True Grit (2010)

Hailee Steinfeld: Mattie Ross

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Quotes 

• LaBoeuf : As I understand it, Chaney... or Chelmsford, as he called himshelf in Texas... shot the senator's dog. When the senator remonstrated, Chelmsford shot him as well. You could argue that the shooting of the dog was merely an instance of malum prohibitum, but the shooting of a senator is indubitably an instance of malum in se.

  Rooster Cogburn : Malla-men what?

  Mattie Ross : Malum in se. The distinction is between an act that is wrong in itself, and an act that is wrong only according to our laws and mores. It is Latin.

  Rooster Cogburn : I am struck that LaBoeuf is shot, trampled, and nearly severs his tongue, and not only does not cease to talk, but spills the banks of English!

• Mattie Ross : You must pay for everything in this world, one way or another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.

• Mattie Ross : If I had killed Chaney, I would not be in this fix; but my gun misfired.

  Lucky Ned Pepper : [Chuckling]  They will do it. It will embarrass you every time. Most girls like to play pretties, but you like guns do you?

  Mattie Ross : I do not care a thing about guns, if I did, I would have one that worked.

• LaBoeuf : You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements. While I sat there watchin' I gave some thought to stealin' a kiss... though you are very young, and sick... and unattractive to boot. But now I have a mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt.

  Mattie Ross : One would be just as unpleasant as the other.

• LaBoeuf : I've just come from Yell County.

  Mattie Ross : We have no rodeo clowns in Yell County.

  LaBoeuf : A saucy line will not get you far with me.

• Mattie Ross : Thank Mr. Stonehill for me.

  Stableboy : No ma'am. I ain't supposed to utter your name!

• Mattie Ross : Well I need a pony, and I'll pay you ten dollars for one of them.

  Col. Stonehill : No, that's a lot price, no no... wait a minute... are we trading again?

• Mattie Ross : Do you need a good lawyer?

  Lucky Ned Pepper : I need a good judge...

• Rooster Cogburn : At The Green Frog, had a billiard table. Served ladies and men both, mostly men. Tried running it myself for a while, but couldn't keep good help. And I never did learn how to buy meat. Is it him?

  Mattie Ross : [Examining hanging body]  I believe not.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, cut him down.

  Mattie Ross : Why?

  Rooster Cogburn : I might know him.

  [Mattie climbs higher to reach the rope] 

  Rooster Cogburn : That's when I went out to the staked plains of Texas. Shoot buffalo with Vernon Shaftoe and a Flathead Indian named Olly. Well, the Mormons, well they run Shaftoe out of Great Salt Lake City, don't ask me what for. Call it a misunderstanding and leave it go at that. Well, big shaggies, about all gone now. Damned shame. Give three dollars right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.

  Mattie Ross : Why did they hang him so high?

  Rooster Cogburn : I do not know. Possibly in the belief it'd make him more dead.

• Rooster Cogburn : We'll sleep here and follow in the morning.

  Mattie Ross : But we promised to bury the poor soul inside!

  Rooster Cogburn : Ground's too hard. If them men wanted a decent burial, they should have gotten themselves kilt in summer.

• Mattie Ross : [cutting the rope on the tree]  Why did they hang him so high?

  Rooster Cogburn : I do not know. Possibly in the belief it'd make him more dead.

• Mattie Ross : [LaBoeuf is whipping her]  Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?

  Rooster Cogburn : [watches for a moment]  No, I don't believe I will. Put your switch away, LaBoeuf.

  LaBoeuf : I aim to finish what I started!

  Rooster Cogburn : It'll be the biggest mistake you ever made, you Texas brush-popper.

  [aims gun at LaBoeuf] 

• Mattie Ross : [Discussing the price of cotton]  We got most of our cotton in early. We got 12 and a half cents a pound in Little Rock.

  Col. Stonehill : Then I suggest you take the rest of your crop to Little Rock to sell.

  Mattie Ross : This being closer, I though I might check on the price in Ft. Smith while I was here.

  Col. Stonehill : Did you come all this way to inform me of the price of cotton in Little Rock?

• Mattie Ross : Who's the best marshal?

  Sheriff : I'll have to weigh that. William Waters is the best tracker. He's half Comanche, and it is something to see him cut for sign. The meanest is Rooster Cogburn; he is a pitiless man, double tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking. Loves to pull a cork... The best is probably L.T. Quinn; he brings his prisoners in alive. Now, he might let one slip by now and again, but he believes that even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake.

  Mattie Ross : Where can I find this Rooster?

• Rooster Cogburn : The jakes is occupied.

  Mattie Ross : I know it is occupied Mr. Cogburn. As I said, I have business with you.

  Rooster Cogburn : I have prior business.

  Mattie Ross : You have been at it for quite some time, Mr. Cogburn.

  Rooster Cogburn : There is no clock on my business! To hell with you! How did you stalk me here?

  Mattie Ross : The sheriff told me to look in the saloon. In the saloon they referred me here. We must talk.

  Rooster Cogburn : Women ain't allowed in the saloon!

  Mattie Ross : I was not there as a customer. I am fourteen years old.

  Rooster Cogburn : The jakes is occupied. Will be for some time.

• Mattie Ross : And "futile", Marshal Cogburn, "pursuit would be futile"? It's not spelled "f-u-d-e-l."

• Mattie Ross : [anxiously watching four men riding to kill Rooster Cogburn]  Shoot them, Mr. Laboeuf!

  LaBoeuf : [aiming his rifle]  Too far. Movin' too fast.

• Lucky Ned Pepper : Your friend Rooster does not collect many prisoners.

  Mattie Ross : He is not my friend. He has abandoned me to a congress of louts.

  Lucky Ned Pepper : You do not varnish your opinions.

• Rooster Cogburn : [looks up at the hanging corpse]  Is it Cheney?

  Mattie Ross : I would not recognize the soles of his feet.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, you'll have to clamber up and look. I'm too old and too fat.

• Mattie Ross : [about Chaney]  Why did you not catch him in Pine Bluff, Arkansas or Monroe, Louisiana?

  LaBoeuf : He is a crafty one.

  Mattie Ross : I thought him slow-witted myself.

  LaBoeuf : ...that was his act.

  Mattie Ross : It was a good one. Are you some kind of law?

  LaBoeuf : That's right.

  [smugly] 

  LaBoeuf : I'm a Texas Ranger.

  Mattie Ross : That may make you a big noise in that state; in Arkansas you should mind that your Texas trappings and title do not make you an object of fun.

• Rooster Cogburn : Is that him?

  Mattie Ross : I believe not.

  Rooster Cogburn : Oh, cut him down.

  Mattie Ross : [incredulous]  Why?

  Rooster Cogburn : I might know him.

• Mattie Ross : [haggling with Cogburn]  You're trying to take advantage of me.

  Rooster Cogburn : I'm giving you the children's rate! I'm not a sharper. I'm an old man sleeping in a rope bed in a room behind a Chinese grocery. I have nothing.

  Mattie Ross : You want to be kept in whiskey.

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't need to buy that, I confiscate it.

• Mattie Ross : [Mattie tries to persuade LaBouef to continue the hunt with her]  Have I held you back? I have a Colt's dragoon revolver which I know how to use, and I would be no more of a burden to you than I was to the marshal.

  LaBoeuf : That is not my worry. You have earned your spurs, that is clear enough... . you have been a regular old hand on the trail. But Cogburn is right, even if I would not give him the satisfaction of conceding it. The trail is cold, and I am... considerably diminished.

  Mattie Ross : How can you give up now, after the many months you've dedicated to finding Chaney? You have shown great determination. I misjudged you. I picked the wrong man.

  LaBoeuf : I would go on in your company if there were clear way to go. But we would be striking out blindly. Chelmsford is gone. We have chased him right off the map. There is nothing for it. I am bound for Texas, and it is time for you to go home too... . The marshal, when he sobers, is your way back.

  Mattie Ross : I will not go back! Not without Chaney, dead or alive.

  LaBoeuf : I misjudged you as well. I extend my hand.

  [He does, but Mattie does not take it] 

  Mattie Ross : Mr. LaBoeuf! Please!

  LaBoeuf : [LaBoeuf keeps his hand extended; Mattie eventually squeezes it]  Adios.

  [LaBoeuf rides away] 

• Mattie Ross : I'll call him 'Little Blackie'.

  Stableboy : That's a good name.

  Mattie Ross : What does he like for a treat?

  Stableboy : Well ma'am, he's a horse. So he likes apples.

  Mattie Ross : Thank Mr Stonehill for me.

  Stableboy : No ma'am, I ain't supposed to utter your name.

• Rooster Cogburn : I'm not a sharper. I am an old man sleeping on a rope bed in a room behind the Chinese grocery. I have nothing.

  Mattie Ross : You want to be kept in whiskey.

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't have to buy that, I confiscate it. I am an officer of the court. Ah, thank you. $100, that's the rate.

  Mattie Ross : I shall not niggle. Can we depart this afternoon?

• Mattie Ross : That is my father.

  Undertaker : If you would like to kiss him, it would be all right.

  Yarnell : He's gone to heaven. Praise the Lord.

  Mattie Ross : Why is it so much?

  Undertaker : The quality of the casket. And of the embalming. The lifelike appearance requires time and art. And the chemicals come dear. The particulars are in your bill.

  Undertaker : If you'd like to kiss him, it would be all right.

  Mattie Ross : Thank you, the spirit has flown.

• Mattie Ross : [addressing yarnell]  Tell mama not to sign anything until I return home and see that Papa is buried in his mason's apron.