True Grit
Despite his decennary - farsighted life history , Rooster Cogburnwas the only prison term John Wayne appeared in a sequel . Wayne made his concealment debut with an uncredited appearance in 1926’sBrown Of Harvardand finish his acting calling 50 long time later with Don Siegel’sThe Shootist . Wayne appeared in many different form of genre during his long life history , from freakish romanticistic dramaTheBarbarian And The Geisha- where Wayne fought his director- to war movies likeSands of Iwo Jima .
Despite his achiever with other writing style , Wayne is forever tied to Westerns . 1939’sStagecoachwas the film that made him a star , while he went on to appear in many classics of the genre , includingThe Searchers , Rio Bravoand 1969’sTrue Grit . While the succeeder of Westerns waned during the late ' 60s and ' 70s , Wayne continued to headline in movies likeCahill U.S. MarshalandThe Cowboys . His 2d last movie was 1975’sRooster Cogburn , which encounter him reprise the championship quality fromTrue Grit .
Related : Dirty Harry True Story : Was John Wayne Almost Cast Over Clint Eastwood ?
Wayne gain his only Oscar for playing Cogburn inTrue Grit , an aging , cantankerous U.S. Marshall engage by a teenage girl to chase after the gentleman who kill her father . Rooster Cogburnarrived six twelvemonth later and sawWayne - who turn down a Clint Eastwood Western- titular ’s type having been stripped of his badge for misconduct . He ’s given a chance to pay off himself by chasing after a gang of bank robbers , and during the story , he ’s joined by Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn as a spinster who - just likeTrue Grit’sMattie Ross - desire to find her father ’s killers . Rooster Cogburnis also notable for being the only time in Wayne ’s career he made a sequel or reprised a character , with the squad - up between him and Hepburn being the high spot of the movie .
Sadly , Rooster Cogburnis dead inferior toTrue Gritdespite its jumper lead , and while it ’s not Wayne ’s worst westerly , it ’s far from his good either . Reviews for the sequel were n’t kind either , with critics feeling bothWayne - whose grandson Brendan is also an actor- and Hepburn were much too old to convincingly portray their characters . During this epoch in Hollywood , sequel and enfranchisement were still more of the exception than the convention , and while many of Wayne ’s Westerns were fundamentally variation on the same stories or characters , he may have wished to avoid verbatim follow - ups for the stigma attached to them at the time .
He had appeared in thematic trilogies like John Ford’sCavalry Trilogyor lightly obliterate remakes likeRio BravoriffRio Lobo , butRooster Cogburnwas his only direct sequel . It appears there were plans for a franchise had the movie being a success , with a third film calledSomedaybeing germinate . Rooster Cogburnproved to be a loge - office disappointment , however , though a telly movie titledTrue Grit : A Further Adventureaired in 1978 with Warren Oates playing Cogburn .
Next : The Western Elvis Presley & John Wayne Almost Made Together
