True Grit - From the Coen Bros

[A Robot Bit Me]

Saw this last night. Loved every minute up to the epilogue, which was awfully abrupt. Was it like that in the original or the novel?

[Drewbacca]

In the original movie the ending after Mattie is snake bit is more true to the novel. After Blackie gives out he runs her far along the way, finding hunters camped out by the river. He makes them throw their shit in the creek and steals the wagon. The old hollywood version ends on a happy note with Mattie coming to no harm and taunting Rooster about being an old fat man on his new horse. Wayne/Rooster then jumps a fence with his horse to show off and that's it. After assisting their ascent from the snake pit LeBeouf actually dies in the old Wayne version, too. "That Texan saved my life twice. And once after he was a dead man.")

In the novel the story ends like the Coens version (with him being part of a wild west show).Mattie pledges to see Rooster again but dies before she can get to his show. The Coens movie was true to the movie about the same amount as Wayne's version, but the characters in the Coens were probably more faithful to the material than the Hollywoodization of the original. I say this even though Coens skip an entire section in the middle of the novel with Rooster collecting a reward at a railway stop in the Oklahoma wilderness. Also in the novel and original movie LeBeouf doesn't run in on Roosters ambush at the cabin of Quincy and Moon (the kid that gets his fingers cut off). LeBeouf actually helps in planning the ambush with Rooster but fucks up by firing too early (the plan was for them to wait for the gang to all go in the cabin before shooting the last man so they'd be easily pinned down). This is what causes the hostility between Rooster and LeBeouf (same as the new movie, just in a different way).

I think the Coens' editing made for a better movie overall. Matt Damon KILLS LeBeouf in this movie. Actually all of the 3 mains are extremely well played.