OT: True Grit Movie

[Hawker]

Took my wife to see the move True Grit last night. It was absolutely great!

My wife pretty much likes chick flicks and light fare, but even she liked this.
It's not really a remake of the John Wayne version, all though there is a tip of the hat to the original. Jeff Bridges is fantastic as is his young co-star Halee Steinfeld.

Looking for a Christmas movie, this gets five stars from me.

[Louis]

The Dude in The Duke's role - that's just not right.

It's on my list to see over the holidays. (As is "The King's Speech")

[pjm]

Coen bros. Looking forward to seeing it. The Dude as Rooster Cogburn.

[Jeff N.]

Yeah, well, you know, that's just...like...ahh...your opinion, man! Jeff N.

[97CSI]

Review I heard on NPR said it was quite faithful to the book, unlike the original. Looking forward to seeing it as my 'annual' movie.

[BryanE]

I watched the original on TMC Wednesday night then went to the new one
last night.Not sure if that was a good idea.
I always liked the original.John Wayne was superb as Rooster.
I wasn't thinking much of Bridges at the start but as the movie wore on he really filled the Dukes shoes quite well.
Anybody is better than Glen Campbell as Texas Ranger LaBeef.
There was a LOT of repeating dialogue from the original.
The actor who played Ned Pepper was very good.
The original Maddy was 21 when the movie was shot.
The new Maddy is really 13 and age correct.
Little Blackie deserves a horse Oscar at the end.
And the old school manner of speaking made you pay attention to the movie.
If you like horse???? and gunpowder you'll like this.
I love the ending shootout!
RC:"I aim to kill you New Pepper or see you hanged in Ft.Smith at Judge Parkers convience"
NP:I call that mighty talk for a one eyed fat man
RC:Fill your hands you son of a bitch
Yeah,go see it
Bry

[eddief]

a pretty normal, quite literate, well put together, slice of the gritty old west...as it may have been. Hope your theater has a good sound system as some of the magic really is in the spoken word. Those Coen's are the real deal.

[oliver1850]

My mom loves the original, I less so. I always had trouble buying the premise that a guy like Rooster would take the girl along under any circumstance. JW is great, as are most of the outlaws. And the scenery and photography are great. But then there's Glen.

Haven't seen a Coen Bros. movie yet that wasn't worth seeing. Fargo may be my favorite movie of all time. Hilarious, disturbing, but totally believable.
Ya, you betcha.

[R2D2]

My daugther and I saw the new True Grit in the afternoon. Then the original on TV that evening.
The new version was fantastic in my opinion.
Bridges should get an award for his acting.
I loved the way the Coens swithced things up. Eye patch on other side. Powder burn on other side. Placing actors in different positions than the original scene.

[mike p]

Never saw a Coen bros film I didn't like. This one I loved. I noticed bridges got to say "abide." Think that was an accident?

Mike

[rwsaunders]

The Dude in The Duke's role - that's just not right.

It's on my list to see over the holidays. (As is "The King's Speech")

I haven't seen a Duke flick since the Sands of Iwo Jima....

[Climb01742]

hoping to see 'true grit' tomorrow. sorry for the thread drift, but if you're looking for another film to see over the holidays, maybe see 'unstoppable'. it's not a great or meaningful film by any means, but as a pure piece of visual entertainment, it's a very cool way to spend 2 hours. in the right hands, film can be so kinetic. it gives 'action movie' a good name. a lot of fun to watch.

[C5 Snowboarder]

Anybody is better than Glen Campbell as Texas Ranger LaBeef.
Bry


You got that right!! Even G Bush would have been a better actor as a Texas Ranger

[NRRider]

I liked it. Thought the girl did a great job.
Like The Fighter better though.

[1centaur]

Just walked in the door from The Fighter. Really enjoyable, especially since Lowell's not far away from here. Christian Bale - really commits to his craft.

[cmg]

i'm a Coen Brothers fan so this one is on my list. Pretty accurate description of Fargo, Hilarious and disturbing. hoping the new True Grit has some of the over the top violence of No Place for Old Men.

[dmurphey]

Last spring, riding in the hill country, central Texas, stopped at the only little store in Kendalia. The local weekly paper has the Coen brothers on the front page. They were there a week before filming at the courthouse in Blanco.
The Dude abides!

[oliver1850]

Nice to know the details about shooting locations. The family was just discussing where the original was shot, but we couldn't reach a consensus.

[gdw]

Some of the original was filmed in western Colorado. The final shootout scene was filmed outside of Ridgeway at Owl Creek Pass.

[Climb01742]

Just walked in the door from The Fighter. Really enjoyable, especially since Lowell's not far away from here. Christian Bale - really commits to his craft.

christian bale was amazing and for me, the best thing in the film. (in a funny twist, i saw it at the same lexington theatre used in the film for the "arty film" date.) but the film was a bit lackluster for me. i enjoyed another 'local' film more, 'the town'. all that said, it's nice that there are some good films to see these days. hope to see 'the king's speech' too.

[1centaur]

climb - I wonder if the lackluster feeling came down mostly to Mark Wahlberg? I had coincidentally just seen "The Lovely Bones" and Wahlberg can suck the energy out of a scene. In The Fighter it's nice to have one person not brimming with energy to balance things out, but you can see in the real-life clip in the credits that Micky Ward has a lot of energy.

Otherwise I thought the flat affect was a directorial choice that was true to our area - it certainly got a lot of laughs in my theater (the first packed theater I have ever been to at mid-Christmas-day; if it was up to New Englanders this would be a $100MM movie).

[BumbleBeeDave]

Nice to know the details about shooting locations. The family was just discussing where the original was shot, but we couldn't reach a consensus.

. . . with the Duke and got a kick out of the contention in the movie that the girl was from the Dardanelle area of NW Arkansas and the action took place west of Fort Smith, AR on Indian Territory. Yet all the locales that were shown in the movie were obviously high in the Rockies and I seem to remember that in the final scene where they were by the grave it was supposed to be the southern Ozarks yet was plainly in the snow-capped Rockies. Since my father grew up NW of Dardanelle and I lived in Tulsa for 8 years it turned me off that apparently NW Arkansas and NE Oklahoma were not scenic enough for them, because they both are really beautiful areas.

If the Coen brothers have filmed this one in an area that more faithfully resembles the book then kudos to them!

BBD

[oliver1850]

I'm with you on both points Dave. It annoys me when you're supposed to believe the action is taking place in a certain location, and what you see on the screen doesn't correspond to that. I've never been in your corner of Arkansas, always coming into OK from Missouri, but I remember being surprised the first time I visited Oklahoma. I had come to picture it more in the vein of "The Grapes of Wrath", and it was pleasant to discover how nice it actually is.

[Climb01742]

climb - I wonder if the lackluster feeling came down mostly to Mark Wahlberg? I had coincidentally just seen "The Lovely Bones" and Wahlberg can suck the energy out of a scene. In The Fighter it's nice to have one person not brimming with energy to balance things out, but you can see in the real-life clip in the credits that Micky Ward has a lot of energy.

Otherwise I thought the flat affect was a directorial choice that was true to our area - it certainly got a lot of laughs in my theater (the first packed theater I have ever been to at mid-Christmas-day; if it was up to New Englanders this would be a $100MM movie).

agree. wahlberg's performance was the weak link for me. you're right, it does feel like a directorial choice. caught between three volatile characters (brother, mother and girlfriend) a calm center makes sense, in the abstract, but on the screen, having a flatter, more passive lead character poses dramatic challenges. for example, did you feel a true sense of what drove micky to fight? the motivations of brother, mother and GF were strong and clear. micky's were unclear.

[1centaur]

Families often gravitate to the same activities - he probably fought because his brother fought and he had access to the gym and to training and was pretty good at it, with limited other options to make that kind of money. I don't sense that most boxers fight because of an interesting inner story; they fight because it's a way to succeed and they get early affirmation from the sport/people. Of course, it really helps not to be the kind who thinks "wow, I never want that to happen to me again" when you get hit in the head :)

BTW, are we supposed to be ambivalent about who "The Fighter" is? Seems like just about everyone in the movie was fighting for/against something.

[dancinkozmo]

I'm with you on both points Dave. It annoys me when you're supposed to believe the action is taking place in a certain location, and what you see on the screen doesn't correspond to that.

..ever see "rumble in the bronx " ? it was shot in vancouver b.c and there are a few scenes with the beautiful snow capped "new york city mountains" in the background ! :)

[Louis]

...I remember being surprised the first time I visited Oklahoma. I had come to picture it more in the vein of "The Grapes of Wrath", and it was pleasant to discover how nice it actually is.

Same thing here.

When I was in college I once drove from San Diego to NH with some buddies and I was amazed how Oklahoma and Arkansas were much nicer than I had expected. Perhaps the Joads have moved back by now.

[FixedNotBroken]

Tronnnnnnnnn. Enough said. I miss the one from the 80's though..makes me want to watch it :)

[BumbleBeeDave]

I'm with you on both points Dave. It annoys me when you're supposed to believe the action is taking place in a certain location, and what you see on the screen doesn't correspond to that. I've never been in your corner of Arkansas, always coming into OK from Missouri, but I remember being surprised the first time I visited Oklahoma. I had come to picture it more in the vein of "The Grapes of Wrath", and it was pleasant to discover how nice it actually is.

. . . is distinctly different from the rest of the state. The wide open and even semi-arid plains that most people associate with the state are in the western half. In the east the area around the Illinois River and Tallequah over to Fort Smith is really nice.

Over in Arkansas the whole western half of the state is pine forest with some true mountain up in the Ozarks north of Clarksville, where my dad was from. When we went down there for his funeral in 2007 we drove back up to Kansas City through the heart of the mountains and the cyclist in me was drooling . . . great roads with challenging climbs and sweeping turns along ridge tops that offered beautiful views, and we saw maybe 5 cars in 50 miles. I definitely want to go back there and ride.

BBD

[Chris]

I hosted a Rapha Continental ride along the Talimena Drive in southeastern Oklahoma/southwestern Arkansas. The Talimena Drive is along the Winding Stair Mountains which is where the movie is set. Down there you would think you are in Oregon. There are several 5+mile climbs and the scenery is gorgeous. Here is a video clip from our ride. Talimena Loop (http://www.rapha.cc/talimena-loop-film) It rained the whole day and Mena, AR had recently been hit by a tornado so that explains some of the footage.

[97CSI]

. . . is distinctly different from the rest of the state. The wide open and even semi-arid plains that most people associate with the state are in the western half. In the east the area around the Illinois River and Tallequah over to Fort Smith is really nice.

Over in Arkansas the whole western half of the state is pine forest with some true mountain up in the Ozarks north of Clarksville, where my dad was from. When we went down there for his funeral in 2007 we drove back up to Kansas City through the heart of the mountains and the cyclist in me was drooling . . . great roads with challenging climbs and sweeping turns along ridge tops that offered beautiful views, and we saw maybe 5 cars in 50 miles. I definitely want to go back there and ride.

BBDWell, having grown up outside of Enid, it is more like the NWern 1/4th the could be described as semi-arid. The greatest challenge for riders west of the 'mountains' is Oklahoma's justly infamous 'wind sweeping down the plain'. We always ride south and west with fresh legs so can 'sail' back on the wind with tired legs. Unlike a hill, there is no going 'downhill' until you turn around. One has to pedal to get down the hill against a normal OK 'breeze'. Slightly easier than going uphill, but no free ride.

[michael white]

Saw True Grit last night. A rare thing, a properly made cowboy flick. I was really impressed with Eastwood's Unforgiven a few years back, but it's nice to see the genre revived with such care. When the first True Grit was made, that story was old hat: the characters all type cast (except maybe the strong girl role, at the advent of women's lib, which gave it all a fresh spin). Wayne was playing himself playing himself.

It's fascinating how the Coen Bros. dropped their habitual postmodern irony and told the story straight up.

[oliver1850]

Interesting comment. If you had seen the movie without knowing who made it, would you ever have guessed the Coens were involved?

[michael white]

well, there are trademarks such as the severed fingers, which reminded me of Blood Simple, also the Jeff Bridges connections mentioned elsewhere . . . but it's true that it seems artistically different for them. I really like a lot of their choices in this film.

[r_mutt]

Interesting comment. If you had seen the movie without knowing who made it, would you ever have guessed the Coens were involved?


the writing and dialogue's machine gun delivery was pure coen bros. mattie ross is modeled after the archetypal coen bros female (see jennifer jason leigh as amy archer in "the hudsucker proxy").

[BengeBoy]

Saw the new "True Grit" today with my family and when we got home we watched the original (available via download from Amazon). The new version is a huge improvement - Glenn Campbell practically unwatchable in the original.

I was in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, once on visit and toured the courthouse where Judge Parker sat (and where the hanging in the movie was supposed to take place) and the little local museum. As I recall, it was a nice little museum. There is some very pretty country in northern Arkansas and northeast Oklahoma but it doesn't look much like the scenery in either movie.

According to pro.imdb.com, the original was mostly shot in Colorado and around Mammoth Lakes, California. One scene was supposedly shot in Mexico; here are the locations listed on pro.imdb.com:

* Bishop, California, USA
* Buckskin Joe Frontier Town & Railway - 1193 Fremont County Road 3A, Canon City, Colorado, USA
* Castle Rock, Colorado, USA
* Durango, Mexico
* Gunnison, Colorado, USA
* Hot Creek, Mammoth Lakes, California, USA
(outlaw cabin)
* Montrose, Colorado, USA
* Ouray, Colorado, USA
(Courthouse)
* Owl Creek Pass, Ridgway, Colorado, USA
* Ridgway, Colorado, USA
* Sherwin Summit, Inyo National Forest - 351 Pacu Lane, Bishop, California, USA

According to imdb, the new version was shot in and around Texas Hill Country, specifically: Blanco, Granger, and Austin, Texas.

[R2D2]

well, there are trademarks such as the severed fingers, which reminded me of Blood Simple, also the Jeff Bridges connections mentioned elsewhere . . . but it's true that it seems artistically different for them. I really like a lot of their choices in this film.

The severed fingers are just a carry over from the original so not really a Coen signature in this case.
Great scene though. Was fun seeing Dennis Hopper as the severed cowboy in the original. Didn't realize it was him until the credits.

[michael white]

The Coen Bros. just have an affinity for knives and fingers that seems a bit *special*. Not as gratuitous as Tarantino, of course . . .

[Acotts]

That was one of the best movies I have ever seen.

[Louis]

the writing and dialogue's machine gun delivery was pure coen bros.

I went to see it last night. I thought the dialog was terrific and my favorite part of the movie. 4/5

[KeithS]

the writing and dialogue's machine gun delivery was pure coen bros. mattie ross is modeled after the archetypal coen bros female (see jennifer jason leigh as amy archer in "the hudsucker proxy").

Right there with you. Saw it yesterday, the dialog had a complexity of language that really makes you listen. The casting was great too. My favorite line was a line Lucky Ned delivered to Mattie "You don't varnish your opinions.." and LeBouf to Mattie "You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements.” Matt Damon was great, Josh Brolin plays dazed and confused better than anyone, Jeff Bridges with his "Slingblade" affectation was brilliant.

[MadRocketSci]

i like how every bad thing that happens is treated as a minor inconvenience, including by the person to which it happens.

[Wilkinson4]

Went to go see it today and asked the ticket seller if they had any left. "Plenty of seats left"... Get in and only the first two rows are empty.

So, went to the next theatre and saw The Fighter. Excellent movie. Now that is True Grit:) I'll see it this weekend.

mIKE