True Grit

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Henry Hathaway
Starring:	John Wayne, Kim Darby
Release date:	13 May, 2003
List price:	~~$12.99~~
Our price:	$11.23 that is 14% off!

True Grit

Average rating: Stars

John Wayne's Oscar Winning Performance

John Wayne won his only Oscar for his portrayal of the drunken, one-eyed Marshal Reuben J. ("Rooster") Cogburn in this 1969 movie. Young Mattie Ross is searching for her father's killer, and she wants a man with "true grit" to help her. The film is about their journey to find the killer, what happens when they find him, and how she gets home again. Wayne plays a different kind of character here, an oafish, overweight drunk who lives with his cat in the back of a store. He seems like a buffoon until the showdown with the bad guy, at odds of four to one. When he twirls his rifle, just the same way he did thirty years before in "Stagecoach," we know he's still John Wayne. This is a surprisingly touching movie, where Wayne displays a tender, gentler side seen in few of his 1960's roles. I do have to say, however, that Kim Darby's performance is one of the major flaws in this movie. She's TOO unlikeable, I'm sorry to say. (You wonder why you haven't heard of her since!) Not Wayne's best movie, but a good one, and worth seeing if only for the fact that it got him a long-coveted Oscar. (Trivia: the film was remade in 1978 for TV with Warren Oates in the title role, and was highly forgettable!)

True Grit - John Wayne, Kim Darby

The Duke's Academy Award winning performance!

"True Grit" starring John Wayne as US Marshall Rooster Cogburn, Kim Darby as Mattie Ross and Glen Campbell as Texas Ranger LeBeouf is a classic western that is suited for all ages. The Duke is in his element as a crotchety, "shoot-first, ask-questions-later", US Marshall who is hired by Mattie Ross to find the killer of her father. Helping with the search of the murderer Tom Chaney is Campbell as a young, still "wet-behind-the-ears" Texas Ranger who wants Chaney for the murder of a State Senator in Texas.

While starting just a little slow for a Wayne Western, the film picks up steam as the trio head into "Indian Country" to find Chaney. Along the way, Director Henry Hathaway develops each of the characters and binds them together. Darby is terrific as the prim and proper young Ross who is wise beyond years and will be nobody's fool. Campbell, while somewhat stiff as the Texas Ranger, holds his own in the shadow of The Duke.

The supporting cast is outstanding led by Robert Duvall (as Lucky Ned Pepper), Strother Martin, Jeremy Slade and Dennis Hopper (in all too small of a role). The scenery (even if it's not Oklahoma) and cinematography are spectacular. The ending is satisfying and heartfelt. And while the DVD contains nothing in the way of extras and the sound is basically mono, this is one movie that you can watch with the whole family and feel good about.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR JOHN WAYNE AND ALL WESTERN FANS

John Wayne, Kim Darby - True Grit

I disagree, this is one of John Wayne's worst showings.

I have many of Duke's classics in my library and enjoy them each and every time they are played. This is not one to add to my library.