True Grit (1969 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 1969, the year of True Grit‘s release, critic Stanley Kauffmann found the movie offputtingly conservative.  Mattie, the Kim Darby character, keeps mentioning that her family owns property, you see.

Whatever.  It isn’t offputting to me.  I enjoyed it for showing us the sweaty, economical drama that every intelligent Western is.  It’s an acceptable adaptation of Charles Portis’s novel, neatly directed by Henry Hathaway.  And, unlike Kauffman, I thought Darby filled the bill in her role.