Rooster Cogburn (1975)

Released in 1975, "Rooster Cogburn" stars John Wayne as hard-drinking, but formidable Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who reluctantly teams-up with a missionary, Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn), and a Native orphan, Wolf (Richard Romancito), to take down a band of ruthless outlaws who stole a wagon of nitro and guns in the Oregon wilderness. Richard Jordan plays the hardened leader of the owlhoots, who is assisted by a man that used to work for Cogburn (Anthony Zerbe). John McIntire has a small role as a judge.I've been wanting to see this movie for years, but never got around to it till now. I was a little apprehensive as I heard it was seriously flawed, but was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. In fact, it won a spot on my favorite Westerns list.Let's first consider the nitpicky criticisms. One critic complained that a Gatling gun pops up out of nowhere when the protagonists are cornered, but Cogburn explained to Eula earlier at the Native Mission that there were guns in the wagon that the outlaws stole, along with nitro. Thus when they're later camping out (after confiscating the wagon) Rooster pulls out the Gatling gun in case the gang shows up. Where's the beef? Another complaint is that the guy who plays Eula's father is only a year younger than Hepburn in real life. Who cares? He LOOKS old enough to be her father. Besides, his role is a glorified cameo and so it isn't even worth mentioning. Another criticism is that the tone is "too light," but the film has the same air as "True Grit" and Wayne's other latter-day Westerns. It's an entertaining Western mix of serious drama with intermittent spurts of violence and occasional moments of amusement. Isn't that the way real life is? This is one of the things I like about the movie, it's not one-dimensional. One last beef is that Ms. Goodnight constantly spouts platitudes and homilies and it gets old after a while, but this ties-in to her character arc: She just lost her father and many Native friends and so when she meets Rooster she's grim and intent on justice. But, as she & Wolf get to know the Marshal, she increasingly lets her hair down, so to speak. Speaking of which, the highlight of the movie is the relationship that develops between Cogburn and Eula, as well the father/son rapport that grows between Cogburn and Wolf. They develop into a family of sorts and it's heartwarming. The banter between Rooster and Ms. Goodnight is well-written and consistently amusing, particularly if you're familiar with the Bible. Another highlight is the Oregon locations, some of which are spectacular, like the river canyon in the final act. Not many Westerns were/are shot in Oregon and this makes for a unique Western ambiance. This isn't to say that the movie is without flaws, however. For instance, is it likely that they would handle the nitro as seemingly careless as observed in the movie? Would any sane person cart boxes of nitro on a raft going down a river with a section containing serious rapids? It would be suicidal. But movies often amp-up things like this to make the characters and events larger-than-life. In short, this ain't real life; it's a MOVIE meant to entertain (but, don't get me wrong, I prefer realism). The film runs 108 minutes and was shot in Oregon (Deschutes National Forest, Rogue River, Smith Rock State Park & Grants Pass) with a few scenes shot at Six Points Texas, Backlot, Universal Studios, California. GRADE: A-

First off, let me say that it was a pleasure to see John Wayne & Katharine Hepburn in the same movie for the only time in their careers. Although, they were too old to play these parts, that doesn't change the fact that any movie they were in was infinitely better simply due to their presence.However, I felt that the plot was generally inferior to True Grit, which the character of Rooster Cogburn in based from. Second, the supporting cast in this film was extremely weak, especially, the villains. And third, the plot was very haphazard, making little to no sense in several parts.With all that being said, this is still a very good movie and one any fan of Wayne or Hepburn should definitely see. My grade would be a B.

That does seem to be the general consensus surrounding Rooster Cogburn and I agree. The best asset of the film is easily the performances and chemistry of John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn, who are wonderful individually and together, and I was also impressed with the handsome cinematography, beautiful scenery and rousing score. There are some moments of witty and fun dialogue too.Conversely, the film is rather sluggishly directed and also the film does drag in spots. I wasn't taken with Richard Jordan, I thought he overacted to the point it was somewhat distracting. The weakest asset of Rooster Cogburn is the story, it feels very cobbled together and is clumsily told.In conclusion, it is a decent movie that could have been more. That said, Wayne and Hepburn actually prevent it from being any less than it turned out to be. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Though most will probably disagree, I thought this was a little better than True Grit. Seeing John Wayne spoof himself is still a lot of fun. This time around there's actually quite a bit of chemistry between him and Katherine Hepburn, much more so than Wayne and Kim Darby in the first film. Also, the pace is a little faster and the villains played by Richard Jordan, Anthony Zerbe, and Paul Koslo, much nastier.The kid who plays Wolf, the Indian boy, is quite appealing and a pretty good little actor. It's too bad he didn't become a bigger star, the same for Koslo, who's really great here at portraying an oily weasel and in Mr. Majestyk with Charles Bronson.The climax is great and it's pretty cool seeing the Duke firing a machine gun!