A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
- Nominated for 10 Oscars
- 38 wins & 169 nominations total
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDespite Mattie Ross having the most screen time and being considered the protagonist, Hailee Steinfeld was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in many award shows, including the Academy Awards.
- GoofsMattie and her horse are completely dry right after swimming across the river. This same error occurs in the original film.
- Quotes
LaBoeuf: As I understand it, Chaney... or Chelmsford, as he called himshelf in Texas... shot the senator's dog. When the senator remonstrated, Chelmsford shot him as well. You could argue that the shooting of the dog was merely an instance of malum prohibitum, but the shooting of a senator is indubitably an instance of malum in se.
Rooster Cogburn: Malla-men what?
Mattie Ross: Malum in se. The distinction is between an act that is wrong in itself, and an act that is wrong only according to our laws and mores. It is Latin.
Rooster Cogburn: I am struck that LaBoeuf is shot, trampled, and nearly severs his tongue, and not only does not cease to talk, but spills the banks of English!
- Crazy creditsBuster Coen, Ethan Coen's son, is listed in the end credits as "Mr. Damon's abs double". In reality, he was an on-set assistant to the script supervisor.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.51 (2010)
- SoundtracksLeaning on the Everlasting Arms
Written by Elisha A. Hoffman and Anthony J. Showalter
Above all else, the film is a character piece and what a wonderful one it is. Unsurprisingly, these people are written very intelligently, given lots of depth and room to grow and surprise. There's a constant battle over what grit truly means and over the course of the film the balance shifts back and forth over which of the three has the truest grit. From the very opening, we see that Mattie Ross has a whole mess of it, this headstrong girl who won't back down to anyone, despite her small stature. Hailee Steinfeld is remarkable here, an actor with talent well beyond her years. She's entirely convincing, taking a character that could have been this annoying little brat and making her simultaneously strong, whip smart, endearing and adorable. I enjoyed watching her in every second. Jeff Bridges was different than I had expected, but I love his arc throughout the film. Maddie goes to him because she believes he has the most grit of all and that he is the right choice for her, but as the journey goes on she doubts her decision and Rooster Cogburn plays with our perception of him quite a few times. Bridges was my least favorite of the three, performance-wise, but that's not a huge slant given how highly I thought of the other two. Matt Damon gets arguably the most interesting role, a character who is detestable when we first meet him and then has the large task of making us realize that he just may have the truest grit of all. LaBoeuf is a silly man who thinks too highly of himself, but as the film progresses it becomes very hard not to care for him. He's a good man at his heart, as are Maddie and Rooster, and it makes it easy to root for all three of them to come out of this alright.
This is a film that I enjoyed even more than I thought I would, a Coen film in the most un-Coen of ways (which was a nice change of pace given that their previous effort, A Serious Man, is probably the most Coen film out there). I enjoyed living with these characters very much and wish that there had been more time to just be with them on their journey. The final confrontation with the men they are hunting is turns suspenseful, surprising and a little too short-lived. I didn't much care for the epilogue, but with the wildly entertaining journey that came before it, I can't fault the film that strongly for it. It's a real cinematic piece, surprisingly Hollywood for the Coens, but it doesn't fall into a lot of the traps that it could have. In fact, it does the opposite, jumping into holes where it could become clichéd and sentimental and then digging it's way out, surprising at every turn. I like that the story doesn't quite end after the basic plot is resolved, because it's not about hunting down the man that killed Maddie's father and hoping to bring him to justice. It's about so much more. It's about these characters and finding out who they really are when it all comes down to it.
- Rockwell_Cronenberg
- May 26, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Temple de acero
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $38,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $171,243,005
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $24,830,443
- Dec 26, 2010
- Gross worldwide
- $252,278,285
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1