True Grit

Is this really the first Western I'm doing here?  That I cannot believe, frankly, I just cannot.  Westerns are an amazingly genre of film:  stark tales of desperate morally ambiguous heroism in the pristine harshness of the wilderness.  Gunfights, deserts, and classic Western imagery - you already know the cliches.  Wooden sidewalks, trains, saloons, wooden coffins, sheriff stars, jangling spurs, and revolvers.  These are great tales where heroes or antiheroes can go out and fight the most viscous of outlaws at High Noon.  Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns like "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time in the West" are without a doubt the highest point of this century-long genre.  Tragically the Western is a dead genre, despite several recent attempts at a revival such as "No Country For Old Men" and the remake of "3:10 to Yuma".  Those may not have resparked America's imagination for the Wild Wild West, but it sure sparked mine.

So when the Coen Brothers, the directors of such great films as "The Big Lebowski", "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", and "Fargo" were returning to the Western after their well-directed but still lousy "No Country For Old Men", I knew I had to go see it.  The Coen Brothers don't always make good movies, but they have their own weird sense of humor both random and dark, making their films always worth a view.  "True Grit" is a remake of the 1969 film of the same name starring Western legend, John Wayne, who won an Academy Award for his performance.  Replacing John Wayne is... The Dude, Jeff Bridges, who has completely absorbed himself into the role of one-eyed sheriff, Rooster Cogburn.  But he's not the protagonist:  its a tough little fourteen-year-old girl named Mattie Ross - the true star here.

"True Grit" is a fine Western film, made with the same brilliant imagery that was wasted in "No Country For Old Men", but with more than a little bit of the Coen Brother's dark humor.  Brilliantly directed, brilliantly acted, amazingly written, and with very good action scenes.  Everything about this movie just feels "right".  I didn't want to write my Top Films of 2010 post before I saw this film, because I knew this would make it.  It so belongs there, in the #4 spot.

One small note before I begin here:  at my local movie theatre, the manager stupidly put up a giant Justin Beiber poster in front of the movie times board, meaning I had no idea when my movie was actually going to start.  Luckily there was a small arcade that let me spend the time killing aliens while waiting the half hour before "True Grit" began.  I don't want to hate on Justin Beiber because its so fashionable and I'd rather avoid the trend if possible, but the guy just seems to be going out of his to annoy me.

Before seeing this film I did have a few reservations, because the Coen Brothers can actually miss as much as they hit.  They have a very dark view of the world, perhaps best seen in their last film "A Serious Man", in which a desperate search for meaning in a cruel universe is ultimately made into a cosmic nihilistic* joke.  Most of their movies leave you in a very strange place, wondering what the point of it all was, if any.  Often enough they'll leave you so confused that you laugh, not knowing which reaction is the most appropriate.  "No Country For Old Men" was easily their most serious venture, but the whole thing ultimately fell apart right in the ending (which was faithful to the book, not that's that a good thing).  Instead of a final climax battle between the hero and the villain, the hero dies off-screen and the villain gets run over by a car only to limp home while Tommy Lee Jones sits around wonder what the Hell it was all for.  That movie just never ends, does it?  And it beat the far superior "There Will Be Blood" for Best Picture!  Darn.

Luckily "True Grit" does not fall into the same trappings as "No Country For Old Men", as the story has a reasonable conclusion and doesn't wait around a half hour after the real ending to play the end credits.  This movie is just so much more fun.  The Coen Brothers aren't out to subvert the Western here (because honestly the genre has been subverted so much now that's really no point anymore), they're playing it wonderfully straight.  Its wonderful.

The plot is pure classic Western:  little Mattie Ross, played by the perfectly cast fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld in an amazing find, comes to the Wild West to gather up her murdered father and "take care of business".  Since she's filled with brutally efficient Protestant strictness, Mattie demands to get a fair price for some horses, a fair price for her father's burial, and of course, revenge on the mad dog who killed her father, Tom Cheney, a slow-witted member of a gang of thieves played by Josh Brolin.  In that search she finds the drunken old gunslinger, Rooster Cogburn.  Joining up is Matt Damon, playing a semi-competent Texas ranger by the name of LaBeef.  Despite Mattie's smallness and inexperience, she demands to wander out into the wild Indian country to hunt down Cheney herself and see him die.  Can she overcome the gunfights, the empty wilderness, and her eccentric companions and succeed in her quest for revenge?

Naturally there are more than a few bizarre Coenesque moments along the way.  The Indians are constantly being beaten down by the White colonists:  Rooster can't help but kick down every Indian child he sees.  (I am glad to see that we've gotten over Political Correctness and now can finally depict historically authentic racism in our lead characters for laughs.)  Also Mattie and Rooster run into a weird old man dressed in a bear skin completely with head, who gives the most whacked-out performance I have ever seen.  That actor had to be either an escapee from a mental institution or high on amphetamines or both.  Knowing the Coen Brothers, I bet they personally cut the power at the insane asylum so that the bear guy could escape - and the guy brought his own bear skin.  Then there's the guy who speaks only in animal noises.  Yeah, there's one of those too.  On the other hand, the Coen Brothers do bring a very usual sense of language to the film, making it all feel very real through use of archaic diction and odd bursts of Latin.

Jeff Bridges hides his regular voice and personality by swallowing a jar of marbles.  The results are fairly mixed here, since at times he sounds like a rough old veteran of countless gunfights, and at other times Bridges sounds like he's trying to outdo Heath Ledger's character in "Brokeback Mountain" in garbled speech.  Luckily Health Ledger is still the master - I can at least understand Jeff Bridges half the time here.  I don't know how John Wayne played the role, since I never saw the original, so I can't really compare it.  Of course, here it fits because Rooster Cogburn is an old drunken former criminal who lives in the back of a Chinese grocery store while Heath Ledger's character spoke in grumbles** purposefully to make me hate that movie.

The action scenes on the other hand are short, but very well done.  There is a real sense of tension and excitement in these gunfights, especially the one in the end.  Rooster Cogburn takes on four men for no real reason other than to throw in a final showdown to the movie when it needs it most.  And the results are awesome.  Gotta love that.  "True Grit" is the movie that's not afraid to have a man get his face blown in.

So as I've said before "True Grit" is wonderful.  Probably the Coen Brothers' second or third best film.  Honestly my biggest complaint is that the Johnny Cash song from the trailer is weirdly absent.  Why couldn't they find a place for Johnny Cash in this movie?  The actual theme song isn't bad though.  I give "True Grit" my highest recommendation.  I want more Westerns, Hollywood why can't you deliver?  Less Superhero movies more Westerns.  Please?

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* There are few modes of thought that I particularly dislike more than nihilism.  Whenever I hear of it I think of the Germans from ironically, "The Big Lebowski" screaming "Ve believes in nuthing!" in a desperate attempt to look tough.  Of course, you do need a bit of nihilism in your universe, or else there's no humor to it.  Protip for would-be Gods:  when creating your universe, make it four parts Order and one part Anarchy.  And don't forget to add a teaspoon of cinnamon for an extra kick.

** And he was nominated for Best Actor for that role!  I mean no disrespect to the Late Heath Ledger, he was a great actor, but the guy sounded like he swallowed his own tongue in "Brokeback Mountain".  Here's the most famous line of that movie and Heath Ledger's reaction:

• Jack Gyllenhaal:  "I wish I could quit you."
• Heath Ledger:  "rurr-rurr-rrwwwrrrur-rrwrr"