True Grit (B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
'True Grit' (a 1969 western directed by Henry Hathaway & based on a novel) stars John Wayne in his most iconic performance for which he won his only Best Actor Academy Award; a sentimental win for the aging, ailing star. Wayne stars as Reuben J. Rooster Cogburn, a one-eyed, hard-nosed drunk & former outlaw who has, for the last 4 yrs., has become a ruthless federal marshal killing machine. Rooster is hired by spirited tomboy, 14 yr. old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to go into the perilous Indian Territory to look for her father's killer, a drifter currently going by the name Tom Chaney.
Rooster teams up with arrogant Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), who has been hunting Chaney for the last 4 months because he killed a Texas senator & his dog; there is a large reward for catching Chaney, but Mattie just wants him dead. To that, this unlikely trio takes the, from Arkansas deep into Indian Territory to find their man, who has joined-up with savage henchmen Quincy & Moon (Jeremy Slate, Dennis Hopper). The big climax involves Mattie falling into a snake pit & Rooster Cogburn taking on several of Ned Pepper's gang members while on horseback. Cogburn shouts "Fill your hands, you son of a b*tch!" then puts the reins btwn. his teeth & gallops toward the enemy with guns in each hand -- fantastic scene.
Very good movie, here. The Academy voters might've been making a sentimental Oscar decision in awarding Wayne for his lengthy, prolific career {he had cancer; similarly, in 1960, the Academy likely gave Best Actress to Elizabeth Taylor because she had been deathly ill}. However, the performance has great merit to it anyway. Wayne gives a wonderfully boisterous & simultaneously cantankerous turn as larger-than-life Rooster Cogburn; playing the part with real relish. Wayne would reprise the character a few yrs. later in Rooster Cogburn, going toe-to-toe with Katharine Hepburn.
In 'True Grit', he plays off of young Kim Darby beautifully. Darby is winsome, with fiery indignation & gumption for days. I love Glen Campbell as a singer - and he had a hit tune with the title song here that was also Oscar-nominated - but I wouldn't call him the best actor. Other performances of note by Dennis Hopper & Robert Duvall fare better. 'True Grit' really is what a great western should be; a quickly-paced action/adventure story with good cinematography, fun dialogue, light humor, involving action & complex good guys trying to take out some true baddies.
Rooster teams up with arrogant Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), who has been hunting Chaney for the last 4 months because he killed a Texas senator & his dog; there is a large reward for catching Chaney, but Mattie just wants him dead. To that, this unlikely trio takes the, from Arkansas deep into Indian Territory to find their man, who has joined-up with savage henchmen Quincy & Moon (Jeremy Slate, Dennis Hopper). The big climax involves Mattie falling into a snake pit & Rooster Cogburn taking on several of Ned Pepper's gang members while on horseback. Cogburn shouts "Fill your hands, you son of a b*tch!" then puts the reins btwn. his teeth & gallops toward the enemy with guns in each hand -- fantastic scene.
Very good movie, here. The Academy voters might've been making a sentimental Oscar decision in awarding Wayne for his lengthy, prolific career {he had cancer; similarly, in 1960, the Academy likely gave Best Actress to Elizabeth Taylor because she had been deathly ill}. However, the performance has great merit to it anyway. Wayne gives a wonderfully boisterous & simultaneously cantankerous turn as larger-than-life Rooster Cogburn; playing the part with real relish. Wayne would reprise the character a few yrs. later in Rooster Cogburn, going toe-to-toe with Katharine Hepburn.
In 'True Grit', he plays off of young Kim Darby beautifully. Darby is winsome, with fiery indignation & gumption for days. I love Glen Campbell as a singer - and he had a hit tune with the title song here that was also Oscar-nominated - but I wouldn't call him the best actor. Other performances of note by Dennis Hopper & Robert Duvall fare better. 'True Grit' really is what a great western should be; a quickly-paced action/adventure story with good cinematography, fun dialogue, light humor, involving action & complex good guys trying to take out some true baddies.