How The Coen Brothers’ True Grit Remake Beat The Original (& Revitalized The Western Genre)

It’s incredibly rare that a remake manages to outdo its classic predecessor, but the Coen brothers’ True Grit is superior to the John Wayne-starring original. Remakes are usually a pointless endeavor, because if a movie is beloved enough for a remake to be financially viable, then it’s probably a timeless gem that can’t be improved on. But the Coens’ revamp of True Grit is an exception to this rule. 2010’s True Grit is less a remake of the 1969 Wayne movie and more a re-adaptation of the novel by Charles Portis.