
Can the Coen Brothers better John Wayne?
Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America's
foremost comic writers. True Grit is his most famous
novel—first published in 1968, and the basis for the movie
of the same name starring John Wayne and now the film by the
Coen brothers starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.
It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just
fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom
Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and
robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money.
Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the
one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S.
Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into
Indian Territory. True Grit is eccentric,
cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself.
From a writer of true cult status, this is an
American classic through and through.
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