In the new Western by sibling filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen, fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) seeks out the grizzled U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to hunt down Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who murdered her father. Chances are you’ve heard of “True Grit” before via watching the 1969 film with your father or borrowing a worn copy of the Charles Portis novel from your grandfather all while listening to their long speeches about the glories of former screen cowboy and original “True Grit” star John Wayne.
Westerns go back as far as the birth of movies with “The Great Train Robbery” bandit played by Justus D. Barnes facing the camera and firing his six-shooter at the audiences. Since then, movies continue to change to keep up with shifting public tastes. While Westerns struggle to stay relevant, mostly through strange hybrids like the recent Martial Arts/Western hybrid “The Warrior’s Way,” the once-dominant genre has mostly fallen off movie screens.
The Coen Brothers dust off Wayne and all the mixed memories of the 1969 “True Grit” and bring the grizzled Marshall named Rooster Cockburn to life thanks to a lively performance by Jeff Bridges that makes up for his stiffness in the current sci-fi adventure “Tron: Legacy.”
No one considers director Henry Hathaway's “True Grit” a classic Western even with John Wayne's Oscar-winning performance but the Coen Brothers adapt Portis’ novel beautifully by pushing the fiery Mattie to center stage and making her a brave cohort to the drunken Cogburn.
As Mattie and Cogburn set out together to find Chaney before a somewhat comical Texas Ranger named La Boeuf (Matt Damon) gets to the murderer first, the Coen Brothers and their frequent collaborator, cameraman Roger Deakins (“No Country for Old Men,” “A Serious Man,” “Fargo”) make epic use of the Hi-Lo country around Austin, TX and Santa Fe, NM.
Midway into the film’s steady journey, La Boeuf turns to the past-his-prime Marshall and asks: “Now what Cogburn?”
The Coen Brothers’ cultish fans are whispering the same question upon hearing the news that “True Grit” is a true blue Western similar in spirit to Ron Howard’s little-seen 2003 Western “The Missing” and far removed from the genre tweaking that goes back to their debut movie, the film noir “Blood Simple.”
It’s understandable that audiences may want the Coen Brothers to upend the Western and fill “True Grit” with the dizzy camerawork and snappy dialogue that has long been their trademark.
Thankfully, wisely, they let Bridges’ worn and comfortable performance ground the story with welcome bursts of comedy from Matt Damon as La Boeuf and sparks of youthful energy from teen Hailee Steinfeld. Josh Brolin brings menace to the movie as Tom Chaney and Barry Pepper makes the most of his brief role as Lucky" Ned Pepper, a ruthless outlaw in sheepskin chaps.
In an age of CGI monsters, 3D and teen vampire lovers leaping off the screen, the Coen Brothers return to classic themes about frontier justice and prove that a classically made Western can still be relevant today.
Here’s hoping they make another one.
4 Stars
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Scriptwriter: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Editor: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Cast: Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Domhnall Gleeson, Haile Steinfeld, Barry Pepper, Elizabeth Marvel, Leon Russom, Ed Corbin, Paul Rae, Mary Anzalone, Nicholas Sadler, Bruce Green, Dakin Matthews, Joe Stevens, Brian Brown, Mike Watson, Philip Knobloch
Production Designer: Jess Gonchor
Music: Carter Burwell
Producers: Scott Rudin Productions
Running Time: 103 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: December 22, 2010