dual personalities

Tag: Rooster Cogburn (1975)

September 10, 2019

The slow-drawn wagon

by chuckofish

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I had a very quiet weekend. In fact I never left my house! The wee babes came over on Sunday for dinner and shook things up for a wee bit, but they weren’t too…rowdy… IMG_1974.jpegIMG_1958.jpeg

They are always so good at entertaining themselves with the same old toys and books while the grownups talk.

Speaking of books, I read one I picked up on the giveaway table at work–This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash.

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It was pretty good, but I can’t say it lived up to the cover hype that it was a cross between Harper Lee and Elmore Leonard. There were two children in the book, but they weren’t exactly Jem and Scout, and, yes, it took place in the South. Comparisons are odious and sometimes downright embarrassing.

I also watched a couple of good movies–Rooster Cogburn (1975) with John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn…

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and Wagon Master (1950) directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr.

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Rooster Cogburn is worth watching to see the two great stars (both 67 at the time) so obviously enjoying themselves. Clearly they liked each other and were having a fine time. Who cares if the plot is a bit shopworn? The scenery is beautiful and the music rousing.

Wagon Master, on the other hand, is a real masterpiece…and there is nary a star in sight. Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr., usually supporting players, are called upon to carry the action, along with Ward Bond, and they do just fine. It is a beautiful movie filmed in black and white by Bert Glennon in Moab, Utah. The story, which follows a group of Mormon pioneers going West, is a solid one and, as usual in Ford movies, is populated with realistic characters.

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Yes, that’s Russell Simpson as a Mormon elder next to Jane Darwell.

So I recommend both movies.

Now it is back to a busy week at work. I am also looking for something to read!

The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready,
The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,
The clear light plays on the brown gray and green intertinged,
The armfuls are pack'd to the sagging mow.

I am there, I help, I came stretch'd atop of the load,
I felt its soft jolts, one leg reclined on the other,
I jump from the cross-beams and seize the clover and timothy,
And roll head over heels and tangle my hair full of wisps.

--Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 9
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October 24, 2014

“Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way.”*

by chuckofish

Since I asked the trivia question yesterday, for which True Grit (1969) is the answer, I will suggest it as my Friday movie pick.

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It has been a long time since I read the book by Charles Portis, but I remember that this film is a remarkably close adaption of it, which makes for a really good and authentic movie. The story revolves around Mattie Ross who is bent on avenging the death of her father and bringing to justice his killer, Tom Cheney. She hires U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to go after him and insists on accompanying him on the trail. They are joined by a Texas Ranger, La Boeuf, as they head into the Indian Territory.

John Wayne, of course, is great in his Academy Award-winning role of Cogburn. Glen Campbell isn’t bad as La Boeuf and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross has grown on me. If you can ignore her ridiculous modern hairdo, she is really pretty good. She is not supposed to be endearing or even particularly likeable–but she does have true grit and lots of it. Robert Duvall and the rest of the supporting players are also terrific. It is interesting to see Dennis Hopper in one of his last roles before he went the Easy Rider hippie/drug route. [Side note: Hopper always credited John Wayne with saving his career when, after seven years of no one hiring him, Wayne gave him a job in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). (I could do a whole blogpost about actors whose careers were resurrected/saved by John Wayne.)]

True Grit was beautifully shot on location, mainly in Ouray County, Colorado, which is right next door to my ancestral Hinsdale County–so I am partial to the gorgeous San Juan scenery. The courthouse scene was filmed in the Ouray County Courthouse.

Unfortunately, I have watched the movie fairly recently, so I really should watch the new version tonight, but as I make it a rule never to watch re-makes of John Wayne films, I am unable to do so. This is a good rule. Therefore, I will try to get my hands on the sequel to True Grit—Rooster Cogburn (1975) which co-starred Katharine Hepburn in a sort of western version of The African Queen.

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Although not the classic its predecessor is, it is a good and highly enjoyable movie. You can tell that the two great stars were simpatico and liked each other a lot.

So that’s my plan.

Have a great weekend!

*Rooster Cogburn in True Grit

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