100 Dollars pour un shérif

First on UK BBC1 on Christmas Day 1974 and shown again many times since has meant I never bothered taping this classic - now I've seen it umpteen times it still leaves me smiling. The relentlessly eccentric badinage between the 3 main characters and others should be enough to make anyone smile, even with a little violence and a few serious points raised along the way.

A tough man on a tough hunt for a gang of toughs - it's John Wayne's film all the way, with this he passed into his last phase in the saddle with a continuous wink at the cowboy parody he had become and which no-one else will ever match. By now after 40 years he was an American legend, your giant avuncular instant-lawman starring in his next horse opera - True Grit would really be nothing special without him, with the fat old man it's a nice Western comedy. We in the audience knew he had Grit before he came on, Kim Darby was just too slow on the uptake. I never understood why the script was so uncharitable to the Texican horse-killing son of a bitch Campbell, he's belittled right up to the scenes in Mattie's family graveyard.

Overall a shot in the arm (or leg!) if seen every few years - even in 1969 entertaining action films could still be made!

People's memories are short, and too many people have seen only Hailee Steinfeld's portrayal of Mattie. Let me cast my vote for the screen's first Mattie Ross, Kim Darby, who turned in the superior performance. (And I don't blame Steinfeld herself; for all their brilliance as filmmakers, the Coens are hit-or-miss with actors.) Darby looks a bit older than Steinfeld, more womanly (despite the hat and the shorter hair), and her voice is softer and more feminine -- yet her line readings are paradoxically steelier and more intense. When Steinfeld recites Portis's deliberately stiff, formal, old-fashioned, nearly contraction-free dialogue, her delivery sounds odd, like an immigrant imitating English; Darby speaks the same formal lines more naturally and makes Mattie a more believable figure, and a far more appealing one.

What is a Western? The genre conjures up images of gun totting cowboys, reckless outlaws and fierce encounters in countryside saloons. True, this was the setting that prevailed during the 19th century American West.

A few directors in the past have tried to present the West in a more refined way, giving importance to the settings and the characterization. Among them is Henry Hathaway's True Grit, an emotionally charged Western about a fearless; one-eyed Marshall named Rooster Cogburn.

The film very stylishly brings to fore the Western countryside, from the scenario at a public hanging to the courtroom drama. In the latter we see some tense and heated exchange of words between the prosecuting lawyer and the Marshall.

The intriguing plot unfolds itself very nicely on the silver screen. The story is simple. Tom Cheney, a cowboy, kills his employer. Maddie (Kim Darby), the headstrong daughter of the employer, vows to take revenge and get Cheney hanged for the murder of her father. For the mission she enlists the support of one Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne). Now this Rooster is the meanest Marshall in the entire territory. Having lost one of his eyes in the war, he is totally fearless in disposition, talks brazenly and has an unconventional sense of humor. Despite his hardened exterior, he is warm and benevolent at heart. This is evident in the conversations between him and Maddie.

The third angle to the mission comes in the form of Sgt Lebeof (Glen Campbell), an enthusiastic Texas Ranger, who is after Cheney for his own motive of collecting ransom money. At first instance, Maddie has reservations about Lebeof. He comes across as an ill mannered, uncivilized guy to her. Convinced that Maddie will not make him a party to the pursuit of Cheney, Lebeof, secretively, unknowing from her, teams up with Rooster. He takes Rooster into confidence and through him manages an entry into the chase for Cheney.

The character of Lebeof is an interesting study. He comes across as an inexperienced person who has a knack for saying something silly all the times. He is rebuked many times for such uttering by both Maddie and Rooster.

Rooster had his own reasons for going after Cheney. It so happened that this Cheney was an accomplice of ‘Lucky' Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and Rooster had some unfinished business with Ned. He recently had shot Ned in the lower lip during a confrontation but Ned had escaped. Now this chase provided Rooster with another shot at Ned.

The chase is beautifully picturized. Especially the final confrontation between Ned's gang and Rooster. The action sequence in this scene must be seen to be believed.

The reverberating and sweet music score by Elmer Bernstein forms an integral part of the plot. Glen Campbell has rendered the opening title song in his trademark voice. True Grit is a treat to watch for its believable depiction of the life and times of the West. Henry Hathaway, a specialist director of the crime, western and thriller genre has masterfully directed this flick. Re-uniting with Wayne after Sons of Katie Elder (1965), he has managed to extract the very best from his leading man. John Wayne has essayed the role of his lifetime. It is impossible to imagine anybody but him in the lead role as a tough, uncouth and drunken Marshall. Interestingly, Wayne won his only Oscar for this role in 1970.

"True Grit" deals with one of the classic Western themes, indeed one of the classic themes in all literature- revenge. A teenage girl, Mattie Ross, is looking for someone who will help her track down Tom Chaney, the man who murdered her father. The man Mattie chooses is Rooster Cogburn, a US Marshal. Cogburn is elderly, fat, one-eyed and a heavy drinker, but Mattie chooses him because she has heard that he has "true grit". The two of them set out into the Indian Territory in search of Chaney, accompanied by La Boeuf (shouldn't that be Le Boeuf?), a Texas ranger who wants to arrest him in connection with another murder.

This is perhaps best remembered today as the film for which John Wayne won his only Oscar. Halliwell's Film Guide rather ungraciously refers to it as a "sentimental Oscar, for daring to look old and fat", but there is more to Wayne's performance than that. The Academy, in fact, had tended to overlook Wayne, just as they overlooked the Western genre which provided him with most of his roles; well over a hundred films had only brought him two previous nominations. Cogburn, however, was one of his best roles. On the surface a hard-bitten, irascible old man, he has hidden depths to his character- not only the courage and determination implied by the phrase "true grit", but also a sense of humour and a capacity for tenderness. Cogburn is a lonely man, divorced from his wife and alienated from his only son, and his only friends are a Chinese storekeeper (a rare acknowledgement from Hollywood that not every inhabitant of the West was either white or an Indian) and his cat. A close relationship, however, grows up between him and the orphaned Mattie, for whom he becomes a substitute father. In turn, she becomes the daughter he never had- or perhaps even a substitute son.

Mattie is a complex character. There is much about her that is androgynous- her tomboy looks, her short hair, even her name, which can be short for Matthew as well as Matilda or Martha. She is brave and determined (there is a suggestion that the phrase "true grit" applies to her as well), but can also be a pain in the neck, especially to Cogburn. She is at times wise in the ways of the world and at others strangely innocent. She is part avenging angel, part bookish intellectual (shown by her rather formal language) and part vulnerable child. It is a role that called for an outstanding performance and got one from Kim Darby who was able to bring out all the various facets of Mattie's character. (This is the only film of hers that I have seen, but it seems strange on the strength of this that her subsequent cinema career has been so patchy). Unfortunately, Glenn Campbell, a singer with little previous acting experience, made a weak La Boeuf. It is probably as well that John Wayne did not get his way when he wanted Karen Carpenter, a singer with absolutely no previous acting experience, to play the role of Mattie instead of Darby. Great actors do not always make great casting directors.

"True Grit" does not perhaps have the depth of meaning of some of the truly great Westerns, such as "High Noon", "Unforgiven" or Wayne's last film, "The Shootist", but it is a very good one. It is a fast-moving and exciting adventure, notable for some beautiful photography of mountainous landscapes (although it is ostensibly set in relatively flat Oklahoma, it was actually filmed in Colorado and California), for one of the great iconic moments of the Western (the scene where Cogburn gallops alone into battle, guns blazing, against four opponents) and for two excellent performances in the two main roles. 7/10

I do not think this is John Wayne's best movie or role, but I did like this movie, though I do not think it is perfect. While the film starts and ends very well, the film slackens in the pace in the middle. My other flaws are to do with casting. Glen Campbell is adequate in his role, but I was never engrossed by his character and he never quite make me believe in him. Worst though was Kim Darby, I am not going to go through a debate about whether she was too old for the role(I'll drop a hint, I think she was), but for me she is one of the blandest and most annoying leading ladies in a John Wayne movie.

However, the film does look great. Handsomely shot with great scenery, True Grit is pleasing to the eye. Elmer Bernstein's score is rousing and very fitting, while the story is interesting, most of the characters are credible and the script flows well. Also True Grit is very well directed, and there is a glorious final shoot-out. Other than Campbell and Darby, the other acting is fine. While I would have not personally given the Oscar to this particular performance(I thought he was better in The Searchers, Red River and The Quiet Man) John Wayne is excellent here, and while he doesn't appear until quite later on Robert Duvall also makes a positive impression.

All in all, a very good film but could have been better in my view. 7/10 Bethany Cox