True Grit vs. True Grit

Well after 3 days of sitting through old True Grit (oTG) I finally finished it.  I'm trying really hard, but it's difficult for me to sit through westerns.  Especially the old ones.  I get that we're supposed to embrace the wide open spaces and the independence of cowboys and the diversity of Indians... but it's just hard for me.  I especially respect that a lot of what we would call "auteur" directors of our time (I'm speaking of Lucas (before episodes I, II, and III), Spielberg, Scorsese... and even maybe Tarantino) use the Western genre as a source of their inspiration.

In my effort to aspire to be like these gentlemen, I have decided to understand Westerns.  So in my list of 500 that I gave to my mother (will explain about this more) I included classics such as Shane, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.... well ones like those.

However, after watching oTG I watched new True Grit (nTG) right afterward.  I watched it in one sitting while at work.  Also, I read the book right before watching oTG.  I think John Wayne was AWESOME in oTG.  I've never actually sat down and watched a whole movie with him in it, so it was nice to see a great performance that landed him the Academy Award.  What didn't help my cause for oTG was Kim Darby.  I had actually watched the Star Trek (OS) episode with her in it... also noting that she was 21 when filming oTG.  With that in mind, it didn't help the feeling that a woman was playing a girls part... thus the forceful manor of Mattie Ross was unconvincing to me.

For nTG I really enjoyed watching Jeff Bridges (I'm a big fan after seeing him in Crazy Heart).  Just sometimes it was a little hard to understand him... which I guess helps with the drunkeness Cogburn was in throughout the movie.  And as much as I love love LOVE Matt Dillion he part as LaBoeuf was ehhhhh.  However, I don't blame him, there just wasn't a whole lot there to work with.  But who really stole the show for me was Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie.  Wow.  She's one of those kids I can't wait to see a great career if she can avoid the drama and drugs of Hollywood.  I hope she can.  I add her to my list of "Kid to Grown ups" which includes Dakota Fanning, Abigail Breslin, and Jaden Smith (Haley Joel Osment was on here till he got caught with drugs).

Anyway, as always the Coen Brothers did another awesome movie.  It also helped the nTG didn't follow the book page for page like oTG.  There were some minor differences... one in particular (little spoiler alert) that I liked in nTG was the fact that Cogburn let Maddie smoke out the bandits in the shack. That and as nTG stayed true to the book, they traveled in the wintertime as opposed to oTG as they traveled during a warmer season.

Well, I guess that's all I have for that.  Please let me know what you think!!