Friday 17 March 2023

Rooster Cogburn (1975 Stuart Millar)

Derived from the character from the novel 'True Grit' by Charles Portis, adapted into the film of the same name, this is a sequel / variant written by Martha Hyer. This time it's the fiercely independent religious teacher Katharine Hepburn who links up with John Wayne in order to stop the bad men from using stolen nitro glycerine to rob a bank. I thought they said they were in Arizona, but it's filmed in Oregon (by Harry Stradling Jr.)

It's quite predictable, should have made more of supporting character Wolf (Richard Romancito). Richard Jordan is the baddy, Anthony Zerbe his guide, John McIntire the judge, Strother Martin a reluctant river crossing pilot. Could have been much better - relationship between the two comes too easily - still, fun to see this unlikely pairing.

I was surprised to read that Wayne had asked Peter Bogdanovich to direct it but he turned him down.

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