TRUE GRIT 1969lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2011/04/true-grit-1969.html

I have to make two things clear from the start: I am not a fan of westerns and I’m REALLY not a fan of John Wayne.Having firmly established that fact, I’m afraid I must also lay simultaneous claim to the patently contradictorydeclaration that True Grit — incontestably both a western and a John Wayne film — is one of my all-time favoritemovies.

I've loved movies since I was kid, but even then, there were only two kinds of films I didn't like: westerns and warmovies. Seeing as these genres exemplified virtually the entire John Wayne oeuvre, by the time True Grit appearedat the local movie house on a double bill with The Odd Couple back in 1969 (I was a big fan of Jack Lemmon), I was12 years-old and had never seen a John Wayne movie. Well, as luck would have it, my first John Wayne movie waswhat I consider (then and to this day) his best. True Grit is an engagingly robust and entertaining western adventurethat is satisfying in all the ways that a good, old-fashioned, "popcorn movie" should be.

John Wayne as Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn

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Kim Darby as Mattie Ross

Glen Campbell as LaBoeuf

The by-now familiar story concerns the efforts of a headstrong girl (the appealingly androgynous Kim Darby, whosehaircut here makes her look like a somewhat more masculine Justin Bieber) to bring to justice the murderer of herfather. To assist her in her quest she enlists the aid of a boozy, trigger-happy U.S. Marshal named Rooster Cogburn(Wayne) and a chubby-cheeked Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (the genial singing star Glen Campbell, whoseacting style consists of scrunching up his face a lot).

So what was it about True Grit that made it different from the rest?

For starters it has a great "quest" storyline...(something akin to a frontier The Wizard of Oz or prairie Alice inWonderland) populated with colorful characters, crackling dialog, and centered on a young protagonist with whom akid could both identify and root for; its cinematography is fittingly crisp and offers up a storybook vision of the oldwest— all breathtaking mountain vistas and majestic trees; it has a sweeping Elmer Bernstein "Aaron Coplandmeets the Marlboro Man" score of rousing, orchestrated music that imbues every scene with the thrust of Americanmyth; and best of all, in its subtle integration of emancipated women, Indians, African-Americans, and Chinese intothe fabric of everyday western life, it is a refreshingly modern take on a over-exhausted genre.

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Mattie Ross (toting her father's gun) tries to convince Marshal Cogburn that she means business.

The first time I saw True Grit it played out for me like a thrill-a-minute tall-tale told around a campfire at night. Itengaged me from its first frames to its last, doling out equal parts thrills, laughs, and heart. To this day I can watchthe film, aware of its artificiality and inauthenticity, yet powerless and unwilling to allow that to mar the enjoyment Ifind in the likable characters, ofttimes hilarious dialog, and terrific performances. Much like 1965s Cat Ballou, TrueGrit is the perfect western for people who don't like westerns.

Rooster- "By God! She reminds me of me!"

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILM

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Part of the charm of True Grit is its gentle send-up of the John Wayne myth. Outwardly the story of a young girl'spursuit of justice, running beneath the surface of True Grit is also a story about a man out of step with the times. Inthe tamed West of True Grit - a West of lawyers, evolving women's roles, and boarding houses that eschew spurs inthe dining room; Rooster Cogburn is something of a dinosaur. A symbol of a lawless time that civilized townsfolkwould be happy to put behind them. In the America of 1969 John Wayne was also a bit of a dinosaur. His ultra-conservative screen image, pro-war politics, and ofttimes moronic offscreen statements on racial matters, alienatedhim from the very individuals who were emerging as the core movie-going audience of the New Hollywood — theyoung, college crowd. After the gung-ho embarrassment that was The Green Berets (a 1968 film I had themisfortune to see several decades later) Wayne gets a chance at big-screen redemption in True Grit.

John Wayne's right eye, outacting Glen Campbell

In True Grit John Wayne gives a bravely self-deprecating performance, allowing himself to be called a fat, slovenly,kill-happy, sexist drunk by most of the cast for a good deal of the picture. His machismo is met and bested in nearlyevery scene by the resourceful Kim Darby, and even Glen Campbell, while not really anybody's idea of a westernhero, cuts a more dashing figure of youth and vitality. This subtle peeling away of the anachronistic myth of the GreatWhite Frontiersman has the not-undesired effect of making Wayne (very unpopular with the young anti-war, butticket-buying crowd) into a more sympathetic character.

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Rooster meets his match.

Indeed, Wayne has so much abuse heaped on his head in the film that by the time of the climactic gun battle wherehe single-handedly takes on four desperadoes while wielding a pistol, a rifle, and holding his horse's reins in histeeth; the audience is practically on its feet cheering, happy to see a moment of old-school Wayne in this sea ofwestern revisionism.

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"No grit? Rooster Cogburn? Not much!"

PERFORMANCES I've never held with the accepted belief that John Wayne so overpowers the film that the storyshifts focus from Darby's Mattie Ross to Wayne's Rooster Cogburn the moment he appears. I'm sure that's whatWayne fans experience, but as good as Wayne is (and he's VERY good. I can't imagine how he made that one eyeso expressive!) the under-appreciated and very talented Kim Darby is the main reason I like the film so much.

Her performance is surprisingly strong and she holds the narrative thread together by investing her character'ssingle-minded indomitability with a deep sense of loss and pugnacious vulnerability. Just watch how she matchesthe energy and skill of veterans like Wayne and Strother Martin in their scenes together. Much like Mattie

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Ross, Darby refuses to be shunted off to the sidelines by the seasoned, all-male cast, and brilliantly holds her own.Her gutsy yet gentle portrayal also serves to smooth over and humanize all the macho gunplay and violence thatoften becomes so repetitious and tiresome in westerns.

Lightening failed to strike twice for Darby and Campell who were reteamed a year later in Norwood, a forgotten film also based on a CharlesPortis novel and adapted by Marguerite Roberts.

THE STUFF OF FANTASYFor a city boy like me, a western couldn't look more like a western than True Grit. A huge departure from the B&WTV westerns of the day, all of which seemed to use the same fake-looking studio backlot town, True Grit 's use ofspectacular, eye-popping natural locations add both a visual lushness and heroic scope.With traditional western mythology at the core of the narrative, director Henry Hathaway treats the locations likeanother character in the story. Not only do the mountains and streams provide colorful backdrop, but each scenethat plays out in front of one of these magnificent landscapes seems to pay homage to decades of western (movie)tradition. And for those purists who would balk at the Colorado Rockies standing in for the plains of Arkansas andOklahoma...are we really looking for documentary authenticity in a movie where we're asked to believe fourhardened gunmen all manage to miss hitting a big target like Rooster Cogburn in a four-against-one faceoff?

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THE STUFF OF DREAMSMovies are a visual medium to be sure, but there's nothing like a well-written story. The source novel by CharlesPortis is a great bit of folkloric storytelling brought to vivid life on the screen by Marguerite Roberts. The dialog, thecharacters, and even the simple structure of the plot is perfection itself. So many films today suffer from over-plotting. Ruled by audience short attention spans, they trip themselves up with A, B & even C storylines; subplotspiled upon subplots; and with all this they still never make sense. Here you have a direct narrative with three acts,rising action, character arc, sentimentality, heroism, and probably one of the most satisfyingly-resolved conclusionsof a western ever put to film. Great storytelling, great moviemaking.

Consummate character actor Strother Martin is memorable in his scenes as the exasperated auctioneer who has one too many encounters withthe headstrong Mattie Ross

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You have to look far to find a more menacing western villain than Robert Duvall as "Lucky" Ned Pepper

I have not yet seen the Coen brothers' 2010 remake, but I am very much looking forward to the DVD release. Asstated, I think the source novel is foolproof, and any film which claims to hew closely to it is on a winning track fromthe getgo. I generally tend not be too fond of remakes, but in this case I am eager to see these great charactersinterpreted by a new generation of actors and interpreted perhaps with a new sensibility. The original True Grit willalways be special to me and irreplaceable in my memories, but it does come with a lot of baggage (not only the JohnWayne issue, but the casting of the then-immensely popular Glen Campbell was blatant stunt-casting and anobvious box-office bid). It's been a while now and I think it's high time I see another western...who cares if it's thesame one?

"Well, come see a fat old man sometime!"

Copyright © Ken Anderson

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