He may have been 62 years old with only one lung when he made True Grit, but John Wayne fills the screen with energy. His portrayal of Rooster Cogburn deservedly won him an Oscar.
Cogburn seems an unlikely Western hero: he's old and fat, wears the wrong colour of hat and likes to pull a cork. Yet he's the marshall that Mattie Ross hires to bring her father's killer to justice. The fact that she insists on coming along to help him is perhaps the weakest aspect of the story but the end result is so enjoyable that we can forgive this.
Robert Duvall, as Lucky Ned Pepper, makes a great job of playing the leader of the outlaw band Rooster, Ross and Ranger have to confront.
The action culminates in a scene that no other western has matched before or since.
Cogburn seems an unlikely Western hero: he's old and fat, wears the wrong colour of hat and likes to pull a cork. Yet he's the marshall that Mattie Ross hires to bring her father's killer to justice. The fact that she insists on coming along to help him is perhaps the weakest aspect of the story but the end result is so enjoyable that we can forgive this.
Robert Duvall, as Lucky Ned Pepper, makes a great job of playing the leader of the outlaw band Rooster, Ross and Ranger have to confront.
The action culminates in a scene that no other western has matched before or since.