Dude ranch.
A caveat as we start on the review: Try not to think too much about this movie as a remake of the Wayne vehicle. It might be more helpful to think of it as a fresh cinematic adaptation of the source novel of 1968 by Charles Portis. Note too that this effort was helmed by the Coen Brothers.
The overall narrative is the same: A spirited 14-year-old girl, Mattie Ross (portrayed by the remarkable newcomer Hailee Steinfeld), enlists the aid of troubled U.S Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges) in tracking down Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who murdered her father. Joined by a showy Texas Ranger who will never be mistaken for Walker (Matt Damon in an excellent turn), Cogburn and Ross head into Choctaw territory after Chaney and his desperados.
What ensues is an epic journey depicted with spare grandeur and a sense both of the thrill and the peril of the unsettled territories of the West and of the human heart. The film takes its own title and challenges you to consider what it means and who actually possesses that "true grit" and how. I don't want to spoil this richly textured, carefully crafted, and beautifully shot film by talking too much about it; I should simply tell you to stop reading and gallop to the nearest cinema right now. It is a film that is a slow burn instead of a quick burst, and in it moments of deadpan humor coexist with raw humanity at its best and worst, showcased against the vast wilderness. The climactic scene with a horse in the moonlight will take your breath away -- and not quite in the way you might expect. "True Grit" is a stellar example of the Western at its best. I had been waiting for this movie for months, and it did not disappoint.
MM gives this film a grade of A. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an almost impossibly Fresh rating of 95%.
"True Grit" runs 110 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence and some disturbing images.
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