Movie of the Week - True Grit

Last week, Dave Letterman commented during his monologue that Jeff Bridges was in the new Tron movie. He said you remember the original had John Wayne.

I went to see True Grit with my daughter. Neither my wife nor I really wanted to see if but she begged and I agreed. And, even better, see treated her old man to the show.You, of course, know the story. Either you remember the 1969 version with John Wayne or you've seen the trailers. I did see the original, probably in the theater when it was out. My God, that was 40 years ago! Anyway, I really remembered nothing about the original except that John Wayne, who actually was an old man, was playing an old man. I didn't remember, for example, that Glen Campbell played Le Boeuf, thae character Matt Damon plays in the remake. But I looked up the plot of the original on Wikipedia. The remake rearranges some of the details but it's basically the same story.

We liked the movie quite a lot. I'm not a big Jeff Bridges fan but he does a great job here. The banter between Mattie, Rooster and Le Boeuf is delivered very well. Rooster is a gruff old drunk, but still capable. Le Boeuf is much younger, capable but maybe just a little unsure of himself. Both are great braggarts and don't like each other very much. Mattie is a very headstrong 14-year-old who knows everything and isn't ashamed to let everyone around her know it. She also doesn't hesitate to tell anyone and everyone what she thinks of them. When she is captured by the bad guys she tells them that Cogburn has abandoned her to a 'congress of louts".

The movie was great fun, pretty believable, and gorgeous to watch. There is a fair amount of violence but not too much blood. This is the Coen Brothers, not Sam Peckinpah.