|
|
True Grit on DVD (1969)
RelatedCritics Reviews
Radio Times
Big John Wayne finally won peer group recognition, taking the best actor Oscar for his performance in this western as Reuben J “Rooster” Cogburn, a cantankerous, one-eyed, drunken old reprobate hired by Mattie Ross (the excellent Kim Darby) to avenge her father's death at the hands of thoroughly nasty Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). This movie has acquired a reputation for being a rollicking fun western, but actually it is surprisingly violent for a Wayne film (a pit of rattlesnakes, Dennis Hopper's fingers being severed), and, with its finely hewn, semi-Biblical dialogue (by Marguerite Roberts from Charles Portis's marvellous novel), it's not — unlike Wayne's earlier westerns — really suitable for family viewing, despite its strong moral theme. Glen Campbell is ineffective as Texas Ranger La Boeuf — a role first offered to Elvis Presley, to whom Wayne wouldn't take second billing — but it doesn't really matter. It's still a film of many memorable moments, not least of which is Cogburn's final shoot-out in a Colorado clearing.
Disappointingly slow-moving and uninventive semi-spoof Western with a roistering performance from a veteran star, who won a sentimental Oscar for daring to look fat and old. Time Out It was in El Dorado that Wayne ruefully admitted his reflexes weren't quite what they were. Here, amiably sending up... Read more on www.timeout.com Members ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |
Similar collections
blind_scouse (5)
More collections |
Halliwell's Film Guide
