True Grit

How was it?

 

All right, that's it.

Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!

 

This reminds me of those, ahem, sticklers who keep telling us that a decade begins, for instance, with the year 2001 and includes 2010, rather than running from Jan. 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2009.

Fine. Great. Beat it. No one's listening.

Good luck getting the American film-going public to consider this a "re-imagining" rather than a remake.

 

Terrific interview with Bridges in today's Toronto Star.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/908517--jeff-bridges-from-the-dude-to-the-duke


“I was curious why these guys wanted to make that movie again and Ethan corrected me and said, ‘No, we're not making that movie, we're making the book as if there was no movie ever made,'” said Bridges. Not being familiar with Charles Portis' 1968 American novel, Bridges read it. “And then I saw what they were talking about. It's such a wonderful book.”


There's a huge demographic (say, everyone under 30) that probably hasn't heard of the Wayne version of the movie. They're going to see it because the trailer is terrific and it stars Josh Brolin and Matt Damon.

 

Thumbs up from Ebert: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101221/REVIEWS/101229997

 

And Peter Howell of the Toronto Star likes it a lot.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/910685--movie-review-coen-bros-stick-to-faithful-retelling-of-true-grit?bn=1

 

It was overbooked by a couple hundred tickets and we didn't get seats.
So, in short, I haven't seen it yet.

 

They almost always do that. I used to go to a ton of screenings and if you weren't there an hour early you weren't getting in.

 

I'll probably watch it when it comes on HBO down the line just because it's on, but I don't think I'd spend money to see it. No matter how good it's supposed to be, John Wayne is Rooster Cogburn, end of story.

If the younger generation doesn't embrace John Wayne, it's their loss. He simply is the greatest American movie hero ever. He fought the Mexicans. He fought the Indians. He fought the Japs. He fought the Germans. He fought bad guys. He fought fires. He fought the VC. (not taken with movies where he fought the South, but you can't have everything.)

Jimmy Carter issued the medal that said it all: John Wayne, American.

 

Never read the book, never saw the original movie, but this was well worth it.

 

John Wayne version is about to start on TCM.

 

Pretty much dead on. Watched it on TCM tonight. It's not bad, but it is way out of date for its time.

It's hard to believe True Grit came out within a month of The Wild Bunch.