True Grit vs. Stagecoach: John Ford's Stagecoach is a classic western. It has the beautiful setting of Monument Valley and also has John Wayne as its main character. One reason why it is classified as classic is because it makes the difference between good and evil extremely clear. A second reason why it is a Classic Western is because it has multiple girl characters who are described as a good girl or a bad girl. Stagecoach also makes the motivation to get to the destination clear. Ringo needs to get to it in order to get revenge on the people that hurt his family. True Grit was also a Classic Western for several reasons. One reason is that it also creates the line between good and evil. It also has the traditional setting in the American West. Thirdly True Grit's entire plot is that Mattie has to catch her father's killer and this idea is well known by the audience. Both of these movies follow the classic form of Westerns.
Unforgiven vs. True Grit: Unforgiven is the total opposite from the classic western Stagecoach. Unforgiven is a revisionist western for several reasons. One is that it shows the harsh and violent life of the west. These ideas are not shown in classic westerns. It also never draws a line between the good and the evil. When the movie starts Will seems to be a changed man that will never go back to his old ways but as it continues on Will changes into the violent sheriff Little Bill. Will goes back to drinking whiskey and killing a large amount of people in Big Whiskey. In the end Will kills Little Bill after Bill pleads for his life because he doesnt deserve to be killed. Another reason why Unforgiven is a revisionist is because after Schofield Kid kills one of the two men he ends up crying and saying that he isnt a killer like Will. When Unforgiven is compared to True Grit, True Grit appears to be more of a Classic Western because of these reasons.
True Grit: True Grit can be classified as a Classic Western for a couple ideas. One is that it has the classical setting in western America. Second it establishes a clear line between the good and the evil. In the end as with all the other classic westerns the bad guys get what they deserve and the good side is victorious. Also the characters in True Grit are fairly one sided and they do not get multi dimensional throughout the film.
