There is an annoying, awful, horrible movie that should have won so many awards for how masterful it was. The remake of True Grit in 2010 is a heartstring puller old western about a Mattie, a young girl played by Hailee Steinfield whose father was murdered by an outlaw. She annoys and impresses many with her levelheaded independence and disregard for unreasonable authority. She hires a grizzled marshal played by Jeff Bridges to help track down her father’s murderer. It is a sad movie but has so many good points and is shot gorgeously. It has enough funny parts to keep me watching. There are two specific sales pitches that are well and humorously done.
Before Mattie begins her revenge trip she goes to get herself a horse. It is the classic caveat venditor and you find yourself cheering Mattie’s sharp hilarious bargaining skills and pitying the weaselly horse owner who has no idea what is going on. The poor man has to buy back the horses he sold her father and then turn around and sell her one of them.
On their trek through the Old West, Mattie and her marshal Reuben meet different wanderers of varying levels of criminality. After cutting down a hanged man to see if it is their target, they come across an old doctor living in a bear skin. (Pause for the inevitable “I wish I had a beard like that” from my dad). The doctor then proceeds to sell them the body they cut down just an hour ago. “Minus the teeth, those are hard to come by.” His slow talk and willingness to ignore what they say is another classic salesman stereotype. Overall it is such a good movie; I won’t give away the ending, but I highly recommend the movie.
BoweryJE22