Rooster Cogburn (1975)

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:

Although John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn refer to Strother Martin as "Old Man", he was in fact twelve years younger than them.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The movie is set in Oklahoma, but features unrealistically large mountains.

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:

Referenced in "Married with Children: Pump Fiction (#9.24)" (1995)

The Same Sense of Integrity

A reading of the other reviews of Rooster Cogburn indicate that only fans of the two stars should look at this film. That's not saying a whole lot since this was a vehicle created for the two stars and only the two stars in this film could have brought it off.

It was a happy marriage of convenience with John Wayne's character of Rooster Cogburn from True Grit being so popular that a sequel was inevitable given Wayne's health holding up and Katharine Hepburn looking for something she could co-star with Wayne.

Hepburn was one of John Wayne's biggest boosters of his talent, politics aside. I remember reading that she thought John Wayne projected the same sense of integrity that Spencer Tracy did on the screen. Coming from her, I've got to believe that's the best compliment she could offer.

Wayne as Cogburn is on the trail of a gang that massacred an army patrol and stole a gatling gun and nitroglycerin for use in a planned bank robbery. The gang headed by Richard Jordan with Anthony Zerbe who used to scout for Wayne go to an Indian settlement with a missionary school headed by father and daughter preacher and teacher Jon Lormer and Katharine Hepburn. The gang shoots up the place and kills Lormer.

When Wayne comes he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he finds himself saddled with Hepburn and young Indian boy Richard Romancito. They accompany him on the trail of Jordan and his gang and get enough adventure to last a lifetime.

Everyone compares Hepburn as Eula Goodnight to her portrayal of another missionary, Rose Sayer in The African Queen. Both are on a chase in The African Queen with Bogey after the Germans who destroyed the mission in East Africa and killed her brother and with Wayne after some outlaws. And both films feature a very fine sequence of the two stars riding some rapids. But I think Eula Goodnight is a far more experienced woman of the world than Rose Sayer. Both disapprove of the alcoholic behavior of their male counterparts. Rose however takes some direct action.

As the film was designed around the two stars they settle comfortably in their roles. The chemistry between them is infectious, that they liked each other would be obvious to an alien from another planet.

I really envy young Richard Romancito to be in all those scenes and be able to watch a pair of screen legends.