Rooster Cogburn (1975)

That was an excellent one.

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Released in 1975, "Rooster Cogburn" stars John Wayne as hard-drinking, but formidable Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who reluctantly teams-up with a missionary, Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn), and a Native orphan, Wolf (Richard Romancito), to take down a band of ruthless outlaws who stole a wagon of nitro and guns in the Oregon wilderness. Richard Jordan plays the hardened leader of the owlhoots, who is assisted by a man that used to work for Cogburn (Anthony Zerbe). John McIntire has a small role as a judge.I've been wanting to see this movie for years, but never got around to it till now. I was a little apprehensive as I heard it was seriously flawed, but was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. In fact, it won a spot on my favorite Westerns list.Let's first consider the nitpicky criticisms. One critic complained that a Gatling gun pops up out of nowhere when the protagonists are cornered, but Cogburn explained to Eula earlier at the Native Mission that there were guns in the wagon that the outlaws stole, along with nitro. Thus when they're later camping out (after confiscating the wagon) Rooster pulls out the Gatling gun in case the gang shows up. Where's the beef? Another complaint is that the guy who plays Eula's father is only a year younger than Hepburn in real life. Who cares? He LOOKS old enough to be her father. Besides, his role is a glorified cameo and so it isn't even worth mentioning. Another criticism is that the tone is "too light," but the film has the same air as "True Grit" and Wayne's other latter-day Westerns. It's an entertaining Western mix of serious drama with intermittent spurts of violence and occasional moments of amusement. Isn't that the way real life is? This is one of the things I like about the movie, it's not one-dimensional. One last beef is that Ms. Goodnight constantly spouts platitudes and homilies and it gets old after a while, but this ties-in to her character arc: She just lost her father and many Native friends and so when she meets Rooster she's grim and intent on justice. But, as she & Wolf get to know the Marshal, she increasingly lets her hair down, so to speak. Speaking of which, the highlight of the movie is the relationship that develops between Cogburn and Eula, as well the father/son rapport that grows between Cogburn and Wolf. They develop into a family of sorts and it's heartwarming. The banter between Rooster and Ms. Goodnight is well-written and consistently amusing, particularly if you're familiar with the Bible. Another highlight is the Oregon locations, some of which are spectacular, like the river canyon in the final act. Not many Westerns were/are shot in Oregon and this makes for a unique Western ambiance. This isn't to say that the movie is without flaws, however. For instance, is it likely that they would handle the nitro as seemingly careless as observed in the movie? Would any sane person cart boxes of nitro on a raft going down a river with a section containing serious rapids? It would be suicidal. But movies often amp-up things like this to make the characters and events larger-than-life. In short, this ain't real life; it's a MOVIE meant to entertain (but, don't get me wrong, I prefer realism). The film runs 108 minutes and was shot in Oregon (Deschutes National Forest, Rogue River, Smith Rock State Park & Grants Pass) with a few scenes shot at Six Points Texas, Backlot, Universal Studios, California. GRADE: A-

John Wayne returns to his iconic, Oscar winning character of one eyed, colorful deputy marshal "Rooster" Cogburn in this passable sequel (of sorts) to "True Grit". At the beginning of the story, Rooster is stripped of his authority by a judge (John McIntire). But the judge soon changes his tune, and tasks Rooster to bring an outlaw gang, led by Hawk (Richard Jordan), to justice. Roosters' biggest problem: a spinster named Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn) insists on tagging along, because her minister father (Jon Lormer) was murdered by the Hawk gang and she wants to see that they're properly punished."Rooster Cogburn" is no "True Grit", not by a long shot, with a rather redundant story (by actress Martha Hyer, writing under a pseudonym). It's handsomely shot in widescreen, with some decent action (especially a finale on some river rapids), but it gets awfully bogged down in talk, with too much bickering and bantering between our two leads. Hepburn is wonderful, but her character does get annoying at times. The Duke is quite lively and engaging, and his reactions to her sermonizing ways can be pretty funny. Rooster is definitely an old fashioned kind of guy who's not used to this level of feistiness from a lady.The supporting cast is good. Jordan is unsubtle but amusing as the villain, while Anthony Zerbe has a more interesting role as the scout who rides with him. Other familiar character players like Paul Koslo, Jack Colvin, and Lane Smith turn up. Strother Martin gives the tale a shot in the arm with his appearance as the cantankerous McCoy. And Richard Romancito is appealing as a brave, reliable Indian kid who is the third member of the Cogburn travelling party.Admittedly, it's the star power that is the principal value of this movie. But Wayne and Hepburn set off enough sparks to make this pleasant if not exceptional viewing.Six out of 10.

Rooster Cogburn has John Wayne reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn from True Grit that won him his only Academy Award of his legendary film career.The sequel of the said film is once again based on Charles Portis' novel True Grit and legendary actress Katherine Hepburn co-stars.In it,Rooster is faced with a dilemma wherein he must win his badge back after he lost it due to his routine arrests that have ended in bloodshed.This time,he must bring down a group of bank robbers who has stolen a wagon shipment of nitroglycerin.He is assisted by his spinster daughter Eula Goodnight,who makes as an unwilling partner.The sequel of True Grit fails short of being at par with the original as it basically rehashes the successful elements of the first film.It was also noticeable that both Wayne and Hepburn are somewhat uncomfortable with each other that both seem to look awkward on screen in the only film that they made together.But in spite of it,it would still provide a lot of enjoyment and entertainment for John Wayne and Western fans as it provides a lot of fun and action scenes.

Looking at some of the other reviews on here I am prone to thinking that I must have watched a different film!Others have criticised the plot but I thought that this was actually one of the best parts of the film! It is no worse than many other Westerns made in the previous 40 years and certainly feasible and not BADLY written(although no "High Noon", or "Destry").The sad thing for me however was watching the two main stars who appeared to be both well past their prime. Although in the case of Wayne the script eludes to this with the Cogburn character being described as "having let himself" and being "old" in no way am I saying that we should not have "old" actors on screen. Indeed I would welcome it. Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood to name but three have all improved with age but both Wayne and Hepburn did not with this one.For large parts of the film it looked like they were simply reading the script and both of them were clearly having difficulty in merely getting up and walking. (Yet miraculously could ride their horses at break-neck speed and operate a raft with amazing dexterity). On top of this there were some really gaping holes in credulity: Hepburn was 68 when this film was made but one of the main elements of the storyline is that her father is killed (played by Jon Lormer who was actually only a year older than she was)! The average life expectancy for white males in the 1880s in America was under 40! (Even less in "The West") and whilst people did live into old-age, they certainly would not have been as "nimble" as Lormer was (in comparison to the leads).I thought that both of the main stars were wooden and overall film was rather "clunky". Anthony Zerbe played his part well but even here was let down but the fact that every time I looked at him I just thought of Clint Eastwood due to the laziness of the costume department!Do yourself a favour and give this one a miss. If you do want to see these stars at their best, watch Wayne in "True Grit" and Hepburn in the "African Queen" instead.