Great movie, and John Wayne's penultimate one
A sequel, of sorts, to True Grit (1969). John Wayne stars, as before, as Marshall Rooster Cogburn. Similar story to True Grit - woman wants her relative(s) killers brought to justice and turns to Rooster Cogburn. In True Grit the woman was young, and played by Kim Darby. In Rooster Cogburn the woman is elderly, and played by the great Katharine Hepburn.Though I liked True Grit (7/10), I liked Rooster Cogburn even more. The story was more interesting, and the character-based drama was very entertaining. The relationship between John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn's characters was good to watch. Your typical chalk and cheese (both in terms of the characters and the actors), yet they find a common ground.
Solid plot, though there are some minor unnecessary or unrealistic detours. As mentioned, plot is similar to True Grit, and, to an extent, The African Queen (1951), which, interestly, also starred Katharine Hepburn. Direction is good.
I am not a fan of John Wayne - his performances are often one-dimensional, gung ho and wooden. Yet, as he grew older, he started to develop the character-actor side, maybe out of necessity, as you can only be an action-actor for so long. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and True Grit (for which he won the Best Actor Oscar) he shows a more sensitive side, and this comes through here too. Sadly, this was to be his penultimate movie. He made one more - The Shootist (1976) - before dying in 1979 at the age of 72.
Katharine Hepburn reprises her role from The African Queen, and does it very well. As mentioned before, the interaction between her and John Wayne is quite something to behold.
A great movie.
score 8/10
grantss 6 March 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5531520/35463
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