Finally watched "True Grit"

[Bigjoe.45]

I liked both versions, original and remake. While not perfect it still beats the pants off of most hollywoods offerings today.

 

[kd5rjz]

I'm gonna disagree about his acting. While, he did play the same character in many of his films, it was not all of them. In "The Wings of Eagles" he played a different kind of character, almost giving up on life at one point in the film. In the searchers he was a jaded racist, in Big Jake, he was nothing of the sort. In In "The Conqueror" he played a terrible Genghis Khan. I honestly think he had a fairly decent range as an actor, but made his living playing a role he was good at. It's kinda like criticizing a Quarterback because he's a good passer and doesn't scramble much. Sure, maybe he should work on it, but what if he's winning with what he's doing?

What about just criticizing a quarterback because he's a big dumb football player? LOL

 

[kd5rjz]

On a lighter note, is anyone else excited for Ender's Game coming out in 2013?

Yes, Yes indeed.

 

[been]

I like the original better. But they are both good.

 

[RidgeHunter]

The remake is better than the original. John Wayne was a pretty terrible actor.

I disagree; John Wayne was not a pretty terrible actor. John Wayne was one of the worst mainstream actors in the history of cinema. Times have nothing to do with it. Some of the greatest actors in film history worked in his era, or even earlier. Dude just stunk is all.

I haven't watched the remake because in my head it's still a "John Wayne movie" and John Wayne movies are torture. Everyone seems to like it, though.

 

[hard_r]

Bruce Willis, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Reginald VelJohnson, Alec Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Will Smith, William Shatner, Jason Statham, The Swaze-Dog, Jimmy Stewart, Joe Pesci, Michael Cera, Vin Diesel, Jack Nicholson, and the list goes on. Including Wayne. They all were made famous with the same character type and continued down that path. Is it great acting? No. Acting implies range. But it sure makes for some good movies. It's not a slight against the Duke to say he wasn't a good actor. I'm just saying that just because we like the character, no matter how many times we see it, we shouldn't hold it up on a pedestal and claim it took a feat of acting greatness to achieve it.

John Wayne played a great John Wayne......a bunch of times. And some of those times were in great movies, True Grit included, but did he ever try branching out? Even when he played Genghis Khan, he played it as John Wayne, not Genghis Khan.

 

[bulbboy]

I'm sure I'll get ripped BUT I like the new one a lot better

 

[RidgeHunter]

Bruce Willis, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Reginald VelJohnson, Alec Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Will Smith, William Shatner, Jason Statham, The Swaze-Dog, Jimmy Stewart, Joe Pesci, Michael Cera, Vin Diesel, Jack Nicholson, and the list goes on. Including Wayne. They all were made famous with the same character type and continued down that path.

I could e-slap you for putting Jack Nicholson in the same list with Alec Baldwin, Will Smith and Vin Diesel. Nicholson is probably the best male actor to ever walk. His performance in Five Easy Pieces alone pretty much cements that position.





As far as Wayne, I don't even think he was great at playing one character. I like a lot of actors that pretty much only play one character...but they play it well. Wayne's "acting" was forced, stiff and labored. Like a high school play or something. If you've ever seen the movie "Two Lane Blacktop" where James Taylor plays the drag racer and all of his lines sound like the slow kid in 3rd grade trying to read aloud....that's what all of John Wayne's performances are like. Only Two Lane Blacktop was still a cool movie in spite of James Taylor's LOL acting. A good actor makes you forget he's just playing a part. A good example of that is Dwight Yoakam playing Doyle in Sling Blade. You know he's killing the part when you forget you're even watching Dwight Yoakam.

 

[XD-9Guy]

You know who has range? Jean Claude Van Damme. Him and Steven Seagal... definitely Seagal.

 

[swcu_21]

I like both versions of the movie, the folks even liked it more than they expected. I'm a Lifetime fan of the Duke, his acting could have been more refined, but he typically played the role of the rough cowboy and it worked.