Rooster Cogburn

Starring: John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Jordan, John McIntire, Paul Koslo, Lane Smith
Directed by: Stuart Millar
Rating: PG
Genre: Western, Action
1975

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) teams up with a strong-willed woman (Katherine Hepburn) to hunt down her father's killer.

Review:

Tim: Six years after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor, John Wayne once again reprises his role of Marshal Rooster Cogburn for a film named after his famous character. I don't off hand recall very many Western sequels, so this film is immediately a bit interesting. It's also pretty interesting to see Wayne playing the same role a second time. As you might expect, Wayne is significantly older and crustier, and the film itself is very similar to the original. Rooster Cogburn follows a very similar plot to True Grit- the marshal reluctantly teams up with a strong woman (this time, an older one, not a little girl) to track down the killer of her father. It bothered me a little that the plot was basically the same- of all the adventures Cogburn has had, we get to watch basically the same one twice?

However, this film at least tried to give the audience more of what it liked. We again see Wayne going through intense action scenes while tracking down a murderer. We have scenes of him paired with a woman, suffering at her hands and getting flustered. Wayne in action scenes and Wayne in scenes where he's in over his head are two audience favorites. I can't blame this film too much for playing it safe and delivering a film it thought audiences would like. However, as so often happens, playing it safe isn't a great option- it's a way to deliver a good movie, but rarely a great one. Great risk can reap great rewards- playing it safe usually delivers lesser results. That's true here.

I mostly liked John Wayne in this role. He's clearly comfortable in the role but occasionally felt like he was going through the motions. I don't believe he gave a performance of real merit. This film came at the end of his career (his second-to-last role), and it shows. He had only one lung, and this was a difficult shoot. This shows up in the film, and detracts a bit from the quality. I liked seeing Katherine Hepburn (in her only Western, I believe) in this film, and it was interesting pairing her with Wayne. These are two different yet very good actors, and it was fun watching them interact. I don't believe they necessarily had great chemistry, but it was at least decent. Their lines did occasionally feel forced, but for the most part, it was fun to watch.

It's possible I am being more forgiving of this movie than I should have. I really enjoyed True Grit, and I admit I liked the idea of seeing Wayne reprise this famous role. The movie does feature some very good action sequences (there's a gun fight on a raft!) and has a number of tense moments. This movie was fun to watch, even if the quality was less than it should have been. While it's clear Rooster Cogburn does not meet the level of the first film, there's enough goodwill carried over from the original to help this one a bit. I didn't love this movie, but I thought it was pretty good. I did have an entertaining time with it.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
True Grit, The Shootist