True Grit vs The Big Lebowski

The answer is: No, I haven’t seen the original True Grit. But you know what? I would have seen it if the Coen brothers had directed it. I’d own a copy. If they had cast Jeff Bridges as a bearded, drunk, surly Rooster Cogburn, sharp-shooting and talking so gravelly and low he sounds like speaker feedback? I’d be all over that. And if they found Haillee Steinfeld to play Mattie Ross, a fast-talking mini-Marge Gunderson of the prairie? And everything was filmed in the stark tones of ashes and tree bark? And the supporting cast was rounded out by Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, Josh Brolin and a guy who only speaks in animal noises? Well shit, that would be one of my favorite movies of the year.

Duh.

Mattie Ross is fourteen, and is looking for her father’s killer Tom Chaney (Brolin). She hires a U.S. Marshal (Jeff Bridges) to help track him down. It’s freezing, and although the mission is laid about simply, it appears as if the trip might be longer than anticipated. The marshal, Rooster, is a barely-functioning drunk, who wants the job, but wants to go alone. He certainly doesn’t want the company of a kid, and he wants even less to be joined by LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger with delusions of grandeur and the law on his side. Of course the men despise each other, each claiming the best knowledge of how to take the law into your own hands. Neither are particularly fond or fatherly of Mattie, partly because protecting her adds difficulty to the assignment, and partly because she’s such a ball-breaker. Mattie Ross is one of the great Coen characters, forthright and articulate beyond her years, and nearly beyond the comprehension of her adult traveling companions. Thirty years ago, she might have been played by Jodie Foster. Mattie knows all the rules, regulations and financial requirements for any given situation, but also a strong sense of morality. Mattie wants revenge not just because she misses her father and wants him avenged, but also because it was illegal and morally wrong to kill a man and leave his young family behind. Near the end of Fargo, Marge makes a speech about greed while she’s driving a killer to the police station; it’s easy to imagine Mattie saying the same things to Tom Cheney, and for Steinfeld to inform it with just enough gravity that we know she means it, and just enough hope that there’s someone good out in the world who agrees with her. If I didn’t know there was source material, I’d swear the Coens had created her.

That goes for Rooster Cogburn as well. Jeff Bridges is hidden under layers of clothes, a beard, a hat, an eye-patch, a different voice, a different walk. It’s one of those chameleon method actor jobs, but full of joy and humor. Jeff Bridges disappears into roles as much as any actor you could mention, but never seems to be suffering. Rooster is a dangerous man (early in the movie, he’s on trial for killing without provocation, and gives a hilarious defense in which he incriminates himself further), but he’s got what Mattie thinks is necessary to find her father’s killer: true grit. That he does. Bridges made me believe there was a man who could drink all night, ride horses all day, and still have the focus—in only one eye—to shoot biscuits out of the sky. Why are biscuits in the sky? Because Rooster’s trying to prove a point, and we’d all be better off if we listened to him more often.

Because True Grit is a Coen Brothers’ movie, there is dark humor throughout, and of course flashes of shocking violence. But it’s also charming and kind of quaint. This True Grit is much more of a traditional western than you might be expecting. Visually, it’s remarkable, and features two new entries into my Favorite Coen Brothers’ Shots list:  In one, Rooster stands silhouetted in the entrance of a mine; the other is, of course, the ominous, confusing introduction of the bear-headed man, approaching on horseback as snow falls. And make no mistake: True Grit is a Coen Brothers’ movie. From my understanding, it’s not so much a remake as a second go at adapting the book. It’s also, slyly, a Coen Brothers’ Greatest Hits. For all I know, they haven’t even seen the other version of True Grit. But they’ve certainly seen their own movies. With its stark visuals and grave, revenge-based plot, there are easy similarities to No Country for Old Men and Fargo. But look closer and you’ll see Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading, and O Brother Where Art Thou as well; grave situations played as comical, comical characters you’d best not cross.

The Coen brothers, like Mattie Ross, are so clear with their strategy that you never question their input. Another director making True Grit would have gone much more for “remake”, trying to update everything. It could have been slick and stupid. (Or maybe The Professional is that movie already, and it’s great too.)

The most fun in-house Coen Brothers comparison to True Grit is The Big Lebowski. It has a more modern setting, and a more ambiguous protagonist, obviously. The Big Lebowski has become such a part of the culture—such a culture of its own, really—that you don’t ask someone if they’ve seen it; you ask their favorite part. Mine: The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Maude (Julianne Moore) have sex and then post-coital small talk about the Dude’s days as a roadie for Metallica. Or, the Dude and Walter (John Goodman) argue over a dog Walter brought to bowling, prompting Walter to turn his back on the Dude and mouth “He’s such a baby”. The best though, in light of True Grit, might be Sam Elliott’s bowling alley cowboy character complaining that the Dude uses too many cuss-words. I bet that guy loves True Grit.

True Grit: A

The Big Lebowski: A