When her father is gunned down, little Mattie Ross (played wonderfully by Kim Darby) solicits the help of a man with True Grit. A tough son of a gun rough enough to get her the justice she craves. She finds a drunken, fat, old, one-eyed Marshall by the name of Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) to hunt down the perpetrator instead. But he has reservations about helping a kid like her.
When it becomes clear that her father's killer, Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), is running with Lucky Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall), a man Rooster's had his good eye on for a while, the old drunk is eager to get her man. Along for the ride is a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell), who is looking at a very fine purse for taking Chaney back to face justice back home.
Buy at AllPosters.comThe beauty of this film is in the dialogue. Darby's performance as a tough-talking young girl, carrying about her dead daddy's gun and the name of her family's lawyer as a sword is perfectly matched against John Wayne's tough Marshall and Campbell's Ranger.
True Grit is two hours of excellent entertainment that explodes into one of the more excellent climaxes (so far as in the Ned Pepper subplot, I mean) in movie history. There is nothing like watching The Duke riding head-long, four against one, hell-bent for justice.
While this is one of Glen Campbell's earliest roles, he handles the part okay, if a little off and a little stiff at times. The only other problem I had was too few scenes with the badass Robert Duvall. I love Duvall, but think his character could have had a few more minutes to be evil.
Wayne's performance is excellent as the grumpy old drunk. The more of his films I see, the more used to seeing his presence I become. I think it's what made him an icon. I remember being sort of off-put the first time I really saw him act. (I'm actually embarrassed I hadn't seen more of his stuff back when I was a kid. Westerns were never really my thing until after the all-night movie runs my brother and I would sit through had long passed us by.) This is John Wayne? I asked myself. He seems so different. But after a while it hits. There hasn't been a star of his caliber in thirty years. There have been great actors since surely, but not someone who made a picture something so special. Wayne made a picture an event.
True Grit is one such film.
For its Genre/Era/X: 5/5.
Overall: 5/5.
Look for a very young Dennis Hopper half-way through.
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