‘True Grit’ Is… Gritty, Not As Funny As Advertised, Probably Genius Anyhow

So the Coen Brothers are re-making “True Grit,” an adaptation of a Charles Portis’ Western-type revenge novel that’s evidently set to star Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin which was also made into a film starring John Wayne in 1969. They’ve been threatening to film this for several years now, but now it’s seemingly happening and shooting in March if all goes according to plan.

The story’s true protagonist is the precocious, defiant and indefatigably resolute teenager Mattie Ross (not cast yet, Kim Darby in the original) whose father is double crossed and killed by a cowardly helping-hand turned outlaw (Jeff Corey/Josh Brolin). Seeking revenge, she convinces and pays a drunken, old and broken down U.S. Marshal (Wayne originally, Bridges now), who is later joined by a Texas Ranger (countrypolitan singer Glen Campbell/Matt Damon) to track the man down and bring him to justice. They essentially all detest one another, but through their voyage slowly learn the value and worth of one another.

Here’s the thing. The matter-of-fact Coen Brothers script (like all their scripts, terse, to-the-point) is very much like the original film, which wasn’t very good to begin with. Though that has much to do in part with Henry Hathaway’s boring, flat, all master-shots direction. It’s an interesting story, but that ’69 film didn’t win John Wayne an Oscar because of an amazing performance. He took the Academy prize because he, much like the character he plays Rooster Cogburn, was long in the tooth, and he was due his lifetime achievement award.

Yes, the Coens’ screenplay is more faithful to the novel, but the original wasn’t drastically different either. And yes, it has more humor as the Coen Brothers promised, but it is sawdust dry, understated and sometimes a bit of a slog to read. If one is trying to figure out the tone of this one it’s easy: “No Country For Old Men” meets “A Serious Man” but even the latter was much funnier than this very dark tale. Maybe ‘Country’ with a bit more humor.

Like most Coen Brothers scripts, they’re aren’t exactly a joy to read and are damn plain and straightforward (kinda like they are in person, dry and soft spoken), and more prose-y than steadily moving screenwriting. But even then that prose is unsentimental and very plain (fitting as Portis’ novel is the same).

Much has been said about how the Coen Brothers’ films barely change from script to screen, that they shoot and storyboard what’s on the page. But what’s not on the page — and very much on the screen when the pace and the attack is matches the style – ‘No Country,’ ‘Serious Man,’ ‘Lebowski,’ ‘Hudsucker,’ ‘Arizona’ — is their acute sense of timing, their ability to inspire their cast, their visual sense (brought to life by extremely talented DPs), and their excellent editing abilities (they are their editor, Roderick Jaynes).

So there’s a disconnect there, and so based on the script alone… it doesn’t do a lot or rouse much of anything inside. But visualizing and imagining what the Coens will ultimately bring to it, it’s probably going to be full-realized and alive. It does take a leap of faith, imagination and perhaps the experience of having read several Coen Brothers scripts, having then compared them to their much-more-interesting final product, to say this will be another solid Coen’s effort.

There is some great writing here, dialogue rich scenes that we could imagine actors chewing up, especially for the Coens. Thickly worded scenes that could be a lot of fun if the tone and mood don’t drag. Hopefully the editing will be economic, because the pacing isn’t exactly quick.

The plum role here really though is Mattie Ross, though Bridges as the tired, lazy, Cogburn could potentially be great too (and he can keep his weight and worn-down look of “Crazy Heart” if he’s still got it; the character does have some good speeches). Ross is tireless in her demands and is a severe pain in the ass to everyone. A brat to the adults, she must get her own way and she seems much more single-minded and tough than the cardboard way Kim Darby played her. If they fudged the age a little, we could see Mia Wasikowska, Alison Pil, Saoirse Ronan. There aren’t a lot of very remarkable teenage actors who could pull this off. An average girl here won’t do, so casting here is more crucial than any other part.

The other parts are small though and surely the only reason Damon and especially Brolin want to be in this picture is because it’s a Coen Brothers film. If someone walked (perhaps Damon because his schedule is nuts), someone like Chris Hemsworth could possibly fill his shoes, but probably not deliver the comedy. We won’t spoil it, but an accident effects the Texas Ranger’s speech in the second half of the film and this could provide the most serious laughs; something that Damon would be perfect for.

In fact, if this script came on to an execs desk, didn’t have the Coen Brothers name on it and these stars attached, they would likely pass. It’s a testament to the Coen Brothers’ work. Everyone knows they add so much unspoken and mysterious depth to their work and “True Grit,” should probably fall in line with the tenor of ‘No Country’ mixed with ‘Serious Man’: dark, unadorned with flashes of comedy and brilliance, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the script blind.

While there’s a lot here for another potentially great effort by the brothers Coen it’s nowhere near as tense and tight as ‘No Country,’ not as comedic as ‘O Brother,’ and not as lazy (in a great way) as, say, ‘Lebowski;’ this is another new animal for them while at the same time familiar. Think “Unforgiven.” Think Ron Howard’s, “The Missing,” but made by people who understand detail, subtly, nuance, credibility, and realism — additional reporting by Andrew Hart (we read it at the same time and compared notes).