tends to her father's affairs in Fort Smith. They added so much to the movie, it makes me question why they were not in the original. I can only speculate that because John Wayne was the Star, they did not want screen time without him in it. But I loved it - you have a new respect for Mattie after her dealings with the horse trader/cotton factor.
The Cohen Brothers definitely put their mark on the movie - the cornbread shooting contest is one - and they stayed true to the bits of humor that are in the story and in the original movie. But their main contribution was in the camera work. It is obvious to any Cohen Brothers fan that they did this movie.
BEST OF ALL - the Cohens kept completely intact my favorite scene - the scene that won The Duke the Oscar - right down to the dialogue...
Ned Pepper: What's your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfall?
Rooster Cogburn: I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?
Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
Rooster Cogburn: Fill your hands, you son of a bitch.
The only difference I could tell right off between that scene in the original and in the remake is that The Duke uses a Winchester in one hand and a Colt in the other, whereas Jeff Bridges has two Colts. That kind of made the scene for me in the original, with John Wayne recocking the long gun by spinning it around in one hand while blowing a hole through an outlaw with his Colt with his other hand. But I am not complaining - that was John Wayne's signature moment and that is how I remember him.
Just a damn good movie.
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