Actor Jeff Bridges Showed He Had True Grit Well Before the Movie

For fans of movies, you would be hard-pressed to find an actor more reliable and more beloved than Jeff Bridges. Without being flashy or getting caught up in scandals or anything that seems to dog many young actors, he began his acting career as a child and appearing in his father's (Lloyd Bridges) television shows. Then he showed he had real acting chops when he started acting as a young man. Over the course of his career he has shown, again and again, that he is no fluke but one of the best actors alive today.

Bridges comes from a kind of Hollywood royalty. His father, Lloyd, was already a famous actor of film and television during the 1960s. Lloyd Bridges was a hit with his show Sea Hunt which ran from 1958 - 1961. He then had an anthology series on CBS entitled The Lloyd Bridges Show. Jeff and his brother Beau, both made appearances on those shows as children.

Jeff must have liked the acting because he seemed ready to get back into the game as soon as he could. His first major film role was in 1971 in the movie now considered a classic about young men and women growing up in a sleepy town called The Last Picture Show. The movie was a hit and it has become a classic.

It showed that Jeff Bridges was a solid actor. He would show that again in 1974 starring opposite the Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood. That movie was also written and directed by Michael Cimino and called Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Not long after he was the main character in the remake of King Kong.

One of the most important of his early roles was in the sci-fi movie Tron. Although the movie was difficult to understand and did not overwhelm at the box office when it was released in 1982, it became a cult classic. In fact, it became a cultural touchstone for many.

His list of award-nominated films is also impressive. He earned a nomination for Best Actor for the sci-fi movie directed by John Carpenter entitled Starman. Many feel he should have won, but it was not to be. He was highly praised in roles in movies like Against All Odds, The Jagged Edge, and Fearless.

For many Fearless is the role that is considered one of his best. In fact, it is considered as possibly the best role he ever played. He plays the role of a man who survives a devastating plane crash. He receives a new lease on life and soon begins to do other dangerous things just to maintain that kind of high. As he desperately tries to reconnect with his family he finds some comfort in the friendship he established with another crash survivor.

Not long after he starred in the Coen Brother's classic comedy The Big Lebowski. He played a character known as "The Dude" and it has become another career-defining role. These days people whole entire conventions devoted to the movie, drinking White Russians and bowling.

His received his next Academy Award nomination by starring as the President in the political drama The Contender. Again he lost. Then he made a popular movie, playing the villain, in Iron Man. Not long after that he starred as a broken down country singer and finally won his Academy Award for Best Actor in Crazy Heart.

Now, in 2010l, Bridges is back in what may be another milestone in his career. He stars as the filthy, violent and rude lawman Rooster Cogburn in the Coen Brother's remake of the John Wayne classic True Grit. The movie proves, yet again, what a powerful, chameleon-like actor Bridges is.

The Coen Brothers manage to completely remake the movie and, in the process, the turn the movie into a truly violent, gritty and remarkable film. None of the "feel good" aspects of Wayne's version exist in this one. This is all about the dirt, smell, and violence that must have been inherent in the wild west.

Despite this the Coen Brothers manage to make what has to rank among their most traditional Hollywood of all of their films. Very little of the things that mark a Coen Brothers film are evident here. Yet, the movie is excellent, surpassing many other of the newer Hollywood westerns, and it is as if the Coen Brothers made a traditional sort of film just to prove that they could.

Bridges manages to hold the entire center of the movie. He manages to portray a very unlikeable man in such a way that you not only care about him, but find humor in the things he does. He is a cold-hearted killer of men, and yet you want him to succeed.

Many are talking about the stellar performance of newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in the starring role of Mattie. It is Mattie's father who was gunned down by the low-life Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). She is the one who hires Cogburn to track down this man and end his life or bring him for trial.

Bridges seems destined to be rewarded for this role, again. He should be. He has been the most consistent actor of a generation. Time and again he has turned in outstanding performances. The only flaw is that it took the Academy to figure it out and reward him with that first statue.

True Grit proves that Bridges is outstanding in nearly every role he inhabits. He brings class to films that, maybe, don't even deserve it. Here's hoping he's around for a long time to make more.