Rooster Cogburn (1975)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Stuart Millar

Writers:

Charles Portis (suggested by the character "Rooster Cogburn" from the novel "True Grit")
Martha Hyer (written by)

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Western

Tagline:

The man of "True Grit" is back and look who's got him!

Plot:

Marshal Rooster Cogburn unwillingly teams up with Eula Goodnight to track down the killers of her father.

Plot Keywords:

Rape | Indian | Father | Drunkenness | Cat

Cast

John Wayne	...	Rooster Cogburn
Katharine Hepburn	...	Eula
Anthony Zerbe	...	Breed
Richard Jordan	...	Hawk
John McIntire	...	Judge Parker
Paul Koslo	...	Luke
Jack Colvin	...	Red
Jon Lormer	...	Rev. Goodnight
Richard Romancito	...	Wolf
Lane Smith	...	Leroy
Warren Vanders	...	Bagby
Jerry Gatlin	...	Nose
Strother Martin	...	McCoy
Tommy Lee	...	Chen Lee

Also Known As:

Rooster Cogburn: A Man of True Grit (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | UK:U (video rating) (1987) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bend, Oregon, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

There had been plans for another film featuring the character Rooster Cogburn, to be entitled "Someday", but it was canceled when this movie proved to be only a moderate hit at the box office. In addition Paramount Pictures felt that John Wayne had become too old to carry a successful movie, and that in any case audiences in the mid-1970s were not interested in westerns.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Rooster gets the Pepperbox out to give to Wolf, he says "I got me a 22 Pepperbox." The bore in the end of the barrel is to big for a 22 cal, it is more like a 36 cal, which was the most common caliber used.

Quotes:

Eula Goodnight: Just to whom do you think you are talking, Mr. Marshall?
Rooster Cogburn: You is to whom I think I am talking, Ma'am.
Eula Goodnight: It's true that you are larger than me... but only physically.
Rooster Cogburn: In this case, my dear lady, that is enough.
Eula Goodnight: Do you mean to tell me that you are prepared to use brute force?
Rooster Cogburn: That is exactly what I mean to tell you.
Eula Goodnight: [pause] Oh.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) (TV)

Better than True Grit

Don't get me wrong, True Grit is a good western and worthy of its classic status, but I've always found John Wayne's first go round as Rooster Cogburn to be uneven, at times colorfully into character but just as often just playing John Wayne. He won his only Oscar for it of course, but he hadn't yet completely found ol' Rooster's voice.

In this sequel co starring Katharine Hepburn, the Duke has every aspect of Rooster down pat. The scenes he and Hepburn share, trading their philosophies and anecdotes while they come to know and admire (and platonically fall in love with) each other is the engine of this film. Forget the plot, it's passable enough but very much secondary, this story gets along strictly on the strength of the two lead characters and it's worth seeing again and again just to watch these two Hollywood legends banter and spar in their one and only movie together.

This was the first John Wayne film I ever saw in a movie theatre (I was 9 years old in 1975) and it made me a lifelong fan. This is easily one of his most entertaining adventures. Hepburn and Wayne together is even more fun than Bogart and Hepburn in The African Queen. A timeless treasure.