Thursday, February 4, 2010

True Grit 1, True Grit 2, The Real True Grit




I don't know if you have heard, but they are about to make a new version of the movie "True Grit". I haven't heard who plays John Wayne yet, but I'm sure it will be at least as 'REAL' as the first. The original movie starts in Fort Smith, Arkansas where Judge Parker sends John Wayne into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to get the bad guys. The movie was filmed in the Rockies and all through the movie us Okies kept glancing at the snow covered peaks in the distance as we watched Old John ride through the "Aspens". John Wayne won his only Best Actor Oscar for this flick, not because he was the best, but because they had overlooked him for years and wanted to give him one before he died! And because in the final show down scene he uttered the famous line, "Fill your hand you son-of-a-bitch!"

Anywho, tonight I went to a story telling event where the life of Bass Reeves was presented. Bass was a black U.S. Marshall who served Judge Parker in the same part of the Territory as John Wayne. Bass killed 14 guys, was know as a crack shot and really did this stuff! He was the best of his time and as an ex-slave to rise up and fill this role would make a great movie about the "Real True Grit."

I like John Wayne western movies, but "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was my favorite. They gave him movie character names but he was always John Wayne.

Denzel would make a great Bass Reeves, though.


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