True Grit

As the cancer-ridden gunfighter in The Shootist, John Wayne—in his last film—went outin a blaze of glory. But True Grit, an old school Western released in 1969 (a year in which the X-rated Midnight Cowboy took home the Oscar for Best Picture), would have been a much more fitting swan song. The "meanest, pitiless, double-tough" U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Wayne) is hired by headstrong 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby, holding her own against the formidable screen legend) to capture the "trash" who killed her father ("I won't rest until Tom Cheney is barking in hell," she says). True Grit refers not only to Cogburn's crusty character, but also to the fact that there is not a whit of the moral ambiguity of the revisionist Westerns from the late '60s here: it's just John Wayne vs. the bad guys. As the Texas Ranger who doesn't see eye to eye with Cogburn, Glen Campbell is about as believable as Rick Nelson was in Rio Bravo (but he does get to sing the title song). True Grit is rousingly entertaining, especially in the film's classic climactic scene in which Cogburn faces four outlaws on horseback, led by Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall). What's a "one-eyed fat man" to do but put the reigns of his trusty horse in his teeth and take them all on with a rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other? DVD extras on this “special collector's edition” include an entertaining and informative audio commentary, a “True Writing” featurette on the original source novel by Charles Portis, a “Working with the Duke” tribute, an “Aspen Gold” location featurette, and “The Law and the Lawless” segment on Old West history. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)[Blu-ray Review—Dec. 21, 2010—Paramount, 127 min., G, $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1969's True Grit sports a great transfer and DTS-HD 5.1 audio. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous DVD release, including an audio commentary (by Western film historian Jeb Rosebrook, True West magazine executive editor Bob Boze Bell, and historian J. Stuart Rosenbrook), a “Working with the Duke” tribute to John Wayne (10 min.), an “Aspen Gold” location featurette (10 min.), a “True Writing” featurette on the novel by Charles Portis (5 min.), “The Law and the Lawless” segment on Old West history (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for this classic Western.]