Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

True Grit!

Leesensei

One of the Regulars
Messages
118
Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Forgive me if this has already been brought up, but I just found out that the Coen brothers are remaking the classic film True Grit with Jeff Bridges playing the role of Marshal Reuben Cogburn! My first reaction was shock! Are they really going to try to remake such an iconic movie? It just doesn't make sense to me. I hope that it at least goes over better than the Psycho remake a few years back.

Lee
 

MrBern

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,469
Location
DeleteStreet, REDACTCity, LockedState
Wild Bill

Interesting! He can play an old drunk, and he's played a gunslinger before.

wildbill.jpg
 

Mahagonny Bill

Practically Family
Messages
563
Location
Seattle
From what I have heard, the Coen's are going to stick closer to the original book than the John Wayne movie did. Although, they also said that Fargo was based on a true story and that Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? was based on The Oddesy, so we should take that with a grain of salt.

I'm still looking forward to it. I'm sure that it will be a very different movie than the 1969 version.
 

1961MJS

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,363
Location
Norman Oklahoma
Hi

While not very much in the Fedora Lounge type of movie, the best remake I've seen is the two versions of "The Longest Yard". From what I saw, everything that happened in the first movie happened in the second, but in a slightly different (but identifiable) way, and to a different person.

I'd sure hate to be the actor being asked to play a part already covered by John Wayne.

Later Y'all
 

Wally_Hood

One Too Many
Messages
1,772
Location
Screwy, bally hooey Hollywood
Surprisingly, John Goodman is not in the lead role? He does have experience with wearing an eye-patch.

In the hands of the Coens will Rooster spew profanity, blaspheme, and frequently shotgun his opponents?

Will Ranger La Boeuf, played by John Turturro, be hyperverbal and neurotic, given to self-absorbed rambling monologues?

Will the part of Mattie Ross be played by Frances McDormand? Or with Coenesque impudence, by Willam H. Macy?

The Public awaits...
 

Chas

One Too Many
Messages
1,715
Location
Melbourne, Australia
~stick his index fingers in his ears~ "I'm not listening...I'm not listening..."

Anybody up for forming a class action suit against the studio for messing with the Duke?
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,220
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
This is one remake that doesn't disgust me, because the Coens are behind it. If they're doing it, it's not just for the prevailing Hollywood "reasoning" of "it succeeded once, so it should make money again", but because they want to do something different with it. And I'm sure they're not doing it to sully the memory of John Wayne!

Sure, the Coens' films are an uneven bunch, and many (if not most) of them only work for a small segment of the audience. But they have guts. (Anyway, A Serious Man was my favorite film from last year.)
 

Rundquist

A-List Customer
Messages
431
If it were anybody else but the Coens, I'd say "Oh hell no". But they aren't remaking a movie. They're reinterpreting a novel. In this case the source material is strong enough to go another round.
 

conrad5157

One of the Regulars
Messages
101
Location
Virginia
I also don't have a big problem with this remake. I'd be up in arms if it looked like they were doing a hack job, but it looks like they're taking it seriously and Bridges is in his absolute prime to take on this role.
 

Salty O'Rourke

Practically Family
Messages
636
Location
SE Virginia
Mahagonny Bill said:
From what I have heard, the Coen's are going to stick closer to the original book than the John Wayne movie did. Although, they also said that Fargo was based on a true story and that Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? was based on The Oddesy, so we should take that with a grain of salt.

I'm still looking forward to it. I'm sure that it will be a very different movie than the 1969 version.

I read the novel years ago, and from what I recall, other than Cogburn sporting a moustache and Mattie losing her arm after breaking it in the fall down the snakepit, the film hews pretty close to the book. I recognized large sections of dialogue that were directly transposed into the script. The book is a first-person narrative by the Mattie Ross character so the new film may be interpreted more from her point of view, although the original is pretty much from her point of view also.

Portis purportedly wrote the character with Wayne in mind but that may have been hype for the film.
 

Tiller

Practically Family
Messages
637
Location
Upstate, New York
I like westerns, but at the same time remaking the film that John Wayne received his only Oscar for.... well I won't say I won't see it, but it does fell... odd.

It maybe good though if they stick to the book. It would be nice to see a western that isn't neo-spaghetti style. An oldfashion western hasn't been made in quite a few years.
 

doctor dan

New in Town
Messages
31
Location
chicago,il usa
Please say it ain't so. I like Jeff Bridges and his Wild Bill was at best OK but the Duke is the Duke. He was in a lot of ways larger than life and made the movies he played in take on his persona. That is why they are refered to as John Wayne movies. Even with all this I can't wait to see the remake. I just love westerns.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
107,028
Messages
3,026,687
Members
52,533
Latest member
RacerJ
Top