I need to make time to watch the original John Wayne movie. And read the book that it’s apparently based on. I’d like to be able to do a comparison of these.
Because I loved this remake.
It’s dirty and rough and immoral in all the different shades of grey. Mattie Ross is the most frighteningly capable girl I’ve ever seen in a movie and I love that she’s so stubborn about what she knows is right even when everything around her has gone out of her comfort zone. I mean, she basically hires the most ‘round the law marshal that’s ever existed to hunt down the man who killed her father and spends almost the entire movie being shocked at things he does.
And Rooster Cogburn is so reluctantly amused by her and unwillingly fond of her as they travel together. I like that he keeps the hardass loner act up throughout the whole movie, even as he’s teaching Maddie to survive out in the wild lands, and he almost defiantly clings to his drinking and smoking and killing ways all the way up until needs to save Mattie’s life. Like saving her will make up for all the shit he’s done in his life.
Not that he was looking for it, of course, but he’s a man who takes advantage of his situation and if he has the chance to do the right thing and not let down this girl who elbowed her way into his life, he’s going to damn well take it and damn the consequences.
If you’ve been thinking about going to go see this one, do it. There are some gross violent bits (well, one that comes to mind but it made me flinch so I have to mention it) and there are extended periods of riding horses and doing nothing more than talking, so some parts might seem long, but it’s a great movie and definitely worth watching if you’re a fan of Westerns.
