Saturday, October 02, 2010

The Dude is gritty

Yes, I think he can pull it off. One of the few actors of his generation that has actually aged naturally.

I don't care if it is a remake - we need a good Western now more than ever.




Dude. Excellent. The Salamander Girls approve - they don't like people messing with their Paw either.

10 comments:

Byron said...

Crap...something else I'll have to wait till I get home to see...company filters stuff like this. Best Western leads IMHO, John Wayne and Tom Selleck. Yeah, I said Selleck. He's done several of the L'Amour westerns that are just top notch.

BostonMaggie said...

No!  Dislike!  Only John Wayne is Rooster Cogburn.  I like everyone involved in this movie, but this is wrong.  Although watching stupid Josh Brolin play someone scummy who gets what's coming to him......

Andy said...

Was very much on the fence about this until I saw the newest trailer; I think Bridges will pull this off.  Big caveat will be on how the Coen brothers will play this: "No Country for Old Men" over-the-top violent, "Fargo" quirky-regional or will they just tell the story?  Hard to tell with them.  As for this role being an iconic John Wayne film, I'd have to demur; I think the John Ford "Cavalry Trilogy," "The Searchers," and "The Shootist" were perhaps his finest works in the genre. His Best Actor award was hung onto this one because the Academy knew they'd cheated him out of it before and they had to give it to him for something.

Southern Air Pirate said...

CDR,

The Dude is also going back to the Matrix as well. TRON RETURNS THIS WINTER!

ewok40k said...

Well, it is worth watching simply to compare... and argue amongst friends :)

LT B said...

The Dude abides, the Dude abides. 

Old Cav Lt. said...

From a "Laugh In" character:  "Now that I have sand in my bikini, I know the meaning of 'true grit.'"

I thought NCFOM fell apart in the last 20 minutes or so.... but what do I know? 

Byron said...

I'll also put a plug in for the newest Robin Hood. I thought it was an outstanding movie and loved every minute of it.

Casey Tompkins said...

Maggie, I think that the Duke (as opposed to the Dude) brought a certain ebulliance to the role which I suspect Bridges will not reproduce.

Casey Tompkins said...

As for complaining about remakes, the Coen brothers are working from the source novel, not the Hathaway film. In certain other ways, they do mirror the film.

For example, in the original novel, Cogburn is missing an eye, but does not wear an eyepatch. Bridges does. In the original Cogburn wielded two Navy Colts, whereas the Duke used his famous big-looped Winchester and a Peacemaker. In the trailer you can see (just for a second) what appear to be Navy Colt's in Bridges'  hands. Also, the textual Cogburn was about 40, whereas the Duke was in his early 60s. Looks like the Dude is following the Duke in this respect. ;)

I have long recognized Bridges as an excellent actor, but am not sure the Dude can match up to the Duke in this case. It's been said that a truly great actor an own a role to such an extent that one almost literally can't see anyone else playing the part. For now, that's how I see the Duke.

On the gripping hand, the Dude is one of the very few (if not the only) actor(s) who could also play this role well.

The Duke & the Dude. Gonna be interesting.

P.S. I wonder if they're going to follow the novel ending, instead of the film ending. HINT: if you don't want to know, avoid google, and comparisons between the two films before you watch the new one.