I totally prefer John Wayne over Jeff Bridges playing the role. But, then again, I 100% prefer all of the old Western characters of movies/tv, compared to the newer ones. Like Will Smith playing James West in the movie, The Wild, Wild West and another actor who played The Lone Ranger in a movie. The only Lone Ranger to me is Clayton Moore!
True Grit was a very good film, as were several others that John Wayne did, although he sort of played the same role in whatever movie he was in, so I don't consider him to be a great actor, and his movies are not ones that I can watch over and over again. Every thirty years, maybe.
He was excellent in the Quiet Man and I forget the name of the one where he played a detective, but that was a good one as well.
I thought I wouldn't like the Jeff Bridges version because I don't usually like remakes of pictures that were good, to begin with. But the little girl in the recent version was fantastic! She stole the show.
@Lois Winters McQ. He was shown a MAC-10 submachine gun by other detectives, tried it out, and loved it! As he started to walk out with it, one asked if he's just taking it He responded, "borrowing it". Here is a good pic of one. Many came with a Sionics Company suppressor (silencer), used 32 round magazines (in 9mm caliber), had a carrying sling, and were equipped with a collapsible wire stock which made accurate firing possible. I killed an extremely vicious dog once, using the stock. The arms were also made in .45 ACP caliber, which limited number of rounds available, and increased weight substantially.