You can not remake a **John Wayne ** movie. The remake will always be terrible by comparison. You might as well try to remake Gone with the Wind.
I could not be more psyched. I love westerns, really love the Coen brothers, and absolutely fucking adore Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. It’s like they’re pandering to me, and I’m going to hopefully see it on opening day.
Will people please stop complaining about this being a “REMAKE” of a John Wayne movie? It’s not a remake of anything. It’s a new adaptation of the novel. Big difference.
Gus Van Sant’s Psycho was a remake. The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 was a remake. *The Longest Yard *was a remake.
Complaining about them “remaking” True Grit is as misguided as complaining about any film version of “A Christmas Carol” that has come out since 1901’s Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost.
Not really, in this case.
The first movie followed the book almost line-for-line (up until the very end, where it diverged).
According to statements by Matt Damon, this new version is supposed to be “truer” to the book. Don’t know how it could be truer to the book without also following the novel line-for-line and using the novel’s ending.
Which means it will look an awful lot like a remake to anyone who has seen the John Wayne film.
The Duke was in Gone with the Wind?
Yesh, I know.
But is is a Charles Portis story. I’ll just keep that in mind while I watch.
I wish he still had the Navy Colt and the Winchester when he charges the bad guys, though. 
You never know. While I agree that it was a good movie, and Wayne played his role well, you never know. The Coen’s are known for originality, after all.
I’m likely to stroll into a theater for the first time in years to watch this.
“I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”
Yes, I will see it. Quibble about Glen Campbell all you want, it was a great movie and I expect the same from the Coens’.
All summer and fall I’ve been muttering about how there could be no conceivable reason to do a remake of the John Wayne movie. After all, it was in color and everything. And “I also notice that the men of Texas . . . cultivate their hair like lettuce” can only be said of Glen Campbell in 1969. But the trailer for this new one has me rethinking my position.
One thing that was always very striking about the original was the dialogue, which eschewed contractions and even elliptical phrases in a way that sounds very curious to our ears—even moreso to those of us very familiar with the Oklahoma-Arkansas border region. I wonder if Portis had supporting evidence for writing the dialogue in such a way.
He lives here, dude.
Your point being?
This forum requires that you wait 60 seconds between posts. Please try again in 5 seconds.
Originally Posted by Susanann
You can not remake a John Wayne movie.
Of course, John Wayne can do whatever he wants.
It is that nobody else can do a remake of any John Wayne movie. It has been attempted before, like trying to redo Stagecoach.
We cant watch any remake of any John Wayne movie without thinking of John Wayne being in it. There is only “1” Ringo Kid.
There is only “1” old, drunken, hard nosed, cantankerous, AND lovable, Marshall Rooster Cogburn who can swing a Winchester 92 with one hand while charging full gallop on a horse.
Something about that line. . .maybe it’s Robert Duvall. Everything’s better with Duvall, even as old as he is now. Maybe it’s the combination of the line and Duvall - two great things that go great together. Also, I want the line, “Fill your hands, you son-of-a-bitch!” Again, the line and the actor. I’ve grown to have great respect for Jeff Bridges, so I think he could make it work for him, even if he isn’t Wayne. Two of the best lines in cinema.
I worry about the scene where Rooster faces off with Ned Pepper’s gang. That’s such an iconic scene that Arnold mimicked it in T2, with the rifle on the motorcycle. I’ve fully been in favor of this project, but I wonder if I can put the original out of my mind so I can fully enjoy this. I guess if the Coens do their job, I will.
You are absolutely right. And thank somebody there’s only 1 Glen Campbell.
There’s got to be some kind of generational divide, or maybe it’s just me, but I’m simply not impressed by that scene. Yeah, they’re good lines, but Wayne’s delivery is less than impressive. He may be the Duke and all, but I can’t see how Jeff Bridges won’t be far better.
I think it is not so much Wayne as the point where the character turns from being humorous and becomes heroic.
Exactly. For much of the movie Rooster had been a drunken buffoon, whose glory days were far FAR behind him, which is why Mattie, who had hired him based on his former reputation, was able to hire him for a pittance and insist that she go along for the capture (edit to add, he couldn’t turn her down because he needed the money, any money).
At this point, he finally becomes the man he used to be, cocky, fearless and recklessly heroic. It’s a great moment. Not just for Wayne, but for the character of Rooster Cogburn.
Obviously some of us from the generation who remembers John Wayne can, and there will be a whole new generation, a few generations, of people who only vaguely know the name of John Wayne who can.
I’m beginning to think that John Wayne fans are scared that this new movie will be so good, and Bridges so iconic in the role, that Wayne’s characterization will be relegated to an asterisk footnote in movie history. The original will always be available for those who seek it out, and people will still be discovering it in the future. I myself don’t want the original to be forgotten, I do love it so. Wayne’s Cogburn isn’t the only character who needs to be remembered. Kim Darby’s Mattie is so very good, and Duvall’s Pepper, and Strother Martin in his tiny role? Wow. No, I’m right there with you on the love of the original, but not to the point where I disdain the very thought of another version.
I’m sure I’d feel different if it weren’t the Coen Brothers and Jeff Bridges. If it were being made by a hack director with some 3rd tier actor, then I’d be alternately screaming and sulking too.
And now there’ll be two. There’s room enough for both.
I was on my Touch when I posted my earlier post and didn’t post links. Here’s the Rotten Tomatoes link for True Grit. There were only 8 reviews when I posted before, now there are 10, but it’s still at 100%. It won’t stay there, if only for the John Wayne fans who are itching to bring it down, but I’m still happy to see it so high so early.
I mentioned Best Of/Top 10 of 2010 lists but didn’t include links. Here’s the main one I was remembering, Peter Travers from Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 10 (that link also has his Top 10s back to 1999). His is a very predictable, mainstream, Oscar-friendly list, but there’s nothing wrong with that in my eyes, because they’re all good movies, and True Grit is in very good company here:
- The Social Network
- Inception
- The King’s Speech
- True Grit
- The Kids Are All Right
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Winter’s Bone
- Toy Story 3
That’s the only one I can find at the moment, but most lists haven’t been released yet, plus a lot of critics haven’t yet seen True Grit. It’s only just started screening.
As far as Oscar talk links, I don’t remember where, it’s just general chatter. It could be wishful thinking too. We’ll see.
Yeah.