True Grit (1969, G)

            A generally but not entirely faithful adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel True Grit, the movie True Grit, which was released a year later after the book, was made as star power for Western hero John Wayne, who played, in what is definitely one of his more iconic and well-known roles, as the fearless, aging, one-eyed Marshall Reuben ‘Rooster’ Cogburn.  Wayne won his only Academy Award for his performance.

            The film follows a 14-year old girl named Mattie Ross, portrayed by the 21 year old actress Kim Darby, who hires Cogburn to track down her father’s killer Tom Chaney.  An inexperienced Texas Ranger, La Boeuf, played by Glen Campbell, joins in on the three to take Chaney dead or alive because he killed a Texas Senator.  The unlikely trio rides out into the wilderness, where they discover that Chaney has joined forces with the notorious Ned Pepper gang, with whom Cogburn had tried to capture in the past.

                Under the lazy direction of Henry Hathaway, True Grit makes an obvious use of star power with John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby and a then young Robert Duvall, but it’s also an entertaining, enjoyable and timeless western.  All in all, I found True Grit to be one of my favorite of Wayne’s westerns, even though he personally made just a few slight changes such as having his eye patched moved to his left eye, and wielding his traditional Winchester 1892 rifle and his Colt six-gun rather than two Colts as in the novel. 

            True Grit was pure classic Wayne, with a good story and character development.  My favorite scene though still remains Wayne’s famous charge during the climatic shootout in the end.

                                                 ****/5