True Grit

I just got the chance to visit my Grandfather, he's 95 now and not in great health, but just visiting him reminded me of something. Men. That's right, men, the rough and tumble men who built this country. Men, like both my grandfathers, who lived through the depression, helped build out highway systems, and traveled to wherever they could get a job to keep their family fed, clothed and housed! I'm afraid that we may have lost some of the manliness in today's America, today's men are getting pedicures, and wearing 'product' (whatever the hell that is!) and, generally, turning into the girls. I think it's time that we men too back out manliness, time to stand up and say, no one wants to do that, it's up to me, and I may get hurt doing it, I may even not come back, but someone's got to stand up and be a man! So, whenever I feel like I'm not living up to my potential, I need a movie to inspire me, and the movie that always makes me want to stand up and declare myself to be part of the male species is the John Wayne movie, True Grit.



If you've never seen True Grit, then you're in for a treat! John Wayne plays Rooster Cogburn, one of the last real law men of the old west. When a young girl hires him to find the men that killed her father, Rooster takes up the challenge, mostly for the money, but you can still see that glint in his aged eyes, this is a job for a man like Rooster. Joined by a dandy Texas Ranger, Rooster sets off into the badlands to find the men responsible, to bring them to justice as much as for the money.

True Grit is a look at American men the way some of us should be today, older, wiser but just as tough as we ever were. Yes, there's a softer side to Rooster, when the young girl wants to tag along, he refuses, but when she shows that she's got a little grit of her own, he begins to admire her and allows her to follow. A real man respects the talents and abilities of others! He also has a pet, the General, who isn't really a pet, as Rooster says, no one owns a cat, the General just bunks with me. But, once riled up, watch out, Rooster is still a formidable opponent, when one of the bad guys calls him a fat old man, Roosters response is film legend, 'Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!', which, in today's world, is totally unacceptable, you can't challenge someone who insults you, that wouldn't be proper!

What I'm trying to say is, being a man is getting lost in our society today. It may be time for one of us to stand up and lead the way for the rest of us. I don't know if that's me, there's a lot of real men out there who are looked down on by 'polite society', the fishermen, the roughnecks, the truckers, all the men who are out there doing manly things and, not because they have to, but because it needs to get done and I'm the one to do it! So, on this Fourth Of July, let's take a minute to think of the men who built this country, from the men who tamed the frontier, to the men who built the basic infrastructure, to the men just doing the jobs that no one wants to do...here's to you guys! And, for those who don't really get what I'm saying, put down the luffa, stop with the hair gel, and take a look at True Grit, consider it your entry into the world of mandom...it's just a starter lesson, but it's a good one. True Grit gets four robust, rather stinky, cigars out of four,

because it's just that damn good, and if you give John Wayne anything else, he'll probably punch you in the gut and call you a weasel! So, until next time, when I'll be ramping down my testosterone before I actually challenge someone to a show-down in the street, remember that the best movies are bad movies!