tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post3261243123940669324..comments2024-03-26T05:01:57.793-07:00Comments on DREAMS ARE WHAT LE CINEMA IS FOR...: TRUE GRIT 1969Ken Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-12910112453942654832022-09-12T23:20:39.219-07:002022-09-12T23:20:39.219-07:00Hi Kip - I did eventually see the 2010 version of ...Hi Kip - I did eventually see the 2010 version of TRUE GRIT perhaps a year or so after writing this. And though my memory of the film itself now is spotty at best, you pretty much capture exactly what I felt after seeing it.<br /><br />I didn't find much at fault with the Coen film, but in the end, revisiting the story didn't seem to add much of consequence, leaving me preferring the Kim Darby version.<br />The comparative examples you provide are great (the campfire scene, the qualities Darby brings to the role) because they signal the things that have nothing to do with what might have been improved in the redux in the way of visual style, acting acumen, or gritty realism. It's that intangible thing called chemistry and possible star quality.<br />Your comment brought back many fond memories of the Wayne film, but I'm still hard pressed to remember what I liked about the Coen film despite being aware of it being a worthy adaptation of the book.<br />Thanks for visiting one of these ancient posts! And of course, thanks for sharing your thoughts on TRUE GRIT #1 and #2. Take care, Kip!<br />Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-83046741589193988272022-09-12T05:04:37.630-07:002022-09-12T05:04:37.630-07:00Hi, Ken.
I watched the original and the remake ba...Hi, Ken.<br /><br />I watched the original and the remake back to back not long ago and to my complete astonishment, I preferred the original. So many people commented how different the two movies are, but they're really not. The Coen brothers visual style and dark humor are their own, but the plots and characters are pretty much identical as well as large chunks of dialogue from the novel. Matt Damon at his most laid back and charming is definitely an upgrade from Glen Campbell but in every other role I prefer the first movie. I found Jeff Bridges grizzled grumbling exhaustively one-note. For comparison, how about the scene by the campfire where Wayne talks about his wife and misfit son ("he broke forty cup!") This is a beautiful scene, funny and touching. Bridges tosses off the same lines on horseback and they're totally thrown away. Stanfield was fine, but she didn't have anywhere near the chemistry with Bridges that Darby had with Wayne (even though they supposedly hated each other in real life!). What I love about Darby is how she captured the character's essential loneliness. She didn't care if the audience liked her, she played her willfulness to the hilt. Stanfield just didn't have that.<br /><br />Thanks for this great review!Kipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-61686030177466778412016-12-23T06:08:10.181-08:002016-12-23T06:08:10.181-08:00Hi Ron
Yes, I have seen "Rooster Cogburn"...Hi Ron<br />Yes, I have seen "Rooster Cogburn" and I probably couldn't have described it better or more succinctly than you did there. My feelings about it fairly jibe with yours. I've only seen it once, but I found the story to be kind of "The African Queen on the Range," but like you, I enjoyed Hepburn & Wayne's chemistry.<br /><br />It's been decades since I last saw it. I should check it out again.<br />I think it's terrific that even though you are aware of its flaws, you still regard it as your favorite western. In that way movies are like people: we don't love someone because they're perfect, we love them because of the way they make us feel. Thanks very much for commenting and expressing interest in my opinion of a film you so enjoy.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-5652965669632845042016-12-23T05:33:18.245-08:002016-12-23T05:33:18.245-08:00Have you ever watched Rooster Cogburn? It's r...Have you ever watched Rooster Cogburn? It's really "True Grit lite" and certainly not superior to "True Grit" but I enjoyed the chemistry between Wayne and Katherine Hepburn a great deal. Frankly, the film is mediocre at best but their scenes together belong in a better film. It's my favorite Western and I have watched it a number of times and never tire of it. I'd be interested in your opinion if you ever get around to seeing it.Ronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-63151962476789539162015-08-01T11:26:24.449-07:002015-08-01T11:26:24.449-07:00Hi Roberta
This is indeed a very quotable movie, s...Hi Roberta<br />This is indeed a very quotable movie, something I missed in that well-made, but for me, affectless remake. I love the determined, sometimes robotically precise way Mattie talks. Reminds of what happens when a child tries to sound authoritative...a kind of unintentional parody of adult-speak.<br /><br />That is a wonderfully amusing tale of the audience member overcome by Wayne's heroics! I'm not a fan of the way people seem to talk in movies now, but I've always loved if an audience member just gets so caught up in a film that they forget where they are and spontaneously let fly with a response like that. Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-89443353479514127172015-07-31T15:11:41.149-07:002015-07-31T15:11:41.149-07:00True Grit is one of my favorites too, and your rev...True Grit is one of my favorites too, and your review nails its unique appeal. The character actorsin this film are terrific and add so much flavor to the proceedings. My husband and I watch it at least once a year and quote lines to each other all the time. "Ned I aim to kill you or see you hang...what'll it be?"<br /><br />Funny story: my uncle was watching True Grit in the theater. At the climatic scene when Duke singlehandedly takes on Ned Pepper and his cronies, a woman wail out "Oooooooh John!"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11553379265410073042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-10167459391049337282014-07-28T15:19:14.047-07:002014-07-28T15:19:14.047-07:00Hi Joel
those are some amazing (amazingly weird) c...Hi Joel<br />those are some amazing (amazingly weird) casting considerations for this film. Karen Carpenter especially! <br />I've seen Alien many times but I've only seen Aliens once. I like that it contains something special that speaks to you, even without your being a sci-fi fan.<br />And you're right about Tuesday Weld, she is really legendary for the roles she turned down. You mke a good about her being somehow able to fit so well in so many kinds of roles, and yet be such a unique kind of actress.<br />Weld, like Katherine Ross, has a lot of interesting roles they've turned down and an amazing logbook of crap they've said yes to. For fans, they must be frustration personified.<br />Thanks for visiting this older post!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-48295961718783368622014-07-27T21:03:48.854-07:002014-07-27T21:03:48.854-07:00Hi Ken,
It's funny when a film in a genre you...Hi Ken,<br /><br />It's funny when a film in a genre you're usually adverse to catches your fancy and you'll watch it many times. I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but I could and have watched Aliens many times over the years. It a combination of a good suspenseful script and being a big fan of the cast, in this case Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton. I have a few more I watch occasionally, the original Alien, Outland and a very few others, but there's just something about Aliens that I find compelling no matter how often I see it. It sounds like you have that sort of connection to True Grit.<br /><br />I'm a bigger fan of westerns than you although I won't watch indiscriminately as I would with film noir or what looks like a good juicy melodrama. I have to be a fan of the stars, I love Errol Flynn westerns even though the absurdity of his Australian accent in the Old West should make him wrong for the genre but his swagger makes it work, or the director, Ford, Hawks, Hathaway or Raoul Walsh, and therefore have seen more John Wayne pictures than I normally would have since on first glance he always seems to give the same performance. Part of the reason for that is that he often does give the same performance but when he connects to the character and is working with a strong director, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River or challenged by another performer, Geraldine Page in Hondo, he can deceptively good. Such is the case with True Grit. Should he have won the Oscar that year against that amazing field of performances? Probably not but considering his contribution to the screen over decades at least he won for a piece of good work. <br /><br />I've seen the remake and Jeff Bridges is excellent as usual but I'd give the advantage to the Duke because of all the years of ethos he carries with him and imbues in the role. I preferred Hailee Steinfeld to Kim Darby however. Darby's fine but I've always found her highly risible with her odd speech pattern and flat personality but her androgyny serves the part well. <br /><br />She was hardly first choice and some of the others are fascinating in their uniqueness even though when considered as a group they share more characteristics than it would seem at first glance. Sondra Locke, Mia Farrow and Olivia Hussey all were offered and refused and I can envision any one in the part. John Wayne's own choice was an odd one but considering Glen Campbell's casting maybe not so strange. He pushed for Karen Carpenter for the role and she was seriously considered. Hard to tell how she would have done since she never did any acting but I have to wonder if she had been cast if they would have figured out a way for she and Glen to duet somewhere on the prairie, probably for the best that we didn't find out! <br /><br />There was one other actress offered the role, the queen of turning down projects that went on to great success: Tuesday Weld. I don't think anyone else comes close to the number of roles she refused that were great triumphs for other actresses. Besides this she refused Bonnie & Clyde, Elaine in The Graduate, Lolita, Norma Rae, Cactus Flower, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Rosemary's Baby, the 70's version of The Great Gatsby, Polanski's MacBeth, The Stepford Wives and The Rocky Horror Picture Show! What's amazing considering the wide range of women ultimately cast in those roles I can see her in them all so universal is her appeal. Just for example could you see Dyan Cannon in True Grit or Kim Darby in B&C&T&A? No way but Tuesday would have made sense in both. I've read that she didn't like the limelight and actually had a keen script sense choosing to stay away from anything she felt would make her too famous, if true she certainly knew what she was doing. joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-30806883120394958472012-01-11T00:08:16.006-08:002012-01-11T00:08:16.006-08:00Hi Espana, Thanks for visiting the blog. Since wri...Hi Espana, Thanks for visiting the blog. Since writing this, I finally did get to see the remake, and I enjoyed it very much. And I agree, Hailee Steinfeld was a terrific Mattie Ross.Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-42704722139772039402012-01-10T22:55:16.095-08:002012-01-10T22:55:16.095-08:00I dare say this version of the classic book by Cha...I dare say this version of the classic book by Charles Portis is BETTER then the original movie starring John Wayne. Hailee Steinfield was awesome as Mattie Ross. In my opinion, she stole the show. Definitely a must have for the movie collection!Espanahttp://failure4life.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-23208549868419402252011-09-11T07:12:08.557-07:002011-09-11T07:12:08.557-07:00@Anonymous
There is something a little poetic in w...@Anonymous<br />There is something a little poetic in what you wrote. Poetic in that you nailed, very succinctly, a truth that probably lies at the core of the lasting appeal of a film like this.<br />This not-so-fat old man found himself identifying with aged Sir Michael Caine in 2009's vigilante drama, "Harry Brown." <br />Thanks for the comment!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627032459273165000.post-30888639412737662752011-09-10T23:14:56.361-07:002011-09-10T23:14:56.361-07:00Old fat men everywhere pretend that there is some ...Old fat men everywhere pretend that there is some John Wayne in us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com