Every time I would watch one of my favorite Westerns like The Searchers or Once Upon a Time in the West, I would often marvel at the lack of Westerns existing in Hollywood today. Not just good Westerns, mind you, but just ANY Westerns. It is about as dead of a genre as any in today’s movie landscape, but, if Hollywood has proven anything, it’s that the industry likes to resurrect once-dead relics such as pirate movies and 3D. The Western surely seems to be the next on that list, buoyed by the strength of the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, one of the best Westerns in decades and easily one of the best movies of 2010.

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One of the reasons I adore Westerns so much is they can not only transport you to another place and time, but another place and time that actually existed on this earth, AND a time and place that nobody we have ever known has lived through. It’s a unique plane of existence that this genre is housed in and, while it’s cool to visit made-up universes or take a trip to the 1950s in a DeLorean, I have always been more attracted to the Western because, while they may be made-up characters, these were essentially portraits of real people in a real time period which thoroughly fascinates me.

Unlike the 1969 adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel, the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit puts the young Mattie Ross, who is played to Oscar-worthy perfection by young Hailee Steinfeld, at the forefront of the movie, not shoved aside to make room for The Duke. Like the 1969 adaptation, though, True Grit twenty-ten does start out with Mattie Ross searching for a man with grit to track down Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who killed her father. For a girl of her age, she is extremely determined, quick-witted and stubborn, qualities not usually found in a young girl of that time, which are put on display in a hilarious exchange with a merchant. After an equally-hilarious courtroom introduction to hardened U.S. Marshal Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), Mattie is convinced that Cogburn is the man to bring Tom Chaney to justice, although their party becomes a trio when the overly-eager LaBeouf (Matt Damon), who is exceedingly/humorously proud of his status as a Texas Ranger, becomes involved in the hunt for Chaney. Although Cogburn and Chaney try to ditch the little girl, she proves her determination by chasing after them and when she catches up, a unique triad is formed, one that you will not soon forget.

While the main plotline of the story is relatively similar to the 1969 film, this movie does not, by any means, rest on the shoulders of one actor. Jeff Bridges proves once again why he’s one of the greatest actors of our time, stepping into a legendary role made famous by, arguably, the most iconic actor in Hollywood history, and truly making it his own. Everything about Bridges’ Cogburn is simply magnificent, from his gnarly accent to his one-liners and proclivities for whiskey to his pure heart which occasionally surfaces beneath the exterior of hardened leather and bravado. Matt Damon’s LaBeouf, which is pronounced “LaBeef” (Shia wouldn’t stand a chance in those days…) provides a striking contrast to Cogburn. I was very happy that the “I’m a Texas Ranger” scene plays off as hilariously as I thought it would from the trailer, even though they don’t really show it as a humorous moment in the previews. He has no bones about spewing the Texas Ranger way, despite his lack of jurisdiction seeing that they’re in Arkansas. His back-and-forth with Cogburn provide several comedic moments throughout the movie (including a fantastic cornbread-shooting scene), but, despite the star-power of Bridges and Damon, Hailee Steinfeld is, in my mind, the biggest star of True Grit.

With only a handful of TV guest spots and short film roles to her name, Steinfeld commands the screen against two Hollywood heavyweights, with a feature film debut that rivals Edward Norton’s 1996 bravura introduction in Primal Fear as one of the most auspicious movie debuts of all-time. While we expect and demand great things from the likes of Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, to see a young actor perform with such precision, handling massive chunks of dialogue at a Sorkin-like pace, while driving the story ahead and acting against two big-screen heavyweights, is nothing short of astonishing. This role is truly a lot to ask for out of any young actor, accomplished or not, and watching Hailee Steinfeld just knock it out of the park is a testament not only to her talent, but to the Coen Brothers for making yet another gem of a find in a long history of actor discoveries. Also look for a terrific-yet-brief performances by Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin as Lucky Ned Pepper and Tom Chaney, but the trio of Bridges, Damon and Steinfeld really run the show here.

Joel and Ethan Coen have truly been at the top of their game over the past three years. No Country For Old Men won Best Picture in 2007, Burn After Reading was a terrific and goofy comedy in 2008, A Serious Man was nominated for Best Picture in 2009 and, despite the lack of love from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, I’m expecting True Grit to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 2010. Most will probably be surprised at just how damn funny this movie is, after a wonderful marketing campaign that paints this as high drama set in the Old West. The marketing campaign isn’t lying either, but they just don’t show how hilarious True Grit really is, because they’re smart enough to know that they don’t NEED to tell us that. People will go to see Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in a Coen Brothers Western and humor is just one of those nifty extras that the car salesman throws in for free to seal the deal. It continues to amaze me how they can pull such distinct performances from actors that other directors simply cannot manage to do. It’s a kind of intangible greatness that you can witness but hardly describe, only to say that things you see in a Coen Brothers movie you just cannot see anywhere else. On top of that, the Coen’s manage to capture the nuances of the Western filmmaking styles, with whip-smart one-liners, an occasional slow fade here and there and especially a glorious score by Carter Burwell, which is subtler than a traditional Western’s heavy-handed score and, at the same time, finding a way to make it all their own. True Grit shows the Coen Brothers at the pinnacle of this greatness, and I’m sure only the Coen Brothers will find a way to go even higher.

True Grit has done something that no movie could do since Unforgiven: put the word Western at the forefront of the cinematic landscape. It’s a bold, hilarious, dramatic and heartfelt mixture of awesomeness captured on celluloid which not only continues the Coen’s tradition of excellence, but blazes a trail of greatness for future Westerns to follow.