NPR.org has a running weekly feature this summer called "You Must Read This" with conversations with contemporary authors about books they love, and this week's piece brings us George Pelecanos on TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis.
In the interview they discuss some of the differences between the book and the 1969 John Wayne film adaptation, and I wholeheartedly agree with Pelecanos' point that "Portis' novel was a revelation and in every way surpassed my experience with the film." I've been a Portis fan for a while, and unlike Pelecanos saw the movie after reading the book.
I was also born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, not too far from Yell County and Fort Smith, where much of the action in the novel takes place. In high school I also spent a lot of time camping in and around Yell County (a very cosmopolitan region, home not only to Paris, Arkansas, but also Havana). I've even had some experience with the Rooster Cogburn-esque vigilante justice that abounds in the area, spending several hours in a holding cell in nearby Dardenelle, of which the most memorable detail was a life sized and very bloody crucifixion scene painted on the back wall. (The transgression here was a broken down car and some confusion with the authorities and the landowner who gave us permission over camping on private land--make sure your car is tuned and ready to go before driving through Yell County.)
It's beautiful country, and not too far away from Billstown, birthplace of Glenn Campbell (Wayne's sidekick in the movie), but watching the movie might lead you to believe that Ft. Smith (where Portis still lives) and Oklahoma look a lot like Colorado and California. A small nit to pick, but still...
Gunnison, Colorado, I would like to introduce you to
the view from Mt. Magazine in Yell County, Arkansas.
It's a mystery to me why more of Portis' books haven't been adapted to film, or why there hasn't been a remake of True Grit. I suppose True Grit is such a classic that no one wants to be measured against it, but if anyone wants to make that film, I'd be more than willing to do location scouting...just putting that out there.
--John Mark
In the interview they discuss some of the differences between the book and the 1969 John Wayne film adaptation, and I wholeheartedly agree with Pelecanos' point that "Portis' novel was a revelation and in every way surpassed my experience with the film." I've been a Portis fan for a while, and unlike Pelecanos saw the movie after reading the book.
I was also born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, not too far from Yell County and Fort Smith, where much of the action in the novel takes place. In high school I also spent a lot of time camping in and around Yell County (a very cosmopolitan region, home not only to Paris, Arkansas, but also Havana). I've even had some experience with the Rooster Cogburn-esque vigilante justice that abounds in the area, spending several hours in a holding cell in nearby Dardenelle, of which the most memorable detail was a life sized and very bloody crucifixion scene painted on the back wall. (The transgression here was a broken down car and some confusion with the authorities and the landowner who gave us permission over camping on private land--make sure your car is tuned and ready to go before driving through Yell County.)
It's beautiful country, and not too far away from Billstown, birthplace of Glenn Campbell (Wayne's sidekick in the movie), but watching the movie might lead you to believe that Ft. Smith (where Portis still lives) and Oklahoma look a lot like Colorado and California. A small nit to pick, but still...
Gunnison, Colorado, I would like to introduce you to
the view from Mt. Magazine in Yell County, Arkansas.
It's a mystery to me why more of Portis' books haven't been adapted to film, or why there hasn't been a remake of True Grit. I suppose True Grit is such a classic that no one wants to be measured against it, but if anyone wants to make that film, I'd be more than willing to do location scouting...just putting that out there.
--John Mark
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