True Grit vs. Unforgiven
True Grit and Unforgiven had many similarities I thought but the one that stood out the most to me was the strong female characters. In true grit, Maddie was in fact the main character that went looing for the man who killed her father. The whole story is about her journey in finding him and overcoming the problems inbetween. In unforgiven, the movie was about how a woman got cut up and them getting revenge. They role was definitely not the lead but it did have an impact on the whole mood and plot of the movie. Not only are strong female roles one of the reasons why Unforgiven is a revisionist, it is also because of the violence. In true grit, there was a scene where the guys finger gets cut off and its much more gory than classic western films. There's blood and not just people falling off horses and tumbling around. Also we see that in Unforgiven where there were sudden shots and people dying and blood everywhere. Some things outside of those two points that catergorize it as revisionist western film, is also the sound. I noticed that the sound is definitely more enhanced in Unforgiven and True Grit, it seems like every noise and shot from a gun is more defined which makes the movie more dramatic.
True Grit vs. Stagecoach
True Grit and Stagecoach were a little harder to come up with simmilarities. I did notice though that the setting was a lot alike though. They both had the small towns and the buildings the same. You always had like a train close by and the shots of the whole town were similar. They always have a close up of the stores and then it zooms out to show all the people riding on horses and the road covered in dust. The plot of each movie was also completely different. I sense that many classic western films have the same plot of that they go on a jorney to another place and while going there, encounter indians which is exactly like Stagecoach. I find that True Grits plot was much more different because she was getting revenge on the guy that killed her father. A similarity that I saw between these two films though, were that there is definitely a strong line of who is a good guy and whos bad, I noticed that it's really easy to tell and that also seems like a classic western film trait. I also noticed that the music seems less dramatic sounding in Stagecoach then it was in Ture Grit. It was definitely more enhanced and sharp in True Grit than in Stagecoach where when they shot, you could tell it was fake. True Grit was definitely more believeable. I also noticed that in Stagecoach, the only action and violence you really saw was people falling off there horses and tumbling over and over on the ground whereas True Grit there was blood and cutting of fingers, etc...
Classic or Revisionist?
If i had to place True Grit into the category of classic or revisionist western films, I would have to say it falls more under the revisionist category because I feel like women didn't have a huge role with many classic western films and for the woman to have the main character role is huge. The plot also seemed like it fit under a revisionist western film because of the unique story that Maddie has. Classic films are usually about leaving a place (maybe because someone is chasing them out) to another better place. Maddie's story is unique in that she's not moving somewhere, she's find Channey to kill him because he killed her father. This is definitely not the common classic western films. More western films have to do with women issues like the prostitution in Unforgiven, which was also a revisionist western film. Not only were those two similar but the character development were a lot alike. Maddie and Munny are someone that are determined into what they want. Of course Munny has a little drinking problem but in the begginning it showed him being clean for a long time. Maddie was determined to find her father and she showed it by forming and leading the group. I talked also about music when discussing True Grit and Unfogiven and I want to point out that the movie editing and technique were probalby pretty similar. The picture seemed like it was the same quality and same with the sound. It was dramatic so at some points it held a lot of tension.
