True Grit (1969)
Right from the start I have to say I'm not a big fan of John Wayne, to be honest I don't like him much at all. The thing is that he has one character and to me that character is quite plain and one dimentional so never appriciated him as an actor. That being said on this movie however he's actually not bad at all. Definitely not worth the Oscar he received, but still a fairly ok performance. The movie is a great story about a young girl, played by Kim Darby, seeking vengeance to the man who killed his father. She hires a drunk old Marshal, John Wayne, to hunt the man and there is also a Texas Ranger, Glen Campbell, after the same man for a different crime he did. They make an odd trio on their quest for the man with all of them having very different world views and that becoming often in the way to complicate things even more. The true grit of the movie doesn't just apply for John Wayne's character but also to the young girl and the Ranger, they are all true grits in their own way. Kim Darby does somewhat good job at her part, but Glen Campbell as the Ranger is quite a miss, mostly just there for the looks, not the talent. Robert Duvall was a nice surprise as Ned Pepper, the man who's hiding the hunted criminal. Even though the story is a bit dark, the style of the movie is quite classic western without much finesse to it. None the less, the story gets through and it's quite effective. Being quite a dialogue driven movie it's not the usual action packed western, but that's actually a good thing as it brings out the dilemma and the drama of the story. All in all a solid good western worth watching, but it could have been a lot better.
65%
True Grit (2010)
I'm a huge Coen fanboy, every movie they make is a must see for me, so their take on the western genre was surely something to look forward for. As far as remakes come, this was quite a good opportunity in my opinion to make it better than the original. The original has a great story, but the cast isn't really brilliant and the look and the mood leaving a lot to improve on. So first of all the cast, it's quite brilliant. Jeff Bridges handles his part better than Wayne did, his character really passes for a drunk washed out old Marshal. Also Matt Damon as the Texas Ranger is aeons better than Campbell was on the original. Sure he's a bit more comedic sidekick in this one, but it's a nice twist to it and the character is a lot better than in the original. The biggest surprise was Hailee Steinfeld as the young girl, brilliant performance and completely outshadows the original. Rest of the cast is very solid also, Barry Pepper as Ned Pepper is just as good as Robert Duvall was in the original and Josh Brolin has no contest from the original either. So the cast part is surely better, how about the looks and the mood then? Roger Deakins does a job of his life in this one and him being Roger Deakins with the plethora of beautiful movies he's shot, that's saying a lot. The movie looks absolutely stunning and I can pretty much say the Oscar for cinematography is guaranteed to him. So if the story is great, the cast is great and the movie looks brilliant, this is pretty much a perfect remake right? Well almost, but I was a bit disapointed to the ending and especially how it differs from the original as I believe it was better in that. Spoiler ahead, so if you haven't seen both the original and this one, and wish to keep some surprise to them, stop reading now. In the original the Ranger dies from the hit by Chaney and that makes Rooster's run to save Mattie a bit more desperate, now it's not a big deal but still I was a bit disapointed. But what was really better at the ending of the original is that they return to the home farm of Mattie and there we see that this young girl who had become a true grit during the journey is still just a little girl, it gives a lot better contrast to the character and deepens it a lot more. Now in the new one it kind of missed that point, the girl stays being a grit. Small things and the new one has so many things better than the original that it doesn't matter that much. But still it could have been the perfect remake, now it's just almost.
89%
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