Based on the excellent novel by Charles Portis, the two movie versions of True Grit are wise enough to stick (mostly) to the story of the novel. Here's my synopsis of the book's plot set-up from my review:
Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year old girl in late 1800s Arkansas, is determined to avenge her father's death. He was killed by Tom Chaney, a hired hand who had too much to drink and too much darkness in his past. Mattie travels to Fort Smith (where her father was killed) to finish her father's business there (some horse trading) and to seek retribution. She hires the toughest U. S. Marshall in town, Rooster Cogburn, who is a man of true grit by all accounts. Chaney has fled into the Indian Territory (that's Oklahoma nowadays). Cogburn is familiar with the area and with Lucky Ned Pepper, an outlaw with whom Chaney has joined. Texas Ranger LaBoeuf has also come to town seeking Chaney for the murder of a senator and the senator's dog in Texas. Cogburn and LaBoeuf team up and Mattie insists on coming along.
The two lawmen try to leave her behind when they head into the Territory but Mattie's pluck and resourcefulness keep her on the trail. The story is both exciting and humorous.
True Grit (1969) directed by Henry Hathaway
This movie starts with Mattie's dad going to Fort Smith with Chaney (Jeff Corey) and shows us Chaney killing the dad and then fleeing. Mattie (Kim Darby) comes to town and gets to work. She is a tough negotiator at horse trading and also hires Cogburn (John Wayne) while putting off LaBoeuf (Glen Campbell), who is a bit annoying. Cogburn and LaBoeuf meet anyway and plan to go without her. She insists. Their adventure in the Territory starts with a river crossing where the lawmen tell one of the ferrymen that Mattie is a runaway and there's a reward for her in town. She's dragged off and forced onto her horse. She beats off the ferryman and has her horse swim across the river while the lawmen ride the ferry. Cogburn's comment is hilarious and telling--"She reminds me of me."
In the territory, they follow the clues along Chaney and Ned Pepper's trail (Ned is played by Robert Duvall), leading to a dugout where two other members of Pepper's gang are waiting for the rest of them to get back. Cogburn and LaBoeuf smoke them out and get some information out of them before they die. The lawmen try to ambush the rest of the gang but the plan fails when LaBoeuf shoots too early, before most of the outlaws are inside the dugout. The outlaws flee and the trio start tracking them again.
They finally catch up to the gang but by accident. Mattie goes to a river to wash up one morning only to be surprised by Chaney. She has a short confrontation where she shoots Chaney with her father's gun but does not kill him. Chaney captures her and takes her to the bad guy's camp while Pepper and some of the other men cover him. Pepper threatens to kill the girl if Cogburn and LaBoeuf don't flee. The lawmen ride off, infuriating Mattie.
The bad guys are short one horse, so they leave Chaney behind with Mattie with the promise that they will send help back. Chaney threatens her when they are alone. LaBoeuf shows up and knocks out Chaney while Cogburn confronts the other four gang members in an open field. LaBoeuf and Mattie watch Cogburn fight the other four. Cogburn shoots three of them, leaving Pepper alive. Cogburn is trapped under his horse and can't reach his rifle as Pepper approaches. LaBoeuf shoots Pepper from a long distance, saving Cogburn. Chaney has woken up and kills LaBoeuf, then tosses Mattie into a pit with a rattlesnake. Cogburn shows up and shoots Chaney who falls into the pit. Mattie is bitten by a snake before Cogburn can get her out.
They race to the nearest doctor. Mattie eventually recovers and heads home. She shows Cogburn their family plot and asks him to be buried there, with her, when the time comes. Cogburn reluctantly agrees, riding off in glory.
True Grit (2010) written and directed by the Coen Brothers
This second film version of the story stays to the same plot with some differences. The film starts with an older Mattie giving voiceover to set up the situation as we see her father laying face down on the street of Fort Smith in a sepia-toned visual. Younger Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) shows up and the voiceover is done until the end of the film. She spends her first night with her dad's coffin since she had to pay all her money to the undertaker. After the horse trading, she could afford to stay at a local hotel. She meets LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) there and finds him unpleasant. She hires the reluctant Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and thinks she's convinced him to let her come along. He leaves early and inexplicably is already with LaBoeuf. Cogburn and LaBoeuf are more opposed to each other in this version, parting ways fairly early. Cogburn and Mattie move on, discovering a random man hung high in a tree. More randomly, a guy with a bearskin hat and coat comes along and offers medicinal services which they politely decline. Cogburn and Mattie deal with the first two of the gang at the dugout. They set a similar ambush but LaBoeuf rides in just before Ned Pepper's gang gets there. LaBoeuf is dragged around and injured (including almost biting his tongue off--Damon has to talk weird for the rest of the film) but rejoins the hunt. They ride for a while, bickering and chattering, including a scene where the guys try to prove who is a better shot by shooting at corn muffins.When the trail goes cold, the lawmen decide to quit. The next morning, Mattie has her riverside run-in with Chaney (Josh Brolin) and the plot plays out mostly the same as the first movie. Mattie shoots Chaney dead, though the recoil from the rifle knocks her back into the pit with the snakes. Cogburn saves her and gets her to safety. The movie then has an epilogue twenty-five years later where the older Mattie (who is back on voiceover duty) goes to meet Cogburn at a Wild West show, only to discover that he's died three days earlier. She takes his body to her family cemetery where he is buried.
Which is better?
The events of the second film are closer to the novel which is written in first-person voice by the older Mattie. So the film's voiceover is sort of justified even though that is typically a weakness in movie storytelling. The voiceover sets the tone and theme for the movie. The voiceover also sets up the bookends of the film, giving it a nice symmetry. On the other hand, there are many elements in the film that seem more like vintage Coen Brothers, like the random run-in with the guy wearing a bearskin hat or Mattie's first encounter with Rooster while he is in an outhouse. The violence is occasionally more brutal than the first film.
The first film, while following the plot and tone of the book, is definitely a John Wayne film. The ending is more of a triumphant farewell from Wayne to the Western than a conclusion to the story. His morally ambiguous but heroic Cogburn is contrasted with the righteous naivety of Mattie who is the heart of the film (in spite of it being a John Wayne film!). Which brings up an interesting point...
- Rooster Cogburn--John Wayne is without doubt the most iconic star of American Western films. He is larger than life physically and in personality, matching well the character of Cogburn. Cogburn overestimates himself, but not by much. Wayne's performance benefits from a lack of ego--he's willing to play drunk or foolish and gets put in his place by Kim Darby's Mattie. Wayne won the Academy award for best actor for this performance, which was more than just acknowledging his long career. Jeff Bridges does a good job with the role but does not project the larger-than-life persona of Cogburn. Bridges is more subdued and contemplative, not the coldblooded killer the story makes him out to be.
- La Boeuf--Glen Campbell is a country music star who was cast for the film. He's not a professional actor (though stage performing has lots of parallels) and it shows. He is the weak leg of the trio of heroes in the first film. Matt Damon is a much better actor and gives a much better performance. Damon also has more to do (like dealing with the tongue injury) that make his character richer.
- Mattie Ross--Kim Darby gives a great performance. Even though she is so much smaller and so much younger than John Wayne, Darby holds her own in their scenes together and plays really well against him (a feat few actresses have achieved). She embodies the character from the novel. Steinfeld, like Bridges, does fine in the role but hardly has the the sharpness of Darby. Steinfeld is subdued and does not have the feistiness or earnestness that Darby exhibits.
The cinematography is much better in the second film. The sets are grittier and more realistic. The old west atmosphere comes through strongly. The final race at the end is quite poetic, with Cogburn and Mattie caught between the starry heavens and the lifeless earth.
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