Rent True Grit (1969)

Waynes Oscar Winning Film! - True Grit review by CP Customer

In John Waynes' only Oscar wining role he plays the drunken marshal Rooster Cogburn. He has a shady past, but is hired by young and feisty Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to catch the man who shot her father because she is told Rooster Cogburn has "True Grit"

This is an extremely enjoyable watch for the whole family. I especially enjoyed the witty dialogue between Rooster Cogburn, Mattie and La Boeuf (Glen Campbell)

It's full of suspense, humour and some quite touching moments as the characters develop throughout, a quintessential must see for any Wayne or western fan.

John Wayne Oscar Winning - True Grit review by GI

Hugely watchable and entertaining western probably more famed for being John Wayne's Oscar win for Best Actor although he'd been better quite a few times before and this is more like his 'honorary' win for services rendered. Viewed today it's the rather wonderful cinematography that shines through as the film has some lovely views of the Colorado mountains and forests although the story is set in Arkansas, a more poignant setting than the usual dusty desert scenarios of westerns. Wayne plays US Marshall 'Rooster' Cogburn, a curmudgeonly and tough hombre recruited by a young girl (Kim Darby) to bring her father's killer to justice. Cogburn's a drunk and unreliable but ultimately comes across as a sort of uncle figure. This is at odds with the character from the novel where Cogburn is quite nasty and ruthless and the version that Jeff Bridges employs in the 2010 remake. The film is hampered by the casting of country singer Glenn Campbell as a Texas ranger, he's simply awful and totally wooden and a better actor would have improved the film because the sparring with Wayne is part of the story. Darby too has come into some criticism for her portrayal too not least from Wayne but for the most part she does give a quite nuanced performance and especially as her character is designed to be bolshy but naïve it's easy to dislike her. In any case this is Wayne's film and one of his last good ones at that. Support from Robert Duvall and an early role for Dennis Hopper adds appeal. If you like a good western then this does the job.

Gun Crazy - True Grit review by Steve

Back in the days of the spaghetti western this must have seemed awfully old fashioned, with its retro-studio era conventions. There's the corny country title ballad; the extensive chat promoting American individualism; all the way to the elegiac conclusion in a graveyard. Henry Hathaway (or Ford/Hawks) might have shot it in the '50s.

Most of all, there's John Wayne who won his only Oscar as Rooster Cogburn, the frontier Marshal with an eyepatch who goes into Indian country to bring back a cold blooded killer (Jeff Corey) with the dead man's teenage daughter. Though it's a standard Duke performance, which doesn't look much into the dark side of gun law.

Ultra-square country singer Glen Campbell is also in pursuit of the murderer. Wayne had been cast against pop acts at least as far back as Rio Bravo (1959) so this wasn't a novelty. And post-Woodstock, such a mainstream artist wasn't going to bring in the kids. This is for fans of the Duke, and it's easily the best of his later westerns.

Wayne establishes some odd couple chemistry with Kim Darby, who portrays the vengeful teenager as an androgynous kook; though her dialogue says she's another conservative. The year before, Sergio Leone made Once Upon a Time in the West and in comparison this is passé. But still above average for a '60s Hollywood western.