... continuing my current (read: this week) obsession with True Grit, I was sitting here drinking a Bloody Mary (tomorrow starts a holiday weekend, so I mixed one up) and I clicked over to again watch that clip.
And then I wondered...
Anyone out there read the book? Reason I ask is that in this clip in the movie, Rooster uses a .45 (or a .44-40, either is a good bet) Colt Peacemaker and Winchester carbine (looks to my eyes to be a Model 92, but I think it's supposed to be a Model 73, given what is supposed to be the timeframe). In any case, said carbine has a large fingerloop on the lever, the idea being rather obviously stolen from this TV show, so that he could flip it around to chamber a new cartridge one-handed.
But the book was a bit more historically accurate. So my question to you, dear readers, is this:
In the book, what weapons did Rooster wield on his charge through Ned Pepper's gang?
Iz out!
2 months ago
4 comments:
Well, duh!
I've read the book. Don't have it handy, but if I recall right, Rooster was wielding two Navy Colt revolvers that were normally holstered on his saddle. The author clearly intended it to be a replay of the shootout with a posse that Rooster describes to Mattie while they're waiting for Ned Pepper near the dug-out cabin.
Oh, one other thing: a bit of negative characterization of Rooster that's only in the book. Remember how Mattie gets caught by Tom Chaney because her revolver, that big-ass Colt's Dragoon, misfires? The Dragoon was a cap-and-ball revolver, not a cartridge revolver, and reloading it took a bit of skill. In the book, Rooster uses the Dragoon to kill the rat in Chin Lee's store, then fumbles the reload. That's why it misfires later on.
Three guesses why that was cut from the movie version...
Yes indeed, it was two .44 Navy revolvers (IIRC, it's been a long time, close to thirty years, for me too and I can't find it immediately on the bookshelf).
And damn. I had forgotten that the reason for the misfire was that Rooster improperly reloaded it.
Post a Comment