I am a John Wayne fan - there, I said it. Apparently, while John Wayne is still one of the most popular actors in the US, people with my background and political leanings are not supposed to be down with the Duke. But I can still remember being absolutely blown away by two movies - True Grit and The Searchers. I loved how both had incredibly dark tones, and while they adhered to the classic Hollywood style of "happy" endings, it wasn't a neat tied up bow by any means. But John Wayne was it for me - a role model of machismo of sorts, even though politically we would have never seen eye to eye.

So it was with a lot of skepticism that I read the news awhile back that a remake of True Grit was in the works. I have nothing against remakes per se, but what bothers me is the recent spate of them that seems to have an undertone of "we can do it better" - like Oceans Eleven. Visually better, maybe. But please - there is no way it (or any of the crappy sequels it spawned) are better than the original made with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack on a lark.The first thing we do is kick the crap out of Clooney, Damon, Mac, Pitt, and that pipsqueak Soderbergh

These thoughts aside, when I found out that the Coen Brothers were doing it, I saw hope. Not just because they are great filmmakers, but I also thought that if they did it they would respect the original and simultaneously bring out even more of the darkness in the 1968 novel on which True Grit was originally adapted. The next thing to make me less upset was the casting of Jeff Bridges as Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Bridges has long been a favorite of mine since his portrayal of "The Dude" in 1998's The Big Lebowski. But coming off of his Oscar-winning performance in Crazy Heart, and watching him age, I could sort of see it, and post production stills convinced me the Coens got it right, casting-wise at least.


But what truly sold me was when I began seeing the trailers for it, and it warmed the cockles of my heart that, in the trailers at least, they kept the scene where Moon begs Cogburn to help him and Cogburn matter-of-factly tells him "I can't do nothing for you son" But the one that did it was this one:




Now, I'm totally sold and can't wait - I'll be going this weekend.