My favorite line in the film "I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world as it is is vexing enough." It's from the Portis novel, but so supremely Coen-ish!
When Cogburn and LaBeouf are talking about where they served, they're talking about the Civil War. They were both Confederate soldiers but had vastly different experiences. LaBeouf was in Robert E. Lee's much celebrated and glorified Army of Northern Virginia, fighting conventional battles in the Eastern theater (Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania). Cogburn was a guerilla fighting under William Quantril in Missouri and Kansas. The fighting in that part of the country was highly unconventional,and though smaller in scale, was in many ways much more brutal, with raiders on both sides committing numerous atrocities. These widely different experiences provide the context that explain the different methods and philosophies between the two. By the way, a fantastic movie that captures the reality of the guerilla aspects of the Civil is The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
The part where she shoots her father's murderer, and she immediately gets knocked back into a pit of snakes is very biblical. She takes revenge and gets punished for it. The whole point of the film is that revenge is in god's hands and seeking it will harm us further than what we are avenging. She single-mindedly goes after revenge and has a bitter life because of it.
Hailee Steinfeld was so powerful in this. I read the book in anticipation of this coming to theaters and I even thought that role was impossible to do justice to onscreen. But I was wrong. She commanded excellence and more than kept up with her elders. Such a strong movie all around.
She does better job than in 1969 original Kim Darby , who played Mattie Ross role , John Wayne was John Wayne , so Jeff Bridges did better job as Rooster Cogburn . Barry Pepper as Lucky Ned Pepper in this and. Robert Duvall in original , rest was pretty much strait copy of the original .
This one is good, but John Wayne's will always be my favorite, with one of my favorite movie lines: "FILL YOUR HANDS YOU SON OF A B!TCH!".AND you can understand what he's saying.
I really like Wayne in the role, but Kim Darby is kinda painful for me to watch. Woman in he 20s trying to play a 14 year old girl, and, as usual, over doing it. Mattie is the main character, and I have to lean towards the better performance.
The venom sucking thing was a widely held belief until not very long ago. In reality once the venom is injected it is in your cardiovascular system in a few heartbeats. The only treatment is antivenom or antibiotics to prevent infection. Even today some snake bites result in amputation.
Southwestern snakes often have a necrotoxin, which in simple terms, kills rots and dissolves flesh. Unless medical treatment is rended within minutes, or hours depending on the severity of the bite, the limb will likely be lost. A bite to the face neck or torso can be fatal, even with prompt treatment. Other venom types can be instantly dehabitilating like a paralytic or neurotoxin, but are substantially less lethal. Fun fact, smaller and baby snakes are considerably more deadly as theie venom has not been diluted for more volume. They carry extremely concentrated "pure" venom, and can deliver all of it in a single quick bite.
Some years ago a friend of a friend was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in Arizona. They got her to a hospital where she stayed for a week and had numerous injections. Her medical bills came to over 100k and she had permanent nerve damage to her arm. Could have been worse I guess.
Hell, back in the 80s/90s they still had that as a first aid remedy when I was in Boy Scouts. I remember they had little suction devices to do the job.
The "rope repells snakes" is an old wive's tale purporting that the stiff fibers of a hemp rope would go in between a snake's belly scales and tickle them, therefore causing them to turn back.
Cogburn was in the Missouri/Arkansas area during the war. It was a particularly vicious style of warfare an involved raiding homesteads and murdering civilians as often as not. The movie Outlaw Josie Wales is an awesome Clint Eastwood movie who’s character has a similar back story.
Yep. The back drop to the argument in the movie is that Rooster Cogburn was with the same group of irregular Confederates (Quantrill) that gave rise to the Jesse James and the Younger brothers - also covered in "the Outlaw Jose Wales' and in the criminally underrated (and unreacted) Ang Lee movie "Ride with the Devil [starring a very young Tobey Macquire in his first big role]. Le Beef fought with the regular Confederate army. Quantrill's Raiders had a reputation for lawlessness and torture and murder degenerating in to piracy by the end of the war. It was an ugly, ugly time in American history.
I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill & his gang burned the city to the ground, as well as killing many of the men there. Even in the 1970’s & 80’s, Quantrill was a despised figure in Lawrence. Can’t say I think much of the man myself..
@@susanmaggiora4800 Well Lawrence was the safe haven of a rival terrorist organization and was burned in response to the death of kidnapped prisoners, mostly women, in Kansas City.
@@susanmaggiora4800 It was in retaliation for the sacking of Osceola(and other towns) Missouri. They destroyed towns, killed women and children,etc...People in kansas like to ignore that little tidbit of information.
The original "True Grit" with John Wayne was my grandpa's favorite movie and he would watch it once a month if not more. I grew up watching it, so when this movie came out i was very familiar with the plot but was blown away by the acting.
My wife was in almost the reverse position. She had seen the remake twice before ever watching the original. She loves both but perfers the original now
My dad grew up watching John Wayne movies, and "True Grit" is his favorite, but that's also because he had loved the original novel. He liked this version, but for him nothing can compare to the original. I don't care for John Wayne (which must be hard for my dad to hear, lol), so I prefer this one.
The original True Grit is hard to beat, it was a great movie! The remake was well done also though. There was a sort of sequel to the first True Grit, called "Rooster Cogburn" which is also worth seeing.
Re the early argument between Rooster and LeBeouf: most US Civil War histories focus on set-piece battles between uniformed armies commanded by famous generals. But in the western frontier (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), the fighting was guerilla combat that frequently took the form of outright terrorism -- groups of renegades burning towns and executing "disloyal" townspeople, including men, women, and children. Future outlaws like Jesse James learned their craft as guerilla fighters. One of the most brutal guerilla leaders was William Quantrill, the "Captain Quantrill" that LeBeoeuf and Rooster argued about, who infamously burned the town of Lawrence, Kansas, to the ground and killed most of the townspeople. The guerilla war fueled decades of bitter feelings, and Cogburn and LeBeouef had different feelings about it.
Well said. I believe, but not certain, Quantrill's raiders were famous for duel wielding pistols while charging foes from horseback, which is the inspiration for Cogburn's charge at the end of the film. Again, I'm not certain of this. It could just be a creation of Hollywood.
@@therealdan2551 The Union forces referred to these irregular Confederate forces as "Southern Bushwhackers". The "Bushwhackers" were authorized by an 1862 act of the Confederate Congress, and included such famous (or infamous!) units as Quantrill's Guerrillas, Mosby's Raiders, McNeill's Rangers, Morgan's Cavalry and Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry. These "irregular" Confederate Cavalry units were legendary and feared for their expertise and deadly effectiveness in the use of a pair of revolvers from horseback. Even the late Civil War Union Cavalry, armed with lever action metallic cartridge carbines, dreaded a run-in with "Bushwhackers" because a pair of six-shooters in expert hands is much faster into action than a slung carbine, and many of the Union Cavalry would be blasted out of the saddle before their new "superior" lever action carbines could be brought into action. In early war years the 1851 Colt Navy .36 was preferred, but the Colt 1860 Army .44 rapidly gained in preference due to the larger.44 caliber's better ability at knocking men out of the saddle and dropping horses.
Another great Coen Bros. movie. The cast was darn fantastic, the extras all looked like they belonged in that setting, and from The Dude to Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges still manages to be darn hysterical all throughout the movie at times.
It holds it's own with the original which I have seen a dozen times over 50 years. In my opinion all these actors portrayed their rolls equally well as the original but I've got to give Kim Darby the nod as Mattie by a nose. Still... excellent movie.
Damn, Domhnall Gleeson’s scream at 15:48 was so loud you could barely hear Simone’s screaming. I remember that moment watching this in the theater and a lot of people just leaped out of their seats in disbelief.
I saw this comment before watching the reaction, for some reason I got mixed up and was waiting see Brendan Gleeson thinking that I didn't even remember that he would have been in this.
I always assumed that one of the points of that scene was to show not just how brutal things could be at that time and place, but how quickly it could happen. It's shocking as hell. And it's meant to be.
To be fair, this was her very first movie. It’s like with Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave, or Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips. Despite being EXTREMELY talented, they were unknown. This was the movie that made Hailee Steinfeld known. ❤
I love Hailee Steinfield in this movie, she absolutely someone the show while acting against some powerhouse actors in this movie. I was really disappointed when she chose to pursue a career in pop music after this, but thankfully she is back to doing acting recently, including voice-acting as Gwen in the Spider-verse films.
Great Reaction guys!!!!! This remake was nominated for 10 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Steinfeld), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. Loved the movie, was not surprised by Bridges great acting but was blown away by 13yr old Hailee Steinfeld starring in her first feature film! She referred to Cogburn as having "True Grit", when in fact its she who really has True Grit. One fun fact, Hailee recalls how everyone on the set treated her so kindly, but she did have a swear jar which was filled mostly by Bridges.. LOL!! Take care guys!! XOXO
I am British and can confirm that 'Muffin walloper' is indeed a euphemism for something gross, and we all know that Simone knew exactly what she was doing. Tut tut Simone, tut tut.
This has to be up there as not only one of the best remakes in cinema history but also the finest Coen brothers movie. Hailee Steinfeld was well deserving of the Oscar nomination for this, her big screen debut at the age of 13. I wish we had seen her in more roles since, although she shone in Dickinson and Hawkeye.
As much as I love this remake, the original if very dear to my heart. It’s a great film and one of my dad’s favorites that we would watch together. Highly recommend everyone give it a go.
William Quantrill was a Confederate officer who refused to stop fighting even after Lee surrendered at Appomattox. In the context of the movie, Rooster was a follower of Quantrill, and continued fighting along with him and his raiders. Edit: William Quantrill was shot and captured before Lee surrendered, therefore I am wrong in my statement that he kept fighting. Thanks @robertcampbell8070 for the correction. Sorry about that!!
Even before the surrender, Quantrill and his raiders notorious for using tactics that would very certainly be considered terrorism by modern standards. The war was very different on the old frontier, with Jayhawker outfits fighting for the union, and Bushwhackers fighting for the confederacy, both using guerilla tactics against eachother, and more frequently the civilian populations of their respective states.
Greetings from Fort Smith, Arkansas. This town was historically the "last stop" for law and order during the 1800s. US Marshals would travel over the Arkansas river in to Indian territory and bring back wanted criminals to stand trial in Fort Smith. "The Hanging Judge Parker" was locally famous for sentencing 160 people to death (79 being executed) over his 21 year career.
My grandmother was married at age 14 (1930s) Many people, especially in rural farm communities, rarely exceeded 8th grade (junior high) in school. Many were off to breeding their brood of 8-15 kids, seeing is how many died at a young age.
Just to be clear, the average age for marriage for women in 1930 was around 21 years old, at least in the U.S, and that didn't change much from the 1870s which I believe is when this movie is set. Just because some girls got married younger doesn't make it common. Heck, in 2001 three 11 year old girls in TN were married off to adult men but we certainly wouldn't consider that the normal states of affairs.
Young "adult" at that time period. People were married in the ages of 14,15,16 especially in rural areas. Being the family genealogist, I can say that I have relatives, from the hillbilly side of West Virginia, who were married around those ages back in the 1800s
@vadalia3860 I think it is wrong to assume that the 1930s average was correct due to the method of data collection at the time. But, to equate 1930 to 1870 is absolutely wrong. People married early and had many children based on need, people lived off the land and children became workers. The sheer need to expand the population in that area of the country at that time resulted in young people marrying.
@@jonhenry8268 If you've got evidence to back up your claim about the average age women married being lower in 1870, I'd love to take a look at it. Couples can't "expand the population" without having the necessary accessories to furnish their own homes and that costs money. They needed time save up to buy those things, in addition to the time it took to meet one another & be vetted for marriage worthiness in the first place. The numbers I'm seeing for fertility rate- the average # of children a woman would have in her lifetime- were 5 children in the U.S. in 1870. Even for those who had more children- a woman marrying at 20 years old can expect at least 20+ years of fertility. Also don't forget, children don't become valuable workers until around 5-6 at the youngest so that's several years (after weaning) of just feeding non-productive mouths before they even begin to contribute to working the land, and they're not particularly useful right away.
Here's an excellent analysis of the final gunfight/ending I've always enjoyed reading: To me, the beauty of this scene lies in how it maintains the story's general theme of hopelessness and hardship, while calling back to claims multiple characters have made that were dismissed as tall tales. This scene suggests that, even in the hopeless despair of the film's setting, people occasionally live up to their hype. Rooster Cogburn, earlier in the film, is laughed at when he claims to have defeated groups as large as four in gunfights. He insists that if you ride against four or more aggressively enough, some of them will run, and you only need to out-shoot the one or two who don't flinch. Later, LaBoeuf questions his ability to aim with one eye, and he's too drunk to demonstrate his skills properly. For most of the film, Rooster is portrayed as too old and fat, and too ravaged by alcoholism, to live up to his own fearsome reputation. In this scene, however, he shows himself capable of steering the reins with his teeth while riding at high speeds, and still wielding two guns accurately - a feat only a small number of people in the world could match today. Furthermore, he lands five direct hits with four shots. He misses once, kills two on the spot, fatally wounds his main target and the fourth retreats wounded. It's a display of gunfighting on a par with the wildest rumors about him, showing that, however much of a failure he is as a husband, father, soldier and lawman, he is indeed a fighter of true grit. Rooster similarly lacks respect for LaBeouf, laughing at him when he claims to have once nearly caught their original quarry while pursuing him on horseback. LaBeouf describes having attempted to shoot him from a great distance, electing to shoot while moving rather than while properly grounded. Roster mocks him, saying that he "couldn't hit at man (at the distance described) if he were (grounded) on the Rock of Gibralter." In this scene, LaBeouf doesn't interfere with the gunfight because he has little chance of hitting moving targets from such a distance. When Rooster is in danger, however, he's forced to attempt a shot from a greater distance than in his earlier claims - the camera even highlights that with the weaponry of the time, he has to make the shot without a scope of any kind, using only the barrel of the gun as a visual aid. By landing such a miraculous shoot, LaBoeuf saves Rooster's life while also validating his identity as a marksman. In this scene, just once, the two characters live up to their bravado and things work out. - from the comment of @brettzforeman on another video
A good remake. Tough frontier women. When my grandmother had scarlet fever when a young woman operating the local phone plug board, her parents put her in a shed, and fed her with plates of food left at the door so they could avoid contagion, 100 years ago. Her eyes were weakened, and she had to wear rose tinted glasses the rest of her life. Miss you, grandma!
As a brazilian I love this movie, so cool to see a very accurate representation on what the old west probably was, but I can understand about 10% of whatever Jeff Bridges is saying 😂
The dialogue is shot through with archaic idioms and vocabulary that isn't used in modern English anymore, and the Coens actually wrote the screenplay without using contractions, because for some reason they believed no one used them back then. I actually doubt that Americans in 1873 Arkansas and Oklahoma would've been _quite_ so hard to understand.
The novel is one of the best I've read. This film is very faithful to it, and that charming, stilted manner of "American western" speech comes directly from the text. I'm glad you watched this!
I wish George could have seen Simone’s face when the movie ended. He was excited about the movie but the look on Simone’s face seemed so sad. While they both enjoyed the movie they seemed to come away thinking quite differently about it.
The novel was written in 1968 and the original film was released in 1969. John Wayne received his only Oscar for his portrayal of Roosrer Cogburn. A role he would reprise in a 1975 film of the same name. The original also starred singer/songwriter/ musician Glen Cambell as the Texas Ranger, Dennis Hopper in the Josh Brolin role, and Kim Darby, (John Cusack's weird mom in "Better Off Dead") as Mattie.
Both this version and the original are excellent films. I love them both. John Wayne won his only oscar as Rooster Cogburn. Also the term True Grit is actually referring to Maddie Ross and her unstoppable determination to avenge her fathers murder.
Keep in mind that while Mattie Ross is a child on screen it is her much older spinster self that is telling the story so it actually is that voice we are hearing.
My great grandmother was married at fourteen. That was in 1935 on the Texas/Mexico border. That was 57 years after this movie takes place, soooo… make of that what you will. My great-grandfather was 22.
If you had told me that anyone could remake this film and make me forget John Wayne , I'd have said you were crazy. But Bridges did it, and this is a better film than the original.
Actually, in the post-Civil War years, 14 would not have been considered a "child." Plenty of girls, north & south, were married before that. But the genius of Charles Portis' novel was making Mattie so very innocent, but so worldly-wise at the same time. The best way to enjoy this film is to read Portis' novel. John Wayne said the novel "had the flavor of Mark Twain." He was right.
This movie always touches home for me. The town Fort Smith is where I am from. My grandpa reminded me of Rooster as a kid (John Wayne’s portrayal) thank you for doing this movie.
I’ve seen this a million times, and this is easily my favorite cohen bros film, but I just noticed something has changed. Suddenly I got choked up watching rooster carry Maddie until he collapsed. I’m pretty sure I’ve tears in my eyes mainly because now I’ve got two kids of my own. Both are about Maddie’s age, and yeah. I think this might be the first time that I truly felt the impact of what he did. As soon as that snake bit her, she became his daughter. I can’t believe I never picked up on it. And being as old as I am now, I can totally guarantee he couldn’t walk for at least a week afterwards.
You seen any of the following? Hell or High Water No Country for Old Men Nocturnal Animals Unforgiven Wind River Those are my personal favorite westerns. True Grit would be right after. I still have to see 3:10 to Yuma. Same with The Hateful Eight.
As an Australian with Canadian cousins: yes you are a different species. I remember crying when I was 10 wading in the ocean off Vancouver Island, because I'd never been so cold before. My Montreal and Boston cousins were confounded by my thin skin.
I'm from Central New York and can verify - there is cold, and there is cold. The middle of the woods, with barren trees, snow falling, and the mercury somewhere around 10 is COLD - even for Canadians.
I've always loved this movie. Hailee Steinfeld should have won Best Actress (she was nominated for Supporting Actress, even though she has the most screen time). Also, I definitely recommend watching with the English Captions turned on, just to appreciate all the vernacular in the dialog.
@@krayzy932 which is really a crime; I never understood what was so special about that movie or Portman's performance. I think Hailee got ignored if not outright robbed for simply being a nobody at the time. Not to knock the others in the film but she damn near carried it herself, she was so riveting. Without her character and that performance, this remake is pointless and just another generic western, even with the Coens do no wrong magic touch at the time.
@@gregmcdonald8962 The studios are who submit their actors/actresses for each specific category. They knew she had no shot at winning Best Actress, not with all of the major actresses who were up for it that year. I don't believe they thought she would win best supporting actress either, but it was her best shot at getting nominated. They were right.
I remember in an interview when this movie came out that Matt Damon said to play his character with a bit tongue he put one of his daughter's hair-ties around his tongue and tried to talk as clearly as he could to simulate a man with an injured tongue trying to enunciate as well as he can.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is another great movie a lot like this one. It's a western, but mostly an adventure story. From 1948 starring Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Huston.
@@shawnmiller4781 True, but I think there's enough of the western DNA in it to put it in with the genre at least in part. But it's also an adventure and drama as well.
Unfortunately they don't seem to react to older films. 1930's and 1940's are two of the greatest decades for cinema. Off the top of my head I can't remember them reacting to anything pre-1970....
@@lliamrose We have to broaden their range! Maybe start a petition to get them to see some of the great films. Casablanca The African Queen Grapes of Wrath Santa Claus vs. The Martians The Quiet Man Inherit the wind What Paths Glory Wizard of Oz Treasure of the Sierra Madre Bridge on the River Kwai Arsenic and Old Lace
I find the choice of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” to be kinda poignant, it is of course appropriate to the character and also old enough to not be anachronistic, but Rooster ends up carrying her at the end, for who knows how long, with seemingly, literally, everlasting arms.
Rooster was with William Clarke Quantrill, who headed a band of Confederate guerillas ('irregulars') in Missouri. Some members of this group went on to careers as outlaws after the War, including the James Gang. (One of them, Cole Younger, is portrayed briefly at the end of this movie.) LaBoeuf served in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee, a regular army that was tightly controlled and obeyed the conventions of warfare. For people in the regular Army and the Confederate Government, raiders like the ones in Missouri were often an embarrassment.
This is one of those movies that has a look and a feel that stands out among other films. Some movies you forget about in a couple of days. With this one, there are whole scenes and sequences that I would never forget... even if I had only seen it once.
This demonstrates the difference between a 'movie' and a 'film'- the Coen Brothers brought the book to life in a way that the earlier version fell short of, IMHO!
Both cogburn and le boeuf fought for the confederates, but as irregular horsemen - guerrillas. The outfit cogburn fought with - which was real - half the time fought as gueriila and spent the other half robbing banks and suchlike. Some of the robbing was to support their fighting but a lot of it was for personal gain. In the borderlands thats how the civil war went. Thats also the circumstances that created a lot of the outlaw gangs and outlaws, like the james brothers, who did fight under Captain William Quantrill’s command for real. The also committed numerous massacres of union soldiers and civilians. That’s why le boeuf is so outraged. As a side note, Cole Younger - the old guy at the end - was also one of Quantrill’s original guerrilla group and a major outlaw in his own right. The idea with the rope is that a snake wont slither over a rope. So you put the rope around you on the ground. Ive spent plenty of time in the wild and never done that. No idea if it works.
The book by Charles Portis is one of my favorite books ever; I've reread it many times, but then, I'm partial to great writing. You probably know that this was the second filming of the book, the first being the terrific one from 1969 with John Wayne. They are both classics and I would be hard pressed to say which is my favorite, though for sentimental reasons, I would give the edge to Wayne. The Duke or the Dude? Both incredible; both abide. You would not do wrong to view the earlier version too. Or read the book.
The argument between Laboef and Cogburn centered on their actions during the War Between the States or Civil War (depending on if you are from the South or the North.) Laboef served in the regular Confederate army, while Cogburn 'served' with irregulars (a group that included the James brothers) that were seen as no more than terrorists even by many Southerners.
Girls got married as young as 12 at the time. They weren't considered adults, per se. But, puberty meant they were old enough for...relations. And y'all still need to see Raising Arizona.
You should watch the interviews where the Coen Brothers & cast talk about how with such an all-star cast, the only big question was how to find a little girl who could pull off that part. And in her first movie appearance, Hailee Steinfeld, age 13, was nominated for the Academy Award for best actress.
At about 21:15 whem Mattie fires her father's revolver at Tom, she had six shots, but its a black powder gun from about thirty years prior. Each chamber in the cylinder is loaded with a bullet, black powder and a percussion cap. When she fires it and falls into the water, the powder gets wet and will not fire.
People always assume the being Canadian means we ALL get subjected to feet of snow and ice roads, every winter. If only we could explain the mildness of winters on the Southern BC coast.
At 14, she was probably considered an old maid back then. Lol. My mom got married to my dad when she was only 16. She turned 16 in November and then got married to my dad in December (1959). Dad was 17. They were married 53 yrs when my mom passed away in January 2013. Dad passed away in 2020. Never saw dad cry before until mom died.
First time I saw this i couldn't stop thinking about what a wonderful adaptation thisvis and what an amazing actress Hailee is! And now that i am watching the two of you react to it, those are still the thoughts at the front of my mind.
I love how they treated this remake they kept the comedy and heart of the original but made it a little darker and shot it so beautifully on modern cameras. I grew up watching all the old Westerns with my grandparents and John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster was everyone's favourite.
I don't know about girls in 18whatever but in the 1920s my great grampa left school age of 12 to become the main breadwinner. On that wage half his dozen siblings survived infancy. Non-sheltered kids grew up fast in them days, and suffered mentally and physically for it. Good movie.
As soon as you were old enough you helped out in some way. Infant mortality was high. People had a lot of children and big families were a "blessing", as they were a form of insurance for when one or two people got sick. Suffering is a relative term. There lives would have been typical for the era.
The original (1969 with John Wayne) was just as good. It is the only time John Wayne received an Oscar for best Actor. When we heard around 2009 that Hollywood was filming a re-make of True Grit, we all braced for the worse... "How can you remake a classic... a masterpiece" we all thought. We were wrong. This remake was very well done, just as good as the original. I have not ready the novel, but it's my understanding that this new movie is a bit more true to the Novel than the earlier version with John Wayne. Both movies are fantastic. Others have explained the relationship between the Texas Ranger and the Arkansas-based Federal Marshall. After the Civil war, veterans from both sides of the war mixed and tried their best to make a life with each other after the war. Many got over it, many held grudges against the Union or the Confederacy until they died of old age many decades later. There are actual recorded interviews from the 1930's of old survivors of the American Civil war... Union Soldiers, Confederate Soldiers, even former Slaves were recorded on their first hand account of the Civil war. Many former soldiers moved west after the war. This is what made "The Wild West" so wild in Post-war America in the 1800's Judge Parker, "The Hanging Judge" is very famous. He served in Fort Smith from 1875 to 1896. I grew up less than an hour north of modern day Fort Smith. My family has been living in and around the same farm since 1865 (My great, great grandfather was a Union Soldier). He purchased a farm after the American Civil war ended, and my family has been there ever since. It is very likely my great, great grandfather made the 3-4 hour ride (45 minute drive today) and actually watched one of Judge Parkers hangings. Back then... people came from miles around to witness a hanging. It the 1800's, that was simply the thing to do. I have visited the old courthouse where the scene in this movie takes place, and visited the reconstruction of Judge Parkers famous gallows. "True Grit" is a Historic Fiction. A fictional story set amongst historical times or events. Some of these events may have even inspired the author of the novel. This movie has always seemed so real to my family because it was literally so close to home, and mingled in with actual places, people, and events during the times that my direct ancestors lived. Please watch the original 1969 with John Wayne if you have a chance. What was NOT in this version of the film that was in the original, was the famous quote when Rooster Cogburn is facing off against Ned Pepper and his gang preparing to go down shooting.... "Fill your hands you Son of a Bitch!"
You have watched one other Coen movie you didn't mention on the channel, The Big Lebowski. Obviously, this reunites the Coen Brothers with Jeff Bridges, for the first time since that film. As you noted, and I have mentioned in the Patreon comments, this is an adaptation of a book. I am on the paid tier on another channel where I requested this movie (it has yet to be made public, although it could always turn into a Patreon exclusive someday), and in anticipation of that, I read the book, and it is amazing how closely the Coens capture the tone and humor of the novel, which is surprisingly sharp-witted -- a perfect fit for the Coen Brothers. The John Wayne version of the movie is fine, but it doesn't capture the book at all. The film was the debut of Hailee Steinfeld, who has gone onto be in many things. Someone else mentioned the Spider-Verse movies, where she voices Spider-Gwen, and she's also in the MCU properly elsewhere, although I won't say who she plays in case you haven't gotten there. She was also on an Apple TV show called "Dickinson," and in the Pitch Perfect sequels. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, and deservingly so. Bridges was also nominated, along with the Coens for both directing and the adaptation, and the film for Best Picture, among others, for a total of 10 nominations. Sadly, it didn't win any of them. Your guess is correct: the rope tricks snakes into thinking there is another snake, or at least that's my understanding. As for the body, the guy with the bear suit specifically says he 1) does dentistry and 2) wants the body's teeth, for practice or study. There are probably other people who could make use of the body in a similar fashion. Beyond that, who knows...maybe it's better we don't get the details. As I say whenever you cover one of their films, the Coens are, in my opinion, among the greatest working filmmakers. They have many other gems, both big and small. A couple other ones that are very popular on TH-cam include Raising Arizona and O Brother Where Art Thou?, and some ones that are just great and I'd love to see you cover because they're great are Blood Simple (which was covered by TBR Schmitt), The Hudsucker Proxy (which they wrote with Sam Raimi), Miller's Crossing, The Man Who Wasn't There, Burn After Reading, and A Serious Man. Really, I could name their whole catalog, but I'm going to try and limit myself to just naming half of it.
Moon, one who lost fingers before losing his life, was played by Domhnall Gleason, who played Caleb in "Ex Machina," Bill Weasley in "HP and the Deathly Hollows", and General Hux in Star Wars episodes 7 to 9.
So weird that Hailee Steinfeld didn't get her name in large print on the poster when she has the biggest part. She was great in Hawkeye and Dickinson too. Maybe also watch the John Wayne (1969) version of True Grit, see how you think it compares.
who was she before this movie? you give a young unknown billing equal to or above Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon? you don't get that kinda recognition in your first real movie.
@@jyesucevitz -- Don't put her on the poster then, you could argue she is the lead in the movie. She certainly has the most dialogue. Besides, Kim Darby got top billing with John Wayne and Glen Campbell on the poster of the 1969 version. Two mega-stars at the time. Darby only had bit roles before that, she played a 14 year old at the age of 21. Steinfeld was 13 years old and had already been in 'She's a Fox' which had been nominated and won many regional film festival awards.
He held a child down on the ground with a boot on her head and threatened to kill her. Then he told Rooster he would kill her and confirmed his willingness to do it when he said "You know I will do it!"
Possibly unpopular opinion, but I like THIS version better than the John Wayne version. (Not much of a John Wayne fan anyway.) For this being her first film, Hailee Steinfeld practically stole the show. It's a shame she didn't WIN the Oscar, though she did deserve her nomination. And this may be just me, but Metallica's "The Unforgiven III" would've been a perfect song for the closing credits of this film.
Turns out you liked the exposition at the beginning and at the end. Iris Dement is the singer of the hymn at the end. She has a unique voice and an Arkansas accent.
So many great lines ….. but my fave exchange is when she says ….. “ why did they have to hang him so high ? “ And he says … “ perhaps in the hopes that it would make him more dead ! “ Paraphrasing
One of the Cohen’s best. When she yells “Stand up, Tom Chaney!” I remember my eyes welling with tears, then she just shoots him! True grit. She followed through on everything. So did Rooster. Sloppily, sure, but he did it.
The dialogue in both this movie and the original with John Wayne (also a must-watch) was taken practically verbatim from Charles Portis’s novel of the same name. The novel is definitely worth reading if you ever get the chance.
Context of civil war argument: Cogburn was a member of Quantrill's Raiders, which was a Confederate Guerilla unit. Know for being particularly brutal. Ranger was in the regular Confederate Army which abided by the laws of was and hence considered more honorable
According to legend, a horsehair rope placed around a bed discouraged snakes, specifically rattlers, from crossing over the rope, allegedly because of the fibers that stuck up from the horsehair being uncomfortable and feeling strange to the snake's belly
Being able to understand Rooster's speech depends on how familiar you are with southern accents. I'm a native Texan and had no trouble understanding him. Also, it probably doesn't help that they were also using archaic/regional words.
To elaborate on the rope; snakes don't like the feeling of a raw rope on their bellies so if you lay one down they generally won't cross it. This makes a rope an easy way to prevent snakes creeping in your bedroll.
For me this is one of the few times I think the reboot is superior to the original. I think if you're a John Wayne fan, the original will be Supreme. But if you don't have an affinity for Wayne, the Coens production and this cast is superior in every way IMO
At 4:40 liability was a sketchy thing with "frontier justice." Usually it came down to "that makes sense to me." That's not to say that there weren't laws, there weren't lawyers, and there weren't hard readings of complex propositions to get out of liability (or a noose), but the burden of proof for guilt was not what it is now here or in Canada.
You should check out the original movie first staring, John Wayne ,Kim Darby, and Glenn Campbell. You might have a better idea of what is going on in this very good remake.
Yes I have seen it 2 times and it's sequel 3 times. While some aspects of this remake are better as a hole the original is much better. In fact most of the movies staring John Wayne a excellent movies. I know My views are different. I prefer originals to remakes unless the remake in proves the story. In my opinion this movie kept to much to the original to make any meaningful improvements.@@victorcowboywest
Quantrill was a renegade Confederate who raided and massacred Union settlements in East Kansas. After the Civil War ended, most Confederate troops were given a general amnesty, but Quantrill’s Raiders were considered terrorists and were pursued by authorities. Frank and Jesse James were among them; hence, their train robbing spree.
![เขามัทรี - เอ็กซ์ ศุภกฤต - จอนนี่มิวสิค [ Official MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AS9ufKuQIVs/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TH] RNT vs SPG - VCT Ascension Pacific - Day 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RUTkf8Detj8/mqdefault.jpg)
My favorite line in the film "I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world as it is is vexing enough." It's from the Portis novel, but so supremely Coen-ish!
"I'm a foolish old man that's been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop!"
My favorite line is when jett bridges said its, True Gritting time." Then proceeded to true gritting everywhere
@tefdaddy8236 I can't wait to hear this joke again, for the 100,000th time. Its sooooo funny. I applaud you for your comedic talent.
@@Eidlones why thank you. i take pride in cringe
@@Eidlones And to make it even funnier, he misspelled Jeff Bridges' name.
When Cogburn and LaBeouf are talking about where they served, they're talking about the Civil War. They were both Confederate soldiers but had vastly different experiences. LaBeouf was in Robert E. Lee's much celebrated and glorified Army of Northern Virginia, fighting conventional battles in the Eastern theater (Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania). Cogburn was a guerilla fighting under William Quantril in Missouri and Kansas. The fighting in that part of the country was highly unconventional,and though smaller in scale, was in many ways much more brutal, with raiders on both sides committing numerous atrocities. These widely different experiences provide the context that explain the different methods and philosophies between the two.
By the way, a fantastic movie that captures the reality of the guerilla aspects of the Civil is The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
Another great movie that accurately captures that bloody era of the Civil War in Kansas and Missouri is "Ride With the Devil".
The part where she shoots her father's murderer, and she immediately gets knocked back into a pit of snakes is very biblical. She takes revenge and gets punished for it. The whole point of the film is that revenge is in god's hands and seeking it will harm us further than what we are avenging. She single-mindedly goes after revenge and has a bitter life because of it.
this is the most degenerate biblethumper shit ive read in a long time
Well-stated. That ending really got me.
Never thought about it like that before
Nothing like the original with John Wayne, Glen Campbell and Kim Darby
Hailee Steinfeld was so powerful in this. I read the book in anticipation of this coming to theaters and I even thought that role was impossible to do justice to onscreen. But I was wrong. She commanded excellence and more than kept up with her elders.
Such a strong movie all around.
you could've watched the original movie. this is a remake. an excellent one, but still a remake.
@@jyesucevitzbooks are always better
Yeah I wouldn’t call it a remake and I wouldn’t say one movie is better than the other. This version is definitely closer to the book though.
@@Kragar01 I agree. Going straight from the book to watching this in theater I definitely noticed the film was super faithful.
She does better job than in 1969 original Kim Darby , who played Mattie Ross role , John Wayne was John Wayne , so Jeff Bridges did better job as Rooster Cogburn .
Barry Pepper as Lucky Ned Pepper in this and. Robert Duvall in original , rest was pretty much strait copy of the original .
The original was John Wayne’s only Oscar win. So good it spawned a sequel costarring Katheryn Hepburn. Also worth watching. Another great one guys!
Yup, I love the chemistry between Wayne and Hepburn
This one is good, but John Wayne's will always be my favorite, with one of my favorite movie lines: "FILL YOUR HANDS YOU SON OF A B!TCH!".AND you can understand what he's saying.
John Wayne was a man with True Grit.
@@williewilliams6571 My favorite is: "Well, come see a fat old man sometime!"
I really like Wayne in the role, but Kim Darby is kinda painful for me to watch. Woman in he 20s trying to play a 14 year old girl, and, as usual, over doing it.
Mattie is the main character, and I have to lean towards the better performance.
The venom sucking thing was a widely held belief until not very long ago. In reality once the venom is injected it is in your cardiovascular system in a few heartbeats. The only treatment is antivenom or antibiotics to prevent infection. Even today some snake bites result in amputation.
Southwestern snakes often have a necrotoxin, which in simple terms, kills rots and dissolves flesh. Unless medical treatment is rended within minutes, or hours depending on the severity of the bite, the limb will likely be lost. A bite to the face neck or torso can be fatal, even with prompt treatment. Other venom types can be instantly dehabitilating like a paralytic or neurotoxin, but are substantially less lethal.
Fun fact, smaller and baby snakes are considerably more deadly as theie venom has not been diluted for more volume. They carry extremely concentrated "pure" venom, and can deliver all of it in a single quick bite.
The venom sucking thing is still a very popular urban myth up there with "you only use 10% of your brain" etc
Sucking the venom makes an interesting punchline in “Father Goose” with Cary Grant and Leslie Caron
Some years ago a friend of a friend was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in Arizona. They got her to a hospital where she stayed for a week and had numerous injections. Her medical bills came to over 100k and she had permanent nerve damage to her arm. Could have been worse I guess.
Hell, back in the 80s/90s they still had that as a first aid remedy when I was in Boy Scouts. I remember they had little suction devices to do the job.
The "rope repells snakes" is an old wive's tale purporting that the stiff fibers of a hemp rope would go in between a snake's belly scales and tickle them, therefore causing them to turn back.
Cogburn was in the Missouri/Arkansas area during the war. It was a particularly vicious style of warfare an involved raiding homesteads and murdering civilians as often as not.
The movie Outlaw Josie Wales is an awesome Clint Eastwood movie who’s character has a similar back story.
Yep. The back drop to the argument in the movie is that Rooster Cogburn was with the same group of irregular Confederates (Quantrill) that gave rise to the Jesse James and the Younger brothers - also covered in "the Outlaw Jose Wales' and in the criminally underrated (and unreacted) Ang Lee movie "Ride with the Devil [starring a very young Tobey Macquire in his first big role]. Le Beef fought with the regular Confederate army. Quantrill's Raiders had a reputation for lawlessness and torture and murder degenerating in to piracy by the end of the war. It was an ugly, ugly time in American history.
I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill & his gang burned the city to the ground, as well as killing many of the men there. Even in the 1970’s & 80’s, Quantrill was a despised figure in Lawrence. Can’t say I think much of the man myself..
@@susanmaggiora4800 Well Lawrence was the safe haven of a rival terrorist organization and was burned in response to the death of kidnapped prisoners, mostly women, in Kansas City.
Thank you for pointing this out.
@@susanmaggiora4800 It was in retaliation for the sacking of Osceola(and other towns) Missouri. They destroyed towns, killed women and children,etc...People in kansas like to ignore that little tidbit of information.
The original "True Grit" with John Wayne was my grandpa's favorite movie and he would watch it once a month if not more. I grew up watching it, so when this movie came out i was very familiar with the plot but was blown away by the acting.
My wife was in almost the reverse position. She had seen the remake twice before ever watching the original. She loves both but perfers the original now
My dad grew up watching John Wayne movies, and "True Grit" is his favorite, but that's also because he had loved the original novel. He liked this version, but for him nothing can compare to the original. I don't care for John Wayne (which must be hard for my dad to hear, lol), so I prefer this one.
The original True Grit is hard to beat, it was a great movie! The remake was well done also though. There was a sort of sequel to the first True Grit, called "Rooster Cogburn" which is also worth seeing.
In no way does this replace the John Wayne film, I feel they compliment each other.
@@jerryfick613 I completely agree
Re the early argument between Rooster and LeBeouf: most US Civil War histories focus on set-piece battles between uniformed armies commanded by famous generals. But in the western frontier (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), the fighting was guerilla combat that frequently took the form of outright terrorism -- groups of renegades burning towns and executing "disloyal" townspeople, including men, women, and children. Future outlaws like Jesse James learned their craft as guerilla fighters. One of the most brutal guerilla leaders was William Quantrill, the "Captain Quantrill" that LeBeoeuf and Rooster argued about, who infamously burned the town of Lawrence, Kansas, to the ground and killed most of the townspeople. The guerilla war fueled decades of bitter feelings, and Cogburn and LeBeouef had different feelings about it.
Well said. I believe, but not certain, Quantrill's raiders were famous for duel wielding pistols while charging foes from horseback, which is the inspiration for Cogburn's charge at the end of the film. Again, I'm not certain of this. It could just be a creation of Hollywood.
And again, Rooster still held a grudge because Texas refused to send its army to the aid of the rest of the Confederacy.
@@therealdan2551 The Union forces referred to these irregular Confederate forces as "Southern Bushwhackers". The "Bushwhackers" were authorized by an 1862 act of the Confederate Congress, and included such famous (or infamous!) units as Quantrill's Guerrillas, Mosby's Raiders, McNeill's Rangers, Morgan's Cavalry and Nathan Bedford Forrest's Cavalry. These "irregular" Confederate Cavalry units were legendary and feared for their expertise and deadly effectiveness in the use of a pair of revolvers from horseback. Even the late Civil War Union Cavalry, armed with lever action metallic cartridge carbines, dreaded a run-in with "Bushwhackers" because a pair of six-shooters in expert hands is much faster into action than a slung carbine, and many of the Union Cavalry would be blasted out of the saddle before their new "superior" lever action carbines could be brought into action. In early war years the 1851 Colt Navy .36 was preferred, but the Colt 1860 Army .44 rapidly gained in preference due to the larger.44 caliber's better ability at knocking men out of the saddle and dropping horses.
@@63DW89A
they were also created in response to General Sherman's campaign against homesteads.
Another great Coen Bros. movie. The cast was darn fantastic, the extras all looked like they belonged in that setting, and from The Dude to Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges still manages to be darn hysterical all throughout the movie at times.
It holds it's own with the original which I have seen a dozen times over 50 years. In my opinion all these actors portrayed their rolls equally well as the original but I've got to give Kim Darby the nod as Mattie by a nose. Still... excellent movie.
"Fill your hands you Sonofabi**h!". A great line from the original, the only time John Wayne ever really swore on film!
That's big talk for a one-eyed fat man!
I call that bold talk, for a one eyed fat man.
Ahh, Marion the former hairdresser.
Damn, Domhnall Gleeson’s scream at 15:48 was so loud you could barely hear Simone’s screaming.
I remember that moment watching this in the theater and a lot of people just leaped out of their seats in disbelief.
I saw this comment before watching the reaction, for some reason I got mixed up and was waiting see Brendan Gleeson thinking that I didn't even remember that he would have been in this.
That whole scene is one of the craziest I have ever seen in a PG-13 movie.
I always assumed that one of the points of that scene was to show not just how brutal things could be at that time and place, but how quickly it could happen.
It's shocking as hell. And it's meant to be.
"The tag line: Punishment comes one way or another; so, someone's gonna get it. Ooooh-weeee." Another gem of advice from Simone. Love you Simone!
It's an injustice that Hailee Steinfeld doesn't share top billing on that poster. She is _at_ least as big a part of this movie.
who was she before the movie? that's how poster placement works.
@@jyesucevitz Yeah, ''injustice'' is a bit over the top.
@@jyesucevitzexactly, look at Terminator 2, at least she's on it
To be fair, this was her very first movie. It’s like with Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave, or Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips. Despite being EXTREMELY talented, they were unknown. This was the movie that made Hailee Steinfeld known. ❤
Well, I think it is still her best work.
Maddie Ross in the end displayed true grit as well as Rooster. Hailee Steinfeld was tremendous in this and deserves her success.
I love Hailee Steinfield in this movie, she absolutely someone the show while acting against some powerhouse actors in this movie. I was really disappointed when she chose to pursue a career in pop music after this, but thankfully she is back to doing acting recently, including voice-acting as Gwen in the Spider-verse films.
She’s also incredible voicing as Violet/Vi in Arcane!
Hawkeye and Dickinson. She’s amazing.
Great Reaction guys!!!!! This remake was nominated for 10 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Steinfeld), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing. Loved the movie, was not surprised by Bridges great acting but was blown away by 13yr old Hailee Steinfeld starring in her first feature film! She referred to Cogburn as having "True Grit", when in fact its she who really has True Grit. One fun fact, Hailee recalls how everyone on the set treated her so kindly, but she did have a swear jar which was filled mostly by Bridges.. LOL!! Take care guys!! XOXO
I am British and can confirm that 'Muffin walloper' is indeed a euphemism for something gross, and we all know that Simone knew exactly what she was doing.
Tut tut Simone, tut tut.
Google is your friend. In Victorian times a Muffin walloper was a single woman who gathered with her friends to gossip.
bull
This has to be up there as not only one of the best remakes in cinema history but also the finest Coen brothers movie.
Hailee Steinfeld was well deserving of the Oscar nomination for this, her big screen debut at the age of 13. I wish we had seen her in more roles since, although she shone in Dickinson and Hawkeye.
Let’s not forget she was great in Bumblebee
The original is definitely worth watching! Such a classic, I also recommend watching the original 310 To Yuma and the new one.
As much as I love this remake, the original if very dear to my heart. It’s a great film and one of my dad’s favorites that we would watch together. Highly recommend everyone give it a go.
The moment when they realized they had fallen prey to checkov's snake was the best
William Quantrill was a Confederate officer who refused to stop fighting even after Lee surrendered at Appomattox. In the context of the movie, Rooster was a follower of Quantrill, and continued fighting along with him and his raiders.
Edit: William Quantrill was shot and captured before Lee surrendered, therefore I am wrong in my statement that he kept fighting. Thanks @robertcampbell8070 for the correction. Sorry about that!!
Even before the surrender, Quantrill and his raiders notorious for using tactics that would very certainly be considered terrorism by modern standards.
The war was very different on the old frontier, with Jayhawker outfits fighting for the union, and Bushwhackers fighting for the confederacy, both using guerilla tactics against eachother, and more frequently the civilian populations of their respective states.
@@Unpainted_Huffhines Keep in mind that reports from the time are fairly unreliable on all sides.
@@RexFuturiYet not hard to imagine.
@@Unpainted_Huffhines absolutely....Quantrill was certainly no 'hero'....he was a bad dude, and I mean evil!
@@RexFuturiEven the Confederate government hated Quantrill. The Lawrence Massacre at least is well documented.
"Oh shit, there's Matt Damon!" Needs to be the default response when he appears on screen.
Greetings from Fort Smith, Arkansas. This town was historically the "last stop" for law and order during the 1800s. US Marshals would travel over the Arkansas river in to Indian territory and bring back wanted criminals to stand trial in Fort Smith. "The Hanging Judge Parker" was locally famous for sentencing 160 people to death (79 being executed) over his 21 year career.
Ft. Smith is a really interesting place and the little National Historic Site where the courthouse and gallows are is worth a visit.
That song at the end - 'Leaning On the Everlasting Arms' sung by Iris Dement just fits the ending so perfectly. The words are a hymn from 1887.
My grandmother was married at age 14 (1930s) Many people, especially in rural farm communities, rarely exceeded 8th grade (junior high) in school. Many were off to breeding their brood of 8-15 kids, seeing is how many died at a young age.
Just to be clear, the average age for marriage for women in 1930 was around 21 years old, at least in the U.S, and that didn't change much from the 1870s which I believe is when this movie is set. Just because some girls got married younger doesn't make it common. Heck, in 2001 three 11 year old girls in TN were married off to adult men but we certainly wouldn't consider that the normal states of affairs.
Young "adult" at that time period. People were married in the ages of 14,15,16 especially in rural areas. Being the family genealogist, I can say that I have relatives, from the hillbilly side of West Virginia, who were married around those ages back in the 1800s
@vadalia3860 I think it is wrong to assume that the 1930s average was correct due to the method of data collection at the time. But, to equate 1930 to 1870 is absolutely wrong. People married early and had many children based on need, people lived off the land and children became workers. The sheer need to expand the population in that area of the country at that time resulted in young people marrying.
@@jonhenry8268 If you've got evidence to back up your claim about the average age women married being lower in 1870, I'd love to take a look at it. Couples can't "expand the population" without having the necessary accessories to furnish their own homes and that costs money. They needed time save up to buy those things, in addition to the time it took to meet one another & be vetted for marriage worthiness in the first place.
The numbers I'm seeing for fertility rate- the average # of children a woman would have in her lifetime- were 5 children in the U.S. in 1870. Even for those who had more children- a woman marrying at 20 years old can expect at least 20+ years of fertility. Also don't forget, children don't become valuable workers until around 5-6 at the youngest so that's several years (after weaning) of just feeding non-productive mouths before they even begin to contribute to working the land, and they're not particularly useful right away.
Here's an excellent analysis of the final gunfight/ending I've always enjoyed reading:
To me, the beauty of this scene lies in how it maintains the story's general theme of hopelessness and hardship, while calling back to claims multiple characters have made that were dismissed as tall tales. This scene suggests that, even in the hopeless despair of the film's setting, people occasionally live up to their hype.
Rooster Cogburn, earlier in the film, is laughed at when he claims to have defeated groups as large as four in gunfights. He insists that if you ride against four or more aggressively enough, some of them will run, and you only need to out-shoot the one or two who don't flinch. Later, LaBoeuf questions his ability to aim with one eye, and he's too drunk to demonstrate his skills properly. For most of the film, Rooster is portrayed as too old and fat, and too ravaged by alcoholism, to live up to his own fearsome reputation. In this scene, however, he shows himself capable of steering the reins with his teeth while riding at high speeds, and still wielding two guns accurately - a feat only a small number of people in the world could match today. Furthermore, he lands five direct hits with four shots. He misses once, kills two on the spot, fatally wounds his main target and the fourth retreats wounded. It's a display of gunfighting on a par with the wildest rumors about him, showing that, however much of a failure he is as a husband, father, soldier and lawman, he is indeed a fighter of true grit.
Rooster similarly lacks respect for LaBeouf, laughing at him when he claims to have once nearly caught their original quarry while pursuing him on horseback. LaBeouf describes having attempted to shoot him from a great distance, electing to shoot while moving rather than while properly grounded. Roster mocks him, saying that he "couldn't hit at man (at the distance described) if he were (grounded) on the Rock of Gibralter." In this scene, LaBeouf doesn't interfere with the gunfight because he has little chance of hitting moving targets from such a distance. When Rooster is in danger, however, he's forced to attempt a shot from a greater distance than in his earlier claims - the camera even highlights that with the weaponry of the time, he has to make the shot without a scope of any kind, using only the barrel of the gun as a visual aid. By landing such a miraculous shoot, LaBoeuf saves Rooster's life while also validating his identity as a marksman.
In this scene, just once, the two characters live up to their bravado and things work out.
- from the comment of @brettzforeman on another video
A good remake. Tough frontier women. When my grandmother had scarlet fever when a young woman operating the local phone plug board, her parents put her in a shed, and fed her with plates of food left at the door so they could avoid contagion, 100 years ago. Her eyes were weakened, and she had to wear rose tinted glasses the rest of her life. Miss you, grandma!
King bolts are the big pin that hold rail cars or wagons together. For purposes here it'd be like a billy club made of metal.
In the book, it's abundantly clear that LaBoeuf pronounces his name "Labeef", so it's correct in this context. 🙂
Hailee Steinfeld was deservedly Oscar-nominated for this role.
As a brazilian I love this movie, so cool to see a very accurate representation on what the old west probably was, but I can understand about 10% of whatever Jeff Bridges is saying 😂
I'm an American and I can maybe understand 11% of what Jeff Bridges is saying.
The dialogue is shot through with archaic idioms and vocabulary that isn't used in modern English anymore, and the Coens actually wrote the screenplay without using contractions, because for some reason they believed no one used them back then.
I actually doubt that Americans in 1873 Arkansas and Oklahoma would've been _quite_ so hard to understand.
John Wayne didn't mumble his lines like Bridges.
The novel is one of the best I've read. This film is very faithful to it, and that charming, stilted manner of "American western" speech comes directly from the text. I'm glad you watched this!
I wish George could have seen Simone’s face when the movie ended. He was excited about the movie but the look on Simone’s face seemed so sad. While they both enjoyed the movie they seemed to come away thinking quite differently about it.
I feel like George does that a lot
@@BringmethehorizondudeWould be worse if they were both in sync all the time.
The novel was written in 1968 and the original film was released in 1969. John Wayne received his only Oscar for his portrayal of Roosrer Cogburn. A role he would reprise in a 1975 film of the same name. The original also starred singer/songwriter/ musician Glen Cambell as the Texas Ranger, Dennis Hopper in the Josh Brolin role, and Kim Darby, (John Cusack's weird mom in "Better Off Dead") as Mattie.
Talk about an amazing cast!
And Robert Duvall as lucky Ned Pepper
Mostly correct only Jeff Corey played Chaney and Denis Hopper played Moon in the 1969 version.
And Strother Martin as Col. Stonehill.
@@Terra-Rare Barry Pepper in this movie seemed to basically be playing Robert Duvall playing Lucky Ned.
Both this version and the original are excellent films. I love them both. John Wayne won his only oscar as Rooster Cogburn. Also the term True Grit is actually referring to Maddie Ross and her unstoppable determination to avenge her fathers murder.
Barry Pepper is so underrated. Also, George's impersonation of Rooster is the best
I love his delivery of Ned's answer to Mattie's question "Do you need a good lawyer?" "I need a good judge" LOL
Keep in mind that while Mattie Ross is a child on screen it is her much older spinster self that is telling the story so it actually is that voice we are hearing.
Mate are you...what even
My great grandmother was married at fourteen. That was in 1935 on the Texas/Mexico border. That was 57 years after this movie takes place, soooo… make of that what you will. My great-grandfather was 22.
If you had told me that anyone could remake this film and make me forget John Wayne , I'd have said you were crazy. But Bridges did it, and this is a better film than the original.
Actually, in the post-Civil War years, 14 would not have been considered a "child." Plenty of girls, north & south, were married before that. But the genius of Charles Portis' novel was making Mattie so very innocent, but so worldly-wise at the same time. The best way to enjoy this film is to read Portis' novel. John Wayne said the novel "had the flavor of Mark Twain." He was right.
This movie always touches home for me. The town Fort Smith is where I am from. My grandpa reminded me of Rooster as a kid (John Wayne’s portrayal) thank you for doing this movie.
I’ve seen this a million times, and this is easily my favorite cohen bros film, but I just noticed something has changed. Suddenly I got choked up watching rooster carry Maddie until he collapsed. I’m pretty sure I’ve tears in my eyes mainly because now I’ve got two kids of my own. Both are about Maddie’s age, and yeah. I think this might be the first time that I truly felt the impact of what he did. As soon as that snake bit her, she became his daughter. I can’t believe I never picked up on it. And being as old as I am now, I can totally guarantee he couldn’t walk for at least a week afterwards.
My favorite western alongside the remake to 3:10 to Yuma.
You seen any of the following?
Hell or High Water
No Country for Old Men
Nocturnal Animals
Unforgiven
Wind River
Those are my personal favorite westerns. True Grit would be right after. I still have to see 3:10 to Yuma. Same with The Hateful Eight.
@@Dalvory Haven't seen Nocturnal Animals or Wind Rider.
How is nocturnal animals a western? 😮
@@ronin83-de It's a Neo-western.
@@Dalvory The others would more rightly be called Neo-westerns.... Nocturnal Animals more like not-at-all western.
As an Australian with Canadian cousins: yes you are a different species. I remember crying when I was 10 wading in the ocean off Vancouver Island, because I'd never been so cold before. My Montreal and Boston cousins were confounded by my thin skin.
I'm from Central New York and can verify - there is cold, and there is cold. The middle of the woods, with barren trees, snow falling, and the mercury somewhere around 10 is COLD - even for Canadians.
I've always loved this movie. Hailee Steinfeld should have won Best Actress (she was nominated for Supporting Actress, even though she has the most screen time). Also, I definitely recommend watching with the English Captions turned on, just to appreciate all the vernacular in the dialog.
She was never going to beat Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan. Portman won best actress at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.
@@krayzy932 which is really a crime; I never understood what was so special about that movie or Portman's performance. I think Hailee got ignored if not outright robbed for simply being a nobody at the time. Not to knock the others in the film but she damn near carried it herself, she was so riveting. Without her character and that performance, this remake is pointless and just another generic western, even with the Coens do no wrong magic touch at the time.
@@gregmcdonald8962 The studios are who submit their actors/actresses for each specific category. They knew she had no shot at winning Best Actress, not with all of the major actresses who were up for it that year.
I don't believe they thought she would win best supporting actress either, but it was her best shot at getting nominated. They were right.
I remember in an interview when this movie came out that Matt Damon said to play his character with a bit tongue he put one of his daughter's hair-ties around his tongue and tried to talk as clearly as he could to simulate a man with an injured tongue trying to enunciate as well as he can.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is another great movie a lot like this one. It's a western, but mostly an adventure story. From 1948 starring Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Huston.
I would afire it isn’t a western but a depression era film that takes place in Mexico
@@shawnmiller4781 True, but I think there's enough of the western DNA in it to put it in with the genre at least in part. But it's also an adventure and drama as well.
Unfortunately they don't seem to react to older films. 1930's and 1940's are two of the greatest decades for cinema. Off the top of my head I can't remember them reacting to anything pre-1970....
@@lliamrose We have to broaden their range!
Maybe start a petition to get them to see some of the great films.
Casablanca
The African Queen
Grapes of Wrath
Santa Claus vs. The Martians
The Quiet Man
Inherit the wind
What Paths Glory
Wizard of Oz
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Bridge on the River Kwai
Arsenic and Old Lace
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (which is awesome) strikes me as sort of a “noir western” maybe the only one of its kind.
At 18:32 - Rooster's horse is a saint. RIP.
You should look into "The ballad of Buster Scruggs" at some point. Also by the Coen brothers and have some slightly different takes on westerns.
Such an underrated movie
Yes, yes, yes! I love the hell out of that movie! It feels tragically underappreciated.
You mistake being driven for being mature. She’s not mature. Otherwise, she’d have a more tempered view of her limitations. She’s driven to vengeance.
I find the choice of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” to be kinda poignant, it is of course appropriate to the character and also old enough to not be anachronistic, but Rooster ends up carrying her at the end, for who knows how long, with seemingly, literally, everlasting arms.
Rooster was with William Clarke Quantrill, who headed a band of Confederate guerillas ('irregulars') in Missouri. Some members of this group went on to careers as outlaws after the War, including the James Gang. (One of them, Cole Younger, is portrayed briefly at the end of this movie.)
LaBoeuf served in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee, a regular army that was tightly controlled and obeyed the conventions of warfare. For people in the regular Army and the Confederate Government, raiders like the ones in Missouri were often an embarrassment.
This is one of those movies that has a look and a feel that stands out among other films.
Some movies you forget about in a couple of days.
With this one, there are whole scenes and sequences that I would never forget... even if I had only seen it once.
This demonstrates the difference between a 'movie' and a 'film'- the Coen Brothers brought the book to life in a way that the earlier version fell short of, IMHO!
Both cogburn and le boeuf fought for the confederates, but as irregular horsemen - guerrillas. The outfit cogburn fought with - which was real - half the time fought as gueriila and spent the other half robbing banks and suchlike. Some of the robbing was to support their fighting but a lot of it was for personal gain. In the borderlands thats how the civil war went. Thats also the circumstances that created a lot of the outlaw gangs and outlaws, like the james brothers, who did fight under Captain William Quantrill’s command for real. The also committed numerous massacres of union soldiers and civilians. That’s why le boeuf is so outraged.
As a side note, Cole Younger - the old guy at the end - was also one of Quantrill’s original guerrilla group and a major outlaw in his own right.
The idea with the rope is that a snake wont slither over a rope. So you put the rope around you on the ground. Ive spent plenty of time in the wild and never done that. No idea if it works.
The book by Charles Portis is one of my favorite books ever; I've reread it many times, but then, I'm partial to great writing. You probably know that this was the second filming of the book, the first being the terrific one from 1969 with John Wayne. They are both classics and I would be hard pressed to say which is my favorite, though for sentimental reasons, I would give the edge to Wayne. The Duke or the Dude? Both incredible; both abide. You would not do wrong to view the earlier version too. Or read the book.
The argument between Laboef and Cogburn centered on their actions during the War Between the States or Civil War (depending on if you are from the South or the North.) Laboef served in the regular Confederate army, while Cogburn 'served' with irregulars (a group that included the James brothers) that were seen as no more than terrorists even by many Southerners.
Hailee has been one of the best actors in the business since she was a child. She's been a comedic talent from day one. It's so impressive
Girls got married as young as 12 at the time. They weren't considered adults, per se. But, puberty meant they were old enough for...relations.
And y'all still need to see Raising Arizona.
Would love to see you react to the original "True Grit" starring the great John Wayne, which is equally as good as this remake.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Iris Dement is the song that plays at the end.
You should watch the interviews where the Coen Brothers & cast talk about how with such an all-star cast, the only big question was how to find a little girl who could pull off that part. And in her first movie appearance, Hailee Steinfeld, age 13, was nominated for the Academy Award for best actress.
At about 21:15 whem Mattie fires her father's revolver at Tom, she had six shots, but its a black powder gun from about thirty years prior. Each chamber in the cylinder is loaded with a bullet, black powder and a percussion cap. When she fires it and falls into the water, the powder gets wet and will not fire.
People always assume the being Canadian means we ALL get subjected to feet of snow and ice roads, every winter. If only we could explain the mildness of winters on the Southern BC coast.
I live in Southwestern BC, too.
I think Vancouver gets some of the mildest weather in Canada.
At 14, she was probably considered an old maid back then. Lol. My mom got married to my dad when she was only 16. She turned 16 in November and then got married to my dad in December (1959). Dad was 17. They were married 53 yrs when my mom passed away in January 2013. Dad passed away in 2020. Never saw dad cry before until mom died.
One of my all time favorites! Honestly this is the movie that made me a Western fan
First time I saw this i couldn't stop thinking about what a wonderful adaptation thisvis and what an amazing actress Hailee is! And now that i am watching the two of you react to it, those are still the thoughts at the front of my mind.
I love how they treated this remake they kept the comedy and heart of the original but made it a little darker and shot it so beautifully on modern cameras. I grew up watching all the old Westerns with my grandparents and John Wayne's portrayal of Rooster was everyone's favourite.
15:18 That`s Domhnall Gleeson (who played Bill Weasley), the son of Brendan Gleeson,
(who played Mad-Eye Looney in Harry Potter) :)))
Loved this movie enough to see it twice at the theater. The 1969 version starring John Wayne is also fantastic and worth checking out.
Back then, 14 was old enough to be married....
I don't know about girls in 18whatever but in the 1920s my great grampa left school age of 12 to become the main breadwinner. On that wage half his dozen siblings survived infancy. Non-sheltered kids grew up fast in them days, and suffered mentally and physically for it.
Good movie.
As soon as you were old enough you helped out in some way.
Infant mortality was high. People had a lot of children and big families were a "blessing", as they were a form of insurance for when one or two people got sick.
Suffering is a relative term. There lives would have been typical for the era.
The original (1969 with John Wayne) was just as good. It is the only time John Wayne received an Oscar for best Actor.
When we heard around 2009 that Hollywood was filming a re-make of True Grit, we all braced for the worse... "How can you remake a classic... a masterpiece" we all thought.
We were wrong.
This remake was very well done, just as good as the original. I have not ready the novel, but it's my understanding that this new movie is a bit more true to the Novel than the earlier version with John Wayne.
Both movies are fantastic.
Others have explained the relationship between the Texas Ranger and the Arkansas-based Federal Marshall. After the Civil war, veterans from both sides of the war mixed and tried their best to make a life with each other after the war. Many got over it, many held grudges against the Union or the Confederacy until they died of old age many decades later. There are actual recorded interviews from the 1930's of old survivors of the American Civil war... Union Soldiers, Confederate Soldiers, even former Slaves were recorded on their first hand account of the Civil war.
Many former soldiers moved west after the war. This is what made "The Wild West" so wild in Post-war America in the 1800's
Judge Parker, "The Hanging Judge" is very famous. He served in Fort Smith from 1875 to 1896.
I grew up less than an hour north of modern day Fort Smith. My family has been living in and around the same farm since 1865 (My great, great grandfather was a Union Soldier). He purchased a farm after the American Civil war ended, and my family has been there ever since. It is very likely my great, great grandfather made the 3-4 hour ride (45 minute drive today) and actually watched one of Judge Parkers hangings. Back then... people came from miles around to witness a hanging. It the 1800's, that was simply the thing to do.
I have visited the old courthouse where the scene in this movie takes place, and visited the reconstruction of Judge Parkers famous gallows.
"True Grit" is a Historic Fiction. A fictional story set amongst historical times or events. Some of these events may have even inspired the author of the novel. This movie has always seemed so real to my family because it was literally so close to home, and mingled in with actual places, people, and events during the times that my direct ancestors lived.
Please watch the original 1969 with John Wayne if you have a chance.
What was NOT in this version of the film that was in the original, was the famous quote when Rooster Cogburn is facing off against Ned Pepper and his gang preparing to go down shooting....
"Fill your hands you Son of a Bitch!"
You have watched one other Coen movie you didn't mention on the channel, The Big Lebowski. Obviously, this reunites the Coen Brothers with Jeff Bridges, for the first time since that film.
As you noted, and I have mentioned in the Patreon comments, this is an adaptation of a book. I am on the paid tier on another channel where I requested this movie (it has yet to be made public, although it could always turn into a Patreon exclusive someday), and in anticipation of that, I read the book, and it is amazing how closely the Coens capture the tone and humor of the novel, which is surprisingly sharp-witted -- a perfect fit for the Coen Brothers. The John Wayne version of the movie is fine, but it doesn't capture the book at all.
The film was the debut of Hailee Steinfeld, who has gone onto be in many things. Someone else mentioned the Spider-Verse movies, where she voices Spider-Gwen, and she's also in the MCU properly elsewhere, although I won't say who she plays in case you haven't gotten there. She was also on an Apple TV show called "Dickinson," and in the Pitch Perfect sequels. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, and deservingly so. Bridges was also nominated, along with the Coens for both directing and the adaptation, and the film for Best Picture, among others, for a total of 10 nominations. Sadly, it didn't win any of them.
Your guess is correct: the rope tricks snakes into thinking there is another snake, or at least that's my understanding. As for the body, the guy with the bear suit specifically says he 1) does dentistry and 2) wants the body's teeth, for practice or study. There are probably other people who could make use of the body in a similar fashion. Beyond that, who knows...maybe it's better we don't get the details.
As I say whenever you cover one of their films, the Coens are, in my opinion, among the greatest working filmmakers. They have many other gems, both big and small. A couple other ones that are very popular on TH-cam include Raising Arizona and O Brother Where Art Thou?, and some ones that are just great and I'd love to see you cover because they're great are Blood Simple (which was covered by TBR Schmitt), The Hudsucker Proxy (which they wrote with Sam Raimi), Miller's Crossing, The Man Who Wasn't There, Burn After Reading, and A Serious Man. Really, I could name their whole catalog, but I'm going to try and limit myself to just naming half of it.
The Coen bros excel as writers as well as directors. Their script for Suburbicon (which George Clooney directs) is darkly funny.
I love this movie
This, Open Range, and Silverado are personal top three westerns.
Lol Simone reminds me of the gopher from Caddyshack when George is reading their list of patrons. 😂
Moon, one who lost fingers before losing his life, was played by Domhnall Gleason, who played Caleb in "Ex Machina," Bill Weasley in "HP and the Deathly Hollows", and General Hux in Star Wars episodes 7 to 9.
Also the captain in The Revenant
So weird that Hailee Steinfeld didn't get her name in large print on the poster when she has the biggest part. She was great in Hawkeye and Dickinson too. Maybe also watch the John Wayne (1969) version of True Grit, see how you think it compares.
who was she before this movie? you give a young unknown billing equal to or above Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon?
you don't get that kinda recognition in your first real movie.
@@jyesucevitz -- Don't put her on the poster then, you could argue she is the lead in the movie. She certainly has the most dialogue.
Besides, Kim Darby got top billing with John Wayne and Glen Campbell on the poster of the 1969 version. Two mega-stars at the time. Darby only had bit roles before that, she played a 14 year old at the age of 21.
Steinfeld was 13 years old and had already been in 'She's a Fox' which had been nominated and won many regional film festival awards.
Just remember that being a robber or rustler doesnt necessarily mean that Ned would be OK with abusing women and children.
He held a child down on the ground with a boot on her head and threatened to kill her.
Then he told Rooster he would kill her and confirmed his willingness to do it when he said "You know I will do it!"
Possibly unpopular opinion, but I like THIS version better than the John Wayne version. (Not much of a John Wayne fan anyway.)
For this being her first film, Hailee Steinfeld practically stole the show. It's a shame she didn't WIN the Oscar, though she did deserve her nomination.
And this may be just me, but Metallica's "The Unforgiven III" would've been a perfect song for the closing credits of this film.
Turns out you liked the exposition at the beginning and at the end. Iris Dement is the singer of the hymn at the end. She has a unique voice and an Arkansas accent.
Coincidentally, I watched the original just the other day. It might be worth watching to compare the two😊
Pretty bold talk for a one eyed fat man!! - my favorite line from both versions.
Hell yes, I love this movie! I want a whole spin off about Forrester, the Bear Dentist!
So many great lines ….. but my fave exchange is when she says …..
“ why did they have to hang him so high ? “
And he says …
“ perhaps in the hopes that it would make him more dead ! “
Paraphrasing
One of the Cohen’s best. When she yells “Stand up, Tom Chaney!” I remember my eyes welling with tears, then she just shoots him! True grit. She followed through on everything. So did Rooster. Sloppily, sure, but he did it.
It’s a beloved novel to those of a certain age.. And this is a loyal presentation of the novel.. One of the Coens best, IMO..
The dialogue in both this movie and the original with John Wayne (also a must-watch) was taken practically verbatim from Charles Portis’s novel of the same name. The novel is definitely worth reading if you ever get the chance.
Matt Damon’s character was played by Glen Campbell in the original.
Another Coen Brothers film to check out is The Hudsucker Proxy. It is a sadly overlooked film but absolutely worth a reaction.
Context of civil war argument: Cogburn was a member of Quantrill's Raiders, which was a Confederate Guerilla unit. Know for being particularly brutal. Ranger was in the regular Confederate Army which abided by the laws of was and hence considered more honorable
As I saw your reaction to the violence… you two should watch Bone Tomahawk 😁👍
Then Brawl In Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete lol
According to legend, a horsehair rope placed around a bed discouraged snakes, specifically rattlers, from crossing over the rope, allegedly because of the fibers that stuck up from the horsehair being uncomfortable and feeling strange to the snake's belly
Being able to understand Rooster's speech depends on how familiar you are with southern accents. I'm a native Texan and had no trouble understanding him.
Also, it probably doesn't help that they were also using archaic/regional words.
To elaborate on the rope; snakes don't like the feeling of a raw rope on their bellies so if you lay one down they generally won't cross it. This makes a rope an easy way to prevent snakes creeping in your bedroll.
Now please watch the original, starring legendary actor John Wayne. It’s an absolute classic and earned Wayne a Best Actor Academy Award. ✌️
Agree. This reboot is good but the original is much better.
Agreed!
For me this is one of the few times I think the reboot is superior to the original. I think if you're a John Wayne fan, the original will be Supreme. But if you don't have an affinity for Wayne, the Coens production and this cast is superior in every way IMO
At 4:40 liability was a sketchy thing with "frontier justice." Usually it came down to "that makes sense to me." That's not to say that there weren't laws, there weren't lawyers, and there weren't hard readings of complex propositions to get out of liability (or a noose), but the burden of proof for guilt was not what it is now here or in Canada.
You need to watch the original and the sequel Ruster Cogburn staring John Wain.
You should check out the original movie first staring, John Wayne ,Kim Darby, and Glenn Campbell. You might have a better idea of what is going on in this very good remake.
Yes I have seen it 2 times and it's sequel 3 times. While some aspects of this remake are better as a hole the original is much better. In fact most of the movies staring John Wayne a excellent movies. I know My views are different. I prefer originals to remakes unless the remake in proves the story. In my opinion this movie kept to much to the original to make any meaningful improvements.@@victorcowboywest
Quantrill was a renegade Confederate who raided and massacred Union settlements in East Kansas. After the Civil War ended, most Confederate troops were given a general amnesty, but Quantrill’s Raiders were considered terrorists and were pursued by authorities. Frank and Jesse James were among them; hence, their train robbing spree.