Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. Starring Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld. Rated 14A.

The Coen brothers continue their journey into arcane Americana in True Grit, this time obscuring a highly effective telling of the same story. By going back to the novel by Charles Portis—a southern writer still working in multiple genres—they create a superb vehicle for Jeff Bridges, in which he actually manages to make us forget that John Wayne played this role in 1969.

The bearded, eye-patch-wearing Bridges is an excellent shambles as Rooster Cogburn, an 1880s U.S. Marshal with a reputation for steady drinking and trigger-happy encounters with bandits and bystanders. That suits 14-year-old Mattie Ross, out to avenge the murder of her upstanding father by a no-good ranch hand called Chaney.

In contrast with 20-something Kim Darby in the old Grit, our pigtailed protagonist is played by an actual kid, newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who rushes her lines in early scenes but later proves increasingly resourceful. This mirrors the effect Mattie has on Cogburn and on a rival bounty hunter, a Texas Ranger called LaBoeuf. The latter is played by an almost unrecognizable Matt Damon, an incalculable improvement on Glen Campbell, at least when guitars aren’t involved.

When this trio heads into Indian Territory, they have a series of period-correct adventures, some violent, some mysterious, and some mordantly funny. It’s all three when they find their fellow in the company of outlaw Ned Pepper, harmoniously played by Barry Pepper, fitted with the worst dentures you’ve ever seen.

This haunting material is aided by the indelible imagery of Roger Deakins, the Coens’ usual cinematographer, and a score by veteran collaborator Carter Burwell, based on old church hymns. The script spares us Mattie’s incessant Bible quoting, by the way, but True Grit has the impact of an Old Testament saga.