“Baby sister I was born game and I intend to go out that way.”
The film that won screen legend John Wayne an Oscar comes out in a new special edition to commemorate John Wayne’s 100th birthday (May 26, 1907). This edition adds some nice special features that fans will find interesting.
Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) comes into Fort Smith to claim the body of her father. He had come into town with his farm hand Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey) and Chaney shot him, stole his money, and fan off to Indian territory. The local sheriff is rather lackadaisical about pursuing Chaney into that territory so the strong-willed Mattie decides to take matters into her own hands and is looking for a man with “grit” to accompany on her quest for justice against Chaney.
Fill your hands you son of a bitch (and so begins one of the best gunfights in Western history)
Seems that Chaney has fallen in with “Lucky” Ned Pepper’s (Robert Duvall) gang and Mattie thinks that Marshall “Rooster” Cogburn (John Wayne) is the man with the grit for the job, even though that he’s an one-eyed, overweight, booze sodden lawman. She, Cogburn, and La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), a Texas Ranger also after Chaney for a killing in Texas, set off to bring Chaney to justice and the sizeable reward for Chaney doesn’t hurt matters.
Based on the novel by Charles Portis, True Grit is the tale of a woman’s (tomboy?) quest for revenge against the murder of her father. It’s really a tale of women’s lib that’s set against the backdrop of the old west and more a tale for the time in which it was filmed than the time that it’s set. It has become known as the defining role for John Wayne’s legend but it’s surprising to know that he nearly didn’t accept the role and it had to do with the politics of the time and subject of the novel.
Wayne was recovering from cancer surgery and did the picture with only one lung. He was also coming off of one of the films that probably takes the place as his worst movie – The Green Berets – and he needed something more to his legend to appear back on the silver screen. However, it’s near the performance of a lifetime (I love Cogburn but always have a soft spot for the Shootist and think that’s the one that Wayne should’ve won the award for).
Whatever the case Wayne performs admirably as the old coot and turns Cogburn into a character that rides high in his career canon. The weak links might be in the other roles in our little trio. Glen Campbell plays the Texas Ranger in his first screen role and it shows. He also sports a 1960s haircut in a film set in 1860 (the commentary helped me with that one). Kim Darby was in her twenties but is playing much younger. She was going through some hard personal times when the movie was filming and Wayne didn’t think her right for the role.
I'm looking for a man with grit
She does well, but the character tends to grate on me when compared to the loveable drunkard that Wayne plays. There are some favorites in small bits though – Strother Martin (in a fine scene with Darby), John Fiedler, and Dennis Hopper. If you’re a Wayne fan or just a western fan then this is a film that you need to own. Even with my nitpicking, it’s still an excellent movie and if you don’t think so I’ll inform my lawyer J. Noble Daggett to begin proceedings against you.
True Grit is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The previous releases were bare bones affairs and only featured a trailer. This edition finally adds some special features. They include a commentary by Jeb Rosebrook, Bob Boze Bell, and J. Stuart Rosebrook (look below for who they are).
First up is the 4 minute “True Writing” which interviews Dr. Stuart Rosebrook (Historian of the America West), Jeb Rosebrook (Western genre film historian), Jeremy Slate (“Emmet Quincy”), Kim Darby, and Ed Lousararian (Editor-in-chief, Wildest Western magazine). I thought this might be more about the novel, but they discuss the screenplay.
The 10 minute “Working with the Duke” adds interviews with Glen Campbell and Luster Bayless (United American Costume Company) and they talk about working with the legend. The 10 minute “Aspen Gold: The Locations of True Grit” go to Ridgway, Colorado where it was filmed. It has interviews with Robb Magley (Staff reporter of the Ouray Plaindealer newspaper), Barbara Morss (resident, Ridgway Chamber of Commerce), Tammee and Dale Tuttle (owners of the True Grit Café), Duane Beamer (Ridgway area cattle rancher), Connie L. Hunt (Ouray County administrator), and Steve Caldwell (“Mineral Farm” conservator).
The 5 minute “The Law and the Lawless” interviews Bob “Boze” Bell (Executive editor of True West Magazine) and Carolyn Brucken (Autry National Center) and they talk about how sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the two. Finally we have the 3 minute theatrical trailer and a preview for the Wayne Collection.
One of the better non-Wayne scenes is when Mattie hornswaggles Strother Martin
True Grit is a true classic and a highpoint in the canon of screen icon John Wayne. This DVD belongs in the collection of every Western and Wayne fan. This time round they do the job with more grit and add some special features that augment the fine feature.
True Grit (Special Collector’s Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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