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RE: "True Grit:" nothing special. For the first time in memory, Bridges gives a

Posted by Dalton on December 28, 2010 at 15:05:13

In Reply to: RE: "True Grit:" nothing special. For the first time in memory, Bridges gives a posted by Jazz Inmate on December 27, 2010 at 22:58:44:

>> Two immediate examples that prove you wrong: the determination of the girl in her dialog with the horse seller and the violence erupting in the cabin. There was plenty going on to keep you on your toes. <<

It's funny you bring these two particular scenes up. They stuck out in my mind as the ONLY two scenes done better in the original 1969 True Grit.

One improvement in the Coens' version: Mattie's falling into the snake pit as an "equal and opposite reaction" of firing the fatal gunshot to Chaney was more symbolic. In the original, it comes off more as a plot convenience since Chaney lives after Mattie's shot. (It is Cogburn who finally kills him.)

The original took a more paternalistic approach. Mattie remains "innocent" of any direct killing and does not lose her arm. In the Coens' version she gets retribution at her own hand, but must be "punished" with an irredeemable physical handicap, just as Cogburn was. There's a little more truth and resonance to the story this way, implying that justice does not come without cost to he (or she) who seeks it.

Was the Coens' more explicit telling of the story worth all the effort? Not really. As I said in an earlier post, the lessons are obvious and virtually the same in both versions. And the Wayne version is more entertaining.

Edits: 12/28/10

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