Off-List: True Grit
The first
off-List movie of 1969 is “True Grit”. I have never seen it before and the only
things I knew about it going in was its famous, recent remake and that Ranker
considers it the second best movie of 1969. I guess this made me more than a
little curious to watch this movie.
It was,
frankly, a bit disappointing.
“True Grit”
is a movie about a girl, Mattie (Kim Darby) whose father got killed by a
low-life caller Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). She sets out to find him and bring him
to justice. To that end she hires a Marshall, Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne), and,
much against his will, insists on riding along. They are joined by a Texas
ranger, La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who wants to take Chaney to Texas. Chaney has
joined a gang led by Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and so they are two men and a
woman up against an entire gang of outlaws.
This is
very much a vehicle for John Wayne to do his usual things. To be tough and grandfatherly,
dunk and just, trigger happy and jovial. Essentially your standard John Wayne.
The Academy apparently thought he did that so well that they gave him an Oscar
for it. If there is nothing better in 69 this will indeed be a thin year.
John Wayne
being what he is, the main character here is Mattie. It is cool that she wants
to join the man hunt, but this girl has so many annoying qualities that any
sympathy I had for her soon wore out. She is preachy and very penny-pinching,
lacks a sense of the situation and is practically useless in the field. She is
the kind of person you least want to bring along on such an expedition. You may
then ask, why is she then joining the chase? The answer may well be as comical
relief.
See, “True
Grit” is trying hard to be a comedy, or at least have some substantially comical
elements. Bringing this girl along for a manhunt she is not suited for is such
a comical element. So is Rooster drinking with his cat and Chinese friend.
Problem is just that Mattie is not funny, she is annoying, and her preachy
manner made her tiresome very fast.
The other
main element of the movie is the Western theme of hunting down outlaws. It is
okay, but nothing special and although it is a long movie, this part of it is
fairly short in order to set up a relationship between Rooster and Mattie. The
hardship of the chase is also played down and frankly there is not much of a
search. They ride into the territory, stumble upon Nep Peppers gang and shoot
it out. Of course, Mattie gets in trouble, which makes things a bit
complicated, but nothing they cannot handle.
I thought
it would be tougher and grittier, but this is 69 and not 2019, and so this is a
sanitized version of the West. I could also have managed without the comedy. For
me “Western” and “comedy” does not merge very well. And finally, I could really
have used a less annoying character than Mattie.
Well, I got
my curiosity settled and that is that.
A shame it was disappointing. I watched the 2010 remake which I rated 8/10. The scenes with Hailee Steinfeld as the feisty girl were quite funny to me and I didn't think her character was annoying. What did frustrate me was were the heavy accents, which probably were authentic for the time. Subtitles were needed in my case.
ReplyDeleteI have not actually watched the 2010 version yet, but I get the impression it is better than the original. Or at least I hope so.
DeleteThis is a rare instance where the remake is better than the original. I like this one well enough ("Fill yer hands, you sonnovabitch" is a classic line), but it absolutely doesn't live up to the hype.
ReplyDeleteThis is all about John Wayne. On his older days he got to be a bit too hammy for my taste.
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