7/10
I wanted to see this before I saw the 2010 version, but things didn't work out that way. I wonder if my opinion would be the same if I had? Because watching the original last night made me appreciate the Coens' film (which I found good, but underwhelming) that much more. Rare is the remake that improves upon the original in virtually every facet, but the Coens did it. The only thing I thought the original did better was to not make Mattie quite so standoffish and independent from the get-go - we get a sense that those qualities are already inside her but are drawn out by the events in the course of the film.
John Wayne's Cogburn was slightly unexpected, as he's played as more of a jokey, doddering figure compared to Jeff Bridges' more darkly comic and tragic one. I'd heard Wayne's Oscar for this role was more of a token gesture by the Academy to reward a career rather than this particular performance, and I could definitely see truth in that watching the movie.
That said the 1969 version is still good entertainment, but on the whole the Coens' is the far superior film.
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