10 Movie Remakes With Better Endings Than The Original
4. True Grit (2010)
The Coen brothers' 2010 remake of the classic 1969 John Wayne-starring western True Grit hews much closer to Charles Portis' 1968 novel, especially where its finale is concerned.
The '69 film ends with a decidedly chirpier epilogue where young Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) has one final meeting with Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne). After she promises to bury him next to her in the family plot, Cogburn happily rides his horse off into the distance. The End.
In the Coens' remake, the epilogue takes place 25 years later, with an older, unmarried Mattie revealing her arm was amputated after receiving a snake bite during her time with Rooster (Jeff Bridges). In the more sanitised original film, she simply ended up with a broken arm.
Furthermore, there's no reunion between Mattie and Rooster, as she learns that he died a few days before she attempted to visit him. Poignantly, though, she has his body moved to her family plot, and delivers the chilling final line, "Time just gets away from us."
Basically, the 2010 ending is emotional and haunting and bittersweet in all the ways that the '69 ending really isn't.
As entertaining as the Wayne version is, and it rightly netted him a long-deserved Best Actor Oscar, the Coens and Jeff Bridges turned in a sturdy improvement across the board.