Daily Dialogue — December 18, 2012
Mattie: Rooster Cogburn?
Cogburn: What is it.
He does not look up from the cigarette he is trying to roll. His hands are shaking.
Mattie: I would like to talk with you a minute.
Cogburn: What is it.
Mattie: They tell me you are a man with true grit.
Cogburn: What do you want, girl? Speak up. It is suppertime.
Mattie: Let me do that.
She takes the fixings and rolls, licks, and twists the cigarette.
Mattie: Your makings are too dry. I am looking for the man who shot and killed my father, Frank Ross, in front of the Monarch boarding house. The man’s name is Tom Chaney. They say he is over in Indian Territory and I need somebody to go after him.
Cogburn: What is your name, girl?
Mattie: My name is Mattie Ross. We are located in Yell County. My mother is at home looking after my sister Victoria and my brother Little Frank.
Cogburn: You had best go home to them. They will need help with the churning.
Mattie: There is a fugitive warrant out for Chaney. The government will pay you two dollars for bringing him in plus ten cents a mile for each of you. On top of that I will pay you a fifty dollar reward.
Cogburn gazes at her.
Cogburn: What are you? (looks at the flour sack she holds) What’ve you got there in your poke?
She opens it. Cogburn smiles.
Cogburn: By God! A Colt’s dragoon! Why, you’re no bigger than a corn nubbin, what’re you doing with a pistol like that?
Mattie: I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it if the law fails to do so.
Cogburn: Well, that piece will do the job — if you can find a high stump to rest it on and a wall to put behind you.
Mattie: Nobody here knew my father and I am afraid nothing much is going to be done about Chaney except I do it. My brother is a child and my mother is indecisive and hobbled by grief.
Cogburn: I don’t believe you have fifty dollars.
Mattie: I will shortly. I have a contract with Colonel Stonehill which he will make payment on tomorrow or the next day, once a lawyer countersigns.
Cogburn: I don’t believe fairy tales or sermons or stories about money, baby sister. But thank you for the cigarette.
— True Grit (2010), screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, novel by Charles Portis
http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=MUv6
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is negotiations, suggested by JasperLamarCrab. Today’s suggestion by @gonetopersia and @@hradzka.
Trivia: The movie was nominated for ten Academy Awards failing to win any and going down in film history as one of the most ever nominated films to not win an Oscar. The original True Grit was nominated for a far less number of Oscars, only two, winning one (for Best Actor) and thereby winning more than this remake.
Dialogue On Dialogue: This establishes a ground floor in the relationship between Mattie and Cogburn. Of course, he treats her like a child. Eventually that will change.