Writer Charles Portis, whose book ‘True Grit’ and its movies are featured in a National Cowboy Museum exhibit, dies – Oklahoman.com

Although he wrote other books, Portis is best remembered for his novel “True Grit,” which was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1968. It tells the tale of tenacious Arkansas teen Mattie Ross, who who ventures into Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) with Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf on a mission to hunt down the scoundrel that killed her father.

As previously reported, Portis’ “True Grit” is the rare book that has been adapted into not one but two Oscar-honored films.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63, is celebrating the legacy of “True Grit” with the exhibit “Two Grits: A Peek Behind the Eyepatch.” The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 film version starring John Wayne, Glenn Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and Kim Darby as well as the 10th anniversary of Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 adaptation featuring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper and Hailee Steinfeld.

The exhibition compares the character development, cinematography, screenplays, performances and costumes of the “Two Grits.” Along with Wayne’s Oscar for his lead actor turn as Cogburn in the first film, it includes his full “True Grit” costume – shirt, pants, jacket, neckerchief, belt, boots, hat and iconic eye patch – and his personal copy of the script. It also features several other costumes and costume pieces from the two movies, photographs from the films and firearms from the story’s 1878 setting.

“Very much like ‘The Virginian’ by Owen Wister, ‘True Grit’ by Charles Portis is one of those that rises to the top. I’ve seen some critics compare ‘True Grit’ to ‘Huckleberry Finn’ as far as a great American novel,” Michael Grauer, the National Cowboy Museum’s McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture, told me in an interview about the exhibit that you can read here. 

“It’s an opportunity to look at the interpretations of the film by two different directors, two different sets of actors. … And it’s an opportunity to examine in a historical context how accurate the movie is if it had taken place, but also how close to the novel each set of directors and producers kept.”

To read more of my story on “Two Grits,” click here. The exhibit is on view through May 10. For more information, go to nationalcowboymuseum.org.

-BAM