Jeff Bridges: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Rooster Cogburn - True Grit

From a true classic to what will, perhaps, one day be a contemporary classic of Western cinema. The genre's all about died out in modern day Hollywood, resurrected sporadically by nostalgic directors, or else filmmakers who want a challenge. We think the Coen Brothers were a bit of both when they decided to remake True Grit, another book adaptation that had previously been made during those halcyon days, starring the most iconic Western actor around: John Wayne. And who had the unenviable task of living up to that first performance of The Duke as Rooster Cogburn, the ornery and eccentric star of the 1969 original? Jeff Bridges, of course, who more than ably makes the role his own. Partly by mumbling a lot. The central focus of True Grit's story is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, the young girl seeking revenge on the bandits who murdered her family. In her quest for justice she enlists Rooster Cogburn, whom the local sheriff recommended as the "meanest" of the freelance gunslingers in the town. Initially taciturn (not to mention barely understandable), the one-eyed Cogburn slowly warms to Mattie over the course of the film, a shift that's subtly and expertly played by Bridges in a turn that could easily have been pantomime, over-the-top or simply a carbon copy of John Wayne's original take on the character. Plus the dude can really rock an eyepatch with the best of them. We wouldn't say no to the Coens and Bridges teaming up at some point to remake the 1975 sequel, Rooster Cogburn....