True Grit (2010)

Matt Damon: LaBoeuf

Photos 

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!

• Rooster Cogburn : [after missing a shot on a bottle he threw up in the air]  The chinaman is running them cheap shells on me again.

  LaBoeuf : I thought you were going to say the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your EYE.

• LaBoeuf : You are getting ready to show your ignorance now, Cogburn. I don't mind a little personal chaffing but I won't hear anything against the Ranger troop from a man like you.L

  Rooster Cogburn : How long have you boys been mounted on sheep down there?

  LaBoeuf : My Appaloosa will be galloping when that big American stud of yours is winded and collapsed. Now make another joke about it. You are only trying to put on a show for this girl Mattie with what you must think is a keen tongue.

  Rooster Cogburn : This is like women talking.

  LaBoeuf : Yes, that is the way! Make me out foolish in this girl's eyes.

  Rooster Cogburn : I think she has got you pretty well figured.

• 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 : [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] 

• LaBoeuf : I am not accustomed to so large a fire. In Texas, we'll make do with a fire of little more than twigs... buffalo chips. Heat the night's ration of beans. And it is Ranger policy never to make your camp in the same place as your cook fire. Very imprudent to make your presence known in unsettled country.

• Rooster Cogburn : That Chinamen is running them cheap shells on me again.

  LaBoeuf : I thought you gonna say the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your Eye!

• Rooster Cogburn : [after singing for a long time]  That was "Johnny in the Low Ground." There are very few fiddle tunes I have not heard. Once heard they are locked in my mind forever. It is a sadness to me that I have sausage fingers that cannot crowd onto a fretboard... Little fat girls at a cotillion. "Soldier's Joy"!

  [sings more] 

  LaBoeuf : [to Mattie]  I don't believe he slept.

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

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

• 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.

• LaBoeuf : It is you who have nothing to offer, Cogburn! A sad picture indeed. This is no longer a manhunt, it is a debauch. The Texas Ranger presses on... alone.

• 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] 

• LaBoeuf : I was within three hundred yards of Chelmsford once. The closest I have been. With a Sharp's carbine that is within range, but I was mounted and had the choice of firing off-hand or dismounting to shoot from rest, which would allow Chelmsford to augment the distance. I fired mounted... and fired wide.

  Rooster Cogburn : You cannot hit a man three hundred yards if your gun was resting on Gibraltar.

  LaBoeuf : The Sharp's carbine is an instrument of uncanny balance and precision.

  Rooster Cogburn : I've no doubt that the gun is sound.