January 2, 2011

The Duke and the Dude

The remake of 'True Grit' shows the enduring power of a genre

The Duke and the Dude 1

Skydance Productions, The Kobal Collection

Jeff Bridges with Hailee Steinfeld: updating John Wayne

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Skydance Productions, The Kobal Collection

Jeff Bridges with Hailee Steinfeld: updating John Wayne

By Thomas Doherty

"True grit"—once known as "sand" and not to be confused with cojones—is terse praise for the bedrock quality desired in the American male. Stoic, hard-edged, and laconic, the gruff embodiment of Hemingway's "grace under pressure" and Tom Wolfe's "the right stuff"; skilled in firearms, steady astride a horse or jockeying an F-16, he coolly performs the work at hand, usually a task involving the swift application of lethal force. No need to tell him to "man up."

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