Coen Brothers month: True Grit

A review by Brooks Rich

Let's make one thing clear. The classic western ended in 1992 with Unforgiven, a deconstruction of the western hero that explored the darker aspects of the gunslinger, the morality of it all. The '90s brought throwback westerns, films that were in line with the good versus evil westerns of early Hollywood. Eventually, though westerns went more towards what Unforgiven was doing, morally gray films where there's not much difference between the heroes and villains.

The Coen's first western is a remake of a John Wayne film, about a young girl hiring a US marshal to track down her father's killer. The John Wayne is very much a standard western, good guys versus bad guys, the wicked must be punished, justice must be served. The Coen's remake is much darker. Justice isn't enough for Maddie, our vengeful daughter. Her father's killer must understand he is being punished for what he has done to her father. Only death will suffice. She must have vengeance, no matter the cost.

The characters in True Grit feel real. The main hero is a skilled marksman with an alcohol problem. Maddie is purely revenge-driven, not caring what it takes to bring her father's killer to justice. The third member of Maddie's party is a Texas Ranger who feels like he's in over his head. On the other side, you have the killer. He's not black wearing gunslinger with evil intentions. He's a sad sack who drunkenly murdered someone.

The Coen Brothers always do great character work in their movies and yes their main characters are all strong. But sometimes it's the minor characters that steal the show. True Grit's big scene-stealer is the bear guy. It's just some bearded dude who rides up randomly and is dressed in a bearskin. He has maybe three minutes of screen time but boy is he memorable. The Coen's minor characters always make their worlds feel both real and quirky.

True Grit is a fantastic film. I give it my highest recommendation. It's one of my favorite Coen Brothers films and is one of the films I revisit the most often, right up there with Fargo and Big Lebowski. If for some reason you've never seen it, fix that immediately.

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