True Grit

In 1969, no one my age (20) attending a northeastern liberal arts college would ever consider seeing a John Wayne movie. The year before, the erstwhile Marion Morrison had tweaked our anti-war sentiments with the archaic “Green Berets”. In a time of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate”, a foxhole hero plug for LBJ’s (soon to be Nixon’s) war received only scorn.

So when “True Grit” came out, we all trooped to “Midnight Cowboy”, “M*A*S*H”, and “Easy Rider”. How could a western starring someone who seemingly spat in our faces with his half-smile swagger be worth seeing?

I still don’t know how that movie went, but I do know that Charles Portis, the Arkansas author/creator of Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross, can whip up a hell of a yarn. While not epic in its sweep, it is just as iconic an American tale as Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”.

And in the hands of moviemakers Joel and Ethan Coen, that perfect little story becomes a perfect little movie. In the last 15 years, these brothers have turned out “Fargo”, “The Big Lebowski”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, & “No Country For Old Men.” They love a good story, with complicated, fully developed characters, and often let the landscape play a major role. Sometimes accused of having too strong a streak of quirkiness, they’ve left that template behind this time.

As they did with “No Country For Old Men”, they stick to their story, and avoid letting irony and referential winking get in the way, like their earlier work in, say, “Barton FInk” or “Fargo”, or even the recent “Serious Man”.

Having Jeff Bridges to mutter, scratch, wobble, weave, and s till shoot and talk straight makes the work a bit easier. Pretty boy craftsman Matt Damon provides just the right amount of wit and gravity to Le Boeuf. And Hailee Steinfeld out thinks and almost outguns everyone at every turn as teen-aged avenger Mattie Ross.

Minimum of 3 Oscars for this film. Could sweep supporting actor categories, or at least swamp the nominations.