#True grit 1969 movie#

Portis wrote his dialog in a formal, enchantingly archaic style that has been retained in Marguerite Roberts' screenplay.Ĭampbell, who needs some acting practice, finds it difficult to make the dialog convincing but Hathaway pulls him through. And we embark on a glorious adventure not far removed from Huck Finn's trip down the Mississippi, for this is also an American odyssey. Rooster and the ranger can't get rid of Mattie so she comes along. 'It is a small reward,' the ranger explains, 'but he was not a large senator.'Īfter two horse-trading scenes in which Mattie outtalks the horse trader and drives him to distraction, the three set out into Indian Territory. Then a Texas Ranger ( Glen Campbell) gets into the act when he turns up and claims he has a reward for the killer (who also, it appears, plugged a state senator in Texas). Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Wayne), who is a one-eyed, unwashed, sandpapered, roughshod, fat old rascal with a heart of gold well-covered by a hide of leather. Mattie (played with the freshness of sweet cream by Kim Darby) rides to town to hire somebody to go into the Indian Territory and capture the scoundrel. One day her father rides off to the city and is murdered by a cowardly snake. It is based faithfully on Charles Portis' novel, and it tells the story of Mattie Ross from near Dardanelle, in Yell County. Instead, it is the Western you should see if you only see one Western every three years (an act of denial I cannot quite comprehend in any case). It goes on the list with 'National Velvet' and ' Robin Hood' and 'The African Queen' and ' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and 'Gunga Din.' It is not a work of art, but it wouldn't be nearly as good if it were. It is one of the most delightful, joyous scary movies of all time.

#True grit 1969 movie#

This is the sort of film you call a movie, instead of the kind of movie you call a film. It was not directed by Ford (who in any event probably couldn't have been objective enough about Wayne), but it was directed by another old Western hand, Hathaway, who has made the movie of his lifetime and given us a masterpiece. One of the glories of 'True Grit' is that it recognizes Wayne's special presence. Today there is no actor in movies who is more an archetype. But long before many of us were born, John Ford began to sculpture the actor and the star into the presence. In the early ones, like 'The Quiet Man' or 'The Long Voyage Home,' he was simply an actor or simply a star. I have on occasion disliked his movies, most particularly ' The Green Berets.' But Wayne has a way of surmounting even bad movies, and in 40 years he has also made a great many good ones.

This was the moment when you finally realized how much Wayne had come to mean to you. This was the essence of Wayne, the distillation. The night I saw a sneak preview, the audience laughed and even applauded.