Rooster Cogburn [Blu-ray]

John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn stand toe to toe
Sometimes a multitude of wrongs can come out right. Hollywood has a penchant for making sequels to successful films, so when John Wayne finally won an Oscar for his performance in "True Grit." Wayne played Rooster Cogburn, a fearless, one-eyed U.S. marshal who never knew a dry day in his life. Fortunately Hollywood waited six years before making this 1975 sequel. However, at that point they not only hired a novice screenwriter, actress Martha Hyer ("First Men in the Moon"), they let her rip off "The African Queen" and turn it into a western. Fortunately, they hired Katharine Hepburn to play opposite the Duke.

That is what "Rooster Cogburn" comes down to, the chance for John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn to do scenes together; it also explains why the film is also known as "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady." Hepburn plays Rose Sayer, no, wait, I mean Eula Goodnight, who is the daughter of a minister (Jon Lormer) instead of the brother...

#1 Western
Rooster Cogburn is the absolute best western ever made. I personally think it is Wayne's greatest work. It moves along much more quickly than its predecessor, True Grit, and I have found Rooster to be a movie I can watch over and over again.

Storyline is incredible, and the scenery is magnificent. I do agree, however, that mature audiences will like it better... But the "official" reviewer above is clearly one of those who is not a Wayne fan. Watch the film for yourself, you will NOT be disappointed!!!

A sequel that defies conventional wisdom
I actually prefer this movie to the first appearance of Wayne as Cogburn, "True Grit," even though he got the Oscar for that while this one seems to have sunk with hardly a critical trace. A sort of Western remake of "The African Queen" (complete with Katie Hepburn as a strait-laced spinster), with murderous outlaws taking the place of the Nazis, it finds Rooster unwillingly joining up with missionary's daughter Eula Goodnight ("Sister," as he calls her) to catch her father's murderers, who happen to be the same gang of ordnance-hijackers he was sent out from Fort Smith to apprehend. Though played much more for laughs than its predecessor (here, as in "McLintock" and "Donovan's Reef," Wayne clearly displays an unmistakeable gift for comedy), it's not without either headlong action, taut suspense, or sexual tension. Admittedly I'm not sure there are any river gorges like these in the *real* (former) Indian Territory, but who cares when the scenery is so breathtaking? And there's a...

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