Rooster Cogburn (1975)

Director:

Stuart Millar

Writers:

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

Release Date:

November 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Western

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Rape | Indian | Father | Drunkenness | Cat

Cast

John Wayne	...	Rooster Cogburn
Katharine Hepburn	...	Eula
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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mickey Gilbert	...	Hambone (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	...	Jerry (uncredited)
Gary McLarty	...	Emmett (uncredited)
General Sterling Price	...	Cat (uncredited)
Andrew Prine	...	Fiona's Husband (uncredited)

Directed by
Stuart Millar

Writing credits
Charles Portis		(suggested by the character "Rooster Cogburn" from the novel "True Grit")
Martha Hyer		(written by) (as Martin Julien)

Produced by
Paul Nathan	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer

Original Music by
Laurence Rosenthal

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Jr.

Film Editing by
Robert Swink

Art Direction by
E. Preston Ames		(as Preston Ames)

Set Decoration by
George R. Nelson		(as George Robert Nelson)

Costume Design by
Luster Bayless		(costumes: men)

Production Management
William W. Gray	....	production manager (as William Gray)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hashimoto	....	second assistant director
Pepi Lenzi	....	first assistant director
Michael D. Moore	....	second unit director (as Michael Moore)

Art Department
Thomas Gark	....	property master: second unit (uncredited)

Sound Department
John R. Carter	....	sound (as John Carter)
Leonard Peterson	....	re-recording (as Leonard S. Peterson)

Special Effects by
Jack McMaster	....	special effects (as Jack McMasters)

Stunts
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunt coordinator
Jerry Brutsche	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)
Quentin Dickey	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Gatlin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Mickey Gilbert	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Kevin N. Johnston	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary McLarty	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunt double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Robotham	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Summers	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Rexford L. Metz	....	photography: second unit (as Rexford Metz)
Jack N. Green	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Susie Tracy	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Edith Head	....	wardrobe: Miss Hepburn

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures
• Hal Wallis Productions (as A Hall Wallis Production)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (UK) (1975) (UK) (theatrical)
• CIC (1976) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1977) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1976) (Finland) (theatrical)
• CIC Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Esselte Video (????) (Finland) (video)
• Image Entertainment (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2003) (Finland) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (1997) (Finland) (TV) (TV2)

Other Companies

• Bureau of Land Management  with deep appreciation to (as the Bureau of Land Management)
• Cinematique  cosmetics by
• U.S. Department of Agriculture  with deep appreciation to (as the U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• U.S. Department of Interior  with deep appreciation to (as the U.S. Department of the Interior)
• U.S. Forest Service  with deep appreciation to (as the United States Forest Service)
• Universal Title  titles & optical effects

Also Known As:

Rooster Cogburn: A Man of True Grit (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | UK:U (video rating) (1987) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bend, Oregon, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Richard Jordan later admitted he decided to overplay his part because he thought the movie was going to flop, and if anybody paid to see it then it would only be for the two stars. He also said he felt that Katharine Hepburn was about to die at any minute - ironically, she outlived him by a decade.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the first attack on Rooster and company 3 small bottles of nitro are thrown like hand grenades. The explosions are noticeably distant from where the bottles land.

Quotes:

Eula Goodnight: [Rooster is getting ready to take a swig of whiskey] Reuben, have you ever seen an enlarged picture of a drunkard's liver?
Rooster Cogburn: Damn! Even in her sleep.
[Hits head on bottom of wagon]
Rooster Cogburn: Ow!
[shouts]
Rooster Cogburn: Goodnite, Ms. Goodnight!
Eula Goodnight: [Whispers] Goodnite, Reuben.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) (TV)

The Same Sense of Integrity

A reading of the other reviews of Rooster Cogburn indicate that only fans of the two stars should look at this film. That's not saying a whole lot since this was a vehicle created for the two stars and only the two stars in this film could have brought it off.

It was a happy marriage of convenience with John Wayne's character of Rooster Cogburn from True Grit being so popular that a sequel was inevitable given Wayne's health holding up and Katharine Hepburn looking for something she could co-star with Wayne.

Hepburn was one of John Wayne's biggest boosters of his talent, politics aside. I remember reading that she thought John Wayne projected the same sense of integrity that Spencer Tracy did on the screen. Coming from her, I've got to believe that's the best compliment she could offer.

Wayne as Cogburn is on the trail of a gang that massacred an army patrol and stole a gatling gun and nitroglycerin for use in a planned bank robbery. The gang headed by Richard Jordan with Anthony Zerbe who used to scout for Wayne go to an Indian settlement with a missionary school headed by father and daughter preacher and teacher Jon Lormer and Katharine Hepburn. The gang shoots up the place and kills Lormer.

When Wayne comes he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he finds himself saddled with Hepburn and young Indian boy Richard Romancito. They accompany him on the trail of Jordan and his gang and get enough adventure to last a lifetime.

Everyone compares Hepburn as Eula Goodnight to her portrayal of another missionary, Rose Sayer in The African Queen. Both are on a chase in The African Queen with Bogey after the Germans who destroyed the mission in East Africa and killed her brother and with Wayne after some outlaws. And both films feature a very fine sequence of the two stars riding some rapids. But I think Eula Goodnight is a far more experienced woman of the world than Rose Sayer. Both disapprove of the alcoholic behavior of their male counterparts. Rose however takes some direct action.

As the film was designed around the two stars they settle comfortably in their roles. The chemistry between them is infectious, that they liked each other would be obvious to an alien from another planet.

I really envy young Richard Romancito to be in all those scenes and be able to watch a pair of screen legends.