In Relation To True Grit

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a girl to be reckoned with. When her father is shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), Mattie hires U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to pursue Chaney into Indian Territory. Of course, she wants to go along. After all, it was her father who was shot down. She has the right to make certain that Chaney pays for his crime with his life.

There's not much to be said story-wise for most westerns. They follow basically the same pattern: Good guy rides into a town dominated by the bad guy, who also has some sort of hold over the girl. Shooting ensues. Bad guy ends up dead, the good guy marries the girl, and everybody lives happily ever after. There are exceptions to this storyline, of course, but most are fairly minor. The very charm of westerns lie in their old-fashioned good-vs.-evil, underdog, man-of-courage feel. True Grit deviates from those stereotypes and is the better for it.

Despite the ads and publicity, which seem to indicate otherwise, the protagonist is the fourteen-year-old girl Mattie Ross, not Rooster Cogburn. Mattie is the driving force behind the expedition into Indian Territory, Mattie is the one who introduces and ends the story, and Mattie is the glue that holds everything together. This focus on a girl - a young girl, for that matter - is unusual for a western, and brings a breath of fresh air. Of course, Mattie is not like most other fourteen-year-old girls. But, while she may get the better of her elders in bargaining and arguing, she still has her moments of vulnerability and childishness. The simple fact that she is such a big part of the story, despite being a young girl, sets True Grit apart from its fellow westerns.

(While I'm on the subject of Mattie Ross, I'd like to address a pet peeve of mine. In my opinion, it's strange that Hailee Steinfeld was nominated for "best supporting actress" and not "best actress." Her character is the star of the movie, even though she wasn't marketed as such. Furthermore, it's insulting that the best supporting actress award was given to Helena Bonham Carter of The King's Speech, who gave a performance that was fabulous, but somewhat limited in screen time. I have a friend who insists that the quaint way of talking used by Mattie in True Grit makes it difficult to determine how much of her performance was good and how much was just hidden by her speech, but I disagree. I have seen too many teenaged actresses attempt to act and fail miserably not to recognize a good performance when I see it. I suspect the real reason Bonham Carter won is either that the Oscars wanted to dump as many awards as possible on The King's Speech, or that there was some sort of bias against True Grit - which was nominated for ten awards, but didn't win a single one.)

To pick up my review where I left off, True Grit is an unusual western for another reason. The quaint speech, with few contractions, long, old-fashioned words, and sometimes exceedingly long sentences, might seem stilted to some, but at least it's unusual. As a fan of old British books and, as you may already have noticed, someone who writes with long sentences, I found the speech to be delightful. A little strange at first, but very enjoyable. I have always been bothered by the modern way of talking in westerns; it seems to me that the people who inhabited the West over a hundred years ago would have a different, more old-fashioned way of talking than we do. True Grit finally addressed this concern.

In another deviance from the usual pattern of westerns, True Grit is well done on almost every front. As I said, Hailee Steinfeld is wonderful as Mattie. Jeff Bridges is perfect as Rooster Cogburn, and Matt Damon is hilarious as mustached and side-burned Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. Writing and costumes are equally as good, to the point where Mattie's skin looks a little oily when she wakes up in the boarding house in town. I have never seen a movie - much less a western - with that great of attention to detail.

Essentially, True Grit is probably my favorite western. 3:10 to Yuma (the one with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe) similarly rejects many of the stereotypes and conventions of westerns, but is too brutal and has too much other content (however brief) for me to enjoy seeing more than once or twice a year. True Grit, on the other hand, manages to break with tradition without taking the content to a modern level. As someone who warily approaches even PG-13 movies, I appreciate that.

My Rating: T (violence, language)

*UPDATE* Rather embarrassingly, I recently discovered that Helena Bonham Carter did not win best supporting actress for The King's Speech. Melissa Leo from The Fighter actually won the award. While I stand by my statement that Hailee Steinfeld was better than Bonham Carter, I wholeheartedly endorse Leo's win.

On The Searchers

Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) has just returned from an extended absence that began with the Civil War, but continued for some time under mysterious circumstances. His brother, sister-in-law, and the couple's children welcome him back with open arms, but Ethan seems to have a little trouble settling in. When Indians attack while Ethan and his adopted nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) are elsewhere, the whole family is murdered except for Ethan's two young nieces. Ethan and Martin leave to search for their two family members, but it isn't long before Martin fears Ethan's hatred of Indians may cause him to do something drastic.

Generally speaking, I don't like John Wayne movies. I think he was a dreadful actor, and, to be honest, he played exactly the same character in all his later movies that I've seen. In this one, he's a particularly bad actor. He has this one line that he keeps repeating at different points in the movie that is just laughable. However, I enjoyed watching The Searchers because it isn't so much about him as it is about his nephew Martin.

Martin is an enjoyable character. He's only a decent actor, but his character is surprisingly well formed for a Hollywood movie. He has his own little quirks without seeming like an overly exaggerated character, and some of the situations he gets himself into are pretty funny. Best of all, he's young, inexperienced, and rather foolish, but he's still a brave hero. He puts the safety of his adopted sister above his own comfort, even though his girlfriend is furious with him for being gone for so long.

Although I really enjoyed Martin, I must say that the portrayal of Indians made me cringe a little. It's a typical Hollywood stereotype (for crying out loud, the bad guy's name is Scar, a sinister name if I've ever heard one), and Ethan's overblown hatred and disgust for Indians (though partly justifiable because of the Indians' raid on his family's home) is a bit over the top. Although, in defense of the movie, there are a few peaceful Indians as well, and the U.S. soldiers are sometimes portrayed as cruel toward Indians.

Note: John Wayne's son Patrick plays a young soldier in this movie. A little fun is poked at their relationship; Patrick plays the son of an officer, and the men keep giving him a hard time because of his father.

My Rating: OK (frightening situations, mild sexual content)

Concerning Silver Canyon

In Louis L'Amour's Silver Canyon, Matt Brennan rides into dusty Hattan's Point - and almost instantly falls in love. Beautiful Moira Maclaren catches his eye, and he decides he wants to marry her. Unfortunately, Matt ends up siding against Moira's father in a land dispute. As the tension (and body count) escalates, Matt must find a way to bring peace back to Hattan's Point before he ends up on the wrong end of a bullet.

Pros: There ain't nothin' like a good ol' western! In this one, I like both the hero and the heroine, which is rather rare. There was an unusual twist to the storyline that I didn't see coming at the beginning of the book, though it became clearer to me as the book went on.

Cons: A fist fight lasts waaaaay too long. Matt got overly aggresive (and bloodthirsty) at times. **Spoiler warning** The title totally gives away a key part of the story (which I picked up on anyway, long after I forgot the title of the book!)

My Rating: T (aggresive hero)

Concerning Springtime in the Rockies

Sandra Knight (Polly Rowles) inherited a ranch from her father. Determined to make a go of it, she attended animal husbandry school and is now fully prepared to take the reins from her foreman, Gene Autry (Gene Autry). She arrives in town with three of her classmates and promptly buys a truckload of sheep from a nearby rancher. What she doesn't know is that the rancher had intended to ship the sheep back east. In fact, he was practically forced to do so at gunpoint - none of the cattle ranchers in the area will tolerate sheep because the animals destroy every range where they graze. It's up to Gene and his right hand man, Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), to find a way to get rid of the sheep without making their boss or the other ranchers angry.

Pros: I must admit I'm a Gene Autry fanatic. He wasn't a particularly good actor, nor was he drop-dead gorgeous, but his characters were very sweet and gentlemanly, and I like his singing. This movie is funny, especially Frog the dumb sidekick. Sandra is an unusual heroine for that time period - she's not very pretty, and is actually a good actress.

Cons: There's a little too much singing. Some things are over-dramatized - the music, for instance, is extremely annoying at the beginning. Other things aren't done very well.

My Rating: OK ("white lies")

Excerpt from "Springtime in the Rockies", a song from the movie.

Concerning Montana

Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn), an Australian sheepman, is determined to establish his herd near Fort Humbolt, Montana. Maria Singleton (Alexis Smith) and Rodney Ackroyd (Douglas Kennedy), the two biggest cattle ranchers in the area, are convinced that sheep and cattle can't share the same range. They're willing to fight - even kill - to keep sheep from the grazing pastures of Fort Humbolt.

Pros: Errol Flynn was about the only thing that lifted this movie above a D- grade. But then, I would watch Errol Flynn read the phone book.

Cons: It's much like many other westerns. I found Maria Singleton's eyes disturbing. There were few funny parts and even fewer exciting ones.

My Rating: OK (violence, flirting woman)

Pertaining To The Magnificent Seven

"They were seven - And they fought like seven hundred!" One of the best western films of all time, The Magnificent Seven is about a small farming village in Mexico. Terrorized by a robber and his band, the villagers hire seven gunmen to defend them.

Pros: There are western cliches, but somehow they all seem to work. For instance, instead of a man with a past riding into town and freeing it from a tyrant, The Magnificent Seven features seven such men. Some of these men, Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) and Vin (Steve McQueen) in particular, are very honorable, while one could make a case that they all are. It's nice to see a movie with true heroes. Chico (Horst Buchholz) is an amusingly hotheaded guy. The soundtrack is one of the greatest I have ever heard.

Cons: Some of the Mexicans have "wandering" accents that fade in and out. I find the girl, who has only a very small part in the movie, to be really annoying.

My Rating: OK (violence, mild sexual reference)

Picture from hippomovies.com