The Movie
The big-screen westerns of the 1950s had slowly lost their luster, and a steady stream of Gunsmoke, Bonanza et. al. on the tube served to render the genre a little less special. Into this glut of American frontier drama rode True Grit, the last great Western of the '60s, led by classic Hollywood's greatest cowboy, John Wayne. With Rooster Cogburn he was given perhaps the most colorful character of his long career, one which earned him the Oscar for Best Actor.
Cogburn is the meanest U.S. Marshall there is, "a pitiless man, double tough (and) fear don't enter into his thinking." He's hired by a plucky young teenaged girl (Kim Darby) whose rancher father has been shot dead by a no-account varmint. Together with a Texas Ranger (singer Glenn Campbell) also on the nasty hombre's trail they embark on a dangerous trek into Indian territory to bring the killer to justice, dead or alive.
The Picture
There's an occasional softness to the 1.78:1 image, a pity considering the beauty of the authentic Western scenery. There's also some video noise and traces of film grain which serve to tarnish the picture quality somewhat, despite the high bitrate. Blacks are also lean on nuance. All in all I'd put this Blu-ray one solid notch above DVD.
The Sound
As is often the case, the original musical score (another gem here by Elmer Bernstein) is the most obvious beneficiary of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remix, although at times the audio quality seems strained to its limits, and not really ready for high resolution. There's also some subtle environmental presence in the rears, and the soundfield comes to a bit more life during shootouts, but don't expect to be ducking as hot lead whizzes by.
The Extras
The bonus features here are all borrowed from the 2007 DVD edition of True Grit, starting with the audio commentary from historian/writer/filmmaker Jeb Rosebrook, Executive Editor of True West Magazine Bob "Boze" Bell, and American West historian J. Stuart Rosebrook. The four standard-def featurettes, each ten minutes or less, include reflections from the same experts, plus actors and others, on the topics of the novel/script, The Duke, the locations and frontier crime and punishment. At least the trailer has been remastered for HD, at a higher-than-DVD-bitrate MPEG-2.
Final Thoughts
If you never bothered to pick up the 2007 "Special Collector's Edition" DVD, you might as well buy (or rent) this Blu-ray in anticipation of the impending Coen Brothers remake of True Grit, for the modest A/V upgrade it represents.
Product Details
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