True Grit

Back during the Christmas season I had the pleasure of going to see the Coen Brothers version of True Grit starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. It was fantastic! The elements of casting, scriptwriting, cinematography and music all blended together perfectly. Of course this is a new adaptation of the novel by Charles Portis which had been filmed previously with John Wayne and Glen Campbell. It has been a long time since I have seen that version and in fact I remember the Mad Magazine version of it much more clearly.

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About a year ago, when the Coens announced that they were going to cast an unknown girl in the lead part of Mattie, sales of the book started to take off. All the future movie parents wanted their child to read the book in order to get a grip on the part. Well, that's cool because you should not base your audition off the performance by someone else. Plus, in hindsight, the Coens were really trying to stay true to Portis's words so all the better to have the words in mind.

So, now that the film is out, people have been picking up the book again in droves. Having enjoyed the film and knowing that many consider the novel incredibly well written, I decided to take the plunge. It was, in fact, very good with all the wittiness of the dialogue originating in the book. Yet, there were subtle differences and the natural ability to elongate passages which are more character building than action oriented. Some changes were subtle, like the fact that LaBeouf stays with Rooster and Mattie the entire time, whilst in the new film he does go off a couple of times in disgust. The biggest change is to the development of Rooster with much more backstory elucidated. I have to agree, though, with the one reviewer who said that Bridges' performance of Rooster was akin to a proto-Lebowski. Both are just kind of drifters in the river of life who just want to chill and do their own thing. Except one of them is a bit more violent than the other.

Suffice it to say, if you have a couple of extra hours and need something different to read, True Grit would make a fine selection. Now I need to pick up a copy of The Searchers!