I just caught up with the remake of True Grit on FX Channel.

It seemed to skip the cable movie channels although I think it was on PPV.

Very satisfying film. The "western" was well served and the style of the film with vistas and music keeping true to this genre. Rarely to I watch a film from beginning to end. Usually I take it in smaller pieces and put it together. Why? Because I can't sit still that long.

I did pretty good with True Grit, The Remake.

I wonder why the Coen Brothers didn't play with producing more westerns.

Moi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3dGh5E5Yks

FX will show True Grit again on July 21, at 8:PM.

http://www.fxnetworks.com/schedule/

You know True Grit was not that good of a movie to start with, even if it was an improvement over the first it would still be a 'B' movie and sometimes its best to just let the first one rest in peace.

River

I like "the Western". But it requires the elements of a western for my enjoyment.

Big vistas. Morality play. Music that is appropriate and western.

I need to watch the remake a few more times but, today my impressions are positive.

Good story, well told, western style.

Moi

Give me land lots of land under starry starry skies,

I tried watching the original. Couldn't. I find that while SOME movies from pre-1970 translate to modern tastes well, many just seem grossly over-acted now.

I watched The Magnificent 7, Cat Balu, and True Grit (original) recently. As for Cat Balu (The one with Lee Marvin as a drunk on a drunk horse), Lee Marvin was the ONLY actor who seemed like a professional; everyone else seemed to be one step away from a Jon Lovitz SNL-style "I'm ACTINGGGGG!" level of over-acting. Magnificent Seven, while it was kinda fun, seemed SOOooo contrived... the whole opening scene with them taking the dead man's body to Boot Hill through a gauntlet was probably really cool at the time, but now? Re-watch it if you remember it fondly; the whole scene is just horribly, horribly done with the most hilariously inappropriate stand-off at the top of the hill with the final handful of bad guys.

Same with the original True Grit. I found whats-his-name (it's too late and I'm too stoned/tired to remember his name) to be just going through the motions.

The new version though, by the Coen bros., was just so much fun. I just watched it again today because of this thread. Thanks!

JOHN WAYNE !!!

I knew I'd remember after I hit "post" !!!!!!!!!!!

Remake of True Grit was really good. I never saw the original or read the book, and didn't know the plotline before I saw the movie. So the story was "all new" to me. It fits the "Western" genre well (as Moi described above).

After seeing the remake, I watched the original True Grit. There's just no comparison... I didn't like the original at all. I found the girl annoying, and much of the acting was "cheesy" (StefanIsMe describes it well above). It is one of a few movies I didn't watch all the way through.

I think the genre has a lot of potential with modern filmmakers and actors. The remake of True Grit is a fine example of what a modern Western could be. I hope that they make more Westerns like it in the future.

(not to change the subject... But I also enjoyed Cowboys and Aliens ( http://www.eunuch.org/forums/showthread.php?22021 ). Even though there was Sci-Fi and Aliens in it, it was a "Western" type story, and is another example what a modern Western could be like)

Some of us only watch CAT BALLOU for two reasons:

Nat King Cole and Lee Marvin.

The rest of the movie is just silly window dressing done as satire.