True Grit is one of the most well known and revered names in all of wild west fiction, thanks in part to the John Wayne and Coen Brothers’ films, both famous adaptations in their own right. But today, we’ll be discussing the plot of the latter , while splicing in relevant excerpts from the novel to spice things up. So, without further adieu, let us discuss the plot of True Grit and perhaps convince you to give it a watch.
The Beginning:
People do not give it credence that a fourteen year old could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, though I will admit that it did not happen everyday. (Mattie Ross, True Grit)
The film opens with a shot of a corpse lying stiff upon the cold ground, illuminated only by the dim kerosene lamps shining through the windows of a nearby building. The narrator reveals herself to be Mattie Ross and as the camera pulls in she explains how he was executed. His name is Frank Ross. He was her father. And he was murdered by the cowardly low life Tom Chaney.
Chaney comes thundering by on Frank Ross’s horse with two of the man’s gold pieces tucked in his belt.
The body of Frank Ross
After identifying her father’s body, a fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), sends the body home and sets off on a mission to avenge her father’s blood. First, she approaches the Sheriff of Fort Smith and inquires whether or not Tom Chaney will be pursued by the law. When she learns that he is the problem of the US Marshals now, Mattie simply asks who the best Marshal is.
The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double tough, and fear don’t enter into his thinking. (The Sheriff, True Grit)
Following this, Mattie goes to the courthouse to meet Rooster Cogburn and sees that he is currently being questioned for killing members of an outlaw family. In this excellently adapted scene from the novel, we get an effective introduction to his character and learn everything we need to know about him. He has one eye, he’s mean, old, tough, sarcastic, brutal, and does things his way. Even if those in authority don't always take kindly to his way.
I started backing away from the ax and tried to talk some sense to him. While this was going on C.C. Wharton edged over by the water pot behind that steam. and picked up a shotgun that was laying up against a saw-log. Potter seen him but it was too late. Before he could get off a shot C.C. Wharton pulled down on him with one barrel and then turned to do the same to me with the other barrel. I shot him and when the old man swung the ax I shot him. Odus lit out for the creek and I shot him. Aaron Wharton and C.C. Wharton was dead when they hit the ground. Odus Wharton was just winged. (Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn, True Grit)
Afterwards, Mattie meets with Rooster and establishes a deal with him to catch Tom Channey and the Ned Pepper Gang. However, he doesn’t believe she has the money to pay for such an endeavor. So, the next day she returns to his place of living to prove that she can pay him. However, she is visited by a mysterious man that night. Texas Ranger LaBoeuf:
He called it LaBeef but spelled it something like LaBoeuf. (Mattie Ross, True Grit)
LaBoeuf goes on to explain that he too is chasing Tom Chaney and shortly afterwards, decides to ride off with Rooster Cogburn to find him. Without Mattie.
When Mattie finds they left without her, she is furious and drives her horse into the river to reach them on the other side. After reaching them, LaBoeuf jerks her off her horse and begins to whip her with a river switch, but stops when Cogburn threatens him at gunpoint.
The three of them embark on the hunt together, traveling many days and nights through the Choctaw Territory. Meanwhile, Cogburn and LaBoeuf have endless arguments pertaining to their respective military service, general methodology, and masculinity. Eventually, LaBoeuf gets so fed up with Cogburn that he leaves them behind to hunt Tom Chaney and the Ned Pepper Gang alone .
“If I ever meet one of you Texas waddies who says he has never drank water out of a horse track, I think I’ll shake his hand and give him a Danielle Webster Cigar.”
The Cabin:
After some shenanigans involving a hanged man in a tree, a strange dentist with a bear pelt, and a poor mule harassed by mean spirited Native children, Cogburn and Mattie find a cabin in the middle of nowhere as the snow begins to fall. After asking some questions, Cogburn is met with a hostile tone from inside and has Maddie deploy a jacket over the fireplace to smoke the inhabitants out. As Mattie retreats across the roof, the men inside shoot at her and Cogburn fires through the door, nailing a man in the leg.
Cogburn holds his smoking rifle and asks who’s inside.
“A Methodist and a son of a bitch!” was the insolent reply. (Charles Portis, True Grit)
After the men surrender, Mattie and Cogburn enter and find an older seasoned outlaw named Emmett Quincy and a younger more frightened man named Moon. Moon proceeds to complain about the bullet wound in his leg for the majority of the scene.
Cogburn notices peculiarities with the room and begins questioning the men. When he reaches the subject of Tom Chaney and Ned Pepper, Quincy claims to be ignorant of anything the Marshal inquires after, so he starts questioning Moon. When Moon is scared to answer, Cogburn tells him that he’ll get him the medical attention he needs if he cooperates.
“My leg hurts. It’s giving me fits” (Moon, True Grit)
When Moon finally spills his guts, he reveals that Ned Pepper was in fact there before. In a flash, Quincy pulls a knife from his boot and slices through the wounded man’s fingers before stabbing him in the gut. Cogburn shoots to his feet, his gun in his hand before nailing Quincy through the cheek and blowing his brains out onto the wall behind him. Silence falls over the room as Emmett Quincy slides down the wall, dead.
Moon lies on the floor with a knife in his chest. With his dying breath, tells the Marshal what he wants to know. Ned Pepper’s gang was there and they were going to return that night. Moon unfortunately succumbs to his wounds.
The Iconic Cabin Scene
Mattie and Cogburn take to a nearby cliffside overlooking the cabin and keep a watchful eye out, the Marshal having his Henry Rifle in hand. After a few hours, they see a horse approach and notice that it is their old friend Labeouf, who goes into the cabin to investigate. Before they can climb down to warn him, Ned Pepper and his gang arrive and confront the Texas Ranger.
When the situation goes south, the ranger is lassoed and Cogburn is forced to open fire, killing a few and forcing the gang to retreat. When they get to Labeouf, he’s bitten his tongue and has been shot, the latter wound he alleges was Cogburn’s doing. He claims that the Marshal is such an abysmal shot that he managed to shoot him instead of the enemy he was aiming for.
Labeouf and Mattie become increasingly frustrated with Cogburn as the film goes on, the Marshal drinking until he becomes inebriated and having increasingly questionable methodology. Labeouf has enough and starts to leave. Before he does, Mattie begs to go with him so they can hunt Chaney together and tells him that she chose the wrong man for this mission. Labeouf appreciates the gesture, but tells her to stay so that she isn’t in danger.
Labeouf rides away and Mattie doesn’t expect to see him again.
A sulking and wounded Labeouf
Tom Chaney and Ned Pepper:
Shortly afterwards, Mattie is getting water by the river and sees a familiar horse and a man on the opposite bank. She investigates closer and is shocked by what she sees.
The man was no other than Tom Chaney! (Mattie Ross, True Grit)
The two lock eyes, Chaney having a dumb stricken look on his face as he processes who she is. He asks what she’s doing out there and her response is that she is there to arrest him as she pulls her father’s Colt Dragoon from her flour sack and points it at him. He is amused by the gesture and sarcastically tells her that she won’t be doing anything with that gun if it isn’t loaded, teasing her as she tries to pull the hammer back.
I said, “If you refuse I will shoot you.”
He went on with his work and said, “Oh? Then you had better cock your piece.”
I had forgotten about that. I pulled the hammer back with both thumbs.
“All the way back till it locks,” said Chaney
“I know how to do it,” said I. When it was ready I said, “You will not go with me?”
“I think not,” said he. “It is just the other way around. You are going with me.”
Chaney approaches before Mattie squeezes the trigger, the revolver kicking so hard that it blows her backwards and falls into the water. Chaney falls down, saying that his short rib is broken, perplexed that she actually shot him. She raises the gun again but Chaney is on her when the weapon misfires. Cogburn arrives upon hearing the gunshot, but as Chaney drags her away, the Ned Pepper Gang arrive as well and open fire on the Marshal, who returns the heat as he can.
Ned Pepper meets up with Chaney and Mattie. He asks her who was firing at his gang and when she lies, he throws her to the floor and places one boot against her face as the barrel of his gun hovers over her skull.
Tell me another lie and I’ll stove your head in. (Lucky Ned Pepper, True Grit)
He looks up into the valley where Rooster Cogburn dwells and begins to yell.
“Rooster, can you hear me?” There was no reply… “You answer me, Rooster! I will kill this girl! You know that I will do it!”
Rooster called up from below, “The girl is nothing to me! She is a runaway from Arkansas!”
“That’s very well!” said Lucky Ned Pepper. “Do you advise me to kill her?”
“You do what you think is best, Ned!” replied Rooster.
Ned gives Cogburn an ultimatum, either he rides to a bald ridge to meet him or the girl dies. The Marshal agrees and the gang ride off, leaving Mattie behind with Tom Chaney. Chaney glares at her, seething with hatred. Ned had ordered Chaney to not harm Mattie. If he disobeys, he won’t get paid. However, the moment he leaves, Chaney disobeys and tries to strangle her.
As Mattie loses the struggle, she is saved by Labeouf, who breaks Chaney’s jaw with the butt of his prized Buffalo Sharps Rifle. He helps her up and explains the plan: Cogburn will ride against Ned Pepper in the valley below and they will provide sniper support.
Down below, Cogburn and four members of the Ned Pepper Gang face off.
Pepper and Cogburn have an iconic exchange.
Lucky Ned Pepper said, “What is your intention? Do think that one on four is a dogfall?”
Rooster said, “I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned, or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which will you have?”
Lucky Ned Pepper laughed. He said, “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”
Rooster said, “Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!” and he took the reins in his teeth and pulled the other saddle revolver and drove the spurs into his strong horse Bo and charged directly into the bandits. It was something to see.
The Shootout
Rooster Cogburn unleashes hell, taking out three of the men before he and Ned are both wounded. The Marshal’s horse is shot and the beast falls, burying him under its weight. Mattie tries to get Labeouf to fire , but he can’t get a clear shot as the enemy moves too fast and are too far away. Ned Pepper rides up to the trapped Cogburn, bloodied and shot.
He said, “Well, Rooster, I am shot to pieces!”
Ned raises his pistol to execute Cogburn. Hundreds of yards away, Labeouf levels his sights, takes a deep breath, and squeezes the trigger. The shot tears right through Ned Pepper’s gut and explodes in the dust behind him. The outlaw stays in the saddle for a few seconds before sliding off and striking the ground dead.
Labeouf Takes Careful Aim With His Buffalo Sharps Rifle
As Mattie praises the impressive shot, Labeouf goes on to gleefully explain the impressive nature of his rifle as he loads a shot into it. However, Tom Chaney has awakened and strikes Labeouf in the skull with a stone, knocking him out cold. Mattie is quick and picks up the now loaded Sharps Rifle.
Chaney and Mattie stare the other one down before she orders him to stand up straight.
"Stand up, Tom Chaney." (Mattie Ross, True Grit 2010)
He charges down on her and she fires, blowing him off the cliff and knocking her into a nearby hole. Slowly coming to, she realizes her leg is entwined in a vine and that she is deep in the earth, surrounded by darkness and shadow. She asks for Labeouf’s help and when no one answers, she looks around. Beside her was the skeleton of some unfortunate frontiersman. She reaches for a knife strapped to his chest.
After pulling it free, she is horrified to find the corpse is full of snakes.
The serpent's crawl across her head and body and just as she hears Rooster Cogburn’s voice, she finds that she’s been bitten. Cogburn lowers a rope and descends into the hole, shooting at the snakes around her and setting her free. He tries to suck the venom from the bite, but to no avail. She needs proper medical treatment.
Labeouf pulls them out, skull still bloodied. Cogburn thanks the ranger for saving his life and says he’ll send help back for him. They get on Maddie’s horse, Little Blackie, and begin to ride, Mattie crying out that they can’t leave Labeouf behind in his wounded condition. Cogburn pushes on for the rest of the day and through the night to get to the nearest shelter.
Little Blackie falters, but Cogburn urges him on, stabbing him in the rear as a delirious Mattie screams for him to stop. Eventually the horse gives out and lays down on the dark cold earth. Mattie watches, protesting and crying as he approaches the horse and puts it out of its misery.
He’s forced to carry Mattie on foot. After several strides, he falls to his knees just outside a cabin and fires a gun in the air to wake the inhabitants.
Mattie narrates again and reveals that when she awoke, her hand was gone. It had turned black and the only way to save her was to sever it completely. The narration continues and reveals that Mattie is an old woman now and is searching for Rooster Cogburn in a wild west show. However, she finds that he passed in his sleep three days before her arrival and was buried in a Confederate cemetery. The film ends with her standing over his grave, speculating over what happened to Labeouf, whether he lived or died.
I heard no more of the Texas officer, Labeouf. If he is yet alive and should happen to read these pages, I will be pleased to hear from him. I judge he is in his seventies now, and nearer to eighty than seventy. I expect some of that “starch” has gone out of that “cowlick.” Time just gets away from us. This ends my true account of how I avenged Frank Ross’s blood over in the Choctaw Nation when snow was on the ground.
The film ends on a somber note, as opposed to the 1969 film and I prefer it that way. It’s more accurate to the novel in the 2010 movie and feels sad in the regretful and reflective kind of way life feels like sometimes.
And that was True Grit (2010). I hope you enjoyed my summary of the film as well as these little excerpts of the novel that lined up with it. I hope that it influenced you to check out the film and perhaps even the 1969 version and the novel as well. I’d like to thank Gamers Decide for giving me the opportunity to write about it.
If you’re interested in similar articles to it, you can find this one that perfectly explains why the 2010 film is superior to the 1969 version:
https://oneroomwithaview.com/2020/12/21/the-coen-brothers-charles-portis-and-true-grit/
