by Lorie Lewis Ham
First off, I have to say I’m not generally a fan of Westerns, but True Grit has so much more to it than just it’s setting of the old West. As a child, I grew up on Westerns as my dad was a big fan and I vaguely remember watching the original with John Wayne playing Rooster Cogburn. I’d have to say from what I can remember that Jeff Bridges did an excellent job of taking on a character once played by the great John Wayne. 
The movie is more a story of a young girl set on vengeance for her father’s death and the grumpy old marshal, Rooster, whom she hires to help her track down his killer. The relationship that forms between the two, and the softer side of Rooster that comes out as this movie plays out, is one of its best parts. I also really liked the girl, Mattie Ross played by Hailee Steinfeld, and look forward to seeing more of her. She was tough and strong, and very much against the norm for that time period, and for only being 14. Matt Damon, playing Texas Ranger LaBoeuf added some fun comic relief to the story.
I decided to see this movie because a couple of our teen staff were interested in seeing it and I’m glad I did. One of them, Jesus Ibarra, wanted to see it because he is a fan of Jeff Bridges, and he enjoyed the movie as well, and said he was not disappointed in Bridges performance.
So if you enjoy Westerns I’d say definitely see True Grit. Other than the violence, it could even qualify as a family movie, and seems very true to the style of old Westerns. It was directed by the incredible Coen brothers which is another plus, and you can see their hand in it here and there. If you don’t like Westerns I’d say why not give it a try anyway as the story is very good. Not in my top ten, but definitely enjoyable and pretty clean as well.
True Grit is now playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website.
As a Huge John Wayne fan, and as someone who has probable seen the original TRUE GRIT 50 times, I can attest that this movie is excellent! Drawn from the original novel, it captures the spirit of the John Wayne classic, (the Dukes only oscar performance) yet deviates in certain important ways. The ending is different, but the movie, as a whole is my favorite, in recent memory. Well worth the ticket price, and Jeff Bridges impresses everyone with this performance..