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"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
WEBCommentary Contributor
Author:  Michael J. Gaynor
Bio: Michael J. Gaynor
Date:  January 5, 2011
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Topic category:  Depravity on the Left

The "True Grit" Remake's Leftist Spin

In the original movie, co-star Glenn Campbell sung the title song, including the words "you'll wake up and see a world that is fine and free." That's NOT the message the remake was made to send. Instead it depicts a "hero" who is bigoted and gratuitously violent and a country in great need of "fundamental transformation."

"True Grit" is the title of a western novel by Charles Portis published in 1969 and two movie adaptations, the first released in 1969 and the second in 2010.

American icon John Wayne starred as Marshall "Rooster" Cogburn and won his only Academy Award for his performance.

The original movie is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Grit_(1969_film).

The remake is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Grit_(2010_film).

The remake has generally been highly praised (and promoted).

Wikipedia: "The film received critical acclaim; Rotten Tomatoes reported that 95% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 176 reviews, with only 9 negative reviews and an average score of 8.4/10, with its consensus stating 'Girded by strong performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and lifted by some of the Coens' most finely tuned, unaffected work, True Grit is a worthy companion to the Charles Portis book." Metacritic gave the film an average score of 80/100 based on 40 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating 'generally positive reviews'. Total Film gave the film a 5 star review (denoting 'outstanding'): 'This isn’t so much a remake as a masterly re-creation. Not only does it have the drop on the 1969 version, it’s the first great movie of 2011".

What has been missed is how the John Wayne character morphed into a cruel American Indian hater and the American Indians who saved Mattie Ross's arm disappeared.

The cost of cunning political correctness!

In the original movie, "Rooster" hastened a prisoner along with a kick in the rear, once, and the prisoner was white.

In the remake, "Rooster" kicked--for no apparent reason other than anti-American bigotry--an Indian boy, twice.

In the original movie, there were a couple of Americans Indians, with whom "Rooster" engaged in friendly banter early in the movie, and to whom he brought snake-bitten Mattie Ross for the medical treatment that saved her arm near the end of the movie.

Mattie has her arm amputated as a result of a rattlesnake attack in the remake.

In the final scene of the original movie, Mattie is seen with only a sling on her arm—suggesting that she is recovering from the snake bites and intact physically. (In the novel, her right arm was amputated.)

In the original movie, co-star Glenn Campbell sung the title song, including the words "you'll wake up and see a world that is fine and free." That's NOT the message the remake was made to send. Instead it depicts a "hero" who is bigoted and gratuitously violent and a country in great need of "fundamental transformation."

Michael J. Gaynor

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Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.


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