Rooster Cogburn ... and the Lady (1975)
"Rooster Cogburn" (original title)

Marshal Rooster Cogburn unwillingly teams up with Eula Goodnight to track down the killers of her father.

Director:

Stuart Millar

Writers:

Charles Portis (suggested by the character "Rooster Cogburn" from the novel "True Grit"), Martha Hyer

Stars:

John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Wayne	...	Rooster Cogburn
Katharine Hepburn	...	Eula Goodnight
Anthony Zerbe	...	Breed
Richard Jordan	...	Hawk
John McIntire	...	Judge Parker
Paul Koslo	...	Luke
Jack Colvin	...	Red
Jon Lormer	...	Rev. Goodnight
Richard Romancito	...	Wolf
Lane Smith	...	Leroy
Warren Vanders	...	Bagby
Jerry Gatlin	...	Nose
Strother Martin	...	McCoy
Tommy Lee	...	Chen Lee

Storyline

A small village in the Indian Nation that is run by a Minister Goodnight and his daughter Eula is overrun by a band of drunken thugs. They kill and rape the people of the village. Miss Goodnight then teams up with the ruthless Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn who goes after them and bring them to justice.

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Plot Keywords:

rape | cowboy | beating | ethnic stereotype | alcoholic | 

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Taglines:

The man of "True Grit" is back and look who's got him!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rooster Cogburn (... and the Lady)

Filming Locations:

Smith Rock State Park, Oregon, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$8,022,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Hal Wallis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eula mentions a poet, Ella Sturgis Hooper. The real name is Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1812 - 1848). She was member of the Transcendental Club and regarded as one of the most gifted poets among the Transcendentalists of New England.

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Goofs

The movie is set in Arkansas (per the court scene immediately following the opening), but features mountains, a river canyon, and other natural features totally unlike anything in Arkansas. Not surprisingly, these features are found in Oregon, where the movie was shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rooster Cogburn: It's the law, Pecos! We want you for the robbery of the Katy Flyer, murder of the engineer. Now git your hands on top your heads...
[gunshots]
Rooster Cogburn: You bastard! You - bastard!

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Connections

Featured in The John Wayne Anthology (1991)

User Reviews

Better than True Grit

Don't get me wrong, True Grit is a good western and worthy of its classic status, but I've always found John Wayne's first go round as Rooster Cogburn to be uneven, at times colorfully into character but just as often just playing John Wayne. He won his only Oscar for it of course, but he hadn't yet completely found ol' Rooster's voice.

In this sequel co starring Katharine Hepburn, the Duke has every aspect of Rooster down pat. The scenes he and Hepburn share, trading their philosophies and anecdotes while they come to know and admire (and platonically fall in love with) each other is the engine of this film. Forget the plot, it's passable enough but very much secondary, this story gets along strictly on the strength of the two lead characters and it's worth seeing again and again just to watch these two Hollywood legends banter and spar in their one and only movie together.

This was the first John Wayne film I ever saw in a movie theatre (I was 9 years old in 1975) and it made me a lifelong fan. This is easily one of his most entertaining adventures. Hepburn and Wayne together is even more fun than Bogart and Hepburn in The African Queen. A timeless treasure.