In 1875, Mattie leaves her large estate in Yell County, Arkansas to travel to Fort Smith, Arkansas alone to capture the man who killed him, Tom Chaney. Mattie’s Father Frank Ross hired Chaney to lead back a chain of ponies to the family farm. Late one night after the two had a lot to drink, Tom thought that he was being cheated in a game of cards, and killed frank after he lost a lot of money. Unfortunately, this wasn’t very uncommon for the time. Tom stole his horse and ran off to Indian territory. Mattie, a very smart and brave girl, went into town to return the ponies her father had bought, and after lots of negotiating, she got $320 in return. This helped pay for the help of a U.S. Marshal, Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn to find Tom Chaney. Mattie insisted on going along with him, but the next morning discovered that Ranger LaBoeuf from Texas is also looking for Chaney. At first, LaBoeuf and Cogburn go alone, but Mattie proves herself when she bravely crosses through a river on a horse after she is denied access to the bridge. Not long after, LaBoeuf and Cogburn get into an argument and leaves the two to find Chaney for themselves. The two continue on …show more content…
Mattie’s father died in 1875, which was ten years after slavery was abolished. The movie also emphasizes how the country functioned back then. There were different social classes, a different justice system, and just a different type of people in general from what America currently has now, which makes this movie really eye opening for a lot of people. I thought the movie was a little hard to follow at times because Mattie went off on long tangents every once in a while, which were full of information that was difficult to retain. However, I thought the general plot was entertaining. True Grit was a very enjoyable movie to watch, and at the same time, it was a valuable history