True Grit (novel)

True Grit

Front cover of the 1968 Simon & Schuster hardback 1st edition of True Grit by Charles Portis.
Author	Charles Portis
Language	English
Genre	Western
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	1968
Publication place	United Nations
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	215

True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial in The Saturday Evening Post. The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel named Tom Chaney. It is considered by many critics to be "one of the great American novels".

In 1969 it was adapted for the screen as a Western film True Grit starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (a role that won John Wayne Best Actor at the Academy Awards) and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross. Wayne would reprise the role in Rooster Cogburn (1975) with an original screenplay. The sequel was not well-received and the plot was considered a needless reworking of the plot of True Grit.

In 2010, another film adaptation was released. Also called True Grit, it was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starred Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director(s) (The Coen Brothers), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jeff Bridges), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hailee Steinfeld), and Best Adapted Screenplay (The Coen Brothers).

In November 2010 The Overlook Press published a movie tie-in edition of True Grit, featuring an afterword by Donna Tartt. It reached #1 on The New York Times's Bestseller List on January 30, 2011.

Plot summary

Portis’ novel is narrated by Mattie Ross, a thrifty, churchgoing spinster distinguished by intelligence, independence and strength of mind. The novel is told from the perspective of Mattie as an older woman in 1928, where she recounts the story of her adventures many years earlier, when, at the age of fourteen, she undertook a quest to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a drifter named Tom Chaney. She is joined on her quest by Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (pronounced "La-beef").

As Mattie's tale begins, Chaney is employed on the Ross’ family farm in west central Arkansas, near the town of Dardanelle in Yell County. Chaney is not adept as a farmhand, and Mattie has only scorn for him, referring to him as "trash", and noting that her kind-hearted father, Frank, only hired him out of pity. One day, Frank Ross and Chaney go to Fort Smith to buy some horses. Ross takes $250 with her to pay for the horses, along with two gold pieces she always carried. He ends up spending only $100 on the horses. When Ross tries to intervene in a barroom confrontation involving Chaney, Chaney kills him, robs the body of the remaining $150 and two gold pieces, and flees into Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) on his horse.

Hearing that Chaney has joined an outlaw gang led by the infamous "Lucky" Ned Pepper, Mattie wishes to track down the killer, and upon arriving at Fort Smith she looks for the toughest deputy U.S. Marshal in the district. That man turns out to be Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, and although he is an aging, one-eyed, overweight, trigger-happy, hard-drinking man, Mattie is convinced that he has "grit", and that he is best suited for the job due to his reputation for violence.

Playing on Cogburn's need for money, Mattie persuades him to take on the job, insisting that, as part of the bargain, she accompany him. During their preparation, a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf appears. He too is tracking Chaney, and has been for four months, for killing a senator and his dog in Texas, with the hopes of bringing him back to Texas dead or alive for a cash reward. Cogburn and LaBoeuf dislike each other, but after some haggling, they agree to join forces in the hunt realizing that they can both benefit from each other's respective talents and knowledge. Once they reach a deal the two men attempt to leave Mattie behind, but she proves more tenacious than they had expected. They repeatedly try to lose her, but she persists in following them and seeing her transaction with Marshal Cogburn through to the end. Eventually she is jumped by Cogburn and LaBoeuf, who had hid themselves from view and Laboeuf begins to spank Mattie. Mattie appeals to Cogburn and he orders LaBoeuf to stop. At this point Mattie is allowed to join their posse.

Together, but with very different motivations, the three ride into the wilderness to confront Ned Pepper's gang. Along the way, they develop an appreciation for one another.

Film and television adaptations

The novel was adapted by Marguerite Roberts for the screenplay of the 1969 film True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1970.

A film sequel, Rooster Cogburn, was produced from an original screenplay in 1975, with John Wayne reprising his role, and Katharine Hepburn as an elderly spinster, Eula Goodnight, who teams up with him.

A made-for-television sequel, titled True Grit: A Further Adventure, was shown in 1978, starring Warren Oates and Lisa Pelikan. It featured more adventures of Rooster Cogburn and Mattie Ross.

In 2010, Joel and Ethan Coen released another film adaptation of the novel, also titled True Grit, with thirteen year old actress Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, veteran actor Jeff Bridges playing Rooster Cogburn, Matt Damon as LaBoeuf, and Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney. This adaptation focused more on Mattie's point-of-view, keeping more in the nature of the novel than the 1969 film. In addition, it was shot in settings more typical of the novel. (The 1969 film was shot in the Colorado Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, while the 2010 film was shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as Granger, and Austin, Texas.)

External links

• An interview with writer George Pelecanos about the novel, National Public Radio
• "The Real Fort Smith: the Fact and Fiction Behind True Grit", AwardsDaily.com, 11/17/2010.
• Ed Park, "Like Cormac McCarthy, But Funny", The Believer, March 2003.