Each the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” and the Henry Hathaway-directed 1969 authentic had been variations of the similar supply subject matter: the eponymous 1968 novel by means of Charles Portis.
A vintage of the Western literary style in its personal proper, “True Grit” initially ran in different installments within the Saturday Night time Submit ahead of being revealed in complete by means of Simon & Schuster later in the similar yr, in keeping with The Believer. A reclusive, celebrity-averse novelist, Portis turned into notable for his dedication to authenticity and native colour, writing discussion so outdated and ornate that critics puzzled if it used to be all straight-faced or simply the Arkansan author’s elaborate approach of parodying the style (by means of The New York Occasions).
Whilst “True Grit'”s observant teenage protagonist used to be a thinly-veiled avatar for plenty of of Portis’ personal ideas and emotions concerning the Outdated West, the radical used to be in a different way fictional; Mattie Ross, Chicken Cogburn, and L. a. Boeuf are all Portis’ brainchildren. Subsequently, neither Marguerite Roberts’ 1969 screenplay nor the Coens’ 2010 one undergo any direct hyperlink to actual lifestyles. However, despite the fact that “True Grit” isn’t in keeping with a real tale in keeping with se, that does not mean it did not take from actual lifestyles in lots of important techniques.