"True Grit"

In a new filming of Charles Portis' classic western novel (previously filmed in 1969), a young girl hires a U.S. Marshal to capture or kill the man who murdered her father. The Paramount Pictures release was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

By CBS News.com producer David Morgan

The wicked flee when none pursueth.

The film opens on the body of a man shot to death outside a boarding house in post-Civil War Fort Smith, Ark. "People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood, but it did happen," says the narrator - a woman of clear-eyed determination and saucy spirit who does not suffer fools or dandies. And she knows it: "If Papa had a failing it was his kindly disposition; I did not get my mean streak from him."

The 14-year-old daughter of Frank Ross, Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld), inquires in Fort Smith about capturing Tom Chaney, her father's killer, and learns that, with Chaney escaped beyond the local sheriff's jurisdiction and the U.S. Marshal's Office stretched thin, prospects for justice are weak. Mattie decides to hire a marshal as a bounty hunter, and asks for referrals.

Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is described as "a pitiless man, double tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking." Also, "He loves to pull a cork."

Cogburn accepts the assignment (once he see Mattie indeed possesses currency), but aims to dissuade her from accompanying him into Indian Territory in pursuit of the murderer, who has reportedly joined a band of outlaws riding under "Lucky Ned" Pepper.

MATTIE: "You misjudge me if you think I am silly enough to give you fifty dollars and simply watch you ride off."
COGBURN: "I am a bonded U.S. marshal!"
MATTIE: "That weighs but little with me. I will see the thing done. ..."
COGBURN: "I cannot go up against Ned Pepper and a band of hard men and look after a baby at the same time."

Mattie has competition in the guise of a Texas Ranger, LeBoeuf (Matt Damon), who has been pursuing Chaney himself for the shooting of a state senator in Waco. He suggests joining Cogburn in the hunt but Mattie is wary - unimpressed by LeBoeuf's "ineffectual" tracking of the outlaw so far, and afraid he would take their prisoner to Texas for justice, thereby denying her the satisfaction of seeking Chaney hanged in her home state.

Though Cogburn and LeBoeuf try to ditch Mattie in Fort Smith, she dresses in her father's clothes and hat, arms herself with his Colt Dragoon revolver, and heads off after them.

Mattie makes a treacherous river crossing on horseback to meet up with the pair. LaBoeuf seeks to punish her but Cogburn - obviously impressed by her pluck - will have none of it.

Cogburn tells LaBoeuf that using a switch on the girl "will be the biggest mistake you ever made, you Texas brush-popper."

Tensions among the group build and LaBoeuf sets out on his own, after Mattie declares her agreement with Cogburn overrides the men's arrangement to split the reward offered for Chaney in Texas.

Waiting to ambush Ned Pepper's gang, Mattie and Cogburn instead watch as LeBoeuf arrives to become the victim of an ambush himself. Cogburn must improvise, and the result is a bloodbath.

Though Mattie began her journey with a plain-spoken desire for justice, she witnesses acts that lead her to see how malleable justice is on the frontier, where dead bodies may or may not be treated with dignity - where they may be displayed as a warning, or eyed as a commodity.

When Mattie goes to the river to fetch water, she comes face to face with Tom Chaney, the man accused of killing her father, and finds herself in jeopardy.

Mattie is held hostage by Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and his gang.

The odds appear to be against Marshal Cogburn, as he faces off against four armed gunmen from Ned Pepper's gang.

Charging into battle, Cogburn shows that, indeed, "fear don't enter into his thinking."

"Time just gets away from us."

The film is a fond embrace of the conventions of movie western lore, colored by the Coens Brothers' elegant language and craftsmanship. Mattie's tale - in which retribution is sought with the clinical precision of a sales contract - is a parable of America's expansion west, and of the frontier myth recreated through entertainment, whether it's a wild west show or a Hollywood film.

The score of "True Grit" by Carter Burwell is based in part on source music, including a hymn ("Leaning on the Everlasting Arms") that also figured prominently in another classic tale of a child trying to maneuver through the dangers of an unforgiving world: "The Night of the Hunter." But here, Mattie Ross' strength, pluck - her own true grit - is a match for virtually any adult's. She also possesses the great virtue of seeing beyond Cogburn's exterior (a disabled drunk) to his own virtues. That foresight and vision serves her very well when it is most needed.

Joel and Ethan Coen

Since their debut in 1984 with "Blood Simple," Joel Coen (left) and Ethan Coen have received 14 Academy Award nominations for writing, producing, directing, and (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) editing), including three for "True Grit" - as producers, directors and screenwriters. They won the Oscar for "Fargo" (for Best Original Screenplay), and their 2007 film "No Country for Old Men" won four, including Best Direction and Best Picture. Their other films include "Raising Arizona," "Barton Fink," "Miller's Crossing," "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou." Bridges last worked with the Coen Brothers in "The Big Lebowski," for which his characterization of The Dude is a cult favorite.

Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges won the Oscar for Best Actor playing a hard-drinking country singer trying to restore his career and his dignity in "Crazy Heart" (2009). Previously Bridges had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "The Last Picture Show" (1971), "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974), and "The Contender" (2000), and was nominated for Best Actor for playing an alien in "Starman" (1984). Bridges received a Best Actor nomination for "True Grit," in a reinterpretation of the role that won John Wayne HIS Academy Award.

Matt Damon

Matt Damon had appeared in small roles in several films, including "Mystic Pizza" (1988), "School Ties" (1992) and "Courage Under Fire (1996), before 1997's "Good Will Hunting" have him a starring role - thanks to the script he and friend Ben Affleck had written. The two shared an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. In 1998 he appeared in the title role of Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan." Other films include "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999); "All the Pretty Horses" (2000); "The Brothers Grimm" (2005); "The Departed" and "The Good Shepherd" (2006); "Green Zone" and "Hereafter" (2010); and two franchise juggernauts: "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels, and the "Bourne" espionage thrillers. In addition to a Best Actor nomination for "Good Will Hunting," Damon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" (2009).

Hailee Steinfeld

After a nationwide search involving 15,000 actresses, the filmmakers found their star in Hailee Steinfeld, who makes her feature-film debut. Thirteen years old at the time of filming, the California native had taken acting lessons and workshops since she was 8, and appeared in the Kelsey Grammer TV series "Back to You." Not only did the young actress learn to shoot, she also did many of her own stunts, including riding a horse through a river and climbing a startlingly tall tree. For her film debut, Steinfled received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress (though many believed she should have been placed in the Lead Actress category).

Josh Brolin

Josh Brolin (Tom Chaney) received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dan White, the murderer of Harvey Milk in 2008's "Milk." The son of actor James Brolin, Josh began young - starring in "The Goonies" and the TV series "The Young Riders." He previously worked with the Coens in "No Country for Old Men," and appeared in two Woody Allen films: "Melinda and Melinda" (2004) and "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" (2010). His other notable films include "In the Valley of Elah" (2007), "American Gangster" (2007), and two for Oliver Stone: "W" (as President George W. Bush), and "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps."

Roger Deakins

Master cinematographer Roger Deakins received his ninth Academy Award nomination for "True Grit." In the past he has been nominated for four other collaborations with the Coen Brothers: "Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "No Country for Old Men." His other Oscar nominations include "The Shawshank Redemption," "Kundun," "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," and The Reader."

Cinematography by Roger Deakins.

Costume designer Mary Zophres has worked continuously with the Coen Brothers since "Fargo," and earned her first Oscar nomination for "True Grit." Her other credits include "Catch Me If You Can," "Smokin' Aces," "Lions for Lambs," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Iron Man 2," and the upcoming "Cowboys and Aliens."

"True Grit" was shot in New Mexico and in a re-dressed Granger, Texas (below), which stood in for Fort Smith, Arkansas of the 1880s.

Oscar Nominations:
Production designer: Jess Gonchor
Set Decorator: Nancy Haigh

For more on "True Grit":

Damon "Wouldn't Change a Frame" of "True Grit"
Hailee Steinfeld's "True Grit" Debut Hailee Steinfeld: The Star-Struck Star
Matt Damon: The Incognito Celebrity
Review: Coen Brothers Bring Wit, Grit to the Wild West
Photos: Matt Damon
Photos: Jeff Bridges
Photos: Hailee Steinfeld

"True Grit" (Official Movie Website)
"For Your Consideration" (Paramount Website)
"True Grit" - Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the novel by Charles Portis (Download pdf)