Though the hey-day of Westerns may feel like a long-gone Hollywood era — with some resurgences here and there — the genre is still widely beloved among audiences who revisit the classics over and over again. And its near impossible to talk about Westerns and old Hollywood without mentioning John Wayne. The Western icon starred in several movies of the genre, and one of the most popular of them is coming to Paramount+ this month: True Grit, from 1969.
Set in 1880’s Arkansas, True Grit centers around Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), a girl who decides to pay a bounty to an aging U.S. Marshal in order to avenge her father’s death. The Marshal is “Rooster” Cogburn (Wayne), a man who’s not at the top of his game but finds in the challenge a chance to prove his own worth. The cast also featured Robert Duvall (The Pale Blue Eye), Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider) and Glen Campbell (Norwood), and the movie was directed by Henry Hathaway (The Last Safari).
Back when it premiered, True Grit was a standout and underscored Wayne’s talent for the genre. It earned the actor’s very first — and only — Oscar, and the success prompted him to return and star in the sequel, titled Rooster Cogburn. The sequel ended up becoming one of Wayne’s last appearances onscreen before his death in 1979. On Rotten Tomatoes, True Grit’s average score reflects how appreciated the movie was — it stands tall with an 88% critic raiting, and revieers agreed it was Wayne’s movie all the way. Celebrated critic Roger Ebert gave True Gritfour stars out of four and called it “a masterpiece.”
How Many ‘True Grit’s Are There?
True Grit’s popularity prompted a remake in 2010, directed and written by none other than The Coen Brothers and with Jeff Bridges (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) playing the role that once belonged to Wayne. Curiously, Bridges was also nominated for an Oscar for his performance, making it a rare occasion in which two actors are nominated for the same award and in the same category for playing the same character.
Both versions were based on the 1968 best-selling novel of the same name, written by author Charles Portis. Aside from the 1969 movie and its sequel, the novel also inspired a third installment that was made directly for television and didn’t feature Wayne at all. In True Grit: A Further Adventure, Cogburn was played by Warren Oates (The Wild Bunch) and the story once again teamed him up with Mattie Ross, this time played by Lisa Pelikan (Return to The Blue Lagoon).
True Grit becomes available to stream on Paramount+ on September 1. You can check out the trailer below: