True Grit
Howard Schumann

Our contemporary society, debased by greed and corruption, destruction and rape of the environment, and an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, longs for a reminder of the good old days in the West when men were men, ready at the drop of a hat to draw their guns and shoot each other in the middle of dusty streets. The only problem is that it wasn’t true. According to writer Earl Hunsinger, “The true story of the Old West is boring. Many western towns had strict gun ordinances, making it illegal to carry guns in town. People entering the town were required to surrender their firearms to the sheriff.” Although there was some violence, it has been blown out of proportion and is much less than we see today. In the latest paean to the Old West mythology, The Coen Brothers have remade True Grit, the John Wayne vehicle from 1969 that earned him his only Oscar for Best Actor.

Based on the novel by Charles Portis, True Grit is more even handed and adult than most Hollywood Westerns and there is not that much of a gap between the good guys and the bad, though apparently fourteen-year-old girls are larger than life. Narrated by the adult Mattie Ross who reflects on the time when she was fourteen, Mattie (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) is self-confident and mature beyond her years as she seeks revenge for the murder of her father at the hands of his employee Tom Chaney. Chaney has gone free to join a band of outlaws in Indian country and she intends to exact revenge. Mattie has come to the village to bury her father and to find a lawman to help her track down Chaney. She chooses the surly, drunken, one-eyed federal Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn played by Jeff Bridges.

He is the one, with his past history of violence, that she thinks has “true grit” and pursues him until he agrees (for a price) to find and kill Chaney (Jeff Brolin) or capture him for a trial and public hanging. With God and Cogburn on her side (the song “Leaning on the Everlasting Arm” is played repeatedly during the film), Mattie is on a mission and will not stop until she can see Chaney brought to what passes for justice on the frontier. She must first prove how tough minded she is and does so in negotiation with a horse trader (Dakin Matthews). Of course, she comes out on top, managing to get what she wants after making a deal for her father’s worthless ponies.

Before she can convince Cogburn to take her job offer, however, she has to fend off a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf played by Matt Damon, who also wants a piece of Chaney’s hide and has been tracking him to take him back to Texas where he is wanted for killing a State Senator. Though neither Rooster nor LaBoeuf want any interference with their pursuit, she follows them to Indian country, where there are no Indians to be seen since they most likely were run off their land by our God-given right to trample native populations (not discussed in the film). However, Cogburn and LaBoeuf stand amazed as she drives her horse across a river through sheer will power. The young girl soon gets an education that she doesn’t want as they come across a dead man strung up on a tree and she witnesses Cogburn murder a man at close range after he chopped off a boy’s fingers to prevent him from telling the marshal about Chaney’s whereabouts.

As the two zero in on the villain Chaney, they must confront Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and the struggle takes on an epic fight for survival. Though True Grit is filled with the usual violence (what would the story of the West be without it?), the relationship between Rooster and Mattie becomes one of tenderness and caring. Hailee Steinfeld, in her premier role, is simply wonderful as the steadfast, verbally acute teenager who knows how to stand up for herself in a world of men. Jeff Bridges also turns in a convincing performance, although we have to sacrifice understanding three quarters of what he has to say. Regardless of its auditory problems, True Grit is a strong and heartening film that is more straightforward and less quirky than most of the Coen Brothers’ films, making us eagerly anticipate what they have up their sleeve next.

©2011 Howard Schumann
CineScene