True Grit

I was truly amazed by how good this movie was. "True Grit" is now one of my all-time favorite movies. It is an American western that is based on Charles Portis' 1968 novel. It takes place in 1877 in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  The movies screenplay was written and directed by the Cohen Brothers. The movie is also a remake of the original "True Grit" starring the one and only John Wayne. At first I wondered if Jeff Bridges would be able to fill the shoes of John Wayne's role, and it turns out that he was more than capable. In his role, he played a U.S Marshal named Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, who is known for being a very tough, merciless, and rough around the edges cowboy. Another main character in the movie is Mattie Ross who is played by Hailee Steinfeld. She is a new star in the film industry who plays a very smart, stubborn minded 14-year old girl whose father was recently murdered. I was amazed by how well she was able to play her role and I am sure that we will all be seeing much more of her in future films. Josh Brolin plays the character named Tom Chaney who murdered Mattie's father and is now on the run. Matt Damon is also in the the film playing a proud-to-be Texas Ranger named La Boeuf. All of these characters are introduced to each other in the movie leading to quite a journey. It is a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone as a must see.


The movie begins with the narration of the adult Mattie Ross (played by Elizabeth Marvel) who recounts on her past story of her fathers murder. This happened when she was only 14-year old leading her to become strongly motivated to hunt down the man who killed him and get her fathers justice. In one scene, she is confronted by Texas Ranger La Boeuf who had been hired by another family to arrest Chaney for a previous murder. I doing so, he wanted to team-up with her to double their chances. Mattie denied his offer because La Boeuf would take Chaney back to be hanged for his prior murder rather than her fathers, defeating her purpose. Mattie eventually convinces U.S. Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn to help her hunt him down for $100. Promising to meet her in the morning to embark on their journey, Mattie finds a note that he left telling her to go home and let him do his job and pursue Chaney on his own. Extremely determined, Mattie catches up to Cogburn on her horse, impressively crossing a flowing river in the process. To her surprise she finds that Cogburn has teamed up with Texas Ranger La Boeuf. Mattie threatens Cogburn, accusing him of fraud for breaking their agreement. Reluctantly, Cogburn is forced to bring her along on their pursuit to find Chaney. I won't ruin anymore of the movie for you, but that is the basic plot. Here is a preview to help you decide: "True Grit". Thanks for reading! I really hope you guys decide to see this one, you will not regret it.