True Grit

I started reading this yesterday after waiting a couple months for it to come available at the library. I know it's considered a classic Western film, but is it also considered a classic Western book? I didn't know there was a book until after the new film came out.

Yes, Portis' novel indeed a classic of the genre, and one of the great American books of the 1960's. The 2010 Coen brothers film version is closer to the book than the 1969 version with John Wayne. http://www.believermag.com/issues/200303/?read=article_park

I never liked the early version of True Grit. Kim Darby's character seemed both whiney and bratty. Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie as a smart, driven and bratty girl with common sense and a no-nonsense attitude that also applies to herself (as it does in the book). Mattie's greatest insult is to call someone silly. The film was criticized on Amazon for at least two reasons that I have found to be written about in the book. First, someone said the Coen Bros. made Rooster's guns use the same bullets when that capability was not invented until years later. That is in the book, so the reviewer needs to take it up with Portis. Second, there is a criticism that Matt Damon is too much of a pretty boy for LaBoeuf, but the Texas Ranger is just that, and the book's character amplifies it with some styling in his wardrobe. Since I've not finished the book yet, there may be more. Clearly the film reviewer did not read the book.

I have the Coen brothers movie at home right now. I'm hoping to watch the movie, read the book and then watch the John Wayne version within the next month or so.

I'm a great fan of John Wayne, always have been. But I also like Jeff Bridges, and keep meaning to watch the remake of True Grit. One of these years I'll get round to doing so...