Related: Dollars Trilogy Movie Order & Connections Explained So, after inquiring about a US Marshal who commands a sense of "true grit," she is led to the gruff door of Rooster Cogburn, who reluctantly takes her and an ambitious Texas Ranger named LaBeouf across the water and into the Indian Nation. Whilst there, she learns that Chaney is believed to have fled into the Indian Territory with a gang of outlaws, out of the jurisdiction of the local sheriffs and officers. After the news ventures back to Yell County, Arkansas, Ross' persistent daughter Mattie, opts to travel to Fort Smith and scrounge out what is happening in terms of an investigation. Kim Darby is fine, but her performance isn't award-worthy.In all three cases, the story is launched by the brutal murder of honest man Frank Ross by the cowardly, thieving Tom Chaney. Hailee Steinfeld is so good that some pundits are predicting she'll be an upset winner for Best Supporting Actress. You get the impression that if this Mattie met the original, she'd pop her in the mouth.Īdvantage: 2010. The Coens clearly believe in her: Just like the book, Mattie narrates the film, and we learn to see the characters through her eyes. In an Oscar-nominated performance, Hailee Steinfeld makes the character a no-nonsense kid who can outsmart adults and tame wild horses. We're reminded how vulnerable she is.Ģ010: The new Mattie looks at her father's watch, but she grabs his gun instead. When she retrieves her daddy's things, she cradles his pocket watch and weeps. Kim Darby's terrified eyes say that for all her sass, Mattie's a little girl. 'Rooster' Cogburn playe by John Wayne and Mattie Ross played by Kim Darby in 1969' True Grit' (R) Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in the 2010 version. She hires Rooster to track Chaney down and has the nerve to join him, but in the 1969 movie, she also sneaks away to cry. Both movies do a great job of using violence to forward the mood of the story.ġ969: Mattie Ross may be just 14, but after a lout named Tom Chaney kills her father, she wants vengeance. Knowing the men, even a little, adds the sting of reality to their punishment.Īdvantage: Draw. We hear them pleading or cursing or singing before they die. In the new version, we see their faces first. Mattie goes to a hanging in both films, and in the first, we only see the prisoners standing with hoods on their heads. We see the aftermath of fighting - a bullet hole in a jacket, blood spatter on a beard - but when it comes to the actual fight, the camera pulls away, letting the movie focus on story and character instead of brutality. It's supposed to make this yarn more exciting.Ģ010: The Coens use a similar approach. The film's violence isn't supposed to seem real. But that said, there's not a lot of gore. There are severed fingers flying, punches getting thrown, and one darkly funny scene where John Wayne threatens to make a scofflaw eat turkey feathers. Read transcript of Courtney Hazlett's Oscar chatġ969: Not to sound prudish, but this movie's awfully violent for something you'd see on TCM. ![]() Bridges is the better actor, and he's working with a better script, but he can't overshadow one of the Duke's most iconic roles. Sometimes, that makes him a fool, and sometimes, it makes him a lost soul with a bruised heart.Īdvantage: 1969. ![]() He's part of an outlaw world that's disappearing. But thanks to strong writing and a gruffly sweet performance by Jeff Bridges, Rooster is more than a joke. For the rest of the movie, he's always caught with his pants down, stumbling into dangerous situations and somehow shooting himself out of them. He might be an ornery old cuss, but in Wayne's hands, Rooster Cogburn is an American hero.Ģ010: When the Coens introduce Rooster in the new movie, he's locked in an outhouse, shouting that he wants to be left alone. When we meet him, he's hauling bad guys to jail, and in the last scene, he jumps his horse over a fence and rides into the sunset. ![]() Always more of an icon than an actor, Wayne uses his drawl and his swagger to make Rooster a classic movie cowboy. So which movie is better? Take a look at these comparisons and decide which version you think is the truest … and the grittiest.ġ969: In Charles Portis' 1968 Wild West novel, Rooster Cogburn is a one-eyed, overweight lawman who ain't takin' any guff.
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