Tag: Rooster Cogburn

Fans Gathers To Honor Original TRUE GRIT

On the eve of the new TRUE GRIT release, more than 500 True Grit fanatics in Fort Smith, Ark., where the story is set, gathered at the actual Judge Parker’s Gallows to turn each man, woman and child into Rooster Cogburn, the Deputy U.S. Marshal made famous first by John Wayne and now by Jeff Bridges. A crowd donned in eye patches, Marshals’ badges and dozens of homemade costumes shouted out Rooster’s famous lines from his climactic showdown with Lucky Ned Pepper (See video on YouTube):

LINES:

Ned Pepper: What’s your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfall?

Rooster Cogburn (CROWD): I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which will you have?

Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.

Rooster Cogburn (CROWD): Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!

The event was part of True Gritapalooza, a grassroots social media campaign organized by the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau to celebrate the connection of this beloved western to Fort Smith’s history. Fort Smith in 2007 was selected as the future site for the $50 million U.S. Marshals Museum. Founded in 1789 by George Washington in Senate Bill #1, the U.S. Marshals Service has never had a truly national museum suitable for showcasing its remarkable stories of heroism and conflict. True Grit’s fictional Marshal Rooster Cogburn was located in Fort Smith for the same reason the U.S. Marshals Museum will be–Fort Smith is where some of the most fascinating and most dangerous Wild West history took place. More Marshals and Deputy Marshals are buried in and near Fort Smith than anywhere else in the country. The story of True Grit may be fictional, but it is rooted in actual memoirs of high adventure on Fort Smith’s wild frontier.

The Fort Smith National Historic Site, where this “Roosters by the Dozen” Gritapalooza event took place, will celebrate its 50th Anniversary as part of the National Parks Service in 2011. A full week of celebrations at the National Park, some of them tying into True Grit, is planned for Summer 2011. The site contains the gallows, Judge Parker’s Courtroom; the infamous “Hell on the Border” jail; multimillion-dollar Visitors Center exhibits chronicling Fort Smith’s military, Civil War, Native American, and Federal Court/Marshals history; a Trail of Tears Overlook; and the remains of the First Fort Smith.

Review: TRUE GRIT

TRUE GRIT (2010) is the second film adaption of the book from Charles Portis’ 1968 novel of the same name. The first, being the 1969 version starring John Wayne, earned him an Oscar for Best Actor. While the 1969 version is a great film, some claims director Henry Hathaway strayed too far from the book. With this new adaptation, Joel and Ethan Coen claim to have a truer adaptation than the John Wayne classic.

Having not read the book, I cannot attest to the accuracy or loyalty to its literary inspiration. I can say, given some leniency to assume, that the dialogue it probably truer to its source as is evident by the characters’ richly verbose and illustrative dialogue, which is perhaps part of the reason the Coen brothers chose to make this film.

For this reason, I will break from the norm and not begin with Jeff Bridges, instead delving into the stellar break-out performance from Hailee Steinfeld. She plays the intelligent, spirited Mattie Ross, daughter of a man gunned down over horses stolen by the dim-witted outlaw Tom Chaney, played by Josh Brolin. When she learns of her father’s murder, Mattie takes it upon herself to track down his killer and implement revenge.

Hailee Steinfeld delivers her lines with meticulous craft, sharp and perfectly timed, but none of her performance feels cold or calculated. Mattie’s educated words roll off her tongue, slick and smooth, often the ammunition she uses to best her foes in lingual duels. Her pairing with Jeff Bridges is a masterful match of opposites, giving the film a deeper connection between the two main characters than was present in the 1969 version, whereas John Wayne’s performance was the focus.

Enter Rueben “Rooster” Cogburn, played gloriously by Jeff Bridges. Many, I am sure, will make comparisons to the performance from John Wayne, embedded into our culture as firmly as Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe. On this level, I choose not to make comparisons. It’s a futile argument. However, I can say that Jeff Bridges delivers, tooth and nail, a performance worthy of John Wayne’s respect and that of our own.

Jeff Bridges captures both the hard, grizzled exterior of the aging, drunken Marshall; as well as the inner conflict of a man uncertain of his own place in history or the afterlife. He’s a good man who’s done questionable things, but his actions in Mattie’s employ will ultimately define him.

Matt Damon serves up some respectable comic relief as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, reluctantly accompanying Cogburn and Mattie as they pursue Chaney. Damon’s performance can be a bit hard to swallow, at first, but he grows on you, becoming a character more textured and colorful than deeply layered. LaBoeuf is a man who talks a lot, but has little to say, giving the film moments of light humor.

The entire cast of TRUE GRIT shines. Josh Brolin is nearly unrecognizable as the idiot outlaw Tom Chaney while Barry Pepper stands out as Lucky Ned Pepper, the leader of the outlaw posse Chaney rides with and Cogburn’s arch-nemesis. The two actors play off each other in the final scenes with subdued fireworks, a chemistry that could only be had with two talented veteran actors.

Joel and Ethan Coen are capable of taking just about any script, usually their own, and making a great movie in just about any genre. TRUE GRIT serves as their venture into the western genre, but their brilliance is not enough to make these films so unforgettable. The Coen brothers have employed a fairly regular team of talented craftsmen throughout their careers, and two of these names deserve tremendous adulation.

Roger Deakins’ cinematography is akin to a master illustrator’s contributions to a great childrens book… one cannot succeed without the other. As a result, TRUE GRIT offers the best visual director of photography in the genre since THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Likewise, Carter Burwell’s score has an unmistakable influence on the film’s ability to take the audience into this time and place, but also into the tone of the story, allowing us to experience the characters’ emotional odyssey.

Many things will be said of the Coen brothers’ TRUE GRIT, from being Oscar-worthy to blasphemy, but when all the irrelevant details are put aside and the film is viewed as its own creation, TRUE GRIT stands toe-to-toe with the best films of the year. In my personal opinion, this version of TRUE GRIT (as a whole film) trumps the 1969 version. The film is more than its lead performance.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Coen Bros’ TRUE GRIT Draws Big Names

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Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m an insatiable uber-fan of the Coen Brothers. They are to my movie world what Quentin Tarantino is to Scott’s. In my eyes, the Coen Brothers can do know wrong and I’m always as eager as a kid on Christmas morning whenever their new film emerges… which is getting to be about as regular as Woody Allen. Naturally, anytime news surfaces on a Coen Brothers production, I’m all over it like stink on… well, you get the picture.

With Jeff Bridges, who last worked with Joel and Ehtan Coen on THE BIG LEBOWSKI, on board to play U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, previously portrayed by John Wayne, two more major stars have entered discussions to become part of the Coen Brothers world. Josh Brolin, who has worked with the Brothers Coen on NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, is in talks to return to the team as The Killer.

Matt Damon is also in talks to play The Lawman who works alongside Cogburn. Damon, being the Coen Brothers rookie, should choose wisely (meaning, choose YES) if offered a role, as the Coen Brothers are developing the same appeal as being offered a role in a Woody Allen movie… you simply do NOT turn it down! Damon has increasingly become a popular candidate for edgy or high profile filmmakers, last appearing in Steven Soderbergh’s THE INFORMANT, although that relationship is anything but “new” anymore. His next film due out in theaters is Clint Eastwood’s INVICTUS.

Source: Variety

Does Jeff Bridges have ‘True Grit’ for the Coen Bros?

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Joel and Ethan Coen are gearing up for their first stab at the western genre, remaking the classic TRUE GRIT. Jeff Bridges is currently in negotiations to fill John Wayne’s Oscar-winning shoes as the lead role in the story. Bridges and the Coen Brothers last worked together on THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

The brothers Coen have apparently re-written the screenplay for their version to be more faithful to Charles Portis’ novel than the original 1969 film had been. The story follows Rooster Cogburn, an aging US Marshall, and a young girl as they track down the killer that murdered the girl’s father. The original film told the story from Cogburn’s perspective, however the Coen Brothers are switching POV and telling the story from the girl’s perspective.

I wouldn’t mind seeing this come to fruitition at all. Jeff Bridges is a great actor, familiar with the Coen Brothers and isn’t foreign to the western genre. Bridges’ first role in a western was as Jake Rumsey in Robert Benton’s 1972 genre piece BAD COMPANY, later to play Wild Bill Kickock in 1995 for Walter Hill in WILD BILL. Without a doubt, this new version of TRUE GRIT is going to be incredible.

Source: Variety