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Coens' 'True Grit' improves on original

“True Grit,” the 1969 western that gave John Wayne his only best actor Oscar, probably ranks high on the list of motion pictures that don't ever need to be remade.

Yet, that didn't stop those rascally, genre-bending Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, from turning the Dude into the Duke and putting their own twisted spin on the tale of a teenage girl out to avenge her father's murder.

Even if you're a dyed-in-the-saloon John Wayne buff, the brothers' “True Grit” still represents a significant improvement over Henry Hathaway's take on Charles Portis' celebrated novel.

First, Jeff Bridges' U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn is a trigger-happy, tough-and-gruff equal-to-life boozer in a stark contrast to Wayne's bigger-than-life boozer Hollywood icon. Bridges' Cogburn isn't better, but he's significantly more humbled and worn out by a life of chasing desperados and living up to his (couple of) wives' expectations.

Second, Matt Damon creates an inspired LaBoeuf, the egotistical Texas Ranger who sees himself as something of a Sir Lancelot: a brave, noble soul who always gets his man. After 41 years, Damon finally erases the prickly memory of LaBoeuf played by Glen Campbell, easily the worst portrait of a western movie hero by a singing star, at least since Ricky Nelson wobbled and warbled his way through the classic “Rio Bravo.”

Kim Darby's role as the ultrasmart Mattie Ross has been smoothly hijacked by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who plays the independent girl younger and convincingly sharper, able to get her way through astute and unyielding argument.

Coen favorite Josh Brolin plays Tom Chaney, a comically one-note bad man who guns down Mattie's nice guy dad, steals his two gold pieces and runs off, possibly taking refuge in the Choctaw Nation.

Mattie, decked out in pigtails and a floppy hat, arrives in town demanding justice. Seeing that this concept has yet to take root, Mattie hires the meanest marshal she can find to capture or kill Chaney.

She finds Cogburn first in the outhouse experiencing distress in the lower intestinal tract. (This is, after all, a Coen movie not given to romanticizing stuff.) Cogburn's dispassionate courtroom account of how he killed a family of lowlifes convinces her he's the guy.

They eventually run into LaBoeuf, a narcissistic Ranger who prattles on about his rifle as if it were his mistress, finally prompting Cogburn to lament having fallen in with “a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop!”

As in most Coen cinematic experiences, violence erupts in shockingly quick and brutal events for a PG-13 movie. The filmmakers preserve Portis' formalized dialogue where the characters never use contractions while uttering cogent, concise comments.

Frequent Coen collaborator Carter Burwell supplies a classically beautiful western score complete with menace and magic. Photographer Roger Deakins underdresses the western landscapes in cold, unpicturesque hues, and hits his stride in Cogburn's nocturnal, hallucinogenic race to get snake-bitten Mattie to a doctor before the spreading poison kills her.

This is the movie's showcase sequence, a curious one because we almost worry more about Mattie's horse than poor Mattie.

Yep, this is a Coen brothers' movie.

“True Grit”

★ ★ ★ ★

<B>Starring:</B> Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin

<B>Directed by: </B>Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

<B>Other:</B> A Paramount Pictures release.

Rated PG-13 for violence. 110 minutes