The Western and Genre Revisionism: Comparing True Grit (1969) and True Grit (2010)
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	Narrator:  Revisionist genres act as a map of the history of film, as they show how filmmakers rethink and recreate generic formulas and conventions to reflect changing times and cultures. A comparison of the two True Grits—Henry Hathaway's 1969 original film and the Cohen Brother's 2010 remake—illustrates how remakes can be seen as an intensified version of genre revisionism, since many remakes stay fairly
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	faithful to the original in content, while still revising and altering certain generic icons and formulas to create a new film.
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	Narrator:  Both versions of True Grit, like so many other Western movies, are set in the open plains of the US frontier. However, there are some small notable differences between the two films. The original film often appears to tightly frame and focus the sets and setting around objects and concentrated actions, such as the hanging of three men that takes place at the beginning of the film. The remake opens the spaces of the Western in ways that seem to exaggerate the
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	extreme isolation of the characters. Even in the same hanging scene, the space feels more open and less crowded than in the original film.
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	Narrator:  The remake clearly takes advantage of a contemporary widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, which extends significantly the original film's 1.85:1 ratio.
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	Narrator:  Central to both True Grits is the tough and independent cowboy Rooster Cogburn, played in the 1969 film by John Wayne, and in the 2010 film by Jeff Bridges. As is typical of the Western cowboy icon, John Wayne's Rooster has the hat, the guns, and a somewhat battered and gruff exterior.
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	Narrator:  While the 2010 film creates an equally iconic version of that Western hero, Jeff Bridges as the remade Rooster appears as a considerably more dissolute, lost, and troubled character. If a loner cowboy is the central figure in many Westerns, a cluster of other generic types complement and contrast that central character. In both films, the menacing outlaw, Tom Chaney, is the nasty villain. While the
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	straight-laced and somewhat inept Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf, acts as a foil for Rooster's unconventional but efficient rough-and-tumble ways. Mattie Ross, the young woman who hires Cogburn to hunt down her father's killer, is the real distinguishing character in True Grit. In both films, she is depicted as a highly articulate, feisty, and charming girl, who through sheer determination wins over Rooster.
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	Narrator:  The climactic sequence in many Westerns is the showdown, usually a gunfight, between the hero and the outlaws. In True Grit, Rooster faces not one antagonist, but three, as he races headlong towards them on the open plain.
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	Narrator:  The grand setting, the charging horses, and Rooster's bravado make him, as with many Western heroes, into an almost mythic image.
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	Narrator:  As you can see, the look and feel of the gunfight sequence is quite similar in the two films. However, there's a significant difference in how the two films portray another key sequence, the one in which Rooster races to find help for the injured Mattie. Both films use this sequence to illustrate how the bond between Mattie and Rooster trumps the traditional Western gunfight. However, the original film presents this sequence in the bright light of
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	day. Focusing primarily on the frantically clipped action of Rooster and Mattie racing to get help, first on horseback, then on foot, and finally ending with Rooster driving a wagon, pulled by horses.
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	Narrator:  In the 2010 remake, this sequence presents a powerful revision of this generic formula. The Cohen Brothers choose to show this race occurring during a long and surreal night in which Mattie's features become the focus as she fights against time and death. In comparison to the 1969 original, the action of the Western in the 2010 remake occupies a strangely meditative space.