Directed by Henry Hathaway
Written by Marguerite Roberts from a novel by Charles Portis
1969/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime
Rooster Cogburn: You can’t serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You gotta kill him or let him be.
John Wayne certainly did have true grit until the end. Just what we all need during Lockdown.
The story takes place in the 19th Century Old West. Mattie Ross’s father goes to town and is killed by Tom Chaney, who he was trying to help. Mattie (Kim Darby) is determined to track Chaney down and bring him to justice. She has a small selection of U.S. Marshalls to help her and picks Rooster Cogburn who has a nasty reputation as a drunkard but is also known for his grit. She makes a down payment payment. Soon enough Rooster is also visited by La Beouf (Glenn Campbell), a Texas Ranger who is tracking Chaney for another crime. Rooster and Le Beouf have no intention of taking Maddie along on their quest.
Maddie has no intention of being left behind and catches up with them. The trio learns that Chaney will likely be found in the company of outlaw Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and eventually they catch up to him and his gang. There is a fair amount of gunplay along the way.
I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable blend of action and adventure. I have always wondered where people talked like the literary dialogue in this story but it is amusing enough. I last saw this on original release when I disliked Wayne for his politics. I seem to have forgiven him because I found him wonderful in this. (And in so many previous movies). Very fun film. Recommended.
John Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The title tune was nominated for Best Music, Original Song.
An entertaining Western for sure. The Coen Brothers version was better and closer in spirit to the novel. Not one of John Wayne’s best films, look to his films with John Ford and Howard Hawks, especially The Searchers, Red River and Rio Bravo. One interesting side note, the excellent character actor, Strother Martin appeared in all three of 1969’s big Western Films: True Grit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kit, and absolutely wonderful in The Wild Bunch.
Admittedly Kim Darby and Glenn Campbell’s performance take the movie as a whole down a notch. But I do think it’s one of Wayne’s best performances. Especially for this late in his career Not up there with “The Searchers” or “Red River” but close. Even in the earliest days, John Wayne’s sheer charisma would overpower everything else in the B-movie oaters he was in.
Strother Martin lit up everything he was in. Who can forget his “What we have here is a failure to communicate” from Cool Hand Luke. Still working up the nerve for The Wild Bunch. My love for Robert Ryan alone ensures I will see it sooner rather than later.
Good luck with The Wild Bunch. Two things to consider: it’s very politically incorrect and women don’t care well in Peckinpah’s world, get past that you may “enjoy” the film and what a cast!
I just watched it. Review coming later today.
You do need some true grit in these times. Maybe I should watch some John Wayne too.
John Wayne would have looked Covid-19 straight in the eye and blasted it out of existence!